some drills to help improve on short game

[golfluva913]

i am a 15 year old male golfer that is new to the game. i have been playing for about 8-9 months. i try to play everyday. i am going out for my highschool team but i worry about my short game. i have a good long game but from 100 yards in i tend to hit it short or far. i was wondering if someone can give me a practice drill to form some kind of touch so i can be confident in my short game.

thank you

Demietrius

[atlanta golfer]

Here is what I do..... I don't know if these are drills, more of a practice routine .......

Both before and after working with my full swing on irons and woods, I spend specific time with my wedges, making sure I can hit them to a specific target and noting the exact distances on full swing. For me, this is 4 wedges. My thought is that even if I have a bad day with the longer clubs on the course, if I can hit the short irons and wedges and can putt, then I can still get a decent score.

Then, most days that I practice, I usually go the the chipping green which has distances up to about 50 yards. I like to hit different clubs different distances with different trajectories. For example, I'll hit my lob wedge in very high with open face from 40 yards, then lower trajectory with straight face, then I'll go to other wedges and pitch and run. Then I move closer, again hitting different wedges and even down to nine iron for chipping really close to the green.

I also try to hit some out of the sand, and also I look for some thick grass and hit some sand wedges out of that. I look for the hard shots, the downhill pitches, because this is what I often see on the course.

I know that some people believe that it is better to take one club and do all the short game work with that one club, but personally, I prefer to be creative and try different shots, different distances, different clubs.

I think if you spend time doing this, you will develop feel for distance pretty qiuckly. You will figure out what works in terms of stance, weight distribution, length of backswing, hand position, grip tension, etc.

I believe it's also really important to accept in your head mentally, that most of the game stroke wise is from putter to 8 iron, and this is where most practice should be spent, and you have to love doing it. I still have a tendency to hit way too many balls with my longer clubs in a search for perfection and this can really waste time that could be better spent on short game.

Last Sat I played and had 38 on the front nine, which is a good score for me. I looked at the card and I had 5 up and downs. 4 of these were chips from about 5 yards off the green that ran close to the hole, and 1 of them was a high lob wedge from 65 yards out that landed and stopped 3 feet from the pin. This type of stuff is really what it takes to score.

[Mongo26]

a great drill that I did when my feel for distance was off was to take a gap or pitching wedge and hit shots from only ten to twenty yards with just my left hand. I saw it on personal lessons on the Golf Channel from John Daly. Isnt really working for him nut it worked for me

[Bay1524]

This may be a Dave Pelz drill. I'm not really sure because I read tons of articles and can't keep it all straight. Sounds Pelzish though.

Take your 9 iron, pitching wedge and sand wedge (or any other wedge you have) and make half swings, left arm (if you're right handed) parallel to the ground on backswing, and then 3/4 swings, left arm pointing to 1030 on a clock. See how far you hit these consistently and learn to repeat that swing.

Say you hit it 60 yards with your half swing with pitching wedge. If you encounter this distance on the golf course, you will always feel confident on the course because you know exactly how you must swing to get to that distance. Likewise, see what you feel comfortable with at 100 yards, 75 yards, etc.

Good luck!

[Lngnokr71]

Not exactly a drill but, If I remember..... a very wise man once told you "you have to hit thousands of bad shots before you're able to hit good shots consistantly" So then get that wedge or wedges out and make them your best friend. Go out in the yard and pick targets from various distances. Heck, make a game out of it or something but do this when ever you get a chance....Now once you get good at your short game you'll now remember that wise man saying "he who makes his wedge his best friend saves lots of pars"....

[ickgolfer]

the beautiful thing about short game is that it doesnt take a lot of room... well it shouldnt... so every day if i cant get to the range or the course im in the back yard chipping and hitting half shots tree to tree