needed to play last 3 holes in +1 to break 80, drove it on the short 16th to 20 or so yards. Tight lie, drain in the way, said F it, putted over drain, ball popped straight up in the air, left 10 footer for birdie from the fringe. Almost made it, tapped in for par.

Worst possible thing happened, and i tapped in from an inch, parred the last 2 for a 78. instead of blading a wedge and making double. screw chipping. (on 15, chipped to a foot for key par).

If your going to play decent golf you need to be prepared to chip or putt from the fringe. Sometimes ill putt from 10' from the green other times ill chip from 2'

It all depends on how far the pin is from you, is the green firm and fast or soft and slow? what slopes you have to contend with, wind direction etc etc.

be prepared for any situation and you will see your scores come down.

I recently became obsessed with a flop shot I learned and I was incorrectly using it every chance I got. Just finally realized I should probably be putting in 60% of these situations.

For the record, 95% of the time, unless you're low single-digits or better, you should not attempt the flop shot. It's a tough shot for a professional, just think how hard it is to execute for the average golfer.

BO

Yeah after trying several dozen flop shots, I discovered that it is a fake shot. It doesn't exist. The professionals are just hitting a regular shot and the TV station uses camera tricks to make it look different to hype up how good the players are on the PGA tour. Don't try it. It only leads to pain and suffering.


cliff notes: there is no flop shot

I hit flops pretty well when practicing but I'm always afraid to try it on the course. I only use it if it's the only option, which is rare. I should really learn to use it more though since my new home course has punch bowl green and my old course had crowns.

I take my 60 and choke to near the bottom of the grip, open the clubface as much as possible, open my stance. Feet close together, weight 95% on front foot and keep my lower body as still as I can during the swing. Don't be afraid to accellerate through the ball. No idea if that is entirely right but it seems to work.

Pretty sure it will help you to allow your body to rotate/turn forward as when you don't turn forward, the club tends to release. Of course, this is just how I'm reading it in text and how I'd explain it in text.

If you're hitting it too far (but you can tell you're hitting it properly), shorten your backswing. The follow through will be much longer than the backswing on these...

Sorry for the scattered thoughts ITT I'm not used to writing my descriptions and I tend to get a bit terse as this is one area of golf that I really know my stuff. I grew up playing tennis and hit a 1 handed slice backhand so flop shots/bunker shots have come very naturally to me. I just imagine carving the same spin on a golf ball and my body immediately creates the positions to make it happen. In fact to do this description I had to pick up a club and piece it together backwards. ie imagine the shot, go to hit it and then see what I'm doing

The bolded above is all wrong for a true flop shot imo. For a true flop shot a few factors have to be present. Very shallow club entry with a slightly open face. Enough grass under the ball to slide your wedge without the bounce striking the ground. ie you cannot hit a flop shot off of pavement otherwise it's really just a perfect pitch. What you are trying to do is have the ball slide up the clubface slightly and by opening the face you are somewhat negating the effects of the gooves and allowing the ball to slide up the clubface with the contact point ideally being above center.. The best flop shots are hit in the "top of the clubface". Try to imagine sliding the clubface all the way under the ball until the ball contacts the top of the clubface.

1) A wider stance is vital to create the shallow entry. A narrow stance steepens your entry and will lower trajectory and increase the margin for error.

2) Knees need to be flexed and moving forward through the shot. This is the key to a successful flop allowing for shallow entry and wide swing bottom.

3) Ball pos. is forward of center but not too far.

If you want to play with it, the ultimate flops occur when you unhinge your wrists and let the clubhead move ahead of the hands just slightly before impact. Bottom line is you need to learn how to slide your open face wedge right under the ball with less and and less grass under the ball. You will soon learn your threshold and can work from there. Same reason I recommend practicing chips and pitches off of as flat a surface as possible.

When I read the title I thought "I couldn't agree more"

1 in 30 ehhh ur not really an amateur. Some ppl I've saw play are going to struggle way harder than that chipping. I feel there is way less room for error when putting opposed to chipping

I think if you duff the chip much more than that, you should definitely putt it 100% of the time.

On the other hand, again--a duffed chip equals three stroke almost definitely. A mediocre putt still yields a fair amount of two's.

Hm.

Well, it's time to eat humble pie.

I played a practice round on Sunday and putted from the fringe or just off, and all finished up within 4 foot of the hole. (6 out 6).

Chipping I would have been happy with say 3-4 out of six within 4 foot but all within 6-8 foot.

Further back from the greenI think I would still chip rather than putt to take out risk of bad bounce / caught up in grass etc, but I will definetly lean towards putting when I can now that I have practiced it a few times.

I also feel that the doc's practice rountine has helped here for in the past I could not lag putt to save myself and now I am getting better in this area I guess I have more confidence to putt.

Cheers

Steve