Short game practice ideas

[jumboross]

I use shotbyshot.com to track my stats. Play to a 13 handicap. And my short game is killing me. My 'relative handicap' for all rounds this year:

Driving: 4

Approach: 17

Chip & Pitch: 29

Sand: 40

Putting: +1

 

So I have now accepted the blindingly obvious - I need to improve my short game. My question is how is the best/quickest way to do that? Right now I'm thinking is wedges in the garden (yard) trying to get some specific landing spot yardages dialled down. My club has a great short game practice area, but doing it daily at home has got to help. Should I be doing anything else? How do you all practice short game? What do you find the most effective practice to be? As you may have guessed, I never practice short game.

 

Many thanks,

 

James.

[MelloYello]

I'm a similar player (8-handicap) but also quite the opposite in the short game. I have great touch with the wedges but a horrible putter, haha.

 

Anyhow, wedges are far and away my strong suit so I play to something like a low single-digit or maybe even a scratch around the greens. Chipping & pitching has just always felt natural to me ever since I learned to use bounce way back when.

 

My advice?

 

Don't get ahead of yourself. If your short game sucks it's probably not because of something advanced like controlling distance (which can only be done after you've hit the ball crisply). It's more likely you just don't hit your chips & pitches solid in the first place. Focus on solid contact. Learn to use the bounce on the club. That means don't chop at it with your hands really far ahead. And get used to keeping the face open as you follow through. It's almost like a putt in the sense you keep your lead hand from rolling over during the motion.

 

Distance control emerges naturally when you can hit your clubs with precision. You don't really _practice_ distance control directly. You try and do other stuff to _create_ the distance(s) you need. When you can stand over the ball without fear of chunked and/or bladed shots, that's when your instincts will kick in and trust me, it will be hard not to be good at it. Chips & pitches really are the easiest shots in golf. When people struggle it's almost always because of something horrible flaw in their technique.

 

That said, hands do play a big roll in being a great wedge player (IMHO). There are people who will tell you to try and take your hands out of the shot and I totally agree with Phil, those people don't know what they're talking about (or they're treating you like a total novice).

 

 

 

[Santiago Golf]

The ladder i always use for my players with any approach shot is

1) Solid Contact

2) Distance Control

3) Directional Control

4) Try to hole it!

You have to learn to hit it solid first

[i*windows]

Is your short game not so sharp because your technique is rubbish or your control is not good. If your technique is poor then you need to find help with that, if its just control then work on that. I practise the shots that I commonly have on the courses I play. I am not a long hitter, but play some long courses and cant reach some of the greens in two, which leaves me with a variety of shots from 30 yards or so. Every practise session I have I practise from 30, 20, 10 high, low, pitching the left of the flag, the next time to the right of the flag. My short game has come on massively, just wish I could putt well.

[SNIPERBBB]

Practicing in the yard is great for developing your technique but to really excel you should get to a practice area or on the course. It's hard to get a feel for what the ball will do after it lands if you're just working in the yard.

[MelloYello]

On the bright side, you actually _can_ learn to be surprisingly good without going to the course every day. I learned to use the bounce at home chipping off carpet. I would set up something to stop the ball (i.e. pillows or blanket). Back then I did all my work with a 54-degree club. I'd still recommend a wedge like that with a generous amount of bounce for the beginner. Don't bother with the 60 until you really know what you're doing.

 

I've always tried to give myself some sort of space to practice at home though. Even in grad school when I had a small apartment, I'd chip off the thin carpet onto the couch cushions with my 56 and 60. Again, solid contact is what you're after. Distance control is pretty easy if you know you're going to catch it cleanly.

 

Once you are hitting it reasonably well you can take it to the short game practice area and chip towards various spots on the green(s). You'll develop a feel for how hard to hit the ball. Again, stick with a basic sand wedge.

 

 

[Birdie Mac]

> @SNIPERBBB said:

> Practicing in the yard is great for developing your technique but to really excel you should get to a practice area or on the course. It's hard to get a feel for what the ball will do after it lands if you're just working in the yard.

