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I am gonna dedicate some serious time this winter to short game practice. 120 yards in will be my focus, it's what I feel is keeping me from getting below a 5 handicap. Right now I have no structure, I just go out with the shag bag and aimlessly pitch and chip. Putting involves rolling a ball hole to hole on the practice green. Anyone have a structured routine or any advice on making my time more productive?

Driver: Titleist 915 D2 9.5 with Diamana Whiteboard S flex

3 wood: Titleist 915F 15*, Whiteboard S Flex

Titleist 915H 18* and 24* with Whiteboard SFlex

Irons: Mizuno JPX EZ Forged 4-PW with S300's

Wedges: Mizuno MP T4 50*, 56* with DG Spinner

Putter:MannKrafted Long Slope or Odyssey #7 Versa Metal milled or Betti Tour Stock;

Ball: Bridgestone B330 or Titleist NXT

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RH, Western KY

 

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Of all the courses I've played over many years of golf, only a very few have an area where you can practice the short game and realistically reproduce the same short game shots you face on the course when you play. The range will allow you to hit 50 to 120 yard shots, but it is always from a level lie with no elevation changes. If there is a practice green that allows pitching and chipping, you are limited by the characteristics of that one green. If you practice putting a lot, you learn all the breaks on the putting green and can't practice green reading.

 

You can still benefit from practice in this manner, but I'm just pointing out the deficiencies. And as you say it is easy to hit shots aimlessly. I don't have any recommended routine other than saying that I believe you'll benefit more by playing and practicing on the golf course. Go out when the course is not crowded and hit extra shots around every green. Or go out early in the AM to a hole on the back nine before play reaches that hole. Either that or just play every opportunity you get.

 

One routine I once used was to play nine holes alone late in the afternoon hitting two drives on every hole. Then I would go to the best drive and play two balls from there. I would play each of those balls until holed out. That would give me two scores on each hole and an 18 hole score. This gives you a lot of practice on all aspects of the game and you can do it in 2 hours or less. It's amazing how well you can score when you are hitting from a good drive on every hole and getting a mulligan on every second shot.

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You should reverse that drill and go to the worst drive WillPar that will improve your driving immensly - trust me.

 

I have tons and tons of short game drills Matt - what's your pleasure?

 

I love the 6 ball drill where you pick a spot off the green and a spot to hit to - you have to fit the 6 balls between the front edge of the green and that flag in ascending order - each shot a bit longer than the next, without ever going past that spot. Once you get good at that reverse it.

 

Another very simple one is to take three balls drop them scattered a bit, play them as they lie and then go putt them out - I try to make a game of it - 12 is my par and I want to break it.

 

Putting wise I'll do the old circle the hole at 3 feet until I make 9 in a row (I do 9's and 18's rather than 10 because golf is a game of 9's and 18's - I'm quirky that way.) I also start at 3 feet and put a ball along the relative line back to 20 and try to hole as many of those as possible. For feel on longer putts I love the drill where you find opposing holes uphill/downhill and putt two balls back and forth to find the difference in pace, uphill/downhill. I'll also putt balls from the middle of the green to the fringe trying to make the ball just climb into the fringe. (perfect pace)

 

For the longer shots in that range I'll use my range finder and pick two flags or points at a certain distance but in different directions - I'll alternate between the two and also use different clubs - say one is 117 and the other is 103 - I might use PW and 9 iron for the 117 flag (grip down the 9) and PW and GW for the 103 (grip down the PW).

 

The important thing on all of these drills is to keep it fresh and to make it as much like for real as possible. There's a time and a place for the shag bag and repeating shots but once you have that part of the game down its extremely important to move on to more practical short game practice.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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Rev I'm gonna start using some of your drills. That's good stuff. For me I just beat balls at a flag on the range, or take three balls to a spot and putt/chip at the flag on the practice green. No real structure.

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I want to make a few more comments about my 9 hole routine. The biggest advantage is that it really gives you a scoring mentality. Off the tee, you are trying to hit the best drive you can with your 1st drive, and then you are trying to hit a better one with the 2nd drive. You are mentally focused on hitting the two best drives you can hit under real playing conditions. Same for the approach. You hit the first and try to hit a better second. You are constantly trying to improve on your previous shot. When you get to the green, now you have a real scoring opportunity. If you have two putts for birdie, you are thinking you can walk to the next tee two under if you make both putts. If you've missed the green, you are really trying to get up and down to avoid cancelling out a previous birdie. Or if you have made bogies, you are trying to make birdies to get back to even. You don't ever want to three putt for bogey. You are really focused on getting the ball in the hole on every shot from around or on the green.

