Golf Short Game Tips To Help You Lower Your Handicap

The short game of golf is certainly a critical element in the process of learning how to shoot lower golf scores. Perhaps the most important key to remember is that there are no shortcuts to learning the short game as it will require both time and effort on your part to master. Wedge shots are very important to learn as they can set the foundation for the rest of your golf swing including the longer clubs.

Usually if you develop mastery with your wedges you will find it a lot easier to become a more consistent ball striker with your long irons and driver. The best ball position when hitting wedges is to place the ball in the center of your stance. The wedge game really is all about practice so make sure you are spending appropriate amounts of time hitting these shots.

Remember that solid wedge shots can save you tons of strokes during a round of golf. Also keep in mind that a great short game really does help your long game too since you will swing more freely and with less fear of missing a fairway or a green since you know that more often than not you will be able to recover from poor shots with your longer clubs.

Do not forget to spend some time hitting bunker shots too. When hitting shots out of a bunker your objective is to hit a few inches behind the ball and use a cushion of sand to lift the ball out of the bunker. Be sure to accelerate through on your downswing instead of slowing down. Chipping and hitting flop shots are another key element to the short game.

Hit chips from many different lies from bare lies to deep grass and get comfortable hitting from these tight lies. For most chips you will want the ball position to be more towards your right foot if you are a right handed player to help avoid hitting chunk shots. Also make sure to maintain a straight line between the left hand and the club through the chip shot. This will also help to avoid chunking a chip shot and will help to promote a downward blow so that your chips have more backspin and stop more quickly on the green.

Developing a good pre-shot routine is important as it will help you to stay focused both mentally and physically on each shot. There are essentially 2 components to a pre-shot routine and they are the mental routine and the physical routine. The physical routine usually varies for many players depending on the shot at hand. It may be a good idea to have some flexibility in your physical routine.

For instance in some situations you may want to spend more time taking a few more practice swings if you have an awkward stance until you feel you are ready to execute a good golf shot. The mental routine usually is consistent and stays the same for all shots. Perhaps the most important key to the mental routine is decisiveness. You must not doubt your ability to execute the golf shot at hand. Also make sure you are tightly focused on the target and not thinking about anything else like swing mechanics.

Trust your ability to execute the shot without any conscious effort from yourself like reminding yourself of all the mechanical swing tips you need to follow to hit a perfect shot. Putting is primarily a mental component to the game of golf so work on building confidence. A good tip to build greater putting confidence is to hit a lot of short putts. Since you will make most of these short putts it will help to build greater confidence and also remember that short putts can also save you a ton of strokes on the course too. Use some of these golf short game tips to develop a lower golf handicap.