August 25, 2023 • 33 mins
PGA Instructor Chris Fry goes into depth about various pitch shots around the green, the ratio of air:ground that you should calculate before your shot and how visualizing the shot before committing to the shot increases your chances for success. We also discuss what it is about Dixon Golf’s eco-friendly golf balls that appeal to his game and how a golfer can select a ball that will compliment theirs.
Originally published as episode 317 of Golf Smarter on January 24, 2012
Originally published as episode 317 of Golf Smarter on January 24, 2012
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, yoursecond chance to gain insight and advice from
the best instructors featured on the GolfSmarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction never gets
old. Our interview library features hundredsof hours of game improvement conversations like this
(00:20):
that are no longer available in anypodcast app. The sweet spot on a
sixty degree is a lot smaller becauseit's so open. The degree of loft
is so high that the sweet spotactually shrinks. So I recommend sixty for
my lower handicapper, better player,but I recommend the sand wedge for those
higher handicappers that need that bigger sweetspot. Then from there the stance is
(00:41):
a little open. And the reasonI like the stance to be open is
I like to put weight on thefront foot, which is the lead foot.
My case, I'm a right handigolfer, so I put about seventy percent
of my weight on my left footand I keep it there. Having my
open stance and my weight on myleft foot promotes a sharper angle of attack
into the golf ball. That's upperangle is what's going to give us the
height and the spin to pull offthe shot. With another interview from the
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archives of Golf Smarter. Here's yourhost, Fred Green. Welcome to Golf
Smarter, Chris, Hey, thanksfor having me. Fred. I'm honored
to have you because I've been readingyour materials and watching your YouTube videos and
I was very excited to get youon the show. Awesome, no glad
to be here, Fred, andI love pumping out that content. Clearly
(01:26):
you do because you have a lotof it, and you're not. I
wouldn't call you a senior citizen.You're not. You've not been around that
long, but you have a lotof content you've developed. Yes, that
is true. The first thing usuallymy students say is how old are you?
So I'm used to that and uh, And what I can tell them
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is I may be young, butI have a ton of experience, especially
in learning the golf swing and beingable to communicate it effectively. And that's
that's basically what I've based my wholecareer on. Since I was probably sixteen
seventeen years old, I knew thisis what I wanted to do. Awesome,
So you've been playing golf your wholelife and at some point you realized
that that, Yeah, I thinkI should be a teacher, because the
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pro circuit is just yes, youhad to be dreaming about the pro circuit
at some point. I did.In fact, in high school. This
is kind of where it all started. I was struggling to play. My
coach left town. So what Idid was I looked at the top hundred
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list of instructors in the country andjust started emailing every single one within you
know, a four hour drive.I had a few that responded, and
the one that I ended up withwas Craig Bunker. He was a top
hundred at the time for John Jacob'sgolf schools up at Cammellback. I was
in Tucson, so I wasn't quiteold enough to drive. I convinced my
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parents to start to take me upthere at least twice a month just to
work with this guy, and myparents jumped on board and and Craig and
I we grew really close, evenour families grew close together. And when
it came to looking at colleges,Craig was confident he could help me get
some scholarships and keep going towards thatpro route. But I ended up really
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liking what I saw Craig doing.On a day in a day out basis.
So I said, mister Bunker,I want to teach and I want
you to help me with that.So he ended up hooking me up with
the Arizona State University Professional Golf ManagementProgram. So that's kind of how I
started my teaching. I knew thatI actually liked teaching a lot more than
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playing, and I thought I hada knack for it, especially being around
Craig for so long. Are wejust going to gloss over the fact that
your teacher's name was Bunker, youknow? And he has a brother too.
That is a really good bunker instructor. Oh no, come on,
Bunker the Bunker Instructor. Oh yeah, definitely, what a what a slogan,
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right, I gotta get him onthe show. Just I just want
to say, so, this isBunker the Bunker Instructor. Yes, sir,
that's a that's a great name.And when you said mister Bunker,
I think I said miss your bunker. Yes, we missed your bunker.
That is the goal, right,always enough of the frivolity here, So
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well, awesome, good for you, and I'm and I'm glad that you
are teaching and that you have apassion for it, because that's we're always
looking for passionate instructors who who havethe experience and know what they're talking about.
But you're also taking advantage of yourwriting skills, and you've been doing
it for Dixon Golf. I've beenreading your stuff in their Dickson newsletters.
(04:41):
Yes, are you also a userof the Dickson golf balls? You know,
I have to say I am.I'm a user of the Dickson golf
balls. The Dixon belt buckles,hats everything. But I do have to
say the fireball is probably one ofthe best balls I've ever played. I
you know, I'm not going toargue with that. It seems I play
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the earth ball all the time,Okay. And they sent me a couple
of promotional of the fireballs, becauseyou know, this is eighty bucks a
box. This is not an inexpensivegolf ball, so I'm not gonna be
buying them, but they send mesome, and I'm telling you, every
time I pull one out of mybag, I have lower scores. I
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don't know what it is about thisball, but I always play better with
that golf ball. I think Ithink it has a lot to do with
you realize if you lose this ball, you're losing a few bucks. So
that's the thing about Dixon golf balls. I never feel guilty about losing them.
I mean the friendly thing, Andthat's why I suppose I really loved
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the Dixon golf ball product for whatit does on the golf course. But
the fact that it's an eco friendlygolf ball is why I have it on
golf smarter dot com and promoting it. And even if somebody joins golf Smarter,
they can get some a box ofballs discounted with the golf Smarter logo.
And you know, I just think, if with a billion golf balls
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lost each year, why send allthese harsh metals into the into the land,
you know, out out into therough and into the water. And
it's just it's a great product,and they play comparable to titless balls and
to to the bridgetone balls that Iused to play. No, I agree
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they the common misconception with these Dicksonballs because I've been I've been out on
the field with Dicks in quite abit, uh doing contests, doing beat
the pro events, is everybody comesup and says, what are these biodegradable?
No, they're not they're not.That's the first question everybody asks.
Exactly the beauty of it is theythey're made out of materials that are easily
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recyclable, which you probably know,and they're doing great things with them.
My students, we're on a programwhere they can recycle golf balls by giving
them to me. I bring themdown to Dixon, and then they get
a credit towards their next purchase ofDixon golf balls. Then Dixon will take
those balls and uh and turn theminto the rubber on playgrounds and good good
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things like that. So they're keepingthose balls pumping through and putting them into
good use after they have been recycled. I've got to believe that you've played
a lot with the prov ones.Yes, pro V one X is my
ball before the Dixon fireball. Oh, you cut yourself? And how do
they compare to one another? Becausepersonally, and I don't know why,
I'm the only person that's ever noticedthis, I will not play a golf
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ball that stands for provisional. OhI like that? You know, how
can you how can you call agolf ball pro V to me that just
says provisional? Okay, go losethis because you have to buy some more.
But I know that people, evenplayers who shouldn't be There's two things
these players shouldn't be doing. Theyshouldn't be playing prov ones and they shouldn't
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be playing from the back tis,but they think they can, right.
