Transcription
Henry Fall:
Hey, guys. So today we’re going to be talking about hitting chip shots in that Bermuda, into the grain Bermuda. Okay, we’re taking over Milo’s YouTube today.
Henry Fall:
All right, ed Lasater, Henry Fall, and we’re going to be talking about this into the grain Bermuda shot, something you’d see down Florida, you can see it out here in Arizona, kind of the Southern states, right?
Ed Lasater:
Yeah, generally speaking, yes.
Henry Fall:
So into the grain, we’ve seen this, we actually just saw this a few weeks ago with the tournament, The Hero World Challenge.
Ed Lasater:
Right.
Henry Fall:
Man, that grass made these guys look silly, right?
Ed Lasater:
Yeah. Well, it made them look human.
Henry Fall:
It made them look human, yes. So when you get this into the grain, you see the club just, it digs, right?
Ed Lasater:
It’s digging.
Henry Fall:
Yep. So we have to find a way to make sure that club can travel through the grass and still be able to hit those nice sort of soft nippy chips, right?
Ed Lasater:
Yep.
Henry Fall:
Now there’s a couple methods that we’re going to kind of demonstrate here. One is a little bit lower method. If it’s kind of a poor lie, you get that soily grainy grass into you and you just can’t glide, right? You can’t use the bounce because even the bounce digs, right?
Ed Lasater:
Could, yes.
Ed Lasater:
Good.
Henry Fall:
Yes. So learning to hit sort of that little lower draw shot can be good, but you’ve also shown me a method here where you can have a face a little open, maybe have the handle just a little up, and learn to glide.
Ed Lasater:
Yep.
Henry Fall:
And hit that softer one. So why don’t you show us that one, if you can.
Ed Lasater:
What I’m finding sometimes is that when we get in these situations where we know the leading edge and the heel is what digs. So what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to address it almost as if it’s a putt and add a little ulnar, meaning a little bit up, a little arching, handle’s a little higher and a little bit of this condition here. And the goal is to hit it the toe on the ground per se, and the heel off the ground. And really all we’re doing is pressure stays forward a little bit of ulnar, and we’re just basically making a large putt stroke and it comes out pretty soft and depending upon how I need it to release is how much I want to open the face.
Henry Fall:
Yeah and the one you were showing me earlier, you actually had the handle, maybe just slightly lower, but face more open, because you knew the face being open that would also help it glide.
Ed Lasater:
Right, so on that one there, I basically try to feel like I’m hitting a draw and I’m basically making the hands just circle around the body and don’t add anything to it and just turn and turn and it’ll pop up nice and soft.
Henry Fall:
So then you get that softer higher one.
Ed Lasater:
And the bounces is what bounces through this nice stuff here and it won’t catch.
Henry Fall:
So the big thing here is really, I guess we should go back a step, is really assessing your lie, right?
Ed Lasater:
That was always number one when it comes to any shot that you’re hitting. Assess the lie first.
Henry Fall:
Yep.
Ed Lasater:
Right, because then you need to determine the distance and so from there you’re deciding, okay, quality of greens, kind of ball I’m playing, conditions, yada, yada, yada, all those other factors. And then coming up with a strategy where you want to land it and how much it’s going to roll out, et cetera.
Henry Fall:
Right, because this one, you have a variety of options. I mean, you could hit a hybrid and roll it through the grass as long as it’s not too sticky. You can flop onto the green with this sort of the shot you just took. You could bump it. So being able to determine based on the lie and what you have at hand, kind of what club or what shot you want to go with, right?
Ed Lasater:
You also want to determine what kind of ball you’re playing too. Are you playing a ball that doesn’t spin much?
Henry Fall:
Right.
Ed Lasater:
Are you that kind of player or are you player that you’re playing a ball that spins more, then maybe you need to change your tactics?
Henry Fall:
Cool. Let me get in here for a second. So you gave us a couple nice little options there. You could have the handle a little higher and what that’s going to do is get that hosel out of the ground too. So the hosel can dig just like the leading edge can dig. So let’s take those two out of play, right? Now here, the ground isn’t quite so soily and soft like you might find down Florida and the grass down there even gets a little longer and grainier and it can be really tricky. So, you gave us a couple options there and even playing that little draw one. The other one you could do is if the lie was really bad, say it was in this little hole right here or that grass was longer and really grainy into me, is being able to just hit a little low draw shot and you might need to bump it a little bit.
