Improving your short game is crucial for lowering your scores and becoming a more consistent golfer. The short game, typically defined as shots within 100 yards of the green, includes putting, chipping, pitching, and bunker play. Mastering these areas can save you many strokes per round.

Putting

Putting is often considered the most important aspect of the short game. A good putting stroke is smooth, consistent, and allows you to control both distance and direction.

Key Principles for Better Putting

• Read the Green: Take your time to assess the slope and break of the putt. Walk around the hole and observe the contours.
• Proper Setup: Ensure your eyes are directly over the ball, your stance is stable, and your grip is firm but relaxed.
• Pendulum Stroke: Keep your wrists firm and use your shoulders to create a smooth, pendulum-like motion. The backswing and follow-through should be symmetrical.
• Distance Control: Practice putting to different distances to develop a feel for how hard to hit the ball.

Chipping

Chipping involves shorter shots around the green, typically from just off the putting surface, designed to get the ball rolling quickly towards the hole.

Techniques for Effective Chipping

• Club Selection: Depending on the lie and distance, you can use a variety of clubs from a pitching wedge to a 7-iron. A lower-lofted club will produce more roll, while a higher-lofted club will provide more carry.
• Narrow Stance: Use a slightly open stance with your weight favoring your front foot.
• Hands Forward: Position your hands slightly ahead of the ball at address to promote a downward strike.
• Smooth Swing: Use a small, controlled swing, focusing on consistent contact with the ball before the turf.

Pitching

Pitching involves longer shots than chipping, usually from 20 to 100 yards, where the ball flies higher and has less roll.

Mastering Your Pitch Shots

• Club Selection: Pitching wedges, gap wedges, and sand wedges are typically used for pitching.
• Varying Swing Lengths: Learn to control distance by varying the length of your backswing and follow-through. Common swing lengths are quarter, half, and three-quarter swings.
• Consistent Rhythm: Maintain a smooth and consistent rhythm throughout your pitching stroke.
• Target Focus: Pick a specific landing spot on the green and visualize the ball flying to that spot.

Bunker Play

Bunker shots can be intimidating, but with the right technique, you can consistently get out of the sand and onto the green.

Sleepy Hollow Country Club's opulent clubhouse is a 19th-century mansion that was designed to be the home of a Vanderbilt heiress.

The post Inside Sleepy Hollow’s epic clubhouse, one of golf’s most opulent retreats appeared first on Golf.

NBA Hall-of-Famer Pau Gasol joined GOLF's Subpar podcast to discuss nerves on the golf course, what he learned from Kobe Bryant and more.

The post Why you should embrace your golf nerves, says NBA Hall-of-Famer appeared first on Golf.

An Arizona State golfer emailed a professor while he was at a tournament. He got back a perfect reply. “Are you kidding dude!!”

The post College golfer emails professor about missing class. And reply is the best appeared first on Golf.

Odyssey's new S2S Tri-Hot putters offer a new configuration for "zero torque" putters by moving the shaft axis and CG forward.

The post Odyssey S2S Tri-Hot putters make ‘zero torque’ tech feel natural appeared first on Golf.

Today, Odyssey announced the continuation of their Square 2 Square line of torque-balanced putters. This was expected since torque-balanced putters now make up such a large portion of the current putter market.

What I didn’t expect was that Odyssey was going to take the “going forward” concept so literally with their new Square 2 Square Tri-Hot putters.

Odyssey’s new hosel forward design

Odyssey believes there are potential customers who want to try the Square to Square concept but they are not comfortable with the look of the shaft attaching so far behind the face.

The position of the hosel necessitates forward shaft lean. This, too, is not universally accepted, especially if you add a non-traditional grip to hide said shaft lean.

To address the hosel issue, Odyssey moved everything forward in their new Square 2 Square Tri-Hot putters. This involved far more than just welding the hosel closer to the face.

Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are the greatest golfers ever. But who's No. 3? Gary Player says there's "no question" it's... Gary Player.

The post ‘Not even a question’: Gary Player names himself third-best golfer in history appeared first on Golf.

Gemma Dryburgh's seven-birdie day left her a stroke behind leader Hye-Jin Choi after the first round of the Maybank Classic.

Outside of EA Sports’s criminally underrated Tiger Woods PGA Tour franchise, the intersection between golf and video games is often slim to none. Particularly at the highest competitive levels, the two circles of this theoretical Venn diagram may as well be on opposite sides of the room.

One man, however, is seeking to craft an overlap.

Once one of the world’s top pros in Counter Strike, a tactical first-person shooter video game in the professional Esports arena, Timothy Ta has hung up his headphones for a career making content in golf’s social media scene.