This is good advice. You want to remove as much 'hit and hope' from your chipping and pitching as you can. Make it as simple as you can and find out what works for you. Use your club's short game area.

 

[Mcgeeno]

One thing I notice a lot of guys do at my club is just drop balls on the fringe and hit the easiest most basic chip and run 10 times and call it a session.

 

I drop balls from the rough, on down hills/up hills, I stomp the ball into tight lies or into a divot. Essentially I'm trying to simulate course conditions. I might get a couple shots from around the green per round with a perfect lie from the fringe..And I usually putt it anyways. That type of practice from a couple feet off the green has never been useful to me.

 

I usually make it an up and down contest too. One ball to one flag, going through my routine as usual. I chip 4-5 balls at a time and go up and make the putts at all the various flags. Try and get 12 out of 20 to start?

[MelloYello]

Maybe sit and watch Phil's Secrets of the Short game, too. It's a good video regarding how to think around the green about the different shots you hit. He talks in detail about how to adjust your weight in regards to delivering the club into the ball.

 

Some folks use Phil's H&H technique. Others don't. That's beside the point.

 

Once you get the basic technique of how to pitch going, a lot of being good has to do with understanding the lie and how it's going to work against you in one way or another. The short game is filled with little things that can derail an otherwise good shot.

 

Ball sitting up? You're likely to catch it high on the face and have it come off somewhat dead. Uphill lie? It's going to land soft and stop quickly. Ball sitting down in the rough? Lean your weight forward steepening your AoA and drive the club under the ball. Stuff like that.

 

I agree that hitting various shots from different lies can help but you don't want it to be random. You want to make a point of actually learning how to mechanize your game and adjust for the various circumstances that'll happen. There are rules on how to play various shots which help you execute even when you haven't practiced a given shot in awhile.

[juststeve]

Learning the short game is a two step process that is best done in order.

 

Step one is technique. You need to adopt and master a technique that permits you to make solid contact almost ever time. There are a lot of good techniques on the offing, just pick one that appeals. You can do this in your garden if you want.

 

Step two is something you can't learn in the garden. It's touch. Once you are making solid contact almost every time you learn touch by hitting balls onto greens from various lies until experience and observation teach you what to expect from the ball when it lands on the green. This learning process is never ending.

 

Steve

[andrue]

Do you have any local courses with a par 3 attached? One of my local courses has a 3 hole 'academy' course and it's an excellent way to work on your short game. It's three holes of which the longest is 170 yards. The only problem with it is that they always let the rough grow knee height so if you're practising dodgy irons you can expect to lose a lot of balls.

 

I use it to practice chipping. Unfortunately I can't use my garden because it's too small. The longest chip I can do at home is about 5 yards and if I chunk it I can damage things :(

[DLev45]

> @Mcgeeno said:

> One thing I notice a lot of guys do at my club is just drop balls on the fringe and hit the easiest most basic chip and run 10 times and call it a session.

>

> I drop balls from the rough, on down hills/up hills, I stomp the ball into tight lies or into a divot. Essentially I'm trying to simulate course conditions. I might get a couple shots from around the green per round with a perfect lie from the fringe..And I usually putt it anyways. That type of practice from a couple feet off the green has never been useful to me.

>

> I usually make it an up and down contest too. One ball to one flag, going through my routine as usual. I chip 4-5 balls at a time and go up and make the putts at all the various flags. Try and get 12 out of 20 to start?

 

I was pretty bad at the short game and dropped from a 11 to an 8.3 in the last 2 months by doing something very similar.

 

My practice green at my club has 9 flags, so I will drop 9 balls at one location and chip each to a different flag, then I have to go make the putts. It lets me practice chips and putts of various distances, breaks, speeds and slopes all at once.

 

Chip in = birdie

Chip + 1-putt = par

Chip + 2-putt = bogey

Chip + 3-putt = double bogey.

 

I do this twice for "18 holes" and track my scores. The practice green version of playing holes on the range. I usually do it twice a week. My personal best is 4-over par.

 

I was scrambling at 20% January through May of this year, and in my last 7 rounds since June 1st, I am scrambling at 40%.

