flop shots great on the range but dreadfull on the course

Hi all,

I have been doing a lot of practice on flop shots over the last couple of months. The problem I am having is that on the range I am hitting about 80% of my shots well but when I am on the course I am only getting about 30% on target as the other 70% just fly past the green. Now I am wondering what could be the fault as I dont think its my swing as I have a steady tempo when doing these shots. The only thing I can think of would be the bounce on my wedge do I need to alter this?

Cheers
Mark

at the range are you on a mat or grass?
You shouldnt really be flopping off a bald lie (which is what a mat is)
You will train yourself to hit them well off the mat (which has no give) but then when you try to hit them off grass you will chunk/skin them

on the course i bet your looking up before you hit the ball. when you close to the green you get the notion to look up to see the ball flying, dont keep it down and stay steddy flop shots are hard enough to do, try it you will see what im talking about.

ONLY EVER HIT A FLOP SHOT OUT OF ROUGH!!!

Also, your most likely decelerating because your nervous, make sure u accelarate.

Im a master at the flop :-p!

Hi mate your advice on only using a flop shot from the rough is quite intresting as I have a situation on a hole at my club were the green is heavily protected by 3 bunkers and 9 times out of ten I need to pitch over these to get to the green. Hence why I am practicing flop shots because if I do a bump and run pitch. I always endup miles away from the pin and it sometimes takes me 2 or 3 putts to hole it. What would you suggest I do in this situation?

Cheers
Mark

Hi Gree

I have been hitting off grass lately but this will change for the winter and it will then be a mat.

Hi Willy,

I think you might be right about this as I am probably lifting my head up too quickly.

Cheers
Mark

Hi Mark,

I use a 60 deg wedge for these shots, if I want more height I open the face a bit and aim left of target, this creates more loft on the club.

For best results I concentrate on an early release of the wrists to ensure good acceleration, think "Dead Hands" then push the club through to a high finish.

Two very important points that have already been mentioned are to ensure you do not give in on the downswing and to keep looking at the ball position right through impact.

Hi Brain,

Cheers for the info on how I should play the shot. I think I am not doing exaclty what you say in my shots on the course and looking up staright away. I do feel that I accelerate through the ball as this has been pointed out in my lessons by my pro that I do quite often show a natural acceleration in my down swing.
Cheers for the help
Mark