Top PGA Pro Solves Common Short Game Problem (With One Simple Drill)
If your short game is plagued by inconsistent or heavy strikes - this simple weight distribution drill will help you to sharpen up around the greens
Lots of golfers have a dazzling long game but can't chip for toffee - it's a tale as old as time.
Our ultimate short game clinic is a great place to start when trying to sharpen up around the greens, but many of the most common amateur short game mistakes start with setup.
Turning up to practice without a plan is one of the seven things you should never do at the driving range, or the short game area, so we enlisted on of the best in the business to ensure we had the right tools to tackle the most common faults.
In this month's Game Changer Clinic, PGA Fellow Professional and Top 50 Coach Ben Emerson uses more than two decades of experience coaching golfers of all abilities to help one reader improve their short game strikes...
Short Game Weight Distribution Drill For Heavy Strikes
Ben Emerson is a Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach with a modern approach to the game. His methods have seen him become one of the most revered coaches in the country, and even has a few celebrity clients on his books. In his coaching career of more than 20 years, Ben has helped golfers of all ages and abilities to improve their performances and enjoy the game.
Ben is also the author of Strike It Pure, an instructional guide to the art of ball striking in golf. This book aims to help amateur golfers improve their golf swing, shoot lower scores and fulfil their potential on the course through engaging, actionable tips and drills. Strike It Pure also features in Golf Monthly's best golf books guide.
Mid-handicapper Neville Christian visited the game-changer clinic this month after struggling to achieve consistently good strikes on his short-game shots.
This is a common fault among amateur golfers, leading to the dreaded chunk or rocket-like thin over the green, but the issue can be rectified with a simple set-up change and swing thought.
The Problem
With such a short and often delicate shot, which relies very much on touch and feel for success, a significant weight shift in the backswing is not conducive to consistently good ball-striking – but that was exactly the problem that Neville exhibited.
After watching Neville in the studio, Ben explained that there is a time and a place for ‘power shift' mode, but for shorter shots around the green it's important to maintain a stable base and allow the arms to control the motion.
By moving off the ball in the backswing on such a short shot, there is almost no chance of getting back to the ball in time, which leads to poor contact with the golf ball.
The Solution
Ben was able to demonstrate how keeping the weight forward on the lead side throughout the swing can improve strikes around the green
The first thing that needed to happen was for Neville's weight to favour his lead side at address and then stay there throughout the swing.
By opening his feet slightly to the left of the target, he created the room for his hands to swing through and the club to arrive correctly at impact with a stable base.
His trail foot could almost lift off the ground entirely, as there is practically no weight going through it.
Some players like to use this as a drill in practice. By standing flat on your lead foot but on the toes of your trail foot, you instantly encourage your weight to stay on the lead side throughout – otherwise you will fall over in the backswing.
With this simple drill, and the handy seesaw board, strike quality and consistency quickly improved
My favourite drill to help golfers like Neville is to get them standing on a seesaw board as they swing. Any weight shift is instantly identified by movement in the board, so I encouraged Neville to keep the target side of the board on the ground throughout the swing. By nailing the fundamentals Neville was then able to let the club do the work.