 

My last 7 scores prior to June 1, before I started doing this drill regularly:

 

86, 89, 83, 83, 80, 82, 81 (avg. 83.4)

 

My last 7 scores since June 1:

 

79, 84, 77, 81, 77, 83, 77 (avg. 79.7)

 

For someone who hits 6 GIR on a crappy day and 11 GIR on a great day, it makes a HUGE difference.

 

 

[Universal]

Learn to use the bounce. Nothing changed my short game faster.

[jumboross]

Guys, thanks for all your feedback. Lots of ideas for me to take away and work on. That's why I love this forum! I would say that strike is my issue, I am not confident of strike standing over the ball. My home course has tight lies everywhere, there is little grass under the ball on the whole course. Getting strike consistent makes sense to me, having read all these replies. I'll get to work. Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply.

[SNIPERBBB]

> @jumboross said:

> Guys, thanks for all your feedback. Lots of ideas for me to take away and work on. That's why I love this forum! I would say that strike is my issue, I am not confident of strike standing over the ball. My home course has tight lies everywhere, there is little grass under the ball on the whole course. Getting strike consistent makes sense to me, having read all these replies. I'll get to work. Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply.

For me, I'd rather chip off tight lies as its more predictable on how the ball will come out. Only exception is when you have to hit a really high shot. When you play on course that have 3-5" rough, you have to really pay attention to the lie and be able to pick the right shot to get the ball on the green and close to the hole.

 

[Universal]

> @jumboross said:

> Guys, thanks for all your feedback. Lots of ideas for me to take away and work on. That's why I love this forum! I would say that strike is my issue, I am not confident of strike standing over the ball. My home course has tight lies everywhere, there is little grass under the ball on the whole course. Getting strike consistent makes sense to me, having read all these replies. I'll get to work. Again, thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply.

 

Then what I said is absolutely what you need to do - learn to use the bounce. Buy Monte's Use the Bounce series.

[Exactice808]

> @Universal said:

> Learn to use the bounce. Nothing changed my short game faster.

 

Can I add in.... When chipping are you hitting basically 1 shot and trying to control distance??

 

I was a flopper for a LONG time, anything 50 yards and in I was using my 60* wedge and hitting one trajectory and one shot... high flop shot.....

 

Finally learned to use the bounce correctly,..... Then added mutiple new abilities. Bump and runs... pitch, chips and flops vs just flops..... used multiple clubs for multiple types of shots...... and the short game improved DRAMATICALLY.....

 

Lastly, learning Chipping ratio

 

ball has a better chance to roll in to the hole than swish/slam dunk the ball

 

[Birdie Mac]

> @Mcgeeno said:

> One thing I notice a lot of guys do at my club is just drop balls on the fringe and hit the easiest most basic chip and run 10 times and call it a session.

>

> I drop balls from the rough, on down hills/up hills, I stomp the ball into tight lies or into a divot. Essentially I'm trying to simulate course conditions. I might get a couple shots from around the green per round with a perfect lie from the fringe..And I usually putt it anyways. That type of practice from a couple feet off the green has never been useful to me.

>

> I usually make it an up and down contest too. One ball to one flag, going through my routine as usual. I chip 4-5 balls at a time and go up and make the putts at all the various flags. Try and get 12 out of 20 to start?

Wish I could like this more than once. Don't just practice your short game; practice it correctly so when you have that shot during the round, you have confidence because you've done it in practice.

 

[MountainGoat]

A functional short game takes a valid method and a way to practice it. There are a lot of methods, and the various short game gurus tend to disagree with one another. For example, Pelz and Utley aren't saying the same thing in different language. For every person who says that the short game is just an abbreviated version of the long game, someone else will say you need a whole new collection of "finesse" swings. For every person who says to use your hands, someone else will say to take your hands out of it and use your big muscles. For every person who says to use the bounce of the club, someone else will say to use the leading edge. There are firm wrist advocates and active wrist advocates. Both will be able to cite prominent players who use their method and will happily say that other methods are stupid. The task of the golfer is to sort thru the methods and find the one that works for him. There is no one correct way; there is only the way that works for you.

