The Short Game's Four Basic Shots

As varied as the short game can be, you can simplify it by learning just four shots that will cover over 80 percent of the short shots you have to hit. The foundation of anybody's short game is a set of stock shots that can be relied on to cover the short game situations that you come across most often.

Starting at greenside, and working away from the hole in several yardage zones, what I call the Four Basic Shots of the short game can make your short game start producing pars where you used to be getting bogeys and doubles.

The first shot is the greenside chip, played from greenside to about six feet at most off the edge of the green. The distances I suggest for these shots are rough guidelines that depend on how the course you play on is set up. The second shot is played from greenside to about twenty-five yards. It is designed to get the ball over turf, land on the green, and run to the hole. I call it the Air Chip.

Next is a shot played from twenty to fifty yards, that dreaded distance everybody says is so difficult to play from. The shot I call the Hard Chip makes shots from this zone a cinch. Finally, there is the Standard Pitch, to be played from fifty yards and out.

These shots are really all you need to have to play the short game from a good lie. They are all fully explained in my book, Better Recreational Golf. Descriptions tell you how to set up, how to hit the shot, when to use the shot, and how to practice it at home and at the range.

Golf season is in full swing and I hope you're getting out to play as often as you want to. Knowing these four shots puts the certainty into your game that when faced with any standard short game situation from the fairway, you'll know what to do to keep your score down were you want it to be.

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