What is it about those prov onesthat that makes people think that, Well,
I just said I play better withthe fireball. I just think so
many tour pros and those commercials withthose titlists. I play pro v one
X, I play pro v oneI think the common you know, thing
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that public golfers will do is say, oh, well, I should probably
play that if the best in theworld are playing that, But that's typically
not the case. You need tobe fit for your golf ball to maximize
ball flight distance. You know,rolls spend things like that. I do
want to say, though, thefireball reacts just as good as a prov
one X, but it seems softerand the cover is stickier, so I
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feel like around the greens I evenhave more control, So, if not
better the fireball is off the tee, it definitely beats the prov one X
around the green. Wow, that'sa back of an endorsement. You said
something we frequently on this program,we'll talk about getting fitted for golf club
You talked about getting fitted for golfballs. Yes, definitely, there's a
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there's a a lot of good systems, and I know Dixon's working on one
two to get fit for golf balls. But you don't need to go the
in depth route on all these specifics. It's just we can just really by
getting your swing speed, we canreally fit a decent ball towards that swing
speed. Based on the layers ofthe golf ball, the compression and things
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like that. What will the playingthe wrong golf ball due to your game?
A lot of times, if yourswing speed is slower than it should
be and you're playing pro v oneX, you're not gonna be able to
compress all those layers on that golfball, So really you're not going to
get that trampoline effect off your clubface in turn losing distance. Dixon has
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three balls. They have, yes, the wind which is their extreme distance
ball, their earth ball, whichis what I gets they call their tournament
quality ball, Yes, and thefire which is their top of the line,
top of the market ball. Idon't know what the official term is
for the fireball, and how dothey compare if you're playing the wrong ball.
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I understand if you're if you're youshouldn't be playing the prov one of
the fireball, you're not going toget what you want out of it.
But how do you determine which isthe correct ball on the other side,
you know, for the average player. So for the average player, And
I've done a few uh ball fittingsfor Dixon over at the PGA Tour superstorem
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and really what I asked them firstis what do you want your ball to
do? And the first thing alot of people say is I want distance.
So then I immediately think wind ball. If I see their swing speed
is you know, one hundred pluswith the driver, then I might say,
well, let's look at the fireball. Let's let's talk about you know,
your handicap if you're more advanced.But distance is the wind ball for
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sure. Earth ball, like yousaid, is more of the tournament caliber
golf ball those guys that maybe aren'tquite close to scratch. And that's kind
of what I'll fit them into ifthey want to say that they want more
control of the golf ball, theywant to shape it a little bit better,
because what that ball is going todo with the dimple pattern in the
way it's built, is it's goingto react a little bit more off the
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club face in terms of the spin. But the wind for those guys that
just want playing distance, isn't goingto react with much side spin, So
you're gonna hit it a little bitstraighter, but it's also going to feel
a little bit more solid. It'sgonna be a little bit more firmer,
and it's gonna rock it off theclub face, especially for those slower clubhead
speed guys. And that's on maybefourteen of your shots over around. And
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these are the people who are generallyshooting in the nineties and above, Yes,
exactly, and they're talking about fourteenshots off the driver. They want
the distance, But then okay,say you get that extra what five yards?
What kind of distance? Edition areyou going to get out of that
proper fitting? And don't quote meon this, but I've I've I don't
have to. You're saying you're righthere on good point. I mean,
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I've seen guys with the with thewind get upwards of like ten to fifteen
yards per drive. But keep inmind it's going to relay into the fairway
too. If you have the correctfitting ball, especially the wind for distance
from the fairway, you're going toget more distance out of your irons and
your fairway woods as well, justbecause like I said, that sidespin's not
going to be there. The ballis not going to be a soft so
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it is going to have that rocketeffect off of off of the club face.
So look, let's look at thisfor in another way, you get
Let's say you get ten to fifteenmore yards out of out of one ball
from the next. Now you've gotone hundred and sixty five yards instead of
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one hundred and sixty five you haveone hundred and fifty yards in to the
to the green. Okay, Sonow and doesn't matter you're hitting your your
six iron instead of your five irontype of situation. Now we need to
get more accurate, right, distancedoesn't matter on that second shot, does
it? And does? And thenwe get to the green and you got
to start putting. Do you wanta rock hardball that gives you more distance
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when you're putting? It depends ifI'd say ninety percent of the time.
No, But the it's a giveor take. I mean, if nobody's
looking throw that ball out, taketake a new one in your pocket,
and put it on the green.No, I'm just kidding, but maybe
you're not supposed to carry two ballsin your pocket at all time. Wait
a minute, if you're, Ifyou start, I do only because to
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me it's like, well, ifI have one in my pocket, then
I'm not going to lose this one. See I'm the opposite. If you
have, I don't let any ofmy clients have two balls in their pockets.
If if you pull one out,you have to be confident enough that
you're not gonna lose it. You'regonna hit the fairway, You're gonna hit
the green. That safety net feelingof oh I've got another ball in my
pocket does not breed confidence at all. Okay, you've convinced me I am
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not from now. Well for thenext couple rounds, I am not gonna
have two balls in my pocket.I'm only gonna have one. At least
give it a shot. Yeah,you know, I've been doing it for
such a long time and never eventhought. No one's even suggested it to
me that, well, don't dothat, no way, never never even
thought of it. So yeah,so, so the distance thing you know.
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I go out to the driving range. I see guys, just bring
a driver. That's the first clubthey start swinging. It's like, what
are you doing? Oh gosh,don't even get me started about that.
Yeah, and it and it goesback to a show we did recently with
the folks from score Golf. Hesaid, give me ten yards ten feet
closer over ten yards farther, everyday of the week. Oh that's a
great quote. Well they use itso you could go to score golf dot
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com and check them out because youmade you should actually go look at their
wedges. They have these score Golfforty one sixty one wedges that uh huh.
Too much of a commercial today,Fred, Okay, so let's listen.
I think it brings us to anarticle of yours that I read online
about perfect pitch. And now thatwe've got our our extreme distance, now
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that we've hit the ball so far, we're still short of the green by
five to ten, fifteen twenty yardsand the flag is in a precarious position
because of the slant and all theundulation on this green, and the goal
is one pipe, right. Wewant to we want to get the ball
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as close as we can from offthe green, so all we have to
do is tap it in, justa little kick in. And I'm telling
you it's the hard it's it's harderthan driving. I agree. I definitely
agree, and it's more important inmost cases. It can save you,
it can save you those high scores, but it also it can also give
you those birdie attempts. And Ithink you're playing partners would be far more
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impressed if you can get it nearthe pin then if you can get it
past them on the on the teabox. No, I definitely agree with
that, and that's why we havea setup where we where we do our
lessons. We have these boxes thatare about a foot wide of an opening
that are placed ten twenty thirty allthe way up to one hundred and twenty
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yards all over the driving range andhidden spots because this is where we can
always lower handicaps, no matter ifthe driver's off or not. We're going
to lower handicaps if we can getyou to be laser like with those distances.
