Golf's Short Game For Dummies

, by Shiels, Michael Patrick; Kernicki, Michael

Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.

ISBN: 9780764569203 | 0764569201
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 3/4/2005

Rent

(Recommended)

$15.79

Term

Due

Price

Semester

Aug 2

$15.79

*This item is part of an exclusive publisher rental program and requires an additional convenience fee. This fee will be reflected in the shopping cart.
Buy New

In Stock Usually Ships in 24-48 Hours

$16.32

Easy-to-grasp techniques for improving the short game About 70 percent of the shots in a round of golf are taken 75 yards from the pin or closer, making the short game the most significant factor in a golfer's score. This practical guide shows readers how to shave strokes off their game by improving their pitching, chipping, bunker play, and putting. Golfers will find expert tips on choosing the right wedges, putters, and balls, as well as illustrated step-by-step instructions on swings used in short-game shots. They'll also find information on how to beat bunkers and other hazards and how to play various lies-in deep rough, from the fairway, uphill, side-hill, and off bare ground. There's also a section on stretches, exercises, and drills to improve techniques, as well as tips on reading greens for accurate putting. Michael Patrick Sheils (Birmingham, MI) is a member of the Golf Writers Association of America. He has written four books, and his articles and columns have appeared in worldwide magazines and newspapers. Michael Kernicki (Miami Beach, FL) has been a PGA member for 27 years and is currently the Head Professional at the historic Indian Creek Country Club in Miami Beach.

Introduction

(1)

About This Book

(1)

Conventions Used in This Book

(1)

What You're Not to Read

(1)

Foolish Assumptions

(1)

How This Book Is Organized

(2)

Part I: Walking the Short Game

(1)

Part II: The Long and Short of It: Short Game Technique

(1)

Part III: Short Game Strategies

(1)

Part IV: Short Cuts to the Short Game

(1)

Part V: The Part of Tens

(1)

Icons Used in This Book

(1)

Where to Go from Here

(1)

Part I: Walking the Short Game

(44)

Sharpening Your Approach

(12)

Approaching the Short Game Statistically

(1)

Approaching the Short Game Athletically

(1)

Giving Yourself the Best Shot

(1)

Making Practice a Priority

(3)

Recognizing the importance of practice

(1)

Developing a practice plan

(1)

Keeping practice fun

(1)

Avoiding Common Misfires

(5)

Playing without purpose

(1)

Being under-prepared

(1)

Using the wrong club

(1)

Maintaining unreasonable expectations

(1)

Over-thinking

(1)

Aiming to displease

(1)

Ignoring textbook technique

(1)

Getting too far from your work

(1)

Experiencing death by deceleration

(2)

Discerning the Short Game Certainties

(12)

Recognizing the Peril and the Opportunity

(1)

Re-evaluating the easy

(1)

Dissecting the difficult

(1)

Viewing the Variables: Terrain and Conditions

(2)

Accounting for the obvious

(1)

Sensing the subtleties

(1)

Understanding Your Options

(1)

Weighing Your Goals and Expectations

(1)

Playing in the Subconscious

(1)

Zeroing In On the Target Line

(2)

Visualizing the target line

(1)

Standing close to the target line

(1)

Grasping the Importance of Feel

(1)

Obeying the Captain: Allowing Your Front Hand to Lead

(1)

Centering on Ball Position

(2)

Gearing Up for the Short Game

(18)

Going Short-Game Clubbing

(1)

Sorting Through the Short Sticks

(5)

Pumping irons

(1)

Weighing wedges

(3)

Deciding which clubs to use

(1)

Calling All Putters Great and Small

(6)

The traditional putter

(2)

The long putter

(2)

The belly putter

(1)

Finding the Putter That Fits You

(2)

Caring for Your Putter

(3)

Handle with care

(1)

Cover it up

(1)

Give it a home of its own

(1)

Keep it clean and dry

(1)

Get a grip

(1)

Part II: The Long and Short of It: Short Game Technique

(72)

Chipping Off the OI' Block

(14)

Discovering the Chip

(1)

Choosing the Chip over the Putt

(1)

Picking Your Chipping Tool

(1)

Chipping Goals and Expectations

(1)

Mapping Out a Chip-Shot Strategy

(1)

Hitting a Chip Shot

(6)

Taking aim

(2)

Setting up your stance

(2)

Making your move

(1)

Too Close for Comfort: Paul Runyan's Greenside Chip Trick

(5)

