Push-It-To-The-Hole Chipping

Tom Scott has a great short game and has saved a lot of pars in scrambles and league play. My short game, on the other hand, is pretty mediocre. In our last outing, Tom finally said something that turned the light bulb on for me (after how many decades we've played together): keep the club low and push the ball to the hole, just like putting. It's dead simple, I can even do it and it's feels really great to finally have this shot in my bag. I asked Tom to record a cell-phone video explaining the shot and here it is. The audio is a little quiet so here's the transcription:

"When I chip what I'm looking for is what I call soft elbows where I want to know that I'm brushing the grass. One of the keys to that is that I keep the club low, to do that I'm really rocking my shoulders, almost like a putt. At the ball, I can move the club around a little bit to change the loft and all kinds of things, but when I come in to the back of the ball I just want to be square to my line, low club and back. That's how I push a pitch out and it seems to work pretty well for me."

It's really interesting to compare Tom's approach to the chipping styles of Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson and others (here). Right now, if I'm around the fringe of the green and unable to putt, Tom's push-it-to-the-hole chipping is very effective and brain-dead simple. I will typically use anything from a gap wedge to a seven iron, but Tom will also use a 60-degree wedge on this shot for those slippery, down-hill chip shots (I can do this in practice but have not yet tried it on the course). For other shots, Phil Mickelson's hinge-and-hold chip shot continues to work for me but I have to concentrate on keeping my left shoulder up, creating a straight line with my left arm and the club and pushing my hands forward to avoid hitting fat.

The Golf Swing That People Will Be Copying in the Next 30-40 years.

On the President's Cup telecast yesterday, commentator Johnny Miller repeated a comment he made in 2010 (here):  "...I said that this might be the swing that people will copy in the next thirty, forty years." The audio is a little hard to hear but here are some of the other comments:

• A swing with not a lot moving parts
• Quiet hands
• Nice hip turn
• Good shoulder turn to 90 degrees
• Swing stops well short of parallel
• Flat left wrist, stays down on it

Another more detailed analysis of Steve Stricker's golf swing can be found here.

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"If your employer matches your contribution up to a percentage of income, then a 401(k) deserves your attention."

"But, only put as much money into the 401(k) as your employer will match."

"... the rest of your retirement investing should happen in your IRA until you hit the upper limit on what you're allowed to contribute in a given year. Unlike most 401(k) plans, an IRA gives you the freedom to invest your money in whatever way you want," Cramer said.

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