Rinker’s Golf Tips Guest Top 100 Teacher James Sieckmann. James Sieckmann had played professional golf all over the world but felt he didn’t really understand the short game. James said he was a disaster playing in Asia, pretty frustrated, and grinding away without getting anything out of it. In 1994 he caddied for his brother, Tom, at the Player’s Championship and went on a quest to learn the short game by videotaping Seve Ballesteros, Raymond Floyd, and other pros. He noticed that they were chipping completed opposite of what he thought their technique should be. James didn’t know what to teach short game wise before this, so he decided to teach what the best players in the world were doing.
I asked James about the differences in the kinematic sequence with a power swing vs a finesse wedge, and he said the goals are different, so it would make sense that the movements would be different. By letting the club release past the body with a finesse wedge, the sand wedge brushes the turf instead of taking a divot. Two types of contact; the club and the ball, and the club and the ground. With bounce the misses become more acceptable. So, if you hit a little behind it, drop kick it, that miss goes about the same distance as if you hit the ball first. Think about how you want the club to interact with the turf. If you are into the grain, take a less lofted club, play the ball more forward with less forward shaft lean, and now you don’t have the sharp leading edge sticking into the ground. Kids not using less lofted clubs around the green are robbing themselves of being creative. They can’t just go out with a lob wedge and think they are learning the skills to compete on the PGA Tour.
We talked about how to practice and James said that at first you want block practice to get consistent with your fundamentals, set-up, and technique. Next comes random practice and start with hitting four different trajectories with each sand wedge. There is only one arm swing so change trajectories by changing your set-up. If you miss- hit a shot, you are not second guessing your technique because you hopefully mastered that skill in block practice. The best type of random practice is playing. Second best type is to have games and compete. Practice the art of short game and develop your eyes and feel. Sometimes you have to keep doing what you are doing and don’t hit the panic button. Get your technique first and then learn how to control the length and tempo of your swing to control distance. James Sieckmann can be reached at www.jsegolfacademy.com