Stephanie Shaw
If there’s anything the pros really excel at, it’s scrambling.
Despite the extremely low scores the pros shoot day in and day out, their shots are often far from perfect, yet they are still often able to turn bad shots and foul shots into pars and birdies.
The good news? Recreational gamers can do the same! You can also turn a day of mistakes into a good run.
how? Remember: you don’t always have to hit the ball well to score well! I’ve had many rounds where, even I didn’t hit good shots, strong alignment allowed me to “knock the ball wrong” to the right points and get through. Here are three ways to help you do the same.
1. Stand behind the ball
Your eyes are not intended to see the world tilted to the side. What I mean by this is that new golfers like to sit on the ball and then look over their shoulder to try to align themselves. This isn’t always ideal. I recommend creating a pre-shot routine where you ideally walk behind the ball after your practice swing to get a good right-side up view of where you need to go. Good players walk behind their golf ball in their pre-putt routine, which means you should, too!
2. Aim small, small miss
I often find that my students will choose a distant tree or an object in the driveway as their aiming point. But I’m here to tell you, the closer the target, the better. While standing behind the ball and choosing a target to line up with, choose something no more than six inches in front of the ball. It could be a patch of grass, dirt, or a patch of land that aligns with your end goal. Even if the lane is perfect, you can always find it something.
3. Set the club interface first
The club is your tool and your setup should always be built around it. These are words to live by in the world of golf. Once you’ve set a target by standing behind your golf ball, approach the ball from the side and set club face down first. Once the face is set, you can then step with your feet to make sure that your shoulders, hips, and feet are aligned with the racquet face.
Try these tips the next day of hard hitting – and enjoy the results.
Stephanie Shaw is the Teaching Professional at Ocean Reef Golf Club in Key Largo, Florida. For more advice from Shaw, click here.