In this video, Scott Tanguay of the Coastal Golf Academy in Myrtle Beach, S.C. is here to demonstrate the proper method for hitting a flop shot – and, just as important, recognizing the scenario that would dictate the need to execute it in the first place.
Scott Tanguay:
Hey, guys! Scott Tanguay here at the Coastal Golf Academy, right across the street from Myrtle Beach International Airport. Stop by and see me!
Today, we're going to talk about how to hit a flop shot. We always want to hit on the green or close to the green, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes you end up in bad scenarios. Right now we have to go over this bunker to a downhill slope to the hole. If we play this with a traditional shot, you might clear the lip, but it's coming in way too low and hot. It's going to be very difficult to stop on the green. You'd have to hit it perfectly on top of that hill there.
What we want to do is start opening that club face so we can add some loft and some spin to this ball from such a short distance. From the side here, what you want to see, most important thing here, is how we open this club face. What I want to see you guys do is really just twist it open. Don't grip it with a square regular face and then turn your hands out to the right. All that's going to do is shoot it low and to the right. That's not going to allow it to get in the air. So what I want to see is twisting the grip a little bit. It's going to be open, but it's also going to look like it's pointing more up to the sky. That's what we need to see if we're going to hit this flop.
So we're here. Not square. We're going to open that thing up. With that, you'd rather have a little bit more of a squat, kind of like a bunker shot. That helps us get that club under the ball so we can pop it up. Let's give it a try. So we've got a little squat here, open face, and then just swing right underneath it. Give that try!