Pitch, Pitch, Pitch

(20)

Distinguishing the Pitch Shot

(1)

Covering Distance and Avoiding Hazards

(1)

Pitching Club Preference

(1)

Pitching Goals and Expectations

(1)

Planning Your Pitch-Shot Strategy

(1)

Hitting a Pitch Shot

(5)

Determining your flight plan and velocity

(1)

Setting up your stance

(2)

Taking a swing

(2)

Pitching a Fit over Additional Complications

(11)

Pitching over water hazards and bunkers

(1)

Pitching high and low

(1)

Pitching from a bare, tight lie

(1)

Pitching from deep grass

(3)

Pitching from uneven lies

(5)

Climbing Bunker Hill

(18)

Setting Your Bunker Goals and Expectations

(2)

Avoiding an Explosion

(1)

Hitting a Bunker Shot

(8)

Assessing the sand variables

(3)

Choosing your club

(1)

Raising clubface awareness

(1)

Taking your stance

(2)

Picking a target and taking aim

(1)

Taking a sand-sweeping swing

(2)

Executing Bunker Shots from Troubled Lies

(8)

Negotiating uphill and downhill lies

(2)

Cooking the fried egg

100

(2)

Facing steep situations

102

(3)

Putting Your Best Foot Forward

105

(18)

Tossing Your Putting Prejudice Aside

105

(1)

Recognizing the Importance of Putting Skills

106

(2)

Doing the math

106

(1)

Getting in your opponent's head

107

(1)

Putting Goals and Expectations

108

(4)

Setting goals: Holing putts in two

108

(1)

Meeting your expectations

109

(2)

Letting the misses go

111

(1)

Rolling with the Fundamentals

112

(8)

Taking a stance

112

(1)

Getting a grip

113

(2)

Targeting a line

115

(1)

Swinging the flatstick

116

(4)

Reading the Break of the Greens

120

(3)

Examining all angles

121

(1)

Closing your eyes

121

(1)

Spilling a bucket of water

121

(1)

Looking into the hole

121

(1)

Watching other players' putts

122

(1)

Part III: Short Game Strategies

123

(56)

Waging (and Wedging) a Ground Campaign

125

(12)

Gaining an Advantage by Keeping the Ball Low

125

(4)

Charting your course

126

(1)

Choking down for a knockout knock-down

127

(2)

Pitching and Running

129

(2)

Taking aim

129

(1)

Selecting your club

130

(1)

Getting in your stance

130

(1)

Taking your swing

130

(1)

Discovering the Famed Texas Wedge

131

(2)

Holding the Green

133

(1)

Pulling the Pin . . . or Leaving It In?

134

(3)

From off the green

134

(1)

From on the green

135

(2)

Selecting Putting Strategies and Remedies

137

(12)

Becoming a Great Putter

138

(1)

Settling on a Style

138

(4)

Make it or break it

139

(2)

Lag it or flag it

141

(1)

Watching Your Speed

142

(1)

Conquering Speedy Breaks

143

(1)

Defeating the Yips and Other Putting Maladies

144

(5)

Cataloguing the causes

145

(1)

Tacking some solutions

146

(3)

Taking an Unconventional Approach

149

(14)

Chipping with a 3-Wood

150

(2)

Putting from Bunkers

152

(1)

Putting without a Putter

153

(1)

Opening the rulebook

153

(1)

Making a decision

154

(1)

Playing from a Cart Path

154

(1)

Bellying the Wedge

155

(1)

Splishing After You Splash

156

(1)

Hitting Lefty (or Righty)

157

(4)

Taking a backhand swing

159

(1)

Flipping the blade

160

(1)

Looking away

160

(1)

Carrying an opposite-handed club in your bag

161

(1)

Rehearsing the Unconventional

161

(2)

Flipping to Flop

163

(6)

Focusing On the Flop Shot

163

(1)

Choosing to Hit a Flop Shot

164

(1)

Playing a Flop Shot

164

(1)

Deciding Against the Flop Shot

165

(4)

Knowing the flop shot's dark side

166

(1)

Considering your other options

166

(3)

Keeping Your Head in the Game

169

(10)

Regrouping When the Wheels Come Off

170

(2)

Regaining your tempo

170

(1)

Overcoming paralysis of analysis

171

(1)

Realizing that it ain't your fault

172

(1)

Weathering the Heat of the Moment

172

(2)

Accepting the fear

173

(1)

Ignoring the result

174

(1)

Practicing Visualization

174

(1)

