SHORT GAME : JAMES SIECKMANN
HIT THE FOLLOWING NINE SHOTS TWO TIMES
➊^ 10-yard pitch with your most lofted club, flat fairway lie
➋^ 25-yard pitch with your most lofted club, flat fairway lie
➌^ 20-yard chip-and-run with an 8- or 9-iron, flat fairway lie
➍^ 10-yard shot, ball buried in the rough
➎^ 15-yard lob shot, fairway lie to a tucked flag
➏10-yard shot, rough, off an upslope
➐15-yard shot, rough, off a downslope
➑^ 25-yard shot, rough, ball sitting up
➒15-yard shot, fairway, to a tucked flag, landing it short
of the greenscoring+ 3 points for holing the shot
+ 2 points for a ball less than four feet away from the cup
+ 1 point for a ball between four and 12 feet from the cup
0 points for a ball on the green but outside of 12 feet- 2 points for missing the green
Pro: 24 or higher • 0 hdcp: 18 • 10 hdcp: 12 • 20 hdcp: 6sieckmann teaches at Shadow Ridge Golf Academy in Omaha.KEEP IT UP
▶ On a finesse swing,
the face should open
relative to swing
direction. Make sure it
stays skyward and the
toe doesn’t roll over at
impact (left).MOVE YOUR FOCUS
▶ From a tight lie, hit
pitches striking the
ball and a dime two
inches in front of it
(left). This will groove
the ideal attack angle
and low point.BECOME YOUR OWN BEST COACH
▶ I don’t mind if you make mistakes as long
as they lead to learning. Use the test above to
identify how and why you’re missing shots. The
first drill here will help you use the club’s bounce
and control loft. The second will help you find
a good low point in your swing and control the
angle of attack. —sieckmannTEST
60 golf digest | issue 4. 2020
Y
OU MIGHT USE YOUR USGA HANDICAP INDEX (if you have one) mostly for
playing matches and betting, but what the number measures is your “regular
game.”▶ And that’s good to know, but what if you want to find out what your
game would look like if you were able to turn every knob up to the max? With
the body, brain and talent you have, just how good could you get?▶ We set
out to answer that question for you—quantitatively and qualitatively—with
the help of experts in data analysis, swing instruction and sport psychology.
Lucius Riccio is a sports-data researcher at Columbia University and one of the original mem-
bers of the USGA committee that developed golf course Slope Ratings. James Sieckmann and
Nick Clearwater are Golf Digest 50 Best Teachers with special skill sets. Sieckmann is the
short-game coach to dozens of PGA Tour players and thousands of amateurs from his base
in Omaha, and Clearwater develops the teaching programs that hundreds of coaches use at
GolfTEC locations worldwide. Rounding out the team, Bhrett McCabe is the mental-game
coach for the University of Alabama athletic department and works with several PGA Tour
players, including Billy Horschel, Graeme McDowell, Patton Kizzire and Brian Harman.▶