 

One prominent decision is to determine if you're going to be the sort of player who hits a variety of shots with one club or essentially the same shot with a variety of clubs. Doing both of those things takes a lot of practice. Personally, I do most of my work with a sand wedge. I'll occasionally pull a GW for exceptionally long chips or a 7-iron for chip/putts, but it doesn't happen too often.

 

With respect to practice, putting and chipping are easy. Most courses have practice putting and chipping greens. You just need the discipline to use them. It's much more difficult to practice the 30-100 yard shots. For these, I've got a pitching area in my back yard. But, more valuable is my practice on the course. I typically spend at least one round a week dropping balls at various calibrated distances and working on my standard 1/2 and 3/4 shots. Frankly, I enjoy doing this more that I enjoy working on my full swing. Real confidence comes from knowing that once you pass the 100 yard marker, you're going to be able to find the hole one way or the other.

 

As for course application, a couple of suggestions. First, play the same ball all the time. I don't care what it is, just be consistent. Second, I've always found it useful to attempt the simplest shot possible. Putt if you can; if not, chip. Chip if you can; if not, pitch. Some people call it the "PCP" system. Finally, don't play the spin game. It takes too much practice. Vary your shot heights, but leave the fancy spin/check shots to the pros.

[Nessism]

I have had great success practicing flop shots in my yard. I set up a bucket about 30' away and then work on opening the blade and flopping the ball high, trying to fly the ball into the bucket. At first I couldn't do it but after some practice it's not all that hard. Actually, a perfect show will land in the bucket and then bounce out but you get the idea. Best thing is that you can just grab a club hit 20-30 shots and then stop anytime you want. No driving the course or what have you. Good fun.

[Hubijerk]

Contact 1st. Find a slightly downhill, tight fairway lie and hit chips and pitches. It will be frustrating at first, but there is only 1 way to make good contact from there.

Once you're making solid contact and feel comfortable start working on distance control with you're basic set up using different wedges. You should be able to imagine the flight and roll of the ball for any given pitch or chip.

 

For those chips off of tight lies to elevated or short pins you'll need to be able to play the ball more off you're front foot and use the bounce to hit softer higher chips the use height to control rollout. It's not a flop, but you want to catch it right at the bottom of the arc or even slightly fat and use all of the loft. With enough bounce, and decent technique you have quite a large margin of error with this shot.

 

Practicing chipping and pitching out of rough or backyard type grass will most likely ingrain bad technique. You can scoop and flip and get away with it. Practice contact off of tight slightly downhill lies, I can't stress that enough.

[naj959]

Any ideas on how to translate the practice to on course play? I hit short game shots around my practice facility 3 or 4 times a week. Sometimes chipping balls to different pins and putting out but most of the time dropping 5 balls at different distances and lies around the green and trying to get within 10 feet of the pin. I've gotten quite good at it and get probably 90% of the balls within 10 feet of the hole but this does not translate into on course performance. On the course, I can't replicate my practice technique. The movement feels completely foreign. I typically stall out and blade it across the green or chunk it a foot in front of me. Something about playing for score affects my ability to execute. At this point I feel that it is all mental. Ive read some of Rotella's books and have both Monte's and Iteach's videos but nothing has helped me conquer the mental demons thus far. Thoughts?

[JAMH03]

> @jumboross said:

> I use shotbyshot.com to track my stats. Play to a 13 handicap. And my short game is killing me. My 'relative handicap' for all rounds this year:

> Driving: 4

> Approach: 17

> Chip & Pitch: 29

> Sand: 40

> Putting: +1

>

> So I have now accepted the blindingly obvious - I need to improve my short game. My question is how is the best/quickest way to do that? Right now I'm thinking is wedges in the garden (yard) trying to get some specific landing spot yardages dialled down. My club has a great short game practice area, but doing it daily at home has got to help. Should I be doing anything else? How do you all practice short game? What do you find the most effective practice to be? As you may have guessed, I never practice short game.

>

> Many thanks,

>

> James.

 

@jumboross so much good advice already in this thread. It's well worth rereading as you come up with your plan.