Let's pretend right now we're five yardsoff the green. There is a
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it's not short grass between here andthere. There's a little bit of rough,
so we can't put it from there, which usually what is that called
the Texas wedge? Sometimes you wantto put from there, and that's not
a terrible thing, I would thinkfor most amateurs. But you've got a
thick grass and a sprinkler head inthe way between you and the green,
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right, But yes, the pinis only it's a red pin and you're
on the front, so you've gota short distance to get onto the green.
But you have to get it inthe air, and you have a
short distance for the ball to geton the green and to the pin.
It is it for me? Well, I get terrified of this shot.
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Help me? How am I goingto get better with that shot? First
of all, Fred, what areyou doing in a in a spot like
that? I mean, we gotto learn how to miss the ball in
the right spots and then we'll gofrom there. But well, I'm trying
to hit my shot to the green. I mishit it and I end up
short of the green. And frankly, I've seen that on the golf channel.
I've seen the pros do that.Oh gosh, yes, especially especially
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when you're pin hunting and you havethat green light and you're feeling good and
then you know, you miss hitthe shot and it comes up a little
short. You're left with a shotlike that. So you're telling me I
should just go for the middle ofthe green every time. Don't go pin
hunting. It depends. But Ihave a solution. So you're in this
position. I did an article forPJA dot com a while back when there
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were the PGA Tours at the AccentureMatch played down in Tucson, and those
greens are just really difficult. Sowhen you're in a situation like that,
you do three things. The firstthing is pick your trajectory. So,
like you said, there's some thickgrass, we can't go low. So
the next step is can we gomedium? And that just means a medium
trajectory at the pin. And thenif you can't go medium, then you
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go high. That's if you're goingover a bunker to tucked pin things like
that. Most often low is theway to go, but this situation,
it seems like medium is what we'lldo. So what I want you to
do is think about how you canproduce a medium shot. And then from
there, what do you mean bymedium the medium trajectory, I'd say,
he of how high the ball goesfrom the club face exactly. A low
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would be like knee height, medium, maybe chest, and then a high
trajectory would be above your head.Thank you, So say we're going medium.
The second thing you need to chooseis your landing zone. And for
some reason, I'm a I'm avisual guy. I always see a hula
hoop sized circle that's read, probablybecause I played too much Tiger Woods golf
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growing up, but I see thisred circle that I want to land it
on. And when we're going awaist high, medium trajectory shot, we're
usually gonna get a good amount ofrole, maybe half of the distance traveled.
So on a twenty yard shot,if I land at ten yards,
a medium trajectory will get you tenyards of roll. So say that we're
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more time. If you're going amedium trajectory, which is waist high.
On a pitch shot, usually asfar as the ball carries, say it's
ten yards, it's going to rollout that same distance. So ten more
yards on a medium, yes,okay, not necessarily on a low or
high. Low is gonna be twentyfive percent carry, seventy five percent role,
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okay, so and high is justthe opposite of that. Just the
opposite seventy five percent carry twenty fivepercent role. Oh that's a great way
to think about it. Yes,and I mean it works. It works
very well. I have a lotof analytical students who want exact concepts and
ideas when they're on the course sothat they don't have to think as much
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about feeling things like that. Nowthere are field players which I might work
with them a little bit differently onthis type of shot, but in general
this works for everybody. So youmust be a huge advocate of visualization.
I am partly because when I wouldtravel up here, like I told you
earlier, to see the Bunker Brothers, I would stop by and see doctor
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Paula King, who is a sportspsychologist, and we found out that I
was a visual learner, and weused my visual capabilities to make me a
better golfer. So I relay thatinto my teaching. When I am a
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greenside like that and I just tryto visualize. Let's just say I've had
more success when I visualize the flightand the path of the ball than if
I don't. Not saying that Ihave a lot of success, but the
times that I have had success,I know that I've really concentrated on seeing
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the ball in flight before I hitit, and where I wanted to go,
where I wanted to land, howit's going to roll once it gets
there. Yes, And I meanit like you said, It's not gonna
happen every time, but it definitelyimproves your chances of pulling off the shot.
And even if you don't hit itperfect, you've kind of prepared yourself
so that if you do mishit it, you're gonna look like you know what
you were doing anyway. And oncethe ball lands, Yes, the path
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that it takes on the green,is that going? Should we visualize that
as different than is if we wereputting From the spot where it's landing.
You know, I think you canenvision it as the same as if you
were putting. So if you've gota left to right break, when that
ball lands on the green, it'sgoing to break about five feet to the
right. You just move your landingcircle up to the left and let it
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break down, just like a putBut the ball is going to have much
more speed coming in at that point. Even if it's a you know,
a high pitch, it's going tohave more speed coming in than if it
just leaves your club face. Soisn't that going to take some of the
breakout? It is obviously the fasterthat you hit a put, the less
break is gonna happen. So,like I said, take that into account
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as well, that the ball isgoing to be coming off a little bit
hotter once it hits the green.And do you depending on I love picking
the brains of golf teachers because I'mnot paying for it. The invoices in
the mail, well, it's greattalking to you, Chris, Thanks so
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much. Good luck on getting thisshow published. So no, so now
let's talk about I'm the difference betweenthe low being the ball is going to
be in the air about knee high, versus the high, which the ball
is going to be in the airabove my head. Waist, Well that
the high is above my head right, Oh, the high is? Yes?
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Okay? Am I using the sameclub for both of those shots?
No, you do not. Somepeople say, yeah, just use your
sand wedge for everything around the green, and some say your pitch pitch and
definitely not. I would say Ilike the eight iron for the low.
What you do with the ad ironis you choke up on it, lift
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the heel of the eight iron upinto the air. Because typically when you
when you miss hit this kind ofshot, address, wait minute, at
address, Yes, at address.So you're you're you're it's you're standing it
on the toe that address, Yes, exactly, standing on the toe.
It's gonna feel extremely funny. It'sgonna feel like you're not gonna be able
to hit it very well, butit works. What it does is the
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heel can grab the grass and turnthe club face, chunk the club face
and it it just manipulates it toomuch. So what we do is we
get rid of it. We liftthe heel up and then we make a
putting stroke and that produces the lowshot. I tell you the thing and
the reason I have so little confidencein this shot, especially the low one,
is because I chunk it. Ialways hit the clubhead way before the
(24:23):
ball and either, like you said, it gets caught or it just sent
it flying across the green. Yes. And the second thing that's extremely important
doing the shot is you want tochoke up. I almost choke up so
that my hands are on the shaft, but you choke up to the shaft
and that brings you in really closeto the golf ball just like you would
(24:45):
almost a putting stroke, and thenthat will eliminate those chunky shots too,
where you hit behind the golf ball. What about your feet position are you?
Are you in a normal, likesay, putting stance or do you
open your stance bringing your four wardfoot and opening your body to your target?
