How do you want to play the game? Do you want to be the aggressive golfer who goes for everything? If so make sure that your acceptance levels are high as you’re going to leave yourself short-sided a lot of the time and there will be a lot of pressure on your chipping? And start to understand that, by leaving yourself some hard chips, you’re not going to be chipping it close so you have a lot of 8-15 foot putts. On the upside you should have a lot of birdie opportunities too.
Or do you look at it and think that approach is a bit stressful and you’d prefer a more steady game? If so, spend a bit of time with the wedges? If you’re a plodder and you’re missing it in the right spots, then you should be chipping it closer so get really good from six feet and in.
Some of this comes down to skill but also self-discipline and how much you want to re-invent that self image. If you want to go for everything but only drive it 250 yards then there will be certain limitations with that. But we all want some level of excitement and fulfilment from playing and we want to be in the mix, in competitions or playing with our mates, so we need to find the best way of achieving this.
We hear this a lot but there is more than one way to get into that position. Look at Zach Johnson who has won two Majors and has really maximised his potential with a deadly wedge game. Similarly Phil Mickelson, who also has a spectacular short game, plays the sport in a very different way but they have both maximised the way that they play the game.
Identify which way you want to do it and then get really good at it. If you finish across the line first, then there’s there’s your icing on the cake. If you don’t, at least you will have felt alive.
Our personalities drive a lot of this. If we’re satisfied doing things safely, then keep doing it. If not, then have a bit of a rip at it. Look at it that way rather than at least I’m not messing up – that’s the slight divide to trying to play great and playing to not play bad.
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Tour pros have great clarity at what they’re good at and what they’re not so good at. They play to their strengths on the course and their decision making when to play a certain shot is a little bit sharper than the plus-handicap player at your club.
That’s down to them playing more regularly but being smart with your decision making is a collection of different areas in terms of distance control, knowing when to go for something or…
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