LIV Lessons: Matthew Wolff - Chapter 2 | Mastering the Bump and Run & Flop Shot

Hey, I'm Matthew Wolfe and welcome to my live lesson. Matthew Wolfe having a fantastic opening game. This is going to be launched. Matthew Wolfe 9 under. So a nice little stretch for Wolfe who is now of course a range goat. Oh is it Wolfe's day here in Las Vegas. So in this lesson I'm going to teach you how to master your short game. Short game is such an important part of the game. You know being able to get it up and down from right off the green and have stress-free rounds out there is what helps you keep momentum and ultimately what helps a lot of people end up winning tournaments. All right so here we're just off the green. Another little short game scenario here. But we have a lot of green to work with. As you can see the 10 is I'd probably say 30 yards away. But the green starts right there. You know three, four yards away from me. You know I think a lot of times in these shots most people go for their 60 degree or a lofted club the right off the green. They're like oh I'll just chip one up and hopefully it runs. But an easier way to hit these longer shots where you have a lot of green to work with and you know you're kind of can get the ball rolling pretty early and started on the ground is a bump and run. And I think that when you can get the ball on the ground quicker it's more predictable. You know in the air you don't know how much spin you're going to have on it. You don't know if it's going to check hard or if it's going to release or you know how hard or soft it's going to land. Whereas with these shots they're much more predictable. Especially when you have a you know a longer shot like this. You're going to have to take a little bit of a longer swing when it comes to a 60 or more lofted club. Whereas this really it's more of like a putting stroke. Around the green the two things that you must have are the basic chip shot that you need to get up and down from just off the green when the pin's sitting right in front of you. And the bump and run when it's a little farther away and you need to get the ball rolling. We've got you know three four yards until the front of the green but we've got 30 yards into the pin. And I have three different clubs here. I have a pitching wedge a nine iron and an eight iron. And there's a bunch of different options. I mean you could take pretty much any club you want. But these are like three of the the more commonly used bump and run clubs in my opinion. You still want to have a little bit of loft on it just to get the ball up in the air. You know just for enough for it to cover this little collar of the green. And you know kind of get on the ground and running towards the hole. So I guess the first shot I'll start with the pitching wedge. This one's going to be more of a you know maybe you need to get the ball a little bit more up in the air. Or if you have a little bit of like you're a little below the surface of the green. You need to get the ball up a little bit. But you still don't want it too high to where you know it could check or do anything like that. It would be a pitching wedge. And you can hit a bunch of different shots with these clubs too. So you know if you want to hit more of a a little higher shot. I think with these clubs you just put it a little bit more up in your stance. And when you want to hit a little bit of a lower shot a little bit more of a driving one. That's going to become a little hotter off the face. And maybe roll a little farther. You're going to want to just put it a little bit more back in your stance. And then another variation is you know a little cut or a little draw. I think there's a lot of times when if you're trying to go up a big slope or something. If you kind of try to you know trap it a little more. Put it back and draw it a little bit. It's going to want to tumble a little bit more. Have a little bit more of that top spin on it. Whereas if you maybe cut across it. You know have a little bit more open face. And kind of cut a little bit more like a bunker shot and go a little left. It's going to come off a little bit more spinny. Leave a little bit more height. Not kind of roll out quite as much. So with the amount of green that we have to work with. With pitching wedge we definitely don't need to use that cut shot. We definitely want to get it running and started. So for this one I'm just going to try to land something. You know maybe at the middle of this upper tier here. With a little bit of a little bit of go to it. And it should just be able to get started on the ground. Take the slope down and run out to the hole. So we'll see how that goes. So it's just a touch short. But as you can see it was a very very short swing. The contact was very easy to make good contact with. The bounce on these clubs. They're very forgiving. You know like you don't have to worry about making good contact. The leading edge on a 60 is very sharp. So it wants to grab into the ground. And that's why you have maybe a little bit trouble with contact. Whereas on these clubs it's going to be much easier to kind of bounce off the ground. Make sure to get good contact every time. And because they're lower lofted clubs you don't need to swing as hard. You know you really can just take more of a almost