Under the pretext of “quitting his job to play golf,” he has retired from Esports and is committed to sharpening his golf ability full-time.

As proprietor of the recently created timtagolfs Instagram page (24,000 followers), Ta has illustrated to his audience how to forge a golf game—attempting to go from a 25-handicap to scratch—through the medium of short, vlog-style reels.

Alignment might be the most overlooked skill in golf. Everyone wants to bomb drives and flush irons but too many of us don’t actually check where we’re aimed. It’s not fun to practice alignment which is exactly why so many players struggle with it.

If you want to get better, your misses need to be better. You can’t fix what’s broken mid-swing if your setup was off before you even took the club back. Alignment training is one of the fastest ways to tighten dispersion, hit more greens and start scoring lower.

Here are five alignment training aids that can ensure you haven’t ruined your shot before you even hit it.

1. Stance Caddy

If you constantly find yourself “feeling” you are aimed at the target only to watch shots start 10 yards left, the Stance Caddy will reveal the cause. It’s one of the most complete alignment trainers available. It covers ball position, stance width and aim all in one compact system.

The adjustable rails and footprint layout make it simple to repeat your setup. Unlike plain alignment sticks, you’ll know exactly where everything should be. I like the simplicity of this tool for golfers of any level.

For those of you don’t know me too well yet, just know that I’m MyGolfSpy’s style guy. Don’t get it twisted, Connor is our shoe guru, but I’m much more of the traditionalist, and when it comes to my style on and off the course, I’m a fanatic.

Fall has always been my favorite season because as the weather gets colder, you can throw on more layers and really start to show just how good (or bad) you can dress. That’s probably why when I first started watching golf, even though Tiger was my “favorite,” I felt a kindred connection with our WITB hero, Adam Scott. From his days with Burberry, to Aquascutum, and now to Uniqlo, Adam’s pretty much got a sweater on him at all times, and is the unquestioned poster boy for cold-weather golf.

I am a firm believer that if you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you play good. So, take it from me, this is what you need to look, feel, and play your best golf this fall.

Uniqlo Milano Ribbed Sweater

You can ask my wife, I bring this thing with me everywhere all the time. There is not a trip, golfing or non-golfing, that this sweater (yes, in the Adam Scott beige) does not leave the house, and it is a life-saver. Even though it’s light, this thing is ridiculously warm when it’s cold out, and genuinely looks designer. You can easily take this from the course out to dinner, to the office, you name it. I know because I do it… frequently.

PUFFTECH Vest

This lightweight puffer vest is another staple me or Adam are rarely without in the fall and winter. Fits easily in the golf bag or travel bag, and adds the extra layer of warmth on particularly windy or inclement days. Not to mention, it also looks great: sporty yet timeless and functional as anything.

You don’t have to swing it like a tour pro to shave strokes off your scorecard. For many golfers, the problem isn’t mechanics, it’s decision-making. With data from Shot Scope, we put together five golf course management myths that could be costing you strokes.

1. “The center of the green is always the safe play.”

The center of the green can be a safe play but it’s not always the safest. For most golfers, the biggest miss isn’t left or right, it’s short.

For a 15-handicap golfer, 54 percent of all approach shots finish short and only 23 percent find the green.

That means “aim for the middle” doesn’t always make sense. If there’s water or a bunker in the front-center portion of the green, aiming there and missing short could put you in more trouble.

Ultimately, the best strategy comes from knowing your numbers. Track where you miss, how far your shots really carry, and use that information to plan smarter targets. Just keep in mind that the majority of shots golfers miss going into the green come up short.

PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady told Golf Channel this week that preparations already are underway in case Tiger Woods, who turns 50 in December, opts to play on the senior circuit.

The Wilson Infinite Buckingham is gone again, and it’s okay to cry. After being named our 2025 Mallet of the Year, this thing just cannot stay on shelves. However, I’m here to tell you that there’s a kid on the block that you’ve been ignoring and you should 100% stop.

Meet the PING Scottsdale Tyne 4, a mallet that finished third in our mallet testing but performs like it belongs in the winner’s circle. With its twin-fork, high-MOI design and precision-milled PEBAX insert, the Tyne 4 offers the same rock-solid stability and buttery feedback that made the Buckingham so beloved only with an iconic look. If I’m being honest, in my opinion, this thing looks better than the Buckingham, and for those of you more traditional folks out there, the Tyne 4 is for you.

If you missed your shot at the Buckingham, this is your redemption arc. At $259.99, it’s not the cheapest, but for a premium performing and looking putter, this thing is a bargain and is an easy gamer for anyone who likes a little toe-hang and a lot of confidence.

The post Wilson’s Buckingham is Gone… Try the PING Scottsdale Tyne 4 Instead (You Won’t Regret It) appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

The second season of TGL is almost here—and it promises to look substantially different than it did this year.