I play this just like a putso if you have a quirky putting
(25:07):
stance, go ahead and use it, But in general, you do not
open up your body. You alignedto the target or to your landing zone
and make a stroke just like youwould a put so. Opening your stance
with this one is something I don'trecommend. M okay. And then now
let's take it to that was theeight iron the low trajectory, which means
(25:30):
it's going to be in the airfor twenty five percent and roll for seventy
five. Yes, okay, let'sdo the opposite. Now the ball.
We want to get it high upin the air because we want it to
be in the air for seventy fivepercent of our distance and then roll only
twenty five A very difficult shot ofa Phil Mickelson magical shot, right,
(25:52):
yes, so tell me about howyou address it. There and what club
you're using. So for this shot, you can use sand wedge fifty sixth
degree or even a sixty degree.What I found, and I like to
show this to my students, isthe sweet spot on a sixty degree is
a lot smaller because it's so open. The degree of loft is so high
(26:17):
that the sweet spot actually shrinks.So I recommend sixty for my lower handicapper,
better player, but I recommend thesand wedge for those higher handicappers that
need that bigger sweet spot. Thenfrom there, the stance is a little
open. And the reason I likethe stance to be open is I like
to put weight on the front foot, which is the lead foot. My
(26:40):
case, I'm a right handed golfer, so I put about seventy percent of
my weight on my left foot andI keep it there. So having my
open stance and my weight on myleft foot promotes a sharper angle of attack
into the golf ball. That sharperangle is what's going to give us the
height and the spin to pull offthat shot. And to get this spin.
(27:00):
This the same type of spin thatyou want if you're taking the full
swing, meaning you hit the ballthan the ground to pinch the ball into
it. I mean, you're notreally hitting it that hard to get that
kind of spin, are you.You know, you're exactly You're exactly right.
You want to hit the ball thanthe ground. You want to pinch
it. And that's why I promotehaving the weight on the front foot because
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if you keep that weighted on thefront foot, your low point, meaning
where your club's gonna bottom out,is going to be the exact same spot
every time. So you keep yourway on the front foot, and you're
gonna be able to pinch the ballfirst and then go into the ground.
Now, keep in mind these highshots, you're gonna need to have a
lot of accelerations, so you aregoing to be swinging a little bit harder
than you would for this bump andrun or even a lower trajectory shot.
(27:44):
So it is a bigger swing,more loft, it is going to produce
a lot more spin. All rightnow, I'm just want to wrap this
part of it up. This isI am so excited to get to the
to the put practice putting green rightnow to work on this because you've given
me a couple just lifting the heelis huge. I want to go practice
(28:07):
that. Let's let's take the lastone. Now we've got a middle green,
the flag in the middle of thegreen. We are ten yards off
the green, so we want theball to travel a long way on the
ground. I suspect you want toget this over onto the green in the
air and then so fifty percent inthe air, fifty percent right, yes,
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fifty percent in the air, fiftypercent roll and tell me about your
address and again your stance. Sothis is going to be somewhat similar to
the high shot. We're just goingto change our club, I recommend.
And then this is for the lowerhandicappers the sand wedge, and then the
higher handicappers the pitching wedge. Sowe're going to be making close to the
(28:53):
same swing we made with the highshot. We've just changed the club to
lower the ball flight. So openstance, Wait forward. You're gonna hear
me say wait forward a lot oftimes in my instruction on one of your
videos too. Yes, definitely.It always promotes low point control, which
means you're gonna hit the ground whereyou mean to every time. So,
(29:15):
like I said, you take apitching wedge. Say you're a ten to
fifteen handicapper, take that pitching ledge, put the ball in the middle of
the stance, slightly open stance,and seventy percent of your weight on your
front foot. Make the same strokethat you would for the high shot,
and watch the ball roll into thehole. Yeah, sure, clunk or
next to it. And again thisis an opportunity to get your friends to
(29:37):
be more impressed with that shot thenwith your crappy drive. Yes, it
can redeem you every time. Itwill. Yeah, and that's where you're
gonna lose the strokes. Come on, guys, that's where you lose the
strokes. It's gonna be on onthe green and around the green, not
off the tee. If you golfsmarter, then around the tea doesn't matter
(29:57):
how many mistakes you make, howmany I can't believe how many times I've
had a a par off of acrappy drive. And yeah, when I've
had a crappy drive and tried togo for it right, then I have
double bogies. So it's like thatcrappy drive, just get myself back into
(30:17):
position to put the ball onto thegreen, you know, and then golf
smarter. That's why that's it's justnot the name of the show. It's
a way of life for me.I definitely agree, and that's why I
believe in in course management practice andthings like that, because my nickname growing
up was the scrambler, because Iwas I don't even want to know.
(30:41):
I was in the cactus, Iwas in bunkers, I was, you
name it. But I was ableto scramble my way on the green,
just short of the green, andpositions where I could get up and down
and save some strokes. There yougo. Awesome. Well listen, I'm
not done with you, but Ithink you're done with me. You've got
a lesson to get to. Iwant to talk more. Before we started
recording, you were telling me thatyou would do some work with TPI instructors.
(31:06):
We've had multiple TPI instructors on theshow, but I've not had a
student of a TPI instructor talk aboutwhat the Titles Performance Institute can do for
your physicality on the golf course.So I'd love to tap into that with
you. Also, two more articlesthat I've read of yours. Thanks for
sending them along and everyone can findthem. Two things that really jumped out
(31:30):
of me, and I think weshould talk about this next is the winner
tricks to keep your game hot,because yeah, you live in Arizona,
so you don't have your off seasonwould be summer, but when of the
rest of us are playing, butmost of us don't get to play twelve
months a year. And then theback nine blow up. I thought that
was such a fascinating topic that weneed to spend a lot of time on.
(31:51):
So can I get you to comeback to a Golf Smarter from members
only program next week? Oh?Of course, freend. I'd love to
elaborate on some of the articles.I think it's just going to help out
your members tremendously. Well, then, let me just say to anyone who's
listening, and to you specifically who'slistening, here's an opportunity if you can,
(32:12):
if you connected with anything that Chrissaid today, which I have done,
come on back next week join GolfSmarter from members only and get access
to over three hundred episodes right now. If you're not a member, then
you only have access to the lastcouple of shows, but this will take
you back to all the episodes thatare evergreening content, meaning that you can
(32:37):
listen to episode number one of ZenGolf with Doctor Joe parent and it's going
to be just as powerful today asit was when I first asked him the
questions. It's golf Fromarter from membersonly at golf smarter dot com. But
Chris, thank you very much forallowing me to promote everything I've ever promoted
in my life on this episode MyPleasure. Fred. I wish I was
(32:58):
getting paid to do this. Itwould be it would be so much better,
But then I wouldn't be able tospend ten minutes on one product.