 

Though you don't need it I'll add my 2 cents.

 

Firstly the hard data you included is actually really useful and very impressive.

How did you get so good at driving the ball, your approach play and especially putting? Those are all fantastic. Well done.

 

They absolutely bode well for your future lower scores. Normally I'd say if you can't putt you can't beat anybody (Harvey Pinnick) but in your case I don't think that's true. I suspect that what the numbers are showing us is that your potential to be a very good golfer and shoot much better scores is going to payoff with these improvements in your short game performance.

 

Very curious to hear how you did that because I don't feel like it can be accidental?

 

 

[JAMH03]

@jumboross Now on your shortgame play I do feel like I have something to add.

 

I'm putting this in a separate post because I think what you bring to the game in terms of your approach and efforts will absolutely affect how you go about addressing your short game strategies and nuances going forward.

 

I've noticed a couple of times in this thread you've said thanks I'm going to go practice now. But I was wondering what are you going to go practice? Just practicing short game is probably not the way you're going to get to where you want to go.

 

 

The question that stood out for me is what is your golf in golf and or in the short game in 25 words or less Jumbo?

 

I feel without that goal you could spend a lot of time flailing on things that may not payoff as efficiently as they could.

 

Now lets look at your #'s Again

 

Great job on the driving/Putting

 

 

If you've played enough rounds to get reliable data

What it looks like to me is great driving

 

That you've worked diligently and effectively on both lag putting and short putts. NICE!

 

And that your approach play and aggressive targets are driving your scores.

 

Off the top of my head I'd imagine if you played with a more experianced golfer or used the Decade system or similar you could drop 3-4 strokes off of your handicap just by better decision making.

 

Now as for what to do about your short game/approaches seems straight forward if not easy.

 

I really love what everyone has said about engaging the bounce I think that's seminal. Also a few posters have mentioned you need to pick one strategy and philosophy to adopt and this advice I think was both hard earned and golden. I suggest you take it.

 

Here are some to dos in no particular order.

 

* get good with your wedge at 100 yards

* practice distance wedges

* practice your short irons 50% of the time you're at the range. If that means hitting an addition bucket to get time in for the long game you need then do that. 50% of the time 9 irons and in

* Ladder drill you've got to practice hitting the ball different distances.

* Mark your grips 1" lower so you can take off distances

 

You need to get your bunker game in order and the good news is it's not THAT hard to do. And 2ndly its not likely going to hold back your scores very much as you improve your target selection AND distance control.

 

How do do these things?

 

@jumboross I think Dave Pelz's techniques are easy to come by and will fit exactly what you need. IE the short distance wedge is REALLY similar to the bunker shot except you're opening the face up 45º

 

But maybe you like Utley, or Ridyard, Or Shiembloom Or Michelson or Spieth, or Watson or Floyd or Stockton or Woods or Seve or Runyon or whomever...

 

You've gotta chose how you want to chip, pitch then learn and practice that. Can't wait till you decide your gonna be awesome!

 

 

 

 

 

[jumboross]

> @JAMH03 said:

> > @jumboross said:

> > I use shotbyshot.com to track my stats. Play to a 13 handicap. And my short game is killing me. My 'relative handicap' for all rounds this year:

> > Driving: 4

> > Approach: 17

> > Chip & Pitch: 29

> > Sand: 40

> > Putting: +1

> >

> > So I have now accepted the blindingly obvious - I need to improve my short game. My question is how is the best/quickest way to do that? Right now I'm thinking is wedges in the garden (yard) trying to get some specific landing spot yardages dialled down. My club has a great short game practice area, but doing it daily at home has got to help. Should I be doing anything else? How do you all practice short game? What do you find the most effective practice to be? As you may have guessed, I never practice short game.

> >

> > Many thanks,

> >

> > James.

>

> @jumboross so much good advice already in this thread. It's well worth rereading as you come up with your plan.

>

> Though you don't need it I'll add my 2 cents.

>

> Firstly the hard data you included is actually really useful and very impressive.