a putting stroke I would say. You know get like that's pretty much what this is. It's a longer putt. Obviously you're trying to get it off the ground a little bit. So it doesn't have to roll through any of this longer grass. But once you get it on the green you're reading it like a putt. It should be rolling like a putt. And so that's kind of the whole point of a bump and run. Is to get the ball on the ground. Get it rolling. And really you know have a much more you know predictable shot. Or know where it's going to end up. And your misses are also going to be much smaller too. You won't see you leaving it 30 yards or 30 feet short on a chip or anything like that. If you just kind of practice these and get a good feel for them. You can really use any club you want. And you know if you have a lot of green it's much easier to kind of hit it close. And you know like I said have a bit of a more predictable shot. One of the biggest mistakes amateurs make around the greens is moving too much. And lifting their head up through impact. It's really important to keep your head down. And make sure to you know keep it still if anything. It's move your shoulders and let your rotation kind of make you hit the ball. And you know not move your head at all. We'll go for the nine iron now. This one again you know like I said it's you can use any club you want. But this one again would probably just be a touch a touch lower. But because that pitching wedge was a little bit short. What I'm going to do is I'm kind of just going to play the same shot. Because if I hit it the exact same way. I would assume that a nine iron will just have a little bit more get to it. And we'll be able to get you know just that little extra bit that I need. But yeah for the most part I mean it's going to be like I said a putting stroke. Keep everything really similar. Feet pretty close together. And it's really just a you know a putting stroke. You don't really need to move much. Let the loft and the ball do all the work. Pretty consistent. Yeah when I'm around the greens my go-to shot is I like to club down a little bit. Make sure that I take a little bit less loft. And put it a little bit more back in my stance in order to make sure that contact's good. And I like driving the ball in a little lower. And I think it's really consistent. And I can you know make sure that the contact and the spin is going to come out the same every time. The problem is like the 60 it has a lot of loft and stuff. So if it like if they clip it right it goes up in the air. But if they like blade it it's just gonna like that's why a lot of them are hitting it. Like schooling it over the green. It's not because they're taking the wrong club. It's just because they don't they're not hitting it properly. Like hitting a good chip shot. Like whereas like the problem is like when you're hitting a 60 degree. It's difficult to kind of clip it nice. Especially when you're around the greens if it lies a little tight. You know like it's hard to clip it how you want to. Whereas with this club you know if they don't have much to go. I understand you know there's might be obstacles in your way. But this is always a better option in order to really just make sure that your contact's good. And like I said have a predictable outcome of what the shot's going to do. Like you know how it's going to take off. The amount of speed it's going to have. How it's going to react when it hits. It's not going to check. It's not going to you know go forward. Like you know exactly how it's just going to like hit. And then kind of just like release and stuff. And so I think that when you can have as much of a predictable shot. You know in your arsenal as possible. Like that's what you need around the green. I mean no doubt if you need a flop shot around the green. If you're short sighted. And you know you need to open the face of the 60 degree. That's a different thing. But if you're talking about just around the greens. I would even go down. You know you don't have to go down to a pitching wedge. You could go down to a 56 or a 50 degree. Or a gap wedge or something. To where you just it makes the contact a little bit easier. You're going to be able to like hit it a little bit better. Have a little bit more grab on it. You know a little bit check. And be able to just really like know exactly how the ball is going to come out. Because like I said a 60 degree is just. It's you know it's not an easy club to hit. Even though a lot of people like to hit it. I already did pitch. I already did nine. Pitching wedge a little short. Nine irons still a little short. Just a little bit past the pitching wedge. So I figure this one I'm going to try to. I'm not going to hit the exact same shot. Because this is an eight iron. I think I do need to get it up a little bit more. I think that by doing that I could fly it a little bit farther. And I've noticed these greens aren't too fast. So I could think I could be a little bit more aggressive. And you know when you can be more aggressive. Or when the greens are slower. You can take a little bit less loft. And you know kind of try to get it to the hole. So for this one all I'm going to do is put it a touch more up in my stance. But when I put it more up in my stance. I make sure that I have to get my weight a