This week, the best players on the PGA TOUR are at East Lake for the TOUR Championship, with an entire season coming down to four rounds of golf.
Most of us will never experience anything remotely like that stage, but you don't have to be playing for the FedExCup to know what it feels like when a round of golf means just a little more. Maybe your Club Championship is coming up. Maybe it's a Member-Guest, Member-Member, league championship, senior event, local tournament or simply an event you've had circled on your calendar for months.
Whatever it is, there's a good chance you'll care a little more about every shot than you do during your normal weekend round. And when that happens, your short game becomes even more important.
A Message I Was Happy to Get
I received a message recently from Robert Riedel of Wichita, Kansas, that seemed particularly appropriate for this week's topic.
Robert has been an Edison customer since 2022 and is a very accomplished golfer. He won the Senior Men's Championship at Terradyne Country Club in 2022, but since then he's had to deal with both back issues and cancer. This year marked his return to the Senior Men's Club Championship, and just a week before the tournament, Robert put a fresh set of Edison wedges in his bag.
Then he went out and won the net division.
Shortly afterward, Robert sent me this message:
“Bill, it’s Robert. Just wanted to send a quick thank you again for wedges. I won the senior club championship this past weekend. They truly are the best and definite game changers. Take care, my friend!”
Congratulations, Robert. Given what he's been through, I know this one had to be particularly special.
There was something else about Robert's victory that caught my attention. Playing to an 8 handicap, he posted gross scores of 82 and 70, with that second-round 70 being one under par on the par-71 course. During that final round, he got up-and-down six times.
Think about what that means. Robert is a very good iron player who doesn't miss many greens, but with a championship on the line, when he did miss, his short game repeatedly kept his round going.
Robert told us one of the things he particularly values about his Edison wedges is their performance from the rough, where impact can occur higher on the face. He also has tremendous confidence in the trajectory and stopping power he gets from them. In fact, that's part of what led him to put a fresh set in the bag before the tournament.
But there's a larger lesson in Robert's round that applies no matter what wedges you play: When you're playing a tournament and every shot matters, you're going to miss some greens. What happens next can determine your entire round.
That got me thinking about what I would tell any golfer who has an important event coming up. I've spent much of my career teaching golfers and helping them get more out of their games, and if your tournament is in the next week or two, here's how I would prepare.
1. Don't Try to Build a New Short Game
One of the biggest mistakes golfers make before an important tournament is deciding that now is the time to fix everything. It's usually not.
If you're playing next weekend, I don't want you trying three new chipping techniques, rebuilding your putting stroke or learning a flop shot you saw someone hit on YouTube. Tournament preparation isn't about building a new game; it's about making the game you already have more reliable.
Your objective should be confidence and predictability. Know what your ball is going to do, know which club you're going to use and know the shot you can rely on when you're a little more nervous than usual.
ONE QUESTION
If you had an important tournament this weekend, which part of your short game would concern you most?
- Wedge shots from 50–100 yards
- Basic chips and pitches
- Bunker shots
- Lag putting
- Putting inside 6 feet
2. Know Your Scoring Distances
If you're going to spend practice time somewhere before a tournament, spend some of it learning exactly how far your scoring shots carry. Not how far you think they carry, but how far they actually carry.
Take your wedges and establish comfortable distances for the swings you know you can repeat. That might mean a full swing, three-quarter swing and half swing, but don't get carried away trying to manufacture a dozen different yardages.
I'd much rather have you stand over an 82-yard shot thinking, “I know this shot,” than wondering whether you're supposed to take something off one wedge or hit another one harder. Tournament golf already gives your brain enough to think about, so remove decisions wherever you can.
3. Practice the Ordinary Shots
Here's another mistake I see all the time. A golfer finds a perfect lie beside the practice green and hits the same chip 20 times. You might get very good at that chip, but unfortunately, the golf course isn't going to give it to you 20 times in a row.
Walk around the practice green and drop balls in different places. Give yourself some fairway lies, some rough, an awkward lie or two and different amounts of green between you and the hole. Then ask yourself the same question you'll have to answer during the tournament: Where do I want this ball to land, and what's the simplest way to get it there?
You don't need five ways to play every shot. You need one dependable way to handle the shots you're most likely to face. Whenever the course gives you the option, favor the shot with the greatest margin for error.
Championship golf isn't a short-game exhibition. The scorecard doesn't care how pretty the shot looked.
4. Practice the Putts That Feel Different When They Matter
There's a big difference between a four-footer on the practice green Tuesday afternoon and a four-footer late in a tournament when you know you need to make it. Technically, they're exactly the same putt. Emotionally, they're not even close.
So make some of your putting practice mean something. Instead of raking another ball over after you miss, pick one ball, read the putt, go through your complete routine and hit it. Then move somewhere else and do it again.
Spend time from three to six feet, but don't neglect your lag putting. A good lag putt can turn a difficult hole into a routine par, while a poor one can leave you standing over exactly the kind of four-footer you didn't want.
5. Play Nine Holes With Your Tournament Brain
If possible, I'd rather see you play nine holes before the tournament than spend another hour beating balls on the range. But play those nine holes differently.
Keep score, play everything down and finish every putt. Before every scoring shot, go through the same routine you intend to use in the tournament. Most importantly, pay attention to your decisions.
Where did you take unnecessary risk? Where did you short-side yourself? Where did you try to hit the perfect shot when the smart shot would have been good enough? Where did you turn a relatively easy bogey into a double?
Good tournament preparation isn't just about improving your swing. It's about eliminating the mistakes that turn one dropped shot into two or three.
6. The Day Before: Less Is More
The day before your tournament isn't the time for a three-hour practice marathon. Hit enough balls to feel your swing, hit enough wedges to confirm your distances, hit some chips and bunker shots, and spend a little time lag putting.
Then I'd finish by making some short putts. You want the last thing you see to be the ball going into the hole.
After that, go home. Your preparation is over.
When You Get to the First Tee, Trust It
There's an important difference between practicing your short game and trusting your short game. By tournament morning, the practice is finished. You aren't trying to discover anything anymore; you're playing golf.
Pick the shot, pick the landing spot and commit to it. Accept that you're going to miss some greens because everyone in the tournament will. The golfer who wins probably won't be the player who avoids every mistake; it may very well be the golfer who handles those mistakes the best.
Robert Riedel gave us a pretty good reminder of that. After everything he'd been through, he returned to his Senior Men's Club Championship, shot a gross 70 in the final round, got up-and-down six times and walked away a winner.
That's a pretty good example of what a dependable short game can do when the score really matters.
Congratulations again, Robert. And for everyone else with a Club Championship, Member-Guest, league championship or another big event still ahead of you this summer, get your short game ready. Then go play—and trust it.
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