Henry Fall:
So for that one, I might put it a little more out on my right toe and then still have the handle up, because again, I don’t want that heel to dig and I’d actually put it off the toe a little bit and even turn down the toe a little bit.
Ed Lasater:
Right.
Henry Fall:
So you could hit that little lower draw and you can still get a little bit of spin on it. So you see that sort of bumping shot and this is a lob wedge here, so you see how low I hit that shot just to get it out of that hole and I’m still of playing a little draw, like you talked about
Ed Lasater:
And he’s determining… And note this too, is we know there’s always going to be some level of release assuming you’re not hitting the crazy spinner. So the last thing he looks at is where he wants to feel the effort for speed to land and he’s already calculated how much that thing’s going to release.
Henry Fall:
Yeah, so I want to hit a little hard. So there’s a couple options there and you know I think you also can try different clubs, right, like we talked about. Don’t be afraid to try like a hybrid here or you could putt it, assuming the grass isn’t too long because what happens too is with grainy Bermuda, especially if you’re going a little uphill, is that thing just bobbles and hops and it goes nowhere. It never gets to the green if you putt it.
Ed Lasater:
On the west coast, we have [inaudible 00:05:48], so as soon as it hits that thing, it’s like [crosstalk 00:05:51]
Henry Fall:
Straight up in the air.
Ed Lasater:
Yeah, you have to carry it on the green.
Henry Fall:
Right, so that’s when you would employ your method of maybe you have the handle a little higher, open face, and feel like you hit that little draw shot. And you notice when we hit these shots too, we’re not adding a lot of hinge right now. You know, we talk about a full swing, getting our wrist into extension, our right wrist. On these shots we don’t really need much. We can actually pretty much feel like this club is pointed back at our center or our chest, our left pack, and just feel like we turn and turn.
Ed Lasater:
That’s right. Yeah, we actually want to maintain the loft as much as we can if we’re going to add trajectory to the shot, or you can open the face, but then that adds another variable and it also adds spin.
Henry Fall:
Yeah. If the ground is firm enough too, one thing maybe you’ve heard of before with like Phil Nicholson and others is actually allowing the club to sort of drop into the ground before the ball, almost purposely chunking it. I don’t know if that’s something you’ve heard of before.
Ed Lasater:
Absolutely. Yeah.
Henry Fall:
So now it again depends on where you are. This is goes back to assess the lie.
Ed Lasater:
100%.
Henry Fall:
Because if it’s soily and sandy, you just don’t have the ability to use the ground.
Ed Lasater:
You don’t have an option, no.
Henry Fall:
Right. But here, because the ground is just a little bit firmer, I can almost feel like I can get an inch or two behind it and then just glide through. So I have that nice wide arc because I’m hitting that little draw and I feel like I’m just turning and turning. So, you hear that sound is like a da-dunk, right?
Ed Lasater:
Yeah, you actually hit it about maybe an inch behind it.
Henry Fall:
Yep.
Ed Lasater:
Right.
Henry Fall:
But because that face was open, because the handle is a little up, I can get away with it.
Ed Lasater:
Right.
Henry Fall:
Right. So this is what you see from like Jason Day and Steve Stricker and some of these guys that they got that nice sort of gliding look to their chipping action.
Ed Lasater:
And notice if you did that on face on, you’ll see that Henry’s maintaining his width the entire time. He’s not getting narrow. He’s not pulling the club in. It’s actually tracing where the buttons on his shirt go. He’s staying wide and he’s turning and turning.
Henry Fall:
Right. So a great feel for that would just be put this club in your sternum, grip the club, and just make a nice little pivot. And you can have a narrow stance just like you would when you chip. And I’m maintaining my levels. I’m not really doing a lot down or ups here. You know, in a full swing we have a little bit more movement, a little more flow right to left, a little more flow down and up. But here it’s just keep my level and just turn, turn with my chest moving.
Ed Lasater:
That’s right.
Henry Fall:
Right.
Ed Lasater:
That’s the power generator in your golf swing, especially in this shot.
Henry Fall:
Yep. So hopefully that gives you a couple options now. You can kind of go with a lower one and feel free to try putting hybrid seven wood. You know, we see it all the time.
Ed Lasater:
Quite often, the higher the handicap, the faster you want it on the ground running.
Henry Fall:
Yep. And then also the softer gliding shots. So try them out. Figure out what works best for you and assess the lie. That’s number one, you got to start there.
Ed Lasater:
You have to start there.
Henry Fall:
Cool. Hope you guys enjoyed it.
Ed Lasater:
See ya.
