Which skill is most important at Belmont?

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23: With the Goslings Invitational coming up next week, my thoughts are on what skill is the most important to be successful at Belmont?

What I have found with the tricky small greens is that chipping will make the difference. More often than not, I see the ball hit fat — the club striking the ground about two inches before the ball. 

Since a chip shot is usually just off the putting surface it requires very little power so must be played with almost no weight shift during the swing. 

In this type of swing we want to keep the trajectory relatively low so we can get the ball on the green and let it run out to the hole like a putt. 

Plan your chip to land about a third of the way to the hole and then run out the last two thirds as this is a much higher percentage shot than a high trajectory flop shot that flies almost the whole way to the pin.

The key to hitting the more delicate chip shots is to have a minimum of wrists break so that your hands stay ahead of the club. 

However, at Belmont the fringe tends to be much thicker and so a more descending blow is required to stop the club getting snagged in the thick grass.

So keys to chipping from a fringe with thicker grass are:

• Angle your body and shaft of the club slightly towards the target, the thicker the grass the more lean will be required. 
• Try to maintain that angle throughout the movement, keeping your head and body very ‘quiet’.
• Feel a very smooth tempo, which will allow for good clean contact.
• Finally grip pressure, needs to be soft so that you can feel the club and therefore the distance, the best chippers in golf have the softest hands.

When you get to a longer pitch shot, say 10-15 yards from the green, you still approach the setup and the swing as you did with a chip shot but in this instance you’ll need to have a little bit more power in your swing and thus you will need a touch of weight transfer.