Learn To Master Club Selection To (Video) - by Pete Styles
Learn To Master Club Selection To (Video) - by Pete Styles

If you are regularly fatting the golf ball on the course, try and see if there is a pattern to when the fat shots happen and why the fat shots happen and I’ll let you into a little secret, there is a pattern that I already see when I'm out with my clients playing on the course that will often precede them hitting the fat shot. It happens when the golfer stands back behind the ball looking down their target line and they can’t accurately select the right club. So already, there is a bit of doubt in their mind about the club they’ve got and we see two issues here.

One is that the golfer takes the club they think is too much club, so it’s too big a club. They are still between a 7 and an 8, 7-8, 7-8, they take the 7, it’s more a club than they think they actually need. The problem there is deceleration. So the golfer sets up to the ball, already they’ve got doubt in their mind, they are not happy they’ve got the right club and they slow down slightly. Generally, as the golfer slows down in their swing, they might even squat down into the golf ball a little bit too much, no commitment, they fat the ball and it doesn’t go fully the right distance towards the flag. The opposite end of the scale sometimes happens as well. They are thinking 7-iron, 8-iron, 7-iron, 8-iron, so they pull the 8-iron out. This time, they are thinking I really need to hammer this, I really need to hit this hard to get it to go to the green. They then go ahead, make a swing that’s got too much power, they are out of balance, they are not swinging within control and again, they could fat the ball meaning that as the club hits the ground, the ball doesn’t go full distance and is short of the green. So you can over-club and still fat the ball, you can under-club and still fat the ball. So I think the process here really needs to be, if you’ve made that club decision, stick to that club decision and swing with confidence because even if it is the wrong club, it’s only going to be five to ten yards past the flag and if it’s the wrong club and it’s short, it’s only going to be five to ten yards short of the flag as long as you are in the right ballpark with your original suggestions. Worst-case scenario, you pick a club even if it’s the wrong club, you then don’t commit to it, or you try and swing it too hard, you then don’t strike it and the strike will be far worse than five to ten yards long or short the flag. The strike might knock you straight into the pond or the bunker in front of you. So when you’ve chosen your correct club, commit to that club, swing smoothly but with commitment and hopefully that will give you a shot that gets a better contact and isn’t so fat and that shot should get you on the green. 2016-08-22

If you are regularly fatting the golf ball on the course, try and see if there is a pattern to when the fat shots happen and why the fat shots happen and I’ll let you into a little secret, there is a pattern that I already see when I'm out with my clients playing on the course that will often precede them hitting the fat shot. It happens when the golfer stands back behind the ball looking down their target line and they can’t accurately select the right club. So already, there is a bit of doubt in their mind about the club they’ve got and we see two issues here.

One is that the golfer takes the club they think is too much club, so it’s too big a club. They are still between a 7 and an 8, 7-8, 7-8, they take the 7, it’s more a club than they think they actually need. The problem there is deceleration. So the golfer sets up to the ball, already they’ve got doubt in their mind, they are not happy they’ve got the right club and they slow down slightly. Generally, as the golfer slows down in their swing, they might even squat down into the golf ball a little bit too much, no commitment, they fat the ball and it doesn’t go fully the right distance towards the flag.

The opposite end of the scale sometimes happens as well. They are thinking 7-iron, 8-iron, 7-iron, 8-iron, so they pull the 8-iron out. This time, they are thinking I really need to hammer this, I really need to hit this hard to get it to go to the green. They then go ahead, make a swing that’s got too much power, they are out of balance, they are not swinging within control and again, they could fat the ball meaning that as the club hits the ground, the ball doesn’t go full distance and is short of the green.

So you can over-club and still fat the ball, you can under-club and still fat the ball. So I think the process here really needs to be, if you’ve made that club decision, stick to that club decision and swing with confidence because even if it is the wrong club, it’s only going to be five to ten yards past the flag and if it’s the wrong club and it’s short, it’s only going to be five to ten yards short of the flag as long as you are in the right ballpark with your original suggestions.

Worst-case scenario, you pick a club even if it’s the wrong club, you then don’t commit to it, or you try and swing it too hard, you then don’t strike it and the strike will be far worse than five to ten yards long or short the flag. The strike might knock you straight into the pond or the bunker in front of you.

So when you’ve chosen your correct club, commit to that club, swing smoothly but with commitment and hopefully that will give you a shot that gets a better contact and isn’t so fat and that shot should get you on the green.