If It Aint Broke Should You Fix It?

We of the day job set, are in a conundrum when it comes to trying new techniques to improve our golf.  In January, 2012, I read Stan Utley’s “The Art of the Short Game” and immediately put the guru’s easy to implement steps into play.  Utley’s key point is to force a pivot and release on all short shots which was not my style, and two years later after suffering mind boggling bouts of skinny chips, lateral hits, and loss of distance control around the green, I’ve finally identified the changes as the source.  The chipping fix was fairly easy but the elevated pitch shots with my 58 were driving me nuts.  I finally returned to the hinge and hold the blade at the target method I had used very successfully, and was fixed.  I’m not knocking the recommendations in the book because I’m sure they work for some and Utley’s reputation is unsurpassed.  The lesson here is if you are competent or even very good with a certain aspect of your game, DON’T MESS WITH IT unless you have hours to dedicate to practice and play.  Even then, proceed with caution.

It feels gratifying to get back on track.  We all have weaknesses and there’s nothing wrong with seeking to improve them, but there is nothing worse than losing a strength.  My biggest fear was that it was mental or brought on by age, but thankfully it was technique-based.  I am eternally grateful for the detailed practice journal I’ve been keeping since 2008.  It has notes for every session on the range and practice green, and I was able to find some data points on techniques that worked well before I read the book.  I’d advise everyone to keep these type of records and refer back frequently when you struggle.

Have you ever been over ambitious and attempted an improvement that broke a strength?

2012 golf improvement plan – Early returns are in!

I’m six weeks into my improvement plan and I’ve got some early feedback and lessons learned to share.  To reiterate, the plan was to work on core strength and conditioning in hopes of better ball striking and to couple that with the rollout of new short game and putting techniques from Stan Utley.  I’ve got three rounds under my belt and have noticed a definite increase in distance with my driver and short irons, probably due to the faster clearing of my hips on the downswing and a better ability to maintain my spine angle.   While I’m enjoying the added length, I’m struggling with distance control on the short irons, as some fly the new distance but others do not; probably to be expected.  Nevertheless, hitting driver – pitching wedge into par fours where I used to hit 7-irons is a big plus.  Big mistake last time out, though.  I wondered what it would be like to do a core strengthening session the morning before a scheduled round.  All day I had the shakes and my back tired midway through the round causing several very loose swings.    Maybe next time just a little stretching is in order.

I’ve had mixed results on the short game.  The putting changes have been solid and the move to a right hand dominated stroke is working great on the lags.  I’ve rolled in seven birdies in the three rounds and feel my distance control is good.  My chipping has been good, probably because of all the winter work on my living room carpet, but greenside pitching has been terrible.  I never got comfortable with the new techniques and have hit several very thin while under pressure and it seems the problems have infected my sand game which is normally very reliable.  A post round practice session last Sunday indicated that I was not turning enough on my backswing and the touch and feel returned when I made the adjustment.  However, it’s easier to do when it doesn’t count so I’ll be interested to see some improvement during this weekend’s outing.

As Bob Rotella says in Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect, “you’ve got to train it and trust it.”  With the pitching, I’ve done neither and am definitely thinking too mechanically on the course.  I want this so bad after getting a taste of the possibilities, but need to practice these changes and exercise some patience until they sink in.  Are we there yet?

Dave Pelz, Dave Stockton, Stan Utley; who’s the best?

Who is the top short game guru?  I’ve received a lot of inquiries on the subject and my choice may surprise you.  I’ve read many books, watched many tips, and practiced enough techniques (mental and physical) to establish a ranking.  These are based solely on my positive long lasting experiences.

Top billing goes to sports psychologist Bob Rotella.  I’ve read several of his books, and Putting Out OF Your Mind really hit home and was a total paradigm shift for me.  Rotella teaches a total mental approach to putting and short game and provides no actual physical techniques.  Inside is a treasure trove of anecdotes from real tour players to illustrate his methods, and his approach is designed to relax you, build confidence, and leverage all your natural ability.  My first round out after this read, it was if a new person had possessed my body.  A bit strange at first but imagine the confidence rush when all those knee-knocking five to six footers were getting rammed in the back of the cup.

Runner-up is Stan Utley who’s less well known, but who’s technique is best for feel players like myself.  Utley’s two gems The Art of Putting and The Art of The Short Game simplify the approach one can take on and around the green.  The consistency of a few minor fundamental changes makes digesting and replicating easy.  Again, very important for feel players that find overly mechanical instruction counter-productive.

For the technicians, you can have the rest.  Dave Pelz has his cadre of touring professionals and instructional segments on The Golf Channel but every tip I’ve read, or show I’ve viewed is loaded with mechanical jargon and technical details that would take hours and hours of practice to perfect and store up so much mental baggage, you’d need a caddy to haul it to the course.  Some may be able to deliberately line up putts on the toe of the putter for fast downhill left to right sliders, but that thinking is disastrous for those of us who need a more simple approach like, “get committed, rehearse, pull the trigger.”

Dave Stockton has a lot of disciples in putting circles; kind of like the Bill Walsh of the PGA Tour.  I experimented with his putting techniques and while I found his information on reading greens helpful, his techniques were again way too mechanical and screwed up my feel for distance.  Want a lot to think about on the greens?  Go with Stockton.  Need to simplify; head with me to the Stan Utley camp.

Again, I read the Utley books over the winter and have experienced good results with the changes.  The best change/tip I’ve discovered for feel on long putts resulted from discontinuing the Stockton practice of pulling the putter with my left hand.  Instead I feel the distance with my right hand after a right hand-only practice swing.

Who is your favorite short game guru?  K.I.S.S. and good luck!

