The Scrambler's Dozen: The 12 Shots Every Golfer Needs to Score Like the Pros

by Mike McGetrick, Tom Ferrell

Overview

In this invaluable book, Mike McGetrick, one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teaching Professionals in America and 1999 National PGA Teacher of the Year, shows how to make the best shot possible and shave strokes off your game. Sharing the same methods he uses when coaching some of the best players in the world, McGetrick outlines 12 basic shots you can incorporate into your game without overhauling your technique.

"Shotmaking is much more than simply curving the ball or hitting it low and high," explains Mike McGetrick, personal instructor to top golf professionals such as Juli Inkster, Brandt Jobe, and Meg Mallon. "It's understanding how the lie, the wind, the contour of the target and the hazards of the course will affect your decision making process." To reach full scoring potential on a course, you have to be a scrambler at heart, a master who can read a course's shifting challenges-from weather and terrain to pin positions-and adapt accordingly.

Following the clear advice in The Scrambler's Dozen, you will learn to be a great scrambler-to trust your decisions and your ability to execute shots to get the greatest rewards from the game. Like the pros, you too can learn when and how to chip or pitch or putt from off the green, and know how to practice so you're rarely in unfamiliar situations on the golf course. The Scramblers Dozen is the secret for squeezing every ounce out of your game and reaching your full scoring potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062030788
Publisher:	HarperCollins e-books
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Sold by:	OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	12 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mike McGetrick is the 1999 National PGA Teacher of the Year. He has won the Colorado Section PGA Teacher of the Year award on four seperate occasions and had three times been named one of the top 100 instructors in the United States by Golf Magazine. His instruction has appeared in television broadcasts and magazine articles. Mike coaches players on both the PGA and LPGA Tours. His students have won some of the most important titles in the game, including the U.S. Women's Open, LPGA Championship and Japenese PGA Championship. Mike lives in Denver with his wife, former LPGA Tour player Sara Anne, and their six children.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

The Fade

Working the Ball Right and Left

"You can talk to a fade, but a hook won't listen."-Lee Trevino

You've been playing golf long enough to know that, on the course at least, the shortest path between two points is rarely a straight line. To improve your scoring, you have to master the basic elements of shotmaking-working the bali from left to right and from right to left. The golf course never lets you rest. There are dogleg holes to contend with, tucked pins, wind conditions, trees and other obstacles. The player who has an idea how to affect the movement of the golf ball has a distinct advantage over the player who just hits and hopes.

In this chapter, we'll cover two of the basic shotmaking elementsthe left-to-right fade and the right-to-left draw. Whether you are a beginner, a scratch player or even a professional, you need to practice continuously to improve your shotmaking skills. As your shotmaking improves, you'll find that not only are you playing better golf, you're having more fun.

Featured Shot: The Fade

Most weekend golfers live in fear of the slice. To them, a fade is often guilty by association. You should not undervalue the fade as a shotmaking choice, however, no matter what your skill level. Many of the game's greatest players built their games around a fade. Recreational golfers often complain about a lack of consistency in their games. The fade is probably the most consistent shot they could develop. The elements that produce a fade already exist in their swings, they simply aren't tamed enough to soften the left-to-right movement of the ball so asto make it predictable and useful.

Even if a fade costs you a couple of yards off the tee, it will deliver greater accuracy and, for most golfers, find more fairways. On approaches to the green, a fade will fly high and land softly, just the characteristics you're looking for in an iron shot. When executed properly, the fade is one of the most controlled shots in golf and should be the first step you take in building your shotmaking repertoire.

Visualizing the Fade

All great shotmakers have great "eyes," and not only in their heads. These players also have mastered the art of seeing with their mind's eye. One of the most important things you can add to your preshot routine is visualization. Stand behind the ball and imagine the shot coming off just as you planned it, starting slightly left of the target and gradually bending back to the right. This visualization establishes a goal that your mind will work to achieve. In other words, with proper visualization you begin to move toward execution rather than simply swinging and hoping.

Setting Up for the Fade

The first adjustments you need to make to produce a left-to-right fade come during the setup. By adjusting your setup, you can influence the path of your swing and the angle of the clubface at impactthe two principal factors in curving the golf ball.

Start with club selection. A faded shot will fly slightly shorter and run less than a straight shot, so start your preparation by taking one or even two clubs more than usual, depending on the amount of curve you are playing. You must also remember that less-lofted clubs will tend to produce more left-to-right movement on the ball than shorter clubs with more loft. So if you really need to bend the shot, you should consider a longer, less-lofted club.

Proper alignment is crucial to producing a shot that performs as you have visualized it. For the basic fade, start by aligning your clubface at the target, just as you would for a straight shot. Your body alignment and the path of your swing will apply the proper spin to make the ball curve.

In this basic fade technique, the degree to which you open your body at address dictates the amount of curve you will get on the shot. Many high- handicappers make the mistake of fighting left-to-right ball movement by opening up even more so they're aiming farther left. This will only cause more left-to-right movement, since the club will cut across the ball at a greater angle, imparting more sidespin.

Align your feet, knees, hips, shoulders, arms and eyes down the line on which you want the ball to start. Play the ball about two inches forward of where you normally play it in your stance. This ball position complements an open body position and encourages a higher trajectory. Before gripping the club, make sure the clubface is still aligned at the target. Now, use a slightly tighter than normal grip pressure in both hands for the fade. A tighter grip pressure will help you delay the release of your hands so they don't close the clubface prior to impact.

Now just make a regular golf swing, swinging the club back along the line of your shoulders. The adjustments you have made to your setup and alignment will cause the clubhead to swing slightly across the target line on the backswing and then "cut" the ball through the hitting area.

Focus on your rhythm, particularly the transition between your backswing and forward swing. The most common flaw that will turn a fade into a slice is starting the downswing too quickly with the upper body. instead, concentrate on fully completing the backswing and starting down gradually, allowing your arms, hands and clubhead to accelerate into the impact area. Rotate your upper body to the left as you swing into your finish, being sure to fully complete the shot.

Remember, the key to the fade is to start the ball to the left and work it back the same distance to the right. If you can do that, you'll have a powerful tool in your shotmaking bag...

The Scrambler's Dozen. Copyright © by Mike McGetrick. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

What People are Saying About This

Meg Mallon

I've been working with Mike for 14 years, and what makes our relationship so good and so lasting is his communication style. Mike has made golf more fun for me by teaching me how to turn practice into something that really helps on the course. He helped me gain confidence by practicing specific shots, especially around the greens. Now when I'm faced with a pressure shot on the course, I have something real to fall back on. That's something that every golfer can use.
— (Meg Mallon, LPGA player and former U.S. Women's Open champion)

Brandt Jobe

Mike's greatest strength is that he makes instruction very easy through his ability to explain. In golf, people are always trying things they aren't comfortable with and don't know how to do. Mike has a way of teaching you pressure situations so that they become routine. His goal is that you never find yourself in an unrehearsed situation on the golf course. That's important no matter who you are or what's on the line. The advice Mike gives recreational golfers is the same I use every day to make my living, and it's a major asset.
— (Brandt Jobe, PGA Tour player and winner of 14 professional events worldwide, including the 1998 Japanese PGA Championship)