But even more so, thank youso much for your lessons. I thought
they were very valuable and I lookforward to speaking with you again. Well,
of course, Bred thanks for havingme
Welcome to Golf Smarter Mulligans, yoursecond chance to gain insight and advice from
the best instructors featured on the GolfSmarter podcast. Great Golf Instruction never gets
old. Our interview library features hundredsof hours of game improvement conversations like this
(00:20):
that are no longer available in anypodcast app. The sweet spot on a
sixty degree is a lot smaller becauseit's so open. The degree of loft
is so high that the sweet spotactually shrinks. So I recommend sixty for
my lower handicapper, better player,but I recommend the sand wedge for those
higher handicappers that need that bigger sweetspot. Then from there the stance is
(00:41):
a little open. And the reasonI like the stance to be open is
I like to put weight on thefront foot, which is the lead foot.
My case, I'm a right handigolfer, so I put about seventy percent
of my weight on my left footand I keep it there. Having my
open stance and my weight on myleft foot promotes a sharper angle of attack
into the golf ball. That's upperangle is what's going to give us the
height and the spin to pull offthe shot. With another interview from the
(01:04):
archives of Golf Smarter. Here's yourhost, Fred Green. Welcome to Golf
Smarter, Chris, Hey, thanksfor having me. Fred. I'm honored
to have you because I've been readingyour materials and watching your YouTube videos and
I was very excited to get youon the show. Awesome, no glad
to be here, Fred, andI love pumping out that content. Clearly
(01:26):
you do because you have a lotof it, and you're not. I
wouldn't call you a senior citizen.You're not. You've not been around that
long, but you have a lotof content you've developed. Yes, that
is true. The first thing usuallymy students say is how old are you?
So I'm used to that and uh, And what I can tell them
(01:46):
is I may be young, butI have a ton of experience, especially
in learning the golf swing and beingable to communicate it effectively. And that's
that's basically what I've based my wholecareer on. Since I was probably sixteen
seventeen years old, I knew thisis what I wanted to do. Awesome,
So you've been playing golf your wholelife and at some point you realized
that that, Yeah, I thinkI should be a teacher, because the
(02:09):
pro circuit is just yes, youhad to be dreaming about the pro circuit
at some point. I did.In fact, in high school. This
is kind of where it all started. I was struggling to play. My
coach left town. So what Idid was I looked at the top hundred
(02:29):
list of instructors in the country andjust started emailing every single one within you
know, a four hour drive.I had a few that responded, and
the one that I ended up withwas Craig Bunker. He was a top
hundred at the time for John Jacob'sgolf schools up at Cammellback. I was
in Tucson, so I wasn't quiteold enough to drive. I convinced my
(02:52):
parents to start to take me upthere at least twice a month just to
work with this guy, and myparents jumped on board and and Craig and
I we grew really close, evenour families grew close together. And when
it came to looking at colleges,Craig was confident he could help me get
some scholarships and keep going towards thatpro route. But I ended up really
(03:15):
liking what I saw Craig doing.On a day in a day out basis.
So I said, mister Bunker,I want to teach and I want
you to help me with that.So he ended up hooking me up with
the Arizona State University Professional Golf ManagementProgram. So that's kind of how I
started my teaching. I knew thatI actually liked teaching a lot more than
(03:36):
playing, and I thought I hada knack for it, especially being around
Craig for so long. Are wejust going to gloss over the fact that
your teacher's name was Bunker, youknow? And he has a brother too.
That is a really good bunker instructor. Oh no, come on,
Bunker the Bunker Instructor. Oh yeah, definitely, what a what a slogan,
(03:57):
right, I gotta get him onthe show. Just I just want
to say, so, this isBunker the Bunker Instructor. Yes, sir,
that's a that's a great name.And when you said mister Bunker,
I think I said miss your bunker. Yes, we missed your bunker.
That is the goal, right,always enough of the frivolity here, So
(04:17):
well, awesome, good for you, and I'm and I'm glad that you
are teaching and that you have apassion for it, because that's we're always
looking for passionate instructors who who havethe experience and know what they're talking about.
But you're also taking advantage of yourwriting skills, and you've been doing
it for Dixon Golf. I've beenreading your stuff in their Dickson newsletters.
(04:41):
Yes, are you also a userof the Dickson golf balls? You know,
I have to say I am.I'm a user of the Dickson golf
balls. The Dixon belt buckles,hats everything. But I do have to
say the fireball is probably one ofthe best balls I've ever played. I
you know, I'm not going toargue with that. It seems I play
(05:03):
the earth ball all the time,Okay. And they sent me a couple
of promotional of the fireballs, becauseyou know, this is eighty bucks a
box. This is not an inexpensivegolf ball, so I'm not gonna be
buying them, but they send mesome, and I'm telling you, every
time I pull one out of mybag, I have lower scores. I
(05:23):
don't know what it is about thisball, but I always play better with
that golf ball. I think Ithink it has a lot to do with
you realize if you lose this ball, you're losing a few bucks. So
that's the thing about Dixon golf balls. I never feel guilty about losing them.
I mean the friendly thing, Andthat's why I suppose I really loved
(05:45):
the Dixon golf ball product for whatit does on the golf course. But
the fact that it's an eco friendlygolf ball is why I have it on
golf smarter dot com and promoting it. And even if somebody joins golf Smarter,
they can get some a box ofballs discounted with the golf Smarter logo.
And you know, I just think, if with a billion golf balls
(06:06):
lost each year, why send allthese harsh metals into the into the land,
you know, out out into therough and into the water. And
it's just it's a great product,and they play comparable to titless balls and
to to the bridgetone balls that Iused to play. No, I agree
(06:27):
they the common misconception with these Dicksonballs because I've been I've been out on
the field with Dicks in quite abit, uh doing contests, doing beat
the pro events, is everybody comesup and says, what are these biodegradable?
No, they're not they're not.That's the first question everybody asks.
Exactly the beauty of it is theythey're made out of materials that are easily
(06:49):
recyclable, which you probably know,and they're doing great things with them.
My students, we're on a programwhere they can recycle golf balls by giving
them to me. I bring themdown to Dixon, and then they get
a credit towards their next purchase ofDixon golf balls. Then Dixon will take
those balls and uh and turn theminto the rubber on playgrounds and good good
(07:10):
things like that. So they're keepingthose balls pumping through and putting them into
good use after they have been recycled. I've got to believe that you've played
a lot with the prov ones.Yes, pro V one X is my
ball before the Dixon fireball. Oh, you cut yourself? And how do
they compare to one another? Becausepersonally, and I don't know why,
I'm the only person that's ever noticedthis, I will not play a golf
(07:34):
ball that stands for provisional. OhI like that? You know, how
can you how can you call agolf ball pro V to me that just
says provisional? Okay, go losethis because you have to buy some more.
But I know that people, evenplayers who shouldn't be There's two things
these players shouldn't be doing. Theyshouldn't be playing prov ones and they shouldn't
(07:55):
be playing from the back tis,but they think they can, right.
