In the late 90s I thought I was a pretty decent golfer.
I was playing on or around scratch.
I had been accepted into a fancy golf club.
I could shoot some half-handy scores.
I could beat most at my new club.
Then, one day, I got to play with one of the crusty old members. A guy who had been around the block a few times and had been a very good golfer for 30+ years.
And he didn’t talk much during the round. He focused on what he was doing and didn’t care too much for this younger golfer.
I was too absorbed in my game to notice much about him either. I thought I was a much better golfer – I could hit the ball longer than him and believed he wouldn’t give me too many issues if we had to play a match.
At the end of the day I was surprised to learn he had shot a 73 and I went around in 75.
In the bar afterwards, I must have been going on about the day’s play.
Whinging about a bit of this and a bit of that. Or acting like I was better than I really was.
The crusty old member spoke up: Cameron, you are nowhere near as good as you think you are. You left a bunch of shots out there today. I wouldn’t be too happy if I was you.
His comments smacked me right in the face. I was shocked and tried to defend myself.
Me: What do you mean? I played ok today. I hit the ball well and if I was able to sink some more putts I could have easily broken par.
COB (Crusty Old Bloke): You are kidding yourself mate. I can count at least 6 or 7 shots you threw away today – and this is just the short game. Your chipping is terrible and you’ve got it all wrong.
I thought he was off his rocker and I didn’t believe him. He went on.
COB: You hit a terrible chip on the 1st and were lucky to get the putt for par.
On 4 (par 5), you hit two good shots and then played a horrible third, leaving an almost impossible putt for birdie.
You did exactly the same thing on the 6th hole.
I don’t know what you were thinking on 7. Such an easy little chip shot and you left it miles short. Hasn’t anyone ever shown you how to chip?
You should have gotten up and down on 9 and 10 but you didn’t.
Yes, you made some birdies. You hit some good shots, but you throw too many easy shots away.
Me: Ohhhh. I hadn’t really thought about it like that.
I thought that successful golf was all about shotmaking. If I made a bogey it was usually because I had missed a green or hadn’t sunk a putt.
I hadn’t really seen the game as one big system.
Yes, you need to be able to hit the ball.
But you must be able to hit the right shot.
Two putt often (avoid the 3-putts).
Sink the short putts.
And probably, most importantly for me, be able to chip and pitch the ball closer to the hole.
COB: Your chipping is terrible because you are insistent on hitting the lob wedge too often. You are trying to hit the fancy spinning shot, rather than focussing on hitting the easiest shot possible.
When I thought about this statement later on (I was in denial in the moment) I realised he was right. I didn’t get the ball close enough to hole often enough.
The spinning “lobby” was all the rage. Most of the golfers I played the local tournaments with hit the same shot. And when it worked, it was amazing – it just didn’t work too often (and that’s the problem). We are only as good as our worst shot….
Here’s the issue:
Because I was reliant on judging spin and loft and carry, these shots were too hard. If I was just a little bit out with execution or judgement, the ball didn’t end up close to the hole.
The COB’s short game was different.
For one, he putted a lot from off the green. I thought this was weak and I questioned his manhood.
But he didn’t care. His objective was to get the ball close to the hole, not to try and impress anyone else.
If he couldn’t putt, he would hit the ball along the ground. He was an expert at the bump and run and rarely stuffed this shot up.
As an example, on the day we played, we both found the swale to the right of the 9th green.
I took out my lob wedge and tried to fly it all the way to the hole and get it close. I chunked it slightly, the ball came out with limited spin and finished 15 feet past the hole.
COB chipped with his 7 iron, the ball ran up the slope and stopped 3 feet below the hole.
I missed. He didn’t.
And when I thought about how he played golf compared to me,
HE WAS RIGHT
I was hopeless.
I hardly ever got up and down, especially when it counted.
And this wasn’t because I was particularly poor at the short game.
It was because I kept insisting on hitting the WRONG shot. When I hit smarter chips there was an almost immediate improvement.
Fast forward a number of years and my game was completely different.
I would get up and down A LOT.
I stoped hitting the fancy pants lob wedge from around the green (unless it was absolutely necessary).
My game was super-reliable. I had maximised my scoring potential.
And I noticed lots of other golfers who would make the same mistake I used to…
… they are too quick to pull the lob wedge or sand iron from the bag when there’s a better choice.
The putter.
The 6 iron.
The rescue wood.
When I coach golfers I ban them from using the most lofted clubs in their bag.
They have to chip the ball along the ground first.
When they can do this well, then, they are able to try the lofted shots.
But most realise that this is just too hard unless you’ve got hours and hours each day to practise.
So, if your chipping is a debacle and you waste too many shots, I highly recommend you take on board today’s lesson. You can thank me later.
If you want the full run down on how I was able to transform my short game, including bunker shots, then you really should read this book – it also includes a bunch of other easy wins that any golfer can apply.
https://golfshop.thrivecart.com/ag-bible-only-special/