little bit more forward. Because if you put it up in your stance. But you have your weight still back. You're set like you're not going to be able to strike it as well as you want. So depending on where your ball is. And your stance is where you're going to want your weight. So for this one I'm going to put it a touch more up. Still feet close together. And then from there I'm going to try to get just a touch more loft. But still just a small like putting stroke like swing. And just let it run out. That hit really soft. Much better. Around the greens it's really difficult. And you know a lot of people don't want to go practice. Don't want to go take the time. They're intimidated because it's frustrating. And they might not get it. But there is no other way to get better. I promise you. All right for this one. Right off the green here again. But a little different scenario. Not a lot of green to work with. Not very far off of the green though. So for this one we're definitely going to need a little bit of loft. So I have my 60 degree. We don't need much obviously. We just need to get the ball up in the air. Landing somewhat softly. And don't need to hit it very far. So I think the biggest thing for these shots is just contact. How you hit the ball is the most important. If you can actually clip it. And be able to hit it center on the face and solid. Regardless of really how far you landed on the green. When you don't have very far of a shot. It shouldn't go too far by. So for the most part my favorite tip on having good contact. Especially when chipping. Is making sure that your head is very very still. And I don't even. I mean obviously back and forth. You don't want to lift the ball up in the air. You want to make sure that it doesn't go back and forth. But I talk about mainly for contact. Blading and chunking the ball. I think up and down is where the most people make their mistake. When they move their head on a chip shot and stuff. It's such a short motion. That you really have to make sure to keep everything small. Like or steady and still. Because if you do decide to you know drop the head. You're either going to have to come up and blade it. Or if you drop the head. You're going to stay down. You're going to chunk it and hit behind the ball. So I think you know. It's really important to make sure your head stays really still on these chip shots. And for the most part that's really what I think about in order to get good contact. All the other stuff about getting height. You know like little things like that. That's just opening your face a little bit. But for the most part getting around these greens. It's really important to keep everything really still. Make sure to just put the ball in the center of your stance. Not have too wide of a stance. Make sure it's narrow. And then like I said just make sure your head's centered. And then when you chip your head is staying very still. Don't look at the ball when you hit it. Don't try to move your head. All I want you to do is just keep your head very still. Let the shoulders rock. And like I said especially with this shot. Because it's so short it does not need to be a very long you know swing. It could be very short. Just a little bit more than a putting stroke maybe. So all I want you to do. Get over it. Feel comfortable. Open the face just a little bit. Just to get a little bit of height on it. But from here just keep your head really still. And that should allow you to have that good contact. Like I said that ball didn't even launch that high up in the air. But because I clipped it nice it was able to stop you know just in front of the hole. So really you know for contact I would make sure to just keep my head really still. Focus on you know not trying to do too much. Not lift the ball up in the air. Just let the contact. Let the club. The loft. All that other stuff take care of how the ball should react. All I want you to do is keep your head still. And just make a smooth little solid stroke. Good tempo. Don't try to get too jabby. Too fast. Too quick. Or too slow. Just smooth. Same tempo back and through. Keep everything still and it should come out how you want to. Yeah for me it's really just a trigger thing. It's kind of like in my full swing how I do that trigger move. It's really just a feel thing. You know it's just kind of get the move started. I think you know when you do. For me one thing I have to focus on is when I am moving in my trigger move or anything like that. When I'm pushing the hands forward I have to make sure that my head stays still. Because it's easy to you know do stuff where your head moves before the shot. When you do that then it's your head's moving and the contact is hard. So for me it's really just a trigger move. Making sure that I'm comfortable. And kind of for me I think it's hard to kind of just stand here. And then all of a sudden go and chip. So I think for me like you know being more of an athlete I would say. I like to kind of move before stuff. You don't see people doing jumps. You don't just see them. If you really are struggling with short game and you don't feel comfortable. Don't want to take out the wedge. Just have had enough. I really suggest you just putt. If you have a good lie and you have the ability to putt the ball. I would always say putt.