Hey, Team Titleist!

I was working on my game a couple weeks ago at a great public resort course near me, Pinehills Golf Club in Plymouth, MA. The practice facilities are terrific at Pinehills - a huge range with lush turf and three green complexes in the short game area. My session was going well, but I fell into a lazy trap that I wanted to share.

After hitting a ton of bunker shots, using the range balls that Pinehills provides, I moved around to the opposite side of the green to work on some chips and pitches. Instead of grabbing a handful of shag balls from my own bag, I raked over a pile of range balls and started hitting shots to various pins. About twenty balls in, I started getting frustrated, as nearly every shot I hit was OFF. The balls (Titleist Range balls, by the way) were jumping off the face of my wedge and releasing way past the pin. I started to throttle back on how firmly I was hitting shots, but then it dawned on me - my short game feel is dialed in to one specific golf ball - and it's not a range ball. I've been playing Pro V1 exclusively for a couple years now and so, of course a different ball is going to behave differently.

I wised up and moved over to another green. I pulled out six gently-used Pro V1s from the shag pocket of my golf bag and started over. And almost immediately, the world started spinning on its correct axis again. My mis-step made me think of a great instructional tip that we recently received from Titleist staff member James Sieckmann, perhaps the most esteemed short game teacher in the game. So please don't take my word for it. Check out James' video above and see why it's so important not only to play one golf ball model exclusively, but also to practice with your one gamer ball.

Thanks!  And for more great short game instruction, check out James' library of videos in the Titleist Instruction Center: https://www.titleist.com/instruction-james-sieckmann