Feel On Short Golf Shots Is Crucial (Video) - by Pete Styles
Feel On Short Golf Shots Is Crucial (Video) - by Pete Styles

I often feel an underrated part of selecting the right golf ball for someone’s game is how it works around the green. You know we had an awful lot of shots around the green, bunker shots, chip shots, and putts. Yet a lot of people consider which golf ball is best for them, purely by how far it flies and how it feels off the drive up. So I think when you’re around the green, you should start to appreciate the difference between a hard and a soft feel in the golf ball. So when you bounce the ball up on the club face, you’ll be able to hear it make a noise.

You can also feel it vibrating through the shaft, and I think for lots of golfers, particularly chipping, putting, and bunker shots, we’d like to feel a softer impact and a softer feel off the club face and almost a softer noise as well. So what I would suggest is if you’re considering changing from one brand to another, is get yourself a few of each type of golf ball, sleeve of three or box of 12, whatever it might be. And try hitting different shots with different clubs. So if we initially started with the chipping approach, we’d stand 10/15 yards off the side of the green, we’d go ahead and chip 10 balls onto the green with each, with each different round of golf ball with the sandwich and just notice how that ball reacts when it lands on the green, does it land and spin, does it, land and shoot off. Also notice how it feels off the club face, do you like the feel, do you like the softness, the sound, the contact point is quite important. Then try and repeat the same exercise in a bunker, how does the ball react when you play the bunker shots, and then go on take some putts, and vary the length of the putt, particularly focus on the short putt, for three and six footers. We want to be able to rattle those in nice and confidently, but if the feel on the club face and the sound on the club face of the putter, isn’t to your liking, there is almost a sense that when you’re hitting those putts, you’d almost be wincing and backing away from the putt because you don’t feel confident nailing it in the middle of the hole. So consider getting the two different brands of golf ball, maybe different compressions, maybe different distance or spin ratios related to those golf balls. Try them out, chipping, bunkers and putting and make sure that they sure game, feel and sound in control as an active part of your buying decisions when you’re considering which golf ball brand to go for.
2015-11-03

I often feel an underrated part of selecting the right golf ball for someone’s game is how it works around the green. You know we had an awful lot of shots around the green, bunker shots, chip shots, and putts. Yet a lot of people consider which golf ball is best for them, purely by how far it flies and how it feels off the drive up. So I think when you’re around the green, you should start to appreciate the difference between a hard and a soft feel in the golf ball. So when you bounce the ball up on the club face, you’ll be able to hear it make a noise.

You can also feel it vibrating through the shaft, and I think for lots of golfers, particularly chipping, putting, and bunker shots, we’d like to feel a softer impact and a softer feel off the club face and almost a softer noise as well. So what I would suggest is if you’re considering changing from one brand to another, is get yourself a few of each type of golf ball, sleeve of three or box of 12, whatever it might be. And try hitting different shots with different clubs. So if we initially started with the chipping approach, we’d stand 10/15 yards off the side of the green, we’d go ahead and chip 10 balls onto the green with each, with each different round of golf ball with the sandwich and just notice how that ball reacts when it lands on the green, does it land and spin, does it, land and shoot off.

Also notice how it feels off the club face, do you like the feel, do you like the softness, the sound, the contact point is quite important. Then try and repeat the same exercise in a bunker, how does the ball react when you play the bunker shots, and then go on take some putts, and vary the length of the putt, particularly focus on the short putt, for three and six footers. We want to be able to rattle those in nice and confidently, but if the feel on the club face and the sound on the club face of the putter, isn’t to your liking, there is almost a sense that when you’re hitting those putts, you’d almost be wincing and backing away from the putt because you don’t feel confident nailing it in the middle of the hole.

So consider getting the two different brands of golf ball, maybe different compressions, maybe different distance or spin ratios related to those golf balls. Try them out, chipping, bunkers and putting and make sure that they sure game, feel and sound in control as an active part of your buying decisions when you’re considering which golf ball brand to go for.