If you’re looking for short-game tips, is there anyone better than both Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler to learn them from? That’s probably a rhetorical question, considering Scheffler’s the reigning Masters champion, and Woods has won 15 major titles in his illustrious career.
But because two talented golf brains are always better than one, TaylorMade Golf got Scheffler and Woods together to provide short-game tips that every amateur can put to use.
Now, I can’t promise any of us will spin it like either of these guys anytime soon, but, hey, if you’re going to get a masterclass in anything golf-related, there isn’t a teacher out there who can go head-to-head with Tiger Woods or Scottie Scheffler. So take a look at the video below to see some of their advice!
Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler’s short-game tips
Chip shots
The first shot that Woods and Scheffler face is an uphill chip shot about 30 yards from the pin, with the latter taking the first crack at it.
First, Woods asks Scheffler if he prefers using the bounce or the leading edge when the ball is sitting up nicely on the grass, with Scheffler saying that’s he’s “a bounce guy.” He adds that he starts “chipping poorly when using too much of the leading edge,” where the grip goes first and I start putting that leading edge first.”
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When Woods steps over the ball for a shot from the same area, but with the ball sitting lower in the grass, he goes back to a tip he learned from Raymond Floyd “to get the the heel as high as I can.”
Woods stands over the ball, with an emphasis on being as close as possible to it. This allows him to hit “little baby hooks,” coming quick and short through the swing.
Spinning a chip shot
When Woods asks Scheffler what he would do to get some spin on a chip shot from the same area as above, Scheffler said, for this shot, he would look to cut the ball over trying to draw it.
“This one looks more like a cut, just with the way the hill is…. I can use [the wind] as well.
“So this one; same thing, open stance, and a little open face. I probably still feel a slight hook. I feel it, but it’ll still cut, because my hook feel is more straight down the line. My normal one almost feels more like a cut.”
But when the two talk about hitting the ball off the toe of the club, they disagree.
Woods prefers everything to come off the middle of the face, whereas Scheffler said he loves hitting it off the toe when in the rough.
Chipping from the rough
The conversation about hitting off the toe continues as the two move the ball back into the rough.
Says Scheffler, “I found that, out of the rough, when I get it to come off the toe, it comes off softer. So I feel like I can almost swing harder.”
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After the two trade shots from the rough — and rotating between a 56- and a 60-degree wedge — Woods explains why when playing on Bermuda grass it’s so difficult to gauge how the ball will come out.
“I would not go up with this shot,” he says. “Playing on Bermuda, it’s just it’s just so hard to trust that it’s going to come out the same every time.”
To really get an idea of how to hit some of these short game shots, I suggest watching the video. Woods and Scheffler do a superb job walking through the scenario before each shot, and better explain the method to their madness.