In a recent video with Jason Day, Charlie Hull gave us a little insider info about her game.
There was a lot about her swing, her back injury, her mindset during practice and what a sensitive player she is. But buried in the middle of the video was something I think is worth stealing.
Hull practice odd kicks.
Not just the basic bunker shot or stock chip.
She practices shots that most golfers would look at and say, “There’s no way I’m going to try that.”
What does Charlie Hull practice
Hull talked about how much he loves the bunkers and how he likes to change things up in the sand.
One of the examples she gave was a closed face bunker shot with spin. She said her coach practices small bunker shots around a tree from about 20 yards away.
This isn’t exactly the standard “open your face, splash out” bunker lesson. But that’s the point.
Hull said he likes to practice the funniest shots because, even if he only gets to use them once a year, she knows she has them when she needs them.
That’s the advice I think you can take from this. That doesn’t mean you have to hit a miracle shot over a bunker on the 18th hole if you’ve never practiced it. This is perhaps the opposite of teaching.
The real solution is that if you want more options in the course, you have to build them somewhere else first.
I learned this by accident
When I was a kid, I learned to play golf in my parents’ backyard.
I would find holes, trees, bushes and anything else that could make a shot more difficult. I would stand with one foot in a hole and try to hit it over a tree. I would put a bush in the road and try to turn something around it. I would see how high I could hit it, how low I could hit it, and how many different ways I could get the ball to the target.
At the time, I don’t think I was “exercising”. I was just a kid trying to stay busy.
But as I got older, I realized that those odd little games gave me confidence. When I played golf in college, I felt like I could hit shots from bad spots. I could see options that other players might not have seen.
Did this come from the days of standing in a hole trying to hit a tree?
Who knows? But I think it helped.
The point is not that every golfer needs a closed-face bunker shot. However, short game practice becomes much more useful and much more fun when you stop making every shot perfect.
Try the odd shot.
Just don’t use it on the course until you’ve first gained confidence.
