Do you use your eyes around the green when chipping or pitching to find a landing area?

This is a very important part of developing a solid short game. Most players don’t have a landing area in mind causing much trouble with touch and feel around the greens.

The big mistake most players make is zoning the eyes on the hole before hitting a chip or pitch shot. This usually results in a shot that flies to the hole and rolls well past the hole or even off the green. This means the player has taken too big of a swing for the shot at hand. Making too big of a swing can also cause deceleration on the forward swing causing the mind numbing “chunk” where you hit the ground way before the ball.

The best way to use your eyes when chipping or pitching is to find a very specific spot on the ground where you want to land the ball in order for it to end up close to the hole. This will greatly improve the swing length and proper acceleration for the shot at hand.

The next time you are practicing chipping or pitching grab a few golf balls and toss them underhand to different landing areas until you find the spot with the most success. This will start to develop your touch and feel around the greens in regards to landing areas. After you have practiced this try to hit a few shots with the same mind set of a specific landing areas and watch your short game instantly improve in front of your own eyes.

The Lesson Tee…..
By Director of Instruction, Andy Scott School of Golf

Until next time……see you on the lesson tee.