> How did you get so good at driving the ball, your approach play and especially putting? Those are all fantastic. Well done.

>

> They absolutely bode well for your future lower scores. Normally I'd say if you can't putt you can't beat anybody (Harvey Pinnick) but in your case I don't think that's true. I suspect that what the numbers are showing us is that your potential to be a very good golfer and shoot much better scores is going to payoff with these improvements in your short game performance.

>

> Very curious to hear how you did that because I don't feel like it can be accidental?

>

>

 

The Driver has always been a favourite club of mine. I find it quite an easy club to hit. Re the putting; I once had 17 putters, and I must have read every book on putting ever written. I became obsessed with it. Unhealthily so perhaps. Use a matt and a Putt Out device at home, as well as a Boomerang device. Plus do quite a lot of drills on the practice green. I decided I wanted to get good at it. So I work at it. I find the Stan Utley method works for me, with a putter with no sight lines at all. Tend to use a Wilson 8802 or a SC Newport. Sold all the others to reduce temptation to tinker!

 

Re the short game stuff; I went to my club yesterday. Bumped into the head pro on the short game area and got chatting. And then working on a few things. Long story short; he had an alignment rod in front of me to make sure I didn't exit too far left (which I was doing) and we started to work on strike. 5 irons, 7 irons bump and runs using a putting grip. He wants me to get strike perfect with those before we even think about adding loft. So I have a plan, and I'm working on it.

 

One thing he did say to me though: always putt it of you can putt it. Our course is very much like a links. So no rough around the greens like in a US Open. He encouraged me to "put the ego away" and putt it if at all possible. Even from five or six yards off the green. He's ex European Tour and Challenge Tour. He told me he'd always putt it of he could. There was money on the line!

 

Once again, thanks so much for all your feedback.

[JAMH03]

> @jumboross said:

> > @JAMH03 said:

> > > @jumboross said:

> > > I use shotbyshot.com to track my stats. Play to a 13 handicap. And my short game is killing me. My 'relative handicap' for all rounds this year:

> > > Driving: 4

> > > Approach: 17

> > > Chip & Pitch: 29

> > > Sand: 40

> > > Putting: +1

> > >

> > > So I have now accepted the blindingly obvious - I need to improve my short game. My question is how is the best/quickest way to do that? Right now I'm thinking is wedges in the garden (yard) trying to get some specific landing spot yardages dialled down. My club has a great short game practice area, but doing it daily at home has got to help. Should I be doing anything else? How do you all practice short game? What do you find the most effective practice to be? As you may have guessed, I never practice short game.

> > >

> > > Many thanks,

> > >

> > > James.

> >

> > @jumboross so much good advice already in this thread. It's well worth rereading as you come up with your plan.

> >

> > Though you don't need it I'll add my 2 cents.

> >

> > Firstly the hard data you included is actually really useful and very impressive.

> > How did you get so good at driving the ball, your approach play and especially putting? Those are all fantastic. Well done.

> >

> > They absolutely bode well for your future lower scores. Normally I'd say if you can't putt you can't beat anybody (Harvey Pinnick) but in your case I don't think that's true. I suspect that what the numbers are showing us is that your potential to be a very good golfer and shoot much better scores is going to payoff with these improvements in your short game performance.

> >

> > Very curious to hear how you did that because I don't feel like it can be accidental?

> >

> >

>

> The Driver has always been a favourite club of mine. I find it quite an easy club to hit. Re the putting; I once had 17 putters, and I must have read every book on putting ever written. I became obsessed with it. Unhealthily so perhaps. Use a matt and a Putt Out device at home, as well as a Boomerang device. Plus do quite a lot of drills on the practice green. I decided I wanted to get good at it. So I work at it. I find the Stan Utley method works for me, with a putter with no sight lines at all. Tend to use a Wilson 8802 or a SC Newport. Sold all the others to reduce temptation to tinker!

>

> Re the short game stuff; I went to my club yesterday. Bumped into the head pro on the short game area and got chatting. And then working on a few things. Long story short; he had an alignment rod in front of me to make sure I didn't exit too far left (which I was doing) and we started to work on strike. 5 irons, 7 irons bump and runs using a putting grip. He wants me to get strike perfect with those before we even think about adding loft. So I have a plan, and I'm working on it.

>

> One thing he did say to me though: always putt it of you can putt it. Our course is very much like a links. So no rough around the greens like in a US Open. He encouraged me to "put the ego away" and putt it if at all possible. Even from five or six yards off the green. He's ex European Tour and Challenge Tour. He told me he'd always putt it of he could. There was money on the line!

>

> Once again, thanks so much for all your feedback.

 

AWESOME 100% AGREE again well done!

[MelloYello]

Contrary to what some have suggested, there are _not_ a million ways to chip. IMHO, that's dogmatism. Any talk of a "system" should be looked at with some skepticism as there are most assuredly fundamentals to using your wedges just as there are fundamentals in iron-play or in driving. If moving the ball a bit forward/backward counts as "different" then good God, we'll be here all day.

 

If you know the fundamentals, you're half-way there.

 

People who struggle with the short game don't do so because they haven't learned somebody's "system." And any knowledgeable short game guru who's promoting something like a "system" is only doing so because they have built up what they see as a "complete" approach to the short game.

 

Again though, focus on learning the fundamentals.

 

There are a variety of shots in the short game. Where one guy might chip it low, another player may be a bit more risky and pitch it with a slightly higher trajectory. As a result, the motions can often look different. But that doesn't mean those two guys had totally different approaches to the short game.

 

In my experience, once you get the hang of the short game you can easily adjust for _this_ or _that_. The art of the short game is to develop something that is malleable so that you can demonstrate a bit of touch when needed.

 

And for clarity, when I say "the short game" I essentially mean the general motion you are going to make throughout your own game. You don't have to adopt Phil's "hinge & hold" technique. But notice that he has a _single notion_ of how to move the club that he regularly calls upon. That's the lesson.

[DaveGoodrich]

Lots of good info and discussion here. Practicing even the shortest short game shots at home pays dividends, because contact is king. I have an old 60-04 vokey and a few old pro v's in our family room. I hit little chips on the carpet, which fly 6" high, carry 6 feet, and run out to a spot across the 12' room. Even at that distance, I can easily discern the quality of the contact, and see a difference in the resulting spin, trajectory, etc. I also hit little "flops" onto the couch, trying to land it softly on the seat, and not hit the back (nothing fragile or valuable behind!). The feel I have developed by practicing these little skills has translated directly to the course. Plus, it's fun.

[Kanzas_Anthony]

Try this drill. For me being able to know exactly how high the ball comes out lets me know a lot better where I can land the ball on the green and how it will react after. If you can find a chair that has more than one box all the better. You can really dial in that initial trajectory.

 

[jbw749]

> @jumboross said:

> I use shotbyshot.com to track my stats. Play to a 13 handicap. And my short game is killing me. My 'relative handicap' for all rounds this year:

> Driving: 4

> Approach: 17

> Chip & Pitch: 29

> Sand: 40

> Putting: +1

>

> So I have now accepted the blindingly obvious - I need to improve my short game. My question is how is the best/quickest way to do that? Right now I'm thinking is wedges in the garden (yard) trying to get some specific landing spot yardages dialled down. My club has a great short game practice area, but doing it daily at home has got to help. Should I be doing anything else? How do you all practice short game? What do you find the most effective practice to be? As you may have guessed, I never practice short game.

>

> Many thanks,

>

> James.

 

For chipping use your P wedge whenever possible. Use 1 part cary 2 parts roll. When walking up the fairway to the green spot the halfway point between the ball and the flag, then find the spot halfway between there and the ball. Or pace it off (If it's 18 paces land it 6 paces on). That's your landing area. This is the Paul Runyan method and works very good.

There are usually several times a round where there is room for this formula to work. Adjust a little for uphill or downhill. Obviously if your short sided it won't work, although you can get good at judging the roll and land on the fringe too. Keep that 58 or 60 degree wedge in the bag whenever possible, it is not used for chipping, it's a pitching club. Look for reasons not to use your high lofted clubs around the green.