 

After you do this for several rounds, you have new scoring goals to score lower than you have previously. You are competing against yourself. And perhaps the biggest benefit is you get accustomed to shooting 5 to 8 shots lower than you normally play. You'll start to realize that if you can get every drive in a good position off the tee, you can potentially shoot what you've been shooting using this practice method.

 

I've tried all the other drills and practice routines and none give you the scoring mentality that you need to shoot low scores. Most quickly become boring exercises. I guess it depends on your personality. For me, I'd much rather be playing and trying to get the ball in the hole in the fewest strokes. It's hard for me to replicate real playing conditions in practice unless that practice is on the course.

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For a long time I used the Dave Pelz clock method and PW, 52, 56, 60, and 64 wedge. I would pace off from the flag sand stick a tee in the ground every 10 yards. Alternating between white and natural tees so it is easier to tell exactly how far off you are.

 

I had four swings with each club. And knew from practice exactly how far the ball would fly with each swing. At the time I hit the bounce off the ground on just below the bottom of the ball. And this cause the ball to have a huge amount of spin and would land on the green like a bean bag and stop. This was mostly an arm swing with very little body rotation. I actually wrote down the distances and the club and swing on an index card along with some other information. Thinks like use a lob wedge off a tight lie and a sand wedge off of a fluffy lie. When I would get to my ball after my approach shot, it was never on the green so I needed this, I would figure out how far i was and look at the card. It would tell me the club and the swing I would need. That removed all doubt about how to play the shot. If I was 45 yards from the flag, the card said that I needed a 56* wedge and the 9 oclock swing. (the club head up to waste high 9 o'clock.)

 

This worked great for many years but then when I changed my swing and went to more body and less arms it was no longer good on the ranges. I soon found that I could vary the distance with just one club just fine and did not need all the wedges. I am much more of a feel player now so I visualize pitching the ball to the hole under handed. But I still have some idea how far the ball will go based on how far I take back the club.

 

 

 

No matter what method you use, it is important to limit the backswing and accelerate through the ball.

 

 

 

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I'm in a similar boat right now. I think the biggest area of improvement I can make in my game is from 120 and in. What I have been working on is similar to what was mentioned above with the clock swings. I start with PW and hit 5-10 shots with a full swing. Then same club and 5-10 shots with a 3/4 swing, then 1/2 swing. I try to pay attention to where my hands are, not the club face. Then I do the same drills with the rest of my wedges down.

 

My biggest problem with the short game has been distance control for the last couple months. I feel like I've gotten the aiming down, but usually end up short or long. Spending time dialing in my distances at the range has really helped me out. Once I'm confident that a 3/4 56* goes about 75 yds on a flat lie and not much wind it's easier to make adjustments on the course for elevation and wind.

 

The only other recommendation I have would be to hit the range when nobody else is there and ignore the distance markers. I've gotten much better results with hitting groups into an open area of the range and then marking the distance with the shot tracker on my GPS to the middle of the group. I found that when I was trying to hit to a marker I would tend to alter my swing and hit harder or softer just to hit near the distance marker. I'd rather just try to duplicate the swing and know that it goes a certain distance instead of inadvertently trying to alter a swing to hit the 100 yd marker.

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Hybrid: :cleveland-small: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black

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I have a couple 5 gallon buckets filled with balls & 5 flags in my yard: 25, 40, 55, 70, & 90 yards out. I'll hit a bucket or so of the balls out to the flags. The goal is simply to have the ball carry as close to the flag as possible. After the bucket is empty I'll go out and chip every ball again even closer to the flag for super-short range practice. It's not a perfect system since you can't see roll, but it has helped me immensely with the feel for distance and picking a landing spot. When I'm on the course playing I just look for the spot on the green where I want the ball to land.

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I found this on a site that is mainly for poker players through google. Gamblers take their golf serious. Might be worth a look at this winter when I'll have plenty of time to practice.