What is it about those prov onesthat that makes people think that, Well,
I just said I play better withthe fireball. I just think so
many tour pros and those commercials withthose titlists. I play pro v one
X, I play pro v oneI think the common you know, thing
(08:18):
that public golfers will do is say, oh, well, I should probably
play that if the best in theworld are playing that, But that's typically
not the case. You need tobe fit for your golf ball to maximize
ball flight distance. You know,rolls spend things like that. I do
want to say, though, thefireball reacts just as good as a prov
one X, but it seems softerand the cover is stickier, so I
(08:41):
feel like around the greens I evenhave more control, So, if not
better the fireball is off the tee, it definitely beats the prov one X
around the green. Wow, that'sa back of an endorsement. You said
something we frequently on this program,we'll talk about getting fitted for golf club
You talked about getting fitted for golfballs. Yes, definitely, there's a
(09:05):
there's a a lot of good systems, and I know Dixon's working on one
two to get fit for golf balls. But you don't need to go the
in depth route on all these specifics. It's just we can just really by
getting your swing speed, we canreally fit a decent ball towards that swing
speed. Based on the layers ofthe golf ball, the compression and things
(09:26):
like that. What will the playingthe wrong golf ball due to your game?
A lot of times, if yourswing speed is slower than it should
be and you're playing pro v oneX, you're not gonna be able to
compress all those layers on that golfball, So really you're not going to
get that trampoline effect off your clubface in turn losing distance. Dixon has
(09:52):
three balls. They have, yes, the wind which is their extreme distance
ball, their earth ball, whichis what I gets they call their tournament
quality ball, Yes, and thefire which is their top of the line,
top of the market ball. Idon't know what the official term is
for the fireball, and how dothey compare if you're playing the wrong ball.
(10:20):
I understand if you're if you're youshouldn't be playing the prov one of
the fireball, you're not going toget what you want out of it.
But how do you determine which isthe correct ball on the other side,
you know, for the average player. So for the average player, And
I've done a few uh ball fittingsfor Dixon over at the PGA Tour superstorem
(10:41):
and really what I asked them firstis what do you want your ball to
do? And the first thing alot of people say is I want distance.
So then I immediately think wind ball. If I see their swing speed
is you know, one hundred pluswith the driver, then I might say,
well, let's look at the fireball. Let's let's talk about you know,
your handicap if you're more advanced.But distance is the wind ball for
(11:03):
sure. Earth ball, like yousaid, is more of the tournament caliber
golf ball those guys that maybe aren'tquite close to scratch. And that's kind
of what I'll fit them into ifthey want to say that they want more
control of the golf ball, theywant to shape it a little bit better,
because what that ball is going todo with the dimple pattern in the
way it's built, is it's goingto react a little bit more off the
(11:24):
club face in terms of the spin. But the wind for those guys that
just want playing distance, isn't goingto react with much side spin, So
you're gonna hit it a little bitstraighter, but it's also going to feel
a little bit more solid. It'sgonna be a little bit more firmer,
and it's gonna rock it off theclub face, especially for those slower clubhead
speed guys. And that's on maybefourteen of your shots over around. And
(11:48):
these are the people who are generallyshooting in the nineties and above, Yes,
exactly, and they're talking about fourteenshots off the driver. They want
the distance, But then okay,say you get that extra what five yards?
What kind of distance? Edition areyou going to get out of that
proper fitting? And don't quote meon this, but I've I've I don't
have to. You're saying you're righthere on good point. I mean,
(12:13):
I've seen guys with the with thewind get upwards of like ten to fifteen
yards per drive. But keep inmind it's going to relay into the fairway
too. If you have the correctfitting ball, especially the wind for distance
from the fairway, you're going toget more distance out of your irons and
your fairway woods as well, justbecause like I said, that sidespin's not
going to be there. The ballis not going to be a soft so
(12:33):
it is going to have that rocketeffect off of off of the club face.
So look, let's look at thisfor in another way, you get
Let's say you get ten to fifteenmore yards out of out of one ball
from the next. Now you've gotone hundred and sixty five yards instead of
(12:54):
one hundred and sixty five you haveone hundred and fifty yards in to the
to the green. Okay, Sonow and doesn't matter you're hitting your your
six iron instead of your five irontype of situation. Now we need to
get more accurate, right, distancedoesn't matter on that second shot, does
it? And does? And thenwe get to the green and you got
to start putting. Do you wanta rock hardball that gives you more distance
(13:18):
when you're putting? It depends ifI'd say ninety percent of the time.
No, But the it's a giveor take. I mean, if nobody's
looking throw that ball out, taketake a new one in your pocket,
and put it on the green.No, I'm just kidding, but maybe
you're not supposed to carry two ballsin your pocket at all time. Wait
a minute, if you're, Ifyou start, I do only because to
(13:41):
me it's like, well, ifI have one in my pocket, then
I'm not going to lose this one. See I'm the opposite. If you
have, I don't let any ofmy clients have two balls in their pockets.
If if you pull one out,you have to be confident enough that
you're not gonna lose it. You'regonna hit the fairway, You're gonna hit
the green. That safety net feelingof oh I've got another ball in my
pocket does not breed confidence at all. Okay, you've convinced me I am
(14:03):
not from now. Well for thenext couple rounds, I am not gonna
have two balls in my pocket.I'm only gonna have one. At least
give it a shot. Yeah,you know, I've been doing it for
such a long time and never eventhought. No one's even suggested it to
me that, well, don't dothat, no way, never never even
thought of it. So yeah,so, so the distance thing you know.
(14:28):
I go out to the driving range. I see guys, just bring
a driver. That's the first clubthey start swinging. It's like, what
are you doing? Oh gosh,don't even get me started about that.
Yeah, and it and it goesback to a show we did recently with
the folks from score Golf. Hesaid, give me ten yards ten feet
closer over ten yards farther, everyday of the week. Oh that's a
great quote. Well they use itso you could go to score golf dot
(14:52):
com and check them out because youmade you should actually go look at their
wedges. They have these score Golfforty one sixty one wedges that uh huh.
Too much of a commercial today,Fred, Okay, so let's listen.
I think it brings us to anarticle of yours that I read online
about perfect pitch. And now thatwe've got our our extreme distance, now
(15:13):
that we've hit the ball so far, we're still short of the green by
five to ten, fifteen twenty yardsand the flag is in a precarious position
because of the slant and all theundulation on this green, and the goal
is one pipe, right. Wewant to we want to get the ball
(15:35):
as close as we can from offthe green, so all we have to
do is tap it in, justa little kick in. And I'm telling
you it's the hard it's it's harderthan driving. I agree. I definitely
agree, and it's more important inmost cases. It can save you,
it can save you those high scores, but it also it can also give
you those birdie attempts. And Ithink you're playing partners would be far more
(15:58):
impressed if you can get it nearthe pin then if you can get it
past them on the on the teabox. No, I definitely agree with
that, and that's why we havea setup where we where we do our
lessons. We have these boxes thatare about a foot wide of an opening
that are placed ten twenty thirty allthe way up to one hundred and twenty
(16:21):
yards all over the driving range andhidden spots because this is where we can
always lower handicaps, no matter ifthe driver's off or not. We're going
to lower handicaps if we can getyou to be laser like with those distances.