Staying Positive with Self Talk

175

(1)

Dispelling the Clouds of Doubt

176

(1)

Pacing Your Swing with a Phrase

177

(2)

Part IV: Short Cuts to the Short Game

179

(46)

Warming Up to the Short Game

181

(14)

Limbering Up Before You Play or Practice

182

(6)

Loosening the legs

182

(1)

Working the upper arms and shoulders

182

(4)

Bending over backwards

186

(1)

Readying your wrists and forearms

187

(1)

Practicing Like You Play

188

(3)

Making the short game at home on the range

189

(2)

Spending time on the green

191

(1)

Preparing before a Round

191

(4)

Utilizing the perfect pre-round warm-up

192

(2)

Warming up under the gun

194

(1)

The Games People Play

195

(8)

Pitching for Dollars

195

(2)

``Horse-ing'' Around

197

(1)

Bingo, Bango, Bongo (Jingles)

197

(2)

Snake

199

(1)

Eight in a Row

200

(1)

First to Make Five

201

(2)

Tricks and Treats: Techniques and Tools to Improve Your Game

203

(14)

Riding the Range

204

(3)

Standing up for balance

204

(1)

Becoming a one-armed bandit

205

(1)

Tuning your swing with music

206

(1)

Practicing in the Sand and on the Green

207

(6)

Bunker board

207

(2)

Chalk talk

209

(1)

Trench warfare

210

(2)

Dowel drill

212

(1)

Improving at Home

213

(4)

Stretching your putting skill

213

(2)

Weighing in on weights

215

(1)

Asking your mirror, mirror

215

(2)

Learning from the Stars

217

(8)

Feeling like Seve Ballesteros

218

(1)

Escaping (Not Sleeping in) Bunkers like Gary Player

219

(1)

Living Hard and Playing Soft like John Daly

220

(1)

Scrambling like Lee Trevino

221

(1)

Putting like Ben Crenshaw

222

(1)

Finishing like Annika Sorenstam

222

(1)

Yipping like Johnny Miller

223

(2)

Part V: The Part of Tens

225

(32)

Ten Simple Secrets of Short-Shot Success

227

(4)

Play in the Subconscious

227

(1)

Be Aware of the Clubface

227

(1)

Swing Along the Target Line

228

(1)

Maintain Consistent Speed

228

(1)

Salute the Lead Hand as the Captain

228

(1)

Let the Ball Get in the Way

228

(1)

Follow Through

229

(1)

Keep Realistic Expectations

229

(1)

Roll the Ball on the Ground

230

(1)

Recognize that Every Putt is Straight

230

(1)

Ten Ways You Can Practice Off the Course

231

(8)

Putt on Your Carpet

231

(1)

Watch Golf on Television

232

(1)

Get Attached to Your Wedge

233

(1)

Chip into the Drapes

234

(1)

Bulk Up

234

(1)

Visualize Good Shots

235

(1)

Review Your Scorecard

235

(1)

Clean Up Your Act

236

(1)

Play Other Sports and Games

237

(1)

Read This Book When Necessary

237

(2)

Ten of the Greatest Short Shots Ever

239

(10)

Tway at the PGA

239

(1)

Mize at the Masters

240

(1)

Hail Hale!

241

(1)

Rocca Rocks the British Open

242

(1)

The Million-Dollar Ace

243

(1)

Watson Plunders Pebble

244

(1)

Leonard Lets Loose

245

(1)

Lanny Lands the Cup

246

(1)

One Small Shot for Mankind

247

(1)

Payne's Putts at Pinehurst

247

(2)

Ten Great Short Game Golf Courses

249

(8)

The Old Course at St. Andrews: Fife, Scotland

250

(1)

Pinehurst #2: Pinehurst, North Carolina

250

(1)

Stadium Course, TPC at Sawgrass: Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

251

(1)

Ballybunion Old Course: County Kerry, Ireland

252

(1)

Threetops at Treetops Resort: Gaylord, Michigan

252

(1)

Strategic Fox, Fox Hills Golf Club: Plymouth, Michigan

253

(1)

Indian Creek Country Club: Miami Beach, Florida

254

(1)

The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort: Charleston, South Carolina

254

(1)

Augusta National Golf Club: Augusta, Georgia

255

(1)

Club de Golf Valderrama: San Roque, Cadiz, Spain

256

(1)

Index

257

Please wait while the item is added to your bag...

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Golf's Short Game For Dummies

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials