TIPS from the PRO

Simplify Your Short Game Decisions

By Jacob Thompson, PGA, Player Development & Teaching Professional

Are you struggling to decide what club and/or type of shot to hit around the greens? I’ve been there! There are many ways to navigate deciding what shot you should hit when around the putting green.

First, we have to make sure our setup is correct to have the highest rate of success. Relative to a normal full swing shot, I want you to double-check your stance to make sure it is much narrower and that you are closer to the golf ball. By being closer to the ball, the toe of the club should be resting on the surface of the ground a bit more than normal, while the heel of the club is slightly off the ground. The club will now be much more vertical while standing over the golf ball in relation to a normal full swing shot.

Now here is when the thinking comes into play. The first thing I look at is, “What am I hitting this shot over? Is it fairway, is it rough, is it sand, is it a penalty area, etc.? Do I need to land it soft, or do I want it to release and run a bit more than normal?” Let’s say, for example, we are hitting over about 20 yards of fairway that has some undulation prior to getting onto the putting surface where the pin is only four paces on. The conversation that I begin to have with myself is, “Do I need or do I want loft?" In this example, I believe the answer is that I need enough loft to take the undulation of the fairway out of play (by hitting the ball over it) and enough loft so that the ball doesn’t roll out too much, given the pin is just four paces onto the green. I suggest grabbing your highest lofted wedge and playing around with where your ball position is in your stance. My personal belief with a standard pitch or chip shot is that the ball position should be a ball towards your back foot, or in other words, a ball right of the center of your stance (as a right-handed player).

There are two other ball positions we can be very consistent with to achieve different types of shots—the ball just on the inside of your lead foot and the ball just on the inside of your trail foot. With the ball towards your lead foot, you should see a higher launch with less ball speed. With the ball towards your trail foot, you should see a lower launch with more ball speed. In the example given, I would imagine ball position towards your lead foot would help us accomplish the goal of hitting the ball over the undulating fairway while also landing soft enough so the ball doesn’t roll out too far.

Give this a try the next time you go out to the short game area to practice. I strongly believe that as opposed to using different clubs to hit different shots around greens, you can often use one club with ball position modifications to hit nearly any shot you may face in a round of golf! ◆

2023-2024 PGA LEAD CLASS

We congratulate Director of Instruction Cathy Kim on being selected to join the 2023-2024 PGA LEAD Class! The 18-month leadership program aims to diversify and grow the game of golf while forming a guided path to leadership roles within the PGA. Cathy will have the opportunity to sit in board meetings, receive mentorship, and attend conferences. We cannot wait to see how Cathy moves the game forward!