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Gary Nicol’s short game secrets: Mastering the flop shot

published: May 19, 2017

|

updated: Oct 3, 2023

Gary Nicol’s short game secrets: Mastering the flop shot

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Renowned European Tour coach, TrackMan Master and Certified Mind Factor coach Gary Nicol shows us how to hit a flop shot..

Gary Nicol's short game secrets: Mastering the flop shot

Table of Contents

Jump to:

  • The flop shot
  • sophie walker: how i bomb it miles
  • ali taylor: how to maximise spin with your wedges

In our quest to learn how to improve shot selection, The Golf Shack Academy on tour found our way to Archerfield Links, East Lothian, Scotland. Whilst there, we caught up with Gary Nicol, European Tour coach at TPEGS coaching, also based at Archerfield.

The flop shot

We are faced with a tricky little shot here, over a bunker to a fast green with not a lot of room between the pin and the bunker.

First thing I’m going to do here is imagine what the ball needs to do to get close to the hole.

So in this case we need to get the ball up in the air quickly, land it softy and not let it run out too much.

Once I’ve decided what the ball needs to do then I’ve got to choose the right club to play that shot.

For me, I have my 56 degree wedge with 10 degrees of bounce and what I’m going to do is open the club face up to create more loft. By doing that I’ve increased the bounce as well.

So all I’m really going to do here is push the club down under the ball, use the clubs loft to pop the ball up, create a little bit of spin and try and land it quite softly.

About Gary

Renowned European Tour coach, TrackMan Master and Certified Mind Factor coach Gary Nicol is available for private coaching at Archerfield Links. Gary has successfully coached golfers of all abilities over a 25 year period and spent 16 years traveling around the world. He has worked with over 30 Tour Pros including numerous tournament winners and Ryder Cup players. Gary offers a range of private coaching programmes including – individual one hour lessons, playing lessons, video lessons and analysis. All this is delivered to your email address and smartphone for you to watch and learn from, wherever and whenever you want.

About Archerfield

The Performance Centre located in East Lothian, Scotland is regarded as one of the finest golf Coaching and Fitting Facilities in Europe. It boasts state of the art technology from; TrackMan, V1 Video, GEARS, SAM PuttLab and SAM BalanceLab.

They provide an enhanced level of coaching for all levels of ability and world class Junior Coaching programmes.

If you are looking for new golf equipment then look no further, they are now custom fitting PING, Titleist and Callaway golf clubs with a wide range of components and club options available. Their custom fit experts will work with you to find the best solution for your game.

Sophie Walker: How I bomb it miles

Sophie Walker: How I bomb it miles

Read full article - Sophie Walker: How I bomb it miles
Ali Taylor: How to maximise spin with your wedges

Ali Taylor: How to maximise spin with your wedges

Read full article - Ali Taylor: How to maximise spin with your wedges

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