 

Program A, First 2 weeks, in this order:

 

Putting:

25 in a row from 3 feet

Lag Putting

20 in a row from 20 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

20 in a row from 30 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

20 in a row from 45 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

 

Chipping:

8 out of 10 in a 3 foot circle from 20-30 feet

 

Pitching:

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 30 yards

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 50 yards

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 70 yards

 

Bunkers:

10 out of 10 out of bunker

6 out of 10 stop inside the length of a flagstick

 

Long Bunker shot:

5 out of 10 on the green from 30-50 yards

 

Irons:

9-iron 6 out of 10 land & stop on green

7-iron 6 out of 10 land & stop on green

5-iron 4 out of 10 land & stop on green

 

Driver:

6 out of 10 land & stop in fairway (if you're on a range set 2 targets the width of a common fairway).

 

Program B, Second 2 Weeks:

 

Putting:

25 in a row from 5 feet

Lag Putting

30 in a row from 20 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

30 in a row from 30 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

30 in a row from 45 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle

 

Chipping:

7 out of 10 in a 3 foot circle from 40 feet

 

Pitching:

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 40 yards

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 60 yards

25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 80 yards

 

Bunkers:

10 out of 10 out of bunker

7 out of 10 stop inside the length of a flagstick

7 out of 10 out of bunker from uneven/buried lies

 

Long Bunker shot:

6 out of 10 on the green from 30-50 yards

 

Irons:

pw 7 out of 10 land & stop on green

8-iron 6 out of 10 land & stop on green

6-iron 5 out of 10 land & stop on green

 

Driver:

7 out of 10 land & stop in fairway

Driver: Titleist 915 D2 9.5 with Diamana Whiteboard S flex

3 wood: Titleist 915F 15*, Whiteboard S Flex

Titleist 915H 18* and 24* with Whiteboard SFlex

Irons: Mizuno JPX EZ Forged 4-PW with S300's

Wedges: Mizuno MP T4 50*, 56* with DG Spinner

Putter:MannKrafted Long Slope or Odyssey #7 Versa Metal milled or Betti Tour Stock;

Ball: Bridgestone B330 or Titleist NXT

Bag: Titleist 'Murica colored carry bag or

MyGolfSpy Tour Bag

 

RH, Western KY

 

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Does Ben Hawes still have a par 3 course? If so, this is what I do. I play the par 3 course with 2-3 balls; I hit my normal shot into the green, I'll purposely miss the green(say hit a SW from 130 or a PW from 100, something you can hit solid, but will be short or long), and then one I'll try hitting a knockdown/cut/draw/etc. This gives you practice on all facets of the game at once. This will get that part of your game solid; you saw how shitty I hit the ball when I played with you, but my game inside 50yds is ALWAYS solid.

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WP, I really like your method. When I first read it, my thoughts were the same as rev, you should hit the worst ball. However, the more I think about it, hitting the best ball gives you chances at both pressure shots (when your first drive is bad) and go-all-out shots (when your first drive is good). For second shots it's a chance to correct mistakes as they happen and really figure out if you have a problem if you make the same mistake twice :).

 

I'm going to have to try it out.

 

Personally I have a very small short game practice area in my backyard which consists of me hitting whiffle golf balls from a mat onto my sloped roof. This is purely a 60* wedge drill and the roof acts as an automatic ball retrieval. I hit all the balls with a variety 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and full swings. Then, when I'm done I walk over to where each ball wound up and chip them back to the mat.

 

There are a few things I'm practicing:

 

* Proper swing sequence, I record myself and watch my swing. Having taken lessons, I have several checkpoints in the my swing that I work on getting to for a repetitive swing

* Hitting in front of the ball. I do this by placing a small twig behind my ball and make sure I don't hit it. Helps avoid fat shots and not flipping the club

* Distance control. Those whiffle balls only go a fraction of the distance of a real ball, but I'm looking to hit it consistently four different distances with my club

* Ball flight. Another great thing about the whiffle balls, the flight is pretty darn true.

* Flipping the club. I pretty much know by the above whether I've flipped it either because the distance sucked or I hit it fat.

 

For chipping:

 

* NOT THINKING. I get to the ball and swing.

* Holding my follow through. From experience I've found I'm best if I hold the follow through, it also promotes hitting down on the ball and not flipping it.

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Does Ben Hawes still have a par 3 course? If so, this is what I do. I play the par 3 course with 2-3 balls; I hit my normal shot into the green, I'll purposely miss the green(say hit a SW from 130 or a PW from 100, something you can hit solid, but will be short or long), and then one I'll try hitting a knockdown/cut/draw/etc. This gives you practice on all facets of the game at once. This will get that part of your game solid; you saw how shitty I hit the ball when I played with you, but my game inside 50yds is ALWAYS solid.