2012 Golf Season – Great Opening Day!

Teed it up today at my local muni to get the season underway  and if today’s round is an indicator of things to come, it’s going to be a great year.  I’ve been working on conditioning as part of my 2012 improvement plan and was just dying to battle test myself and boy did I come through.  Normally on opening day, I tee it up with no swing thoughts and no expectations and just try to bang the rust off, but today was different.  Along with the exercise program, I was armed with new short game and putting techniques, courtesy of Stan Utley, and was testing out my spankin’ new Bushnell V2 rangefinder and there were no disappointments.

On the exercises; the most useful was the opposite end swings designed to build club head speed.  I found these awkward at first but noticed after a couple weeks that my finish was much more in balance with 90% of my weight correctly distributed on my left foot and my body was fully rotated.  Today I came out of the chute with an aggressive move and felt in balance the whole round.  My short irons were dialed in but more importantly, I was taking big solid divots flying straight at the target, which were inconspicuously missing last year when I was pulling up and out of my spine angle on the downswing.  The feeling of balance and ability to go after the ball was exciting, and at the end of the day, I had 10 GIR and had rolled in three birdies – exceeding any and all expectations.    Yes there was rust, and I still need work getting comfortable with the new pitching techniques, and just to keep it real, I left the course with a slow burn about a missed 4-footer straight uphill for birdie on #18. :(


There’s snow in the forecast for tomorrow and it might be a short while before I play again, but this early taste of success was important because it validated the hard conditioning work I’ve been doing for the last month.  Again, the target this year is to play twice per week and practice less, and I can’t wait to exercise tomorrow!  See you in the gym.

Are you addicted to practice? Apparently I am.

I’ve been chewing on some advice that Vet4Golfing51 passed on in response to my 2012 improvement plan.  His premise was that I didn’t play enough and that play improves performance more than practice.  I just looked at my 2011 records and holy cow!  In addition to my 35 rounds, I spent 70 days practicing, which is a ton of effort for essentially very little improvement.  Not only was I surprised that I dedicated as much time as I did but that my approach clearly didn’t pay dividends.  Thanks Vet 🙂

Now the weather in the DC area has been quite mild this winter with no measurable snow and I actually have practiced twice in January while trying to learn the new short game and putting techniques of Stan Utley.  This is clearly required work since I’m trying to train my muscles for a new motion, however it’s clear from my stats last year that I’m addicted to practice and am wondering what my performance might have been with only half the practice time dedicated, if I had used the balance on play (9-hole rounds, for instance.)  Range rats like Tom Kite and Vijay Singh benefited from their time spent on prolonged practice but they got enough play in to validate.

So going forward my goal in 2012 is again, 35 full rounds, only 35 practice days and 20 9-hole rounds between the full rounds which should provide enough play to avoid that foreign feeling I often get on the first tee, and still keep me fresh.  10 of the full rounds will again be compressed into six straight days of play at Myrtle Beach which would leave a good  interval of 18 hole and nine hole play for the balance of the year.

A couple notes on the Stan Utley techniques.  I’ve been rug putting all winter and am very comfortable with the new fundamentals.  The change has appeared to take hold and I putted very well on my practice green last weekend.  The chipping is going well too, as I’ve been working that on the rug, but the pitch shot is still a work in progress.  When properly executed, the direction and distance control are great, yet without the opportunity to pitch inside, it’s still quite foreign.  Looking forward to temps in the 60s this week and feeding the addiction a little more.

Book review: The Art of the Short Game by Stan Utley

I read The Art of the Short Game (Gotham Books – 2007) over the Christmas holiday and actually tried out the techniques at my local muni’s practice green, and wow!  YOU NEED TO GET THIS BOOK!   Those who follow this blog know I’m a big proponent of short game and continuously look for and share valid methods for improvement.  The infusion of life this book had on my chipping and pitching technique was remarkable.

Stan Utley is a journeyman pro turned short game/putting guru, and has put together a system that simplifies the approach to playing chips, pitches and bunker shots that’s easy to implement and is tremendously effective.  In two hours of practice I found my distance control and consistency of contact and direction significantly improved.   For chipping and pitching, Utley’s main premise is to keep everything square to the target line (club face, hands, feet, knees, shoulders) and make a mini-golf swing that includes a pivot.  This is counter to a lot of conventional chipping advice whereby you play from an open stance, keep the ball back and the lower body still and essentially make a arm swing with a short iron.  He also advocates using your sand wedge for all shots around the green rather than switching clubs based on the distance required for carry and roll.  This was a significant paradigm shift for me but after practicing with the altered technique, I was easily able to control the distance on longer chips with my 56 degree wedge.

The pitch is simply a longer extension of the chip, with a bit more pivot supplying the power.  Admittedly, the 30-40 yard sand wedge shot is the weakest part of my game but I was able to dial in amazingly well with the technique.  I was not able to practice the bunker play recommendations and they are significantly different from conventional advice.  I would advise to first spend some time on the chipping technique and convince yourself the method works before moving to pitching and bunker play.  So get the book,  you will not regret it.  Here are my practice notes for the chipping techniques just to get you started.  Good luck!  Now go wear out your carpet.

1. Setup with a neutral grip with the Vs in both hands pointing towards your right collarbone.
2. Square the club face at the target
3. Play from a square stance; it’s okay to flare out your left toe for comfort
4. Position the ball in the middle of your stance, not in the back
5. Shade 2/3 of your weight on your forward foot and keep it there throughout the shot
6. Forward press your hands so they are even with your front thigh
7. Allow for a small hip turn away from the ball on the back swing
8. Initiate the downswing with your hips turning slightly toward the target
9. Your hands will naturally be pulled toward the target and lead the club face towards solid contact.