Help with de-acceleration

As you might remember from previous posts, my short game is really suffering this "season".

I pretty much know how to play the shots, for example last year I was regularly 30ppr or less not because I'm a great putter but because I was chipping and pitching reasonably close.

At the moment I'm all over the place and I think its a confidence issue making me quit (and peek) on the shot. Any ideas, other than practice?

hi
put a tee peg about two inch in front of the ball and have about 1/2 inch of the tee showing and swing and try and take the ball and the tee peg. this helps you follow through when when only trying to hit the ball 20 feet.
cheers
bill

Are your hands in front of the ball through the shot? This will make you accelerate through because you will still be on a descending angle and it is hard to stop gravity. Play the ball back a bit too. Shoulder rock back and through and get the hands out of the shot as much as you can...only use them in the extream cases where you have to have lots of height and a short run length.

To me, there are a few points that can help, Firstly for the chips around the green, think "soft hands" and go through the ball. Also, as greg says, ball position is vital relevant to distance. Hands in front for the chip and run.

Hi Robin.

Most of us have been through a spell of this. What helped me was to ensure my follow through with pitch and chips was always longer than my backswing. Even when making a short chip take the club back a short distance but finish with high hands. Duffed shots almost always have a short jabby follow through.

Hey Robin. Seeing as you say you already know how to hit these shots, tend to agree with you that this could just be a confidence thing. This is where selective memory becomes a powerful ally. Where possible, you should try to remember only all the great chips & pitches you've hit before & simply forget all the bad ones... And of course, a little practice helps... Good luck in getting back to your previous 30ppr and under average... Cheers...

hi bdbl first of all make sure sure you use your pivot as a means to control distance ,,,not your hands ,,,your hands are what they call fast titch muscle and are small and not dependable under pressure " ever hear of the yips"once you get the ahng of using your pivot as a means to control distance ,is a lot easier with all the different clubs you use . When your on the course use the edge of the green to mark your landing point and use different clubs to reach were the pin is EG to edge of green is 8 yds ,,from there pin is 16 yds. that means you have to carry the ball 1/3 the distance and roll 2/3 .,,,,could be a gap wedge or PW depending on how you sritke the ball . the main thing is to get the ball rolling as sonn as possible. for my clubs 60degree means 60% carry 40% ,,,,,56 degree 50%carry 50% roll 52 degree 1/3 carry 2/3's roll PW 25%carry 75% roll . these all depend on slope , green speed and distance . when you try and chip say 40 yards with a 60degree you know the ball will checj because you have left the chip shot and now are pitching the ball . above all practice using the pivot to chip not your hands .I take the club back with my shoulders and pivot the belly button first to on my way back , relax the hands and let them follow the momentum you have created using your pivot . good luck dagoos

All of the above are excellent advice.

Key points: hands leading, pivot with the chest turning with the arms, soft hands, short backswing and accelerate with a longer followthrough.

I like dagoos' thoughts about the landing area and runout formulae.

I've lately been keying on keeping the right wrist bent throughout the swing. This solidifies the wrists and the hands led through the strike, so you are hitting down and through the ball, which Bill's tee idea promotes. I end up with the face of the clubhead pointing somewhat skyward, if I keep my body pivoting with the arms in front of the body, and with this bent wrist. This seems to give true trajectory and direction, because the loft and alignment of the face is stabilized and down the line at impact, i.e. not hooded to point to the ground, not rolling over, not fanned open or closed.

Ball is hit solidly, and with higher lofted clubs the ball will check up, so you do not have to be afraid of accelerating through impact. I think that is what causes the yips in chipping. You get scared about hitting the ball past the hole.

Ted

Thanks everyone, some good thoughts and advice.

hi Ted
i think you make a good point when you say:- "The ball is hit solidly. with the high lofted clubs then the ball will check up."
i think that is where a lot of people go wrong. the don't have the confidence the ball will check and it puts doubt in there minds and they think it might not check and start to de-accelerate during the shot.
you need to have confidence in the shot and that comes with putting in the pratice time and seeing that you can play the shot repeatedly.
cheers
Bill

I'm always surprised how aggressive you can be with a chip using your GW,SW,or LW.They will fly higher the harder you hit them but chipping is all about a nice even tempo.
I struggled with chipping from the off when I started golf,I was always too quick on the backswing a problem in my full swing too until the start of this year when I just concentrated on being smooth in the takeaway.
I would be fast back and almost twice as slow going through.
Fixed it by having a follow through longer than my backswing so I accelerated on the downswing.In fact I would say what ruins a chip more than any other technical flaw is not commiting yourself to hit through the ball at impact which contributes to too slow of a downswing

__________________
"Repetition is the chariot of genius"

What a strange game this is.

Just over a week since my worst round of the year - just about staying in double figures - I got out yesterday for a quick 9 holes and without hitting the ball particularly well off the tee turned in a four over 39.

After all the pain I've been suffering with my short game it came back with a vengeance chipping and pitching close enough to record 5 single putt greens in a total of 13 putts - and I'm embarrassed to say that included carelessly missing a 2 footer on the 9th.

Anyway, many thanks to everyone who has offered short game advice and encouragement over the past few months and apologies for the "very pleased with myself" tone to this post but dammit all I am pleased

Just got to crack the OTT pull with the driver and I'll be well away...

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The main idea in golf as in life I suppose, is to learn to accept what cannot be altered and to keep on doing ones own reasoned and resolute best whether the prospect be bleak or rosy. Bobby Jones