They still have it indeed but it's pretty busy now that the city took over. I do sometimes play it without keeping score and using a couple balls. Alot more fun to practice that way.

Driver: Titleist 915 D2 9.5 with Diamana Whiteboard S flex

3 wood: Titleist 915F 15*, Whiteboard S Flex

Titleist 915H 18* and 24* with Whiteboard SFlex

Irons: Mizuno JPX EZ Forged 4-PW with S300's

Wedges: Mizuno MP T4 50*, 56* with DG Spinner

Putter:MannKrafted Long Slope or Odyssey #7 Versa Metal milled or Betti Tour Stock;

Ball: Bridgestone B330 or Titleist NXT

Bag: Titleist 'Murica colored carry bag or

MyGolfSpy Tour Bag

 

RH, Western KY

 

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WP, I really like your method. When I first read it, my thoughts were the same as rev, you should hit the worst ball.

 

I never once considered playing the worst ball. If I hit a poor first drive, am I then supposed to hit a worse one so I can play from an even more difficult position? The second drive in that case is almost without purpose if you already know you'll probably be playing the poor drive. If I wanted to practice from difficult spots, I could just drop the ball there. And hitting two drives doesn't guarantee that one will be good. Sometimes you'll be hitting from a poor spot even when you hit two drives.

 

And I had another consideration. In most cases I was teeing off late in the afternoon and had to rush to finish before dark. Playing the best of two drives was just a faster way to play. (You go to the shortest drive, pick it up and then go on to the second.) Best of all, it was more fun to play from a good drive. All I can say is try it. You can make any modifications you like. I just know that playing nine holes with two balls--while trying to score the best you can--is a good way to practice.

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I'm not critiquing the practice Will Par just adding another possibility to enhance your driving - I'm a pretty good driver - chances are high (80 percent or so) that I'll be in the fairway - a bit more pressure if I know I have to hit that second one well.

 

At any rate I've offered lots of other alternatives because it's not always possible to follow your routine - It would be highly unlikely to find that kind of course availability in Florida from November through April or in the middle part of the summer either (unless you wanted to play at 12 but you could die doing that.)

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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I have Wake Forest's Practice routine (found it somewhere on the internet a long time ago so not like I am not posting public knowledge) Here is the pdf file that I had laying around.

 

 

I also have used the Red Zone Challenge to give myself a handicap on my short game to help focus on specific areas that need the most improvement and drills to help those areas are included. Not too shabby of a book because it gives you a short game practice schedule.

Callaway Epic Max 12.0 (-1/N) @ 44.50" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7 Stiff

Callaway Epic Speed 18.0* @ 42.75" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-8 Stiff

Callaway Mavrik Pro 23.0* @ 40.00" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 95 HYB Stiff

Sub-70 639 Combo (5-P) w/ Nippon Modus 3 125 Stiff, Standard Length, Weak Lofts (27-47, 4* gaps)

Callaway MD5 Raw 51-11 S-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 55-13 X-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 59-11 S-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 63-09 C-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Golf Swing & Putting -- Bruce Rearick (Burnt Edges Consulting)

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I'm really digging this thread - I'm going to be living on the road for the winter and as a part of this I've been trying to figure out how to stay sharp on my game. I've settled on the idea that this range hater is going to have to learn to embrace it and I think these types of drills may drive me crazy, but should also keep me sane at the same time.

 

Looking forward to seeing what a difference this all can make for me.

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Any golf spy is a friend of mine but especially a MGS guy, Tim - best wishes and tell us how you do.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

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  • 1 year later...

EDIT :: I found the document that I posted and was no longer was linked above.

Callaway Epic Max 12.0 (-1/N) @ 44.50" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-7 Stiff

Callaway Epic Speed 18.0* @ 42.75" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ-8 Stiff

Callaway Mavrik Pro 23.0* @ 40.00" w/ Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 95 HYB Stiff

Sub-70 639 Combo (5-P) w/ Nippon Modus 3 125 Stiff, Standard Length, Weak Lofts (27-47, 4* gaps)

Callaway MD5 Raw 51-11 S-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 55-13 X-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 59-11 S-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Callaway MD5 Raw 63-09 C-Grind w/ Nippon Modus 125 Wedge

Golf Swing & Putting -- Bruce Rearick (Burnt Edges Consulting)

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