Last week, I took part in the inaugural BankDhofar Pro Am tournament, which was played at Muscat Hills Golf and Country Club in Oman.
During the practice and competition rounds, I was very impressed with my playing partners (who had handicaps between 14 – 20) ability to strike the ball and get it close to the green.
However, when it came to pitching and chipping, they all struggled somewhat because they made two fundamental errors that caused inconsistent contact.
These errors are worth investigating as there are drills to help avoid them.
Firstly, correct weight distribution is key to success. As we have discussed previously, our instincts will always encourage us to lean back as we strike the ball, in an effort to ‘help’ it up into the air.
Leaning on our back foot tends to result in either ‘thin’ contact (where the ball scuttles across the green) or ‘fat’ contact (where we hit the grass before the ball).
If you suffer with these shots, a beneficial practice drill is to address the ball normally, withdraw your back foot and stand on your tip toe.
This forces you to place a high percentage of weight onto the front foot for the entire swing.
Keeping the vast majority of weight on your front foot throughout the swing puts your body in a position that encourages you to deliver a descending blow, causing proper contact.
Secondly, listen before you look.
The most common cause of poor contact in chip and pitch shots is looking for the ball before you have actually hit it! Lifting your eyes to look for the ball causes your body to rise into impact, which makes it very difficult to deliver an accurate, descending blow to the ball.
Looking for the ball too early normally results in a ‘thin’ ball flight with no back spin.
A great practice drill is to hit your chip shots and keep your eyes looking at the floor until you hear the ball land on the green.
If you can be disciplined enough to do this, you will soon notice a vast improvement in the consistency of your ball striking.
In your practice, if you combine these two drills, you will have a much better chance of contacting the ball correctly.
Once your consistency of contact increases around the green, you will be able to predict how the ball reacts when it lands with greater accuracy, resulting in more control.
If you would like more information on this topic or the golf coaching services offered at Awali Golf Club, contact me on 39761873.
Happy golfing!