Let's pretend right now we're five yardsoff the green. There is a
(16:42):
it's not short grass between here andthere. There's a little bit of rough,
so we can't put it from there, which usually what is that called
the Texas wedge? Sometimes you wantto put from there, and that's not
a terrible thing, I would thinkfor most amateurs. But you've got a
thick grass and a sprinkler head inthe way between you and the green,
(17:04):
right, But yes, the pinis only it's a red pin and you're
on the front, so you've gota short distance to get onto the green.
But you have to get it inthe air, and you have a
short distance for the ball to geton the green and to the pin.
It is it for me? Well, I get terrified of this shot.
(17:27):
Help me? How am I goingto get better with that shot? First
of all, Fred, what areyou doing in a in a spot like
that? I mean, we gotto learn how to miss the ball in
the right spots and then we'll gofrom there. But well, I'm trying
to hit my shot to the green. I mishit it and I end up
short of the green. And frankly, I've seen that on the golf channel.
I've seen the pros do that.Oh gosh, yes, especially especially
(17:49):
when you're pin hunting and you havethat green light and you're feeling good and
then you know, you miss hitthe shot and it comes up a little
short. You're left with a shotlike that. So you're telling me I
should just go for the middle ofthe green every time. Don't go pin
hunting. It depends. But Ihave a solution. So you're in this
position. I did an article forPJA dot com a while back when there
(18:14):
were the PGA Tours at the AccentureMatch played down in Tucson, and those
greens are just really difficult. Sowhen you're in a situation like that,
you do three things. The firstthing is pick your trajectory. So,
like you said, there's some thickgrass, we can't go low. So
the next step is can we gomedium? And that just means a medium
trajectory at the pin. And thenif you can't go medium, then you
(18:36):
go high. That's if you're goingover a bunker to tucked pin things like
that. Most often low is theway to go, but this situation,
it seems like medium is what we'lldo. So what I want you to
do is think about how you canproduce a medium shot. And then from
there, what do you mean bymedium the medium trajectory, I'd say,
he of how high the ball goesfrom the club face exactly. A low
(18:57):
would be like knee height, medium, maybe chest, and then a high
trajectory would be above your head.Thank you, So say we're going medium.
The second thing you need to chooseis your landing zone. And for
some reason, I'm a I'm avisual guy. I always see a hula
hoop sized circle that's read, probablybecause I played too much Tiger Woods golf
(19:18):
growing up, but I see thisred circle that I want to land it
on. And when we're going awaist high, medium trajectory shot, we're
usually gonna get a good amount ofrole, maybe half of the distance traveled.
So on a twenty yard shot,if I land at ten yards,
a medium trajectory will get you tenyards of roll. So say that we're
(19:40):
more time. If you're going amedium trajectory, which is waist high.
On a pitch shot, usually asfar as the ball carries, say it's
ten yards, it's going to rollout that same distance. So ten more
yards on a medium, yes,okay, not necessarily on a low or
high. Low is gonna be twentyfive percent carry, seventy five percent role,
(20:03):
okay, so and high is justthe opposite of that. Just the
opposite seventy five percent carry twenty fivepercent role. Oh that's a great way
to think about it. Yes,and I mean it works. It works
very well. I have a lotof analytical students who want exact concepts and
ideas when they're on the course sothat they don't have to think as much
(20:23):
about feeling things like that. Nowthere are field players which I might work
with them a little bit differently onthis type of shot, but in general
this works for everybody. So youmust be a huge advocate of visualization.
I am partly because when I wouldtravel up here, like I told you
earlier, to see the Bunker Brothers, I would stop by and see doctor
(20:45):
Paula King, who is a sportspsychologist, and we found out that I
was a visual learner, and weused my visual capabilities to make me a
better golfer. So I relay thatinto my teaching. When I am a
(21:06):
greenside like that and I just tryto visualize. Let's just say I've had
more success when I visualize the flightand the path of the ball than if
I don't. Not saying that Ihave a lot of success, but the
times that I have had success,I know that I've really concentrated on seeing
(21:26):
the ball in flight before I hitit, and where I wanted to go,
where I wanted to land, howit's going to roll once it gets
there. Yes, And I meanit like you said, It's not gonna
happen every time, but it definitelyimproves your chances of pulling off the shot.
And even if you don't hit itperfect, you've kind of prepared yourself
so that if you do mishit it, you're gonna look like you know what
you were doing anyway. And oncethe ball lands, Yes, the path
(21:49):
that it takes on the green,is that going? Should we visualize that
as different than is if we wereputting From the spot where it's landing.
You know, I think you canenvision it as the same as if you
were putting. So if you've gota left to right break, when that
ball lands on the green, it'sgoing to break about five feet to the
right. You just move your landingcircle up to the left and let it
(22:11):
break down, just like a putBut the ball is going to have much
more speed coming in at that point. Even if it's a you know,
a high pitch, it's going tohave more speed coming in than if it
just leaves your club face. Soisn't that going to take some of the
breakout? It is obviously the fasterthat you hit a put, the less
break is gonna happen. So,like I said, take that into account
(22:34):
as well, that the ball isgoing to be coming off a little bit
hotter once it hits the green.And do you depending on I love picking
the brains of golf teachers because I'mnot paying for it. The invoices in
the mail, well, it's greattalking to you, Chris, Thanks so
(22:56):
much. Good luck on getting thisshow published. So no, so now
let's talk about I'm the difference betweenthe low being the ball is going to
be in the air about knee high, versus the high, which the ball
is going to be in the airabove my head. Waist, Well that
the high is above my head right, Oh, the high is? Yes?
(23:17):
Okay? Am I using the sameclub for both of those shots?
No, you do not. Somepeople say, yeah, just use your
sand wedge for everything around the green, and some say your pitch pitch and
definitely not. I would say Ilike the eight iron for the low.
What you do with the ad ironis you choke up on it, lift
(23:37):
the heel of the eight iron upinto the air. Because typically when you
when you miss hit this kind ofshot, address, wait minute, at
address, Yes, at address.So you're you're you're it's you're standing it
on the toe that address, Yes, exactly, standing on the toe.
It's gonna feel extremely funny. It'sgonna feel like you're not gonna be able
to hit it very well, butit works. What it does is the
(24:00):
heel can grab the grass and turnthe club face, chunk the club face
and it it just manipulates it toomuch. So what we do is we
get rid of it. We liftthe heel up and then we make a
putting stroke and that produces the lowshot. I tell you the thing and
the reason I have so little confidencein this shot, especially the low one,
is because I chunk it. Ialways hit the clubhead way before the
(24:23):
ball and either, like you said, it gets caught or it just sent
it flying across the green. Yes. And the second thing that's extremely important
doing the shot is you want tochoke up. I almost choke up so
that my hands are on the shaft, but you choke up to the shaft
and that brings you in really closeto the golf ball just like you would
(24:45):
almost a putting stroke, and thenthat will eliminate those chunky shots too,
where you hit behind the golf ball. What about your feet position are you?
Are you in a normal, likesay, putting stance or do you
open your stance bringing your four wardfoot and opening your body to your target?