The tech-infused simulator league was moderately successful in its inaugural season as TV ratings on ESPN were unspectacular but still a solid improvement on the network’s previous programming in those time slots (overall average of 500,000 viewers).

TGL has shown it has a high floor because of an advantageous TV contract, the inclusion of Tiger Woods (whose future participation as a player is uncertain due to yet another back surgery) and the financial backing of many titans in the sports world.

The question now is whether it also has a high ceiling.

Early returns were inconclusive. Despite several positive (and viral) moments in 2025, TGL suffered from uncompetitive matches, technology failures, awkward production and overwhelmingly boring virtual golf holes that looked more interesting than they played.

That weak fade costing you 20 yards? The pulls when you’re trying to draw it? Look at your divots. If they’re pointing significantly left (we’re talking 10 degrees or more), they’re showing you exactly what’s wrong.

Your divot direction reveals your swing path at impact. Ignore what your divots tell you and you’ll pile on band-aid fixes that make things worse. Learn to read them and you’ll understand your swing better than most club golfers.

A quick note on what divots actually show: Technically, divot direction shows your swing direction or the overall arc of your swing rather than the precise club path at the exact moment of impact. Because of attack angle (how steeply you’re hitting down), the actual path can differ slightly from what the divot shows. But, for practical purposes, especially for recreational golfers, divot direction is one of the most useful diagnostic tools you have. It reveals patterns immediately, without a launch monitor, and the fixes that address divot direction also fix path problems.

Why divot direction matters more than ball flight

Most golfers chase ball flight without understanding what creates it. They see a slice and compensate by aiming left or changing their grip. The swing path stays broken.

Ball flight lies. A pull-slice can come from an over-the-top swing with an open face. A straight shot can come from a path five degrees left with a face equally closed. You’re getting lucky with compensations, not building a repeatable swing.

I recently wrote about an estimate on how much I think Grant Horvat makes on YouTube based on some general calculations.

The same rules apply here.

These numbers are only my estimations based on publicly available data including view counts, average RPMs and more.

As such, use this info only as that: a rough (but educated) guess as to what Rich Shiels earns in YouTube ad revenue from his main Rick Shiels Golf channel (not his podcast or other channels).

Keep in mind that this estimation doesn’t include any private sponsorship deals including his deal with LIV Golf.

The golf ball is the most important piece of equipment in your bag. It’s the only thing you use on every shot and our 2025 Ball Test presented by UNRL showed once again that the differences between golf balls are often bigger than the differences between clubs.

Bridgestone’s Tour B lineup is built around four models: Tour B X, Tour B XS, Tour B RX, Tour B RXS.

The 2025 test revealed measurable differences in spin, flight and distance between each model. Here’s what the data says about Bridgestone.

High-speed testing (115 mph driver/90 mph 7-iron)

At faster swing speeds, Bridgestone’s four Tour B models separated by spin and flight rather than just distance. The Tour B X led in total yardage. RX and RXS offered a softer feel and more playable launch conditions for those near the edge of the high-speed range.

Tour B X → One of the longest balls tested (324.8 yards total) with mid-high spin and a flatter flight.Tour B XS → Slightly shorter off the tee (320.9 yards) but the highest-spinning Bridgestone in wedge testing (5,989 rpm). Lower-launching and built for players who value greenside precision.Tour B RX → Mid-spin option that paired solid distance (315.8 yards) with a higher launch window, offering a balanced mix of carry and control.Tour B RXS → Softest feel and lowest driver spin (2,549 rpm). Produces a slightly higher flight.

Mid-speed testing (100 mph driver/80 mph 7-iron)

The Tour B RX and RXS are tuned for this mid-speed range and both showed softer feel and higher launch characteristics.

If there’s one thing Scottie Scheffler doesn’t change often, it’s his irons. While some players rotate equipment throughout the season, Scheffler’s setup has stayed remarkably consistent for years.

Scottie Scheffler’s iron setup

As of 2025, Scheffler plays a Srixon Z U85 utility iron for his long irons (3- and sometimes 4-iron). He pairs that with TaylorMade P·7TW blades from 5-iron through pitching wedge.

This combination blends a forgiving, higher-launching utility with one of the most traditional blade sets on the PGA Tour. The P·7TW was originally designed for Tiger Woods. It provides the precise feedback Scheffler prefers in his scoring clubs.

The Z U85 gives him a reliable option off the tee or into long par-4s when needed.

The numbers behind his iron play

The results speak for themselves. Scheffler currently ranks first on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained Approach and in proximity to the hole (33 feet, 4 inches). He also hits 71.39 percent of greens in regulation, placing him eighth overall.