What Are Your Go-To Tips for Improving Your Short Game?

[Abd56ullah]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking to improve my short game Nulls Brawl Apk and was wondering if you all could share some of your go-to tips or techniques. Whether it’s chipping, pitching, or putting, I’m interested in learning what has worked best for you.

Do you have any favorite drills, tools, or practice routines that have helped you lower your scores around the greens?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Edited August 12 by Abd56ullah

[AP Major]

For chipping and short pitches I throw down balls at varying distances up to 20yds out and play it as it lies; throw some in the rough and on a hard pan lie as well, don't always give yourself a fluffy lie. Score how many up & downs you obtain out of 18 balls. Hole out = birdie (-1); 1 putt = par (E), 2 putt= bogey (+1), and so forth. This adds an element of gamification, pressure and gives you some personal bests to aim for each time you're out to gauge improvement.

I might warm up with a few balls from the same spot just to gain some feel, but you'll never hit 20 chips from the same exact spot so I prefer not to sit in one spot for more than 1-2 chips unless you have a trouble shot you're working on (i.e.,I used to have trouble chipping against the grain of the grass so that was a mini session of its own).

I personally feel the goal is to build up a "library" in practice so I have something to reference when I play. I find it translates when I'm on the course because I've already hit the shots I'm trying to play on the course in practice. Spending 60-70% of your practice time on short game is probably the quickest way to improve your scores.

[Shapotomous]

My suggestion for chipping and pitch shots is to find the spot in your swing that is consistently the low point.  Make sure you position the ball in your stance so the ball is at that spot every time.  Thin and fat shots should decrease by a lot.

[Old New Golfer]

Putting..... find a nice flat concrete floor. Draw a circle size of a cup. Stop the ball in the circle.

[Headhammer]

IMHO, the only way to get better is to practice, a lot. The short game is all about feel and that feel only comes from doing it over and over again. My wife can pound the ball long and straight off the tee after not touching a club for 6-months, but her short game is a disaster with that length layoff and it takes her all summer to get the feel back in her chipping and putting. 

[WaffleHouseTour]

Chipping chipping chipping. There are different techniques to it that you can practice and all will translate to other aspects of you game. 

You can chip more like a putting stroke where you just brush the grass with a back a back and thru motion.
 

There is more of a “drop the brick” as my coach calls it where you take the club back and drop it letting its own weight carry it thru as you body turns where the ball pops up higher and drops down. 

But you can practice lots of shots with a single club - and can do it in your own backyard…

[JDHolmes]

Practice daily. I encourage guys to use the 7 and 8 oclock method with various clubs depending upon distance to hole. I've had to learn to use sand and gap wedge due to fringe stickiness here rather than pitch and roll. But, technique remains the same. 7 oclock 56 degree goes 10 yards, gap to 12 yards, 45 degree goes 16-18., and so on.

Know your distances with each club.

Others I play with use feel only but only you can teach yourself feel golf.

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[cbhenri10]

I consider my wedge game around the greens to be my biggest strength and I'm almost 100% a feel-type player for these shots. I use a different "clock" system when practicing my short game - I look at the green as a clock and bounce around to the different numbers on it for more random practice reps.

Depending how much time I have, I'll take three balls to different areas around the green (clock numbers), and three clubs. I only carry 52 and 58 degree non-set wedges, made this change a couple years ago from 52/56/60 to try and simplify my decision making process. It's helped a ton and the short game data in rounds from my ShotScope x5 certainly backs that up. The third club is one of my short irons for bump and runs, usually a 6-9 iron, I mix it up. I'll hit one ball with each club to the same hole trying to pick specific landing spots for how I envision the ball rolling out. 

I really feel like this has made me a lot more confident in taking on different types of lies with various clubs and gets my creative juices flowing. It can be pretty intimidating hitting a 7 iron out of a greenside bunker when the flag is 10 yards away but experimenting with unusual situations like this can open your mind to new setups and feels. 

The 7th hole at my home club has a green and surrounds that provide any scenario I could encounter elsewhere on the course - good variety of sloping and flat areas, a bunker with a high face on one end and more level on the other, tightly mown approach out front and lush rough on the sides and back. Plus it's right next to the maintenance building so I can show up to work a little early and get some reps in a few times a week. Lucky me  

I enjoy working on this part of my game, my handicap has dropped 6 strokes since I started taking it more seriously and I truly believe getting these kinds of shots closer to the hole has been the biggest reason. Making the putts to get up and down is a different story though lol, maybe that needs to be the next area I try to improve...

[Overspark07]

1 hour ago, JDHolmes said:

7 oclock 56 degree goes 10 yards, gap to 12 yards, 45 degree goes 16-18., and so on

Carry or rollout?

[Hacker60521]

@Abd56ullah I definitely like to be more analytical than “feel”’when it comes to short game stuff. So following from Dave Pelz and as @JDHolmes suggests I track my average carry and total distance for chip and pitch from roughly 7 and 8 o,clock-ish for my 9 to my 58

There’s definitely some overlap but that gives me versatility on club choice. 

1 hour ago, Overspark07 said:

Carry or rollout?

I track both 

[owenngolf]

For putting speed is king. Get 3 balls and put down 1 tee and walk out 6 feet then put another 3 tee down behind in intervals of 3 feet. Putt each ball in between every gap of the tees to simulate the length of a 6, 9 and 12 foot putt. You keep it inside the far tee as you don’t more than a 3 foot come backer. Practice this up and down hill and your speed feel should improve a lot. You can also extend the distance you are from the closest and put it out to 15-20 feet and so on for more of a lag putt feel. Line doesn’t matter in this drill at all. Practice each gap in succession, (all 3 balls to one gap or 1 ball to each and move on).

[Middler]

There may be tips to make practice more effective, but IME just practicing is the missing ingredient for most guys I play with who don't chip well. They never practice.

However, I would say making a clear choice between bump and run, and lofted chips, should help - most people I play with do one or the other, and they aren't good at both. I used to rely on bump and run, but I switched to defaulting to a lofted club because it's more versatile. YMMV

Edited August 11 by Middler

[Bossfan]

With putting I found getting the speed correct is most important. I also try not to over read the break. Every time I play a big break I’m usually wrong. Aiming just a little left or right works much better for me. Chipping I use the same swing but change clubs depending on the distance. 

[cnosil]

In my opinion it comes down to working to improve your skills.   

Chipping:  learn to hit the bump and run type shot and use various clubs to control distance.  Learn how to move the body to do this effectively. 

Pitching:  lean how to hit higher launching soft shots.  Generate feels or leverage a clock system to hit the ball specific distances

For both learn how to read lies so you hit the correct shot for the situation.  I personally like Dan Grieve's approach for the short game.  

Putting:  You have to learn the basic skills.  Aim the putter down your target line, make a stroke that sends the ball down that target line and has proper speed.   You also need to learn how to read greens so that you can predict the balls path.   

For putting follow people like Bruce Rearick and Geoff Mangum.  

[JDHolmes]

Carry or rollout?

Total distance. Note, no follow through, I stop just after the strike

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[Brian A]

Practice! 
 

I got the flat balls from Dicks Sporting Goods and using those helped me immensely! They’re the same diameter of a golf ball but maybe 1/2 in tall so you really have to focus on getting them clean or they don’t go anywhere 

[vandyland]

Keep your weight left throughout the shot on short pitches and chips. I also have a tendency to open the face in the backswing (not a good recipe for success) so I have to monitor that. Finally, when practicing chipping focus early on your landing area rather than the hole at first. I find when my landing area is really consistent, that makes me feel like my short game is more dialed.