I play this just like a putso if you have a quirky putting
(25:07):
stance, go ahead and use it, But in general, you do not
open up your body. You alignedto the target or to your landing zone
and make a stroke just like youwould a put so. Opening your stance
with this one is something I don'trecommend. M okay. And then now
let's take it to that was theeight iron the low trajectory, which means
(25:30):
it's going to be in the airfor twenty five percent and roll for seventy
five. Yes, okay, let'sdo the opposite. Now the ball.
We want to get it high upin the air because we want it to
be in the air for seventy fivepercent of our distance and then roll only
twenty five A very difficult shot ofa Phil Mickelson magical shot, right,
(25:52):
yes, so tell me about howyou address it. There and what club
you're using. So for this shot, you can use sand wedge fifty sixth
degree or even a sixty degree.What I found, and I like to
show this to my students, isthe sweet spot on a sixty degree is
a lot smaller because it's so open. The degree of loft is so high
(26:17):
that the sweet spot actually shrinks.So I recommend sixty for my lower handicapper,
better player, but I recommend thesand wedge for those higher handicappers that
need that bigger sweet spot. Thenfrom there, the stance is a little
open. And the reason I likethe stance to be open is I like
to put weight on the front foot, which is the lead foot. My
(26:40):
case, I'm a right handed golfer, so I put about seventy percent of
my weight on my left foot andI keep it there. So having my
open stance and my weight on myleft foot promotes a sharper angle of attack
into the golf ball. That sharperangle is what's going to give us the
height and the spin to pull offthat shot. And to get this spin.
(27:00):
This the same type of spin thatyou want if you're taking the full
swing, meaning you hit the ballthan the ground to pinch the ball into
it. I mean, you're notreally hitting it that hard to get that
kind of spin, are you.You know, you're exactly You're exactly right.
You want to hit the ball thanthe ground. You want to pinch
it. And that's why I promotehaving the weight on the front foot because
(27:21):
if you keep that weighted on thefront foot, your low point, meaning
where your club's gonna bottom out,is going to be the exact same spot
every time. So you keep yourway on the front foot, and you're
gonna be able to pinch the ballfirst and then go into the ground.
Now, keep in mind these highshots, you're gonna need to have a
lot of accelerations, so you aregoing to be swinging a little bit harder
than you would for this bump andrun or even a lower trajectory shot.
(27:44):
So it is a bigger swing,more loft, it is going to produce
a lot more spin. All rightnow, I'm just want to wrap this
part of it up. This isI am so excited to get to the
to the put practice putting green rightnow to work on this because you've given
me a couple just lifting the heelis huge. I want to go practice
(28:07):
that. Let's let's take the lastone. Now we've got a middle green,
the flag in the middle of thegreen. We are ten yards off
the green, so we want theball to travel a long way on the
ground. I suspect you want toget this over onto the green in the
air and then so fifty percent inthe air, fifty percent right, yes,
(28:30):
fifty percent in the air, fiftypercent roll and tell me about your
address and again your stance. Sothis is going to be somewhat similar to
the high shot. We're just goingto change our club, I recommend.
And then this is for the lowerhandicappers the sand wedge, and then the
higher handicappers the pitching wedge. Sowe're going to be making close to the
(28:53):
same swing we made with the highshot. We've just changed the club to
lower the ball flight. So openstance, Wait forward. You're gonna hear
me say wait forward a lot oftimes in my instruction on one of your
videos too. Yes, definitely.It always promotes low point control, which
means you're gonna hit the ground whereyou mean to every time. So,
(29:15):
like I said, you take apitching wedge. Say you're a ten to
fifteen handicapper, take that pitching ledge, put the ball in the middle of
the stance, slightly open stance,and seventy percent of your weight on your
front foot. Make the same strokethat you would for the high shot,
and watch the ball roll into thehole. Yeah, sure, clunk or
next to it. And again thisis an opportunity to get your friends to
(29:37):
be more impressed with that shot thenwith your crappy drive. Yes, it
can redeem you every time. Itwill. Yeah, and that's where you're
gonna lose the strokes. Come on, guys, that's where you lose the
strokes. It's gonna be on onthe green and around the green, not
off the tee. If you golfsmarter, then around the tea doesn't matter
(29:57):
how many mistakes you make, howmany I can't believe how many times I've
had a a par off of acrappy drive. And yeah, when I've
had a crappy drive and tried togo for it right, then I have
double bogies. So it's like thatcrappy drive, just get myself back into
(30:17):
position to put the ball onto thegreen, you know, and then golf
smarter. That's why that's it's justnot the name of the show. It's
a way of life for me.I definitely agree, and that's why I
believe in in course management practice andthings like that, because my nickname growing
up was the scrambler, because Iwas I don't even want to know.
(30:41):
I was in the cactus, Iwas in bunkers, I was, you
name it. But I was ableto scramble my way on the green,
just short of the green, andpositions where I could get up and down
and save some strokes. There yougo. Awesome. Well listen, I'm
not done with you, but Ithink you're done with me. You've got
a lesson to get to. Iwant to talk more. Before we started
recording, you were telling me thatyou would do some work with TPI instructors.
(31:06):
We've had multiple TPI instructors on theshow, but I've not had a
student of a TPI instructor talk aboutwhat the Titles Performance Institute can do for
your physicality on the golf course.So I'd love to tap into that with
you. Also, two more articlesthat I've read of yours. Thanks for
sending them along and everyone can findthem. Two things that really jumped out
(31:30):
of me, and I think weshould talk about this next is the winner
tricks to keep your game hot,because yeah, you live in Arizona,
so you don't have your off seasonwould be summer, but when of the
rest of us are playing, butmost of us don't get to play twelve
months a year. And then theback nine blow up. I thought that
was such a fascinating topic that weneed to spend a lot of time on.
(31:51):
So can I get you to comeback to a Golf Smarter from members
only program next week? Oh?Of course, freend. I'd love to
elaborate on some of the articles.I think it's just going to help out
your members tremendously. Well, then, let me just say to anyone who's
listening, and to you specifically who'slistening, here's an opportunity if you can,
(32:12):
if you connected with anything that Chrissaid today, which I have done,
come on back next week join GolfSmarter from members only and get access
to over three hundred episodes right now. If you're not a member, then
you only have access to the lastcouple of shows, but this will take
you back to all the episodes thatare evergreening content, meaning that you can
(32:37):
listen to episode number one of ZenGolf with Doctor Joe parent and it's going
to be just as powerful today asit was when I first asked him the
questions. It's golf Fromarter from membersonly at golf smarter dot com. But
Chris, thank you very much forallowing me to promote everything I've ever promoted
in my life on this episode MyPleasure. Fred. I wish I was
(32:58):
getting paid to do this. Itwould be it would be so much better,
But then I wouldn't be able tospend ten minutes on one product.
But even more so, thank youso much for your lessons. I thought
they were very valuable and I lookforward to speaking with you again. Well,
of course, Bred thanks for havingme
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