I won’t try to gloss over this, my short game was utterly horrific for a short period recently – and I was struggling to put together anything close to a decent score.
I started doubting myself, questioning how far to stand from the golf ball and playing around with my golf grip, but really the problem was a knowledge issue rather than a technical one.
I realised that I had lost sight of how to use loft around the green effectively, meaning that I wasn’t able to pop the ball up in the air without thinning it over the back or duffing it an inch in front of me.
Thankfully, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Joshua Mayo was on hand to help.
His expert tips and guidance helped me to learn a valuable short game lesson and discover a magical chip shot that has helped me rediscover my mojo around the greens – so I asked him to share it with you too…
How To Use Loft Around The Green To Pop The Golf Ball Up
Joshua Mayo
Joshua has been playing golf pretty much his entire life with his dad, Paul, being a former Amateur champion and Walker Cup player. He brings a holistic approach to coaching for all ages and abilities and he will use a combination of modern teaching methods as well as the traditional methods.
You don’t have to learn how to hit a flop shot to improve your short game.
A lot of club golfers could simply do with a better understanding of how loft works in the swing, so they can start to ‘pop’ the ball up.
Note where the magnetic rod is pointing in the image below, which shows that loft has been presented at impact. This is going to help the club to slide underneath the ball, maximising height.
The metal rod perfectly demonstrates the loft on the clubface at impact
(Image credit: Olly Curtis)
Hit some chips from waist-high back to waist-high through. This is the perfect backswing position to start practising high, short shots.
The rod is pointing up towards my face in the image below. This indicates that I’ve kept the loft on the club, helping to ‘pop’ the ball up.
If it were pointing down to the ground, it would suggest too much hands at the start of the takeaway or that the clubface was kept pointing at the target too long.
Practice with some swings to around waist height on the way back and the same…
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