Why Do I Waste Golf Shots From Inside 100 Yards? (Video) - by Natalie Adams
Why Do I Waste Golf Shots From Inside 100 Yards? (Video) - by Natalie Adams

Why do I waste shots from inside 100 yards? I think the main reason that you’ll find that you’re taking too many strokes, too many shots from inside 100 yards, is that you’re not quite sure of how to hit certain yardages under that 100 yards. You’ll avoid quite a lot on hitting full shots but you won’t have worked so much on hitting par shots, so half shots, three-quarter shots, and so you don’t know how far they make the ball go. So you’re good at hitting the ball with a full swing at 100 yards, but less than that you just don’t know how to play. So, here’s how I would approach doing that. The next time you go to the practice ground or the driving range, have a look at the flags that are out there and have a look at the yardages of the targets that are under-100 yards.

If you’re on your own practice ground, take your umbrella or maybe take two umbrellas with you and pace out to a certain yardage, so maybe to 40 yards and to 60 yards. And then open the umbrella up and stick it in the ground so you’ve got a target to now hit at. And what I’d now do is look at all the wedges you’ve got in your bag or look at the club that goes 100 yards, and then we want to apply the clubs, that club or more lofted, to start to get control of those shorter shots. So for example, play a pitching wedge, your sand iron, your lob wedge, your gap wedge if you have a gap wedge as well. For all of those, we now need to start practicing rather than just hitting full shots. We just need to maybe swing to waist-high and then strike the ball and swing through to waist-high. And I just do this so I’m just focusing on going waist-high and then through to waist-high. And I just noticed how far that ball actually travels and which club is that I’m doing it with. Then once I’ve hit about six of those and I’ve got an average for the distance that ball is going, I’m now going to work on swinging maybe up to chest-high with my hands and then through so again I’m finishing at chest-high with my hands. So there’s always a mirror image, whichever position you’re swing in on your back swing, you most equal it on your follow-through. So, now we’re going up to chest-high and through to chest-high. And the ball just travels a lit bit further with that. And again I’d hit six of those shots and notice how far the ball goes. Finally, I’m going to go up to shoulder-high so up to shoulder-high, and then through, up to shoulder-high as I finish. And again, I’m just going to notice how far that ball travels on an average of six. I’ll do that for all of my wedges, and then I’ll note down how far I hit each of those clubs with those different swing positions. When I’m now out on the course, and I know the yardage into the green that’s under 100 yards, I know how to play that shot, I’m going to get a lot more accurate and stop wasting shots.
2014-05-21

Why do I waste shots from inside 100 yards? I think the main reason that you’ll find that you’re taking too many strokes, too many shots from inside 100 yards, is that you’re not quite sure of how to hit certain yardages under that 100 yards. You’ll avoid quite a lot on hitting full shots but you won’t have worked so much on hitting par shots, so half shots, three-quarter shots, and so you don’t know how far they make the ball go. So you’re good at hitting the ball with a full swing at 100 yards, but less than that you just don’t know how to play. So, here’s how I would approach doing that. The next time you go to the practice ground or the driving range, have a look at the flags that are out there and have a look at the yardages of the targets that are under-100 yards.

If you’re on your own practice ground, take your umbrella or maybe take two umbrellas with you and pace out to a certain yardage, so maybe to 40 yards and to 60 yards. And then open the umbrella up and stick it in the ground so you’ve got a target to now hit at. And what I’d now do is look at all the wedges you’ve got in your bag or look at the club that goes 100 yards, and then we want to apply the clubs, that club or more lofted, to start to get control of those shorter shots. So for example, play a pitching wedge, your sand iron, your lob wedge, your gap wedge if you have a gap wedge as well. For all of those, we now need to start practicing rather than just hitting full shots. We just need to maybe swing to waist-high and then strike the ball and swing through to waist-high. And I just do this so I’m just focusing on going waist-high and then through to waist-high. And I just noticed how far that ball actually travels and which club is that I’m doing it with.

Then once I’ve hit about six of those and I’ve got an average for the distance that ball is going, I’m now going to work on swinging maybe up to chest-high with my hands and then through so again I’m finishing at chest-high with my hands. So there’s always a mirror image, whichever position you’re swing in on your back swing, you most equal it on your follow-through. So, now we’re going up to chest-high and through to chest-high. And the ball just travels a lit bit further with that. And again I’d hit six of those shots and notice how far the ball goes. Finally, I’m going to go up to shoulder-high so up to shoulder-high, and then through, up to shoulder-high as I finish. And again, I’m just going to notice how far that ball travels on an average of six. I’ll do that for all of my wedges, and then I’ll note down how far I hit each of those clubs with those different swing positions. When I’m now out on the course, and I know the yardage into the green that’s under 100 yards, I know how to play that shot, I’m going to get a lot more accurate and stop wasting shots.