how do u do a flop shot

For every degree you open the face, open your stance as well.  Weight on your front foot, full swing, wrist action.

one other thought, keep the face of the club pointing at the sky on the follow through, that also promotes holding the wrists steady in the proper position.

I take out my 62 degree vokey, open the face all the way and put the ball forward in my stance and set the club head an inch behind the ball, similar to a bunker shot, and then take my swing and flip my hands underneath the ball so that my impact is an inch behind the ball but the clubhead is sweeping underneath it due to my wrists uncocking. ball shoots up high and soft, virtually comes down like a bag of sand. Just be cautious that you understand this is the exact opposite of what you want your standard wedge and short iron contact to be like. 

Good advice from Alex H, also practice this shot about 150 times before you try it out on the course since tee boxes are usually pretty close to greens and failed flop shots have a tendency to fly like 1 irons.

Just like hitting a bunker shot - play it slightly behind your front foot with an open clubface.  Aim feet left (for rightie) and swing along your footpath); ball will go high and in the direction of the clubface.  PM has a good YouTube video on how to hit a flop shot.

Don't attempt this off a tight lie because it will be Skull City.  The ball has to be sitting up a little bit.

I actually do a better one with my 54-14 vs my 60-10 because of the narrower sole.  The latter also has a fairly high bounce on the leading edge.

I agree with what Lou G says, especially on tight lies. You want the club face to enter the ground just behind the ball with a steep decending blow (Think of a V type swing vs a U) and if the lie is tight or on baked hard ground you risking the leading edge of the club face to bounce and skull the ball way over the green. What ever club you use 54,56,58 or 60, you have to open up the club face wide open and then grip it in this postion or other wise if you grip it in a normal position and then just turn your hands the club face will just return to square at impact.

open your stance to left and then open club face to right

I was playing around with this on the range today. I had the face as far open as it could get, and opened my stance until the club was square to the target. My target at the range was unrealisticly far for this shot (about 75 yards), but I swung along my stance line with the ball inside the front foot. Using a 3/4 swing, each shot was right on the target line and about 40-45 yards. Nice and high with a dead landing.

Even more challenging is the "mini-flop", that 3-4 yard shot when you've short-sided yourself and you absolutely must die it on the fringe and trickle the ball to the hole. I hit one recently in a match-play situation, all-square on 18, my opponent had 6 feet for birdie and I was short-sided. I pulled it off perfectly, nearly holing it, and my opponent missed his putt!

I've found I can do that by reversing the normal release of my hands, similar to when you put underspin on a ping-pong shot. I've heard Faldo use ping-pong references on TV a few times.

Practice it a lot before taking it on the course!

Good luck.

I like to lay down the club and open the face until it's flat, then grip the club. (you'll see why later) Then put it forward in your stance and keep a shallow angle of attack. Don't even try to lift it, that's where bad stuff happens, just try to get beneath it and swing away!

always remember to accelerate upwards- the further upwards with acceleration your follow through is the higher it will go

Open stance to the hole, open clubface, ball forward in stance and swing with your body line.

One interesting tip that I read for practicing flop shots (and bunker shots) was to hook your left hand pinkie finger over the top of the grip (rather than around per usual) or let it hang off the end of the grip if that feels too awkward. 

The set up helps the clubhead release in front of the hands into the follow through.

I follow the Utleys method where your stance and clubface are square to the line... Look it up, it works and videos on YouTube!

Been following this topic closely and hope that you have success with flops.  I spent $75 for a lesson, watched every video I could find, spent hours of practice time, and still find these shots as mostly unpredictable for me.  Good luck, when you have the flop shot mastered, give me a lesson...

STAY DOWN  on the shot! I see too many players trying to lift the ball. Let the loft to the work.

Also be sure to accelerate thru the ball. Don’t quit on it. Trust it.     

The flop is a "confidence" shot.  If you don't have confidence, you won't succeed (unless your crazy lucky).

My approach is ball a little forward, open club face, stand solid, feel the shot, and let it go.  DO NOT SWAY!!

At least that's how I play a flop.  But everyone has their own swing.

Couldnt agree more!  I like all of these bits of advice actually.  The thing that has helped me a great deal in this arena is to "throw" the butt end of the club at the ball.  Keeps you on plane and promotes a very high launch!!!

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Search youtube for "a flop shot lesson with Phil", he'll show you how it's done. Your key to success is to go out to the range, get a large bucket and practice, you will never get it if you don't practice. I always go for flop shots when I play, I love it when I pull them off. At the same time it is probably holding back my handicap progression because I get awful results when it doesn't go as planned :).

Try and make this an easy exercise.  The best way I can describe this is to think of tossing horse shoes up in the air and towards the ring.  Keep your stance open and stay on the same swing path.  Be sure to keep the face of the club open and behind the ball, similar to a bunker shot.  As many have mentioned, it is critical to not slow your club head down while passing through the impact of the club and the ball. 

Practice this a few times in your backyard or practice range.  After a few of these, it will start to feel natural and you will have a flop shot in your bag to select from next time you find yourself short sided with a hazard to carry before the green.

Best of luck!

-Brian

no much to say then what hasn't already been said but i do want to strongly disagree with one of the first post talking about a lot of wrist action. you should never flip your wrist in golf unless your 80 years old. flipping your wrist might make a few pretty shots but it is hard to be consistent. you can easily flop with out wrist flipping.

I agree with you.  Too many people try to flip their wrists to get "fancy" and complicate things.  On any pitch or chip shot, the clubface points up in the air.  If you look at PM, his front arm and the shaft are one piece on the follow thru.

Short one?

Weight on front foot and keep it there, don't lean to the right, Soft arms, feet not too far apart, move away from ball, square face is fine, cupped wrist, lower your butt a little for more height. open it taking back without much hip turn, and allow your hip turn back to the ball to make contact (don't use a arm hit and DO NOT keep any lag) keep your arms soft, straighten front leg, move hips forward (belt buckle to sky), and club ends up at your left pocket -- club head passes in front of hands... remember, no lag. 

You will have to experiment with distance, more distance equals more hip turn on backswing... look up Waite-Mayo golf on youtube and see Grant Waite on his pitching technique...

open stance open clubface and upright backswing

Slight weight on front foot. Open the face and make sure you use the bounce. Ball position depends on lie and never I mean never try to hit a flop shot with a faster tempo than normal. Good luck.