How can you make short game practice fun?

We all know that practicing the short game is beneficial to your scoring but most of us spend 90% of our practice time on the range. Frankly, I just don't like practicing the short game. Usually I just spend 5 minutes putting and then 10 mininutes chipping and then an hour on the range hitting 100 balls. Most of the time, I don't bother stopping by the practice geen or chipping greens at all.

In addition to lowering your score, short game practice is free on most courses. On the range, it is like hitting dimes.

What do you do to motivate yourself to work on the short game? Please share.

I bring a bud and we play HORSE. Loser buys lunch or dinner.

When you later go out and play 18, and you make some up-and-down pars, that's what makes short-game practice fun.

You just need to trade instant gratification for achievement.

A post-round analysis usually makes it's painfully obvious how many strokes I throw when the ball is really that far away from the pin.

When you see results from practicing the short game on the course there is no better feeling! Track your putts and up and down during your rounds and keep close track with a diary of your practice and you will see the results of your short game practice on shots you either felt uncomfortable making feel natural or pulling off an up and down that a few weeks ago would be impossible.

When you feel like you can make every putt because you spend time everyday practicing your putting its all worth it in the long run.

Play games with yourself and reward yourself afterwards, practice in game situation where you chip and finish the chip by putting the ball in to save par or making birdie.

I just got a new 58 degree wedge and Phil's DVD. The next day i couldn't wait to get to the practice green!!! He has some good putting drills in it. You need a goal or something to work on. When you are at the range you are probably working on something specific with your swing. Do that with putting and chipping. Identify something specific you need to work on and then work on that.

I also noticed that the better i get at the short game the more i enjoy practicing it.

I enjoy working on pitching and chipping. The key is to keep moving around the green and mixing up your shots. Vary your trajectory, vary your lie, experiment with different ways to make the same play.

Practicing putting, though, I do find boring because it's basically just doing the same things over and over to try and groove the stroke. Attempting to follow the general rule that half of all short game practice time is for putting, but I cheat.

Lately I've been trying to come up with effective drills that are fun because they give you some sense of accomplishment and improvement. For the past few weeks, every time I work on my putting I'll start with 5 footers. I use 6 balls when putting because the cup can hold that many. I think it's funny how so many people putt with 2-3 balls. That's understandable if that's all you have in the bag, though.

Anyways, here's how I go about my short game practice. I start with 5 feet and try to make 6/6. If I can make 6/6, I move to 8 feet where I try to make 5/6 to move on to 12 feet. If I don't make at least 3/6, I move back to 5 ft. 12 feet = 2/6 to stay, 4/6 to move on. 15 ft = 1/6 to stay, 3/6 to move on. 20 ft = 1/6 to stay 2/6 to move on. 25 feet = 1/6 to stay. If I can get to 25 ft and make 2/6, I'll be done with that drill and move on to my 2nd putting drill. All of these putts are on the same line, I just move back and forth a few feet in intervals. It's the stroke and speed I'm working on.


In my 2nd drill I will randomly place balls at random distances and locations and try to read the putts. The fun from this drill comes from knowing you've worked out your stroke before hand and now it's about judging speed and reading putts. You'll be amazed how much your green reading will improve from reading 50 practice putts from various distances every time you work on your putting.

My final putting drill is lag putts from cup to cup 40-70 feet. Then trying to clean up, of course. If I can successfully 2 putt 6/6 balls from the shortest cup to cup, then I'll move to the next longest cup to cup (as long as no one is there ofc) and try for 5/6 balls 2 putted. Can you guess what I do next? Move to a longer lag putt? No way.. haha. After I finish that up (generally spend 15-20 mins doing that), I move onto chipping pitching.

With chipping/pitching, I chip from a tight lie with lots of green to work with to start. 9/12 balls within 5 feet from about 50 feet from the hole, really working on nipping it good with lots of spin. If I can do that I'll move onto some pitches from the rough, 20y and then some from 40y. 6/12 within 5 ft. 40y pitches, 3/12. Then bunker shots. The bunker at my course is about 7 feet deep, so I'm just happy getting balls out and within 10 feet. I have no real goal for this one, just try to hit good bunker shots.

Hope this helped. Try creating your own games. It's much easier to come up with games and more fun if you are practicing with a friend, although you might not get as much focused practice in.

Anyways, there's only so much you can do to keep it fun. After all, the goal is to get the ball in the hole. So of course attempting to do just that from the same spot over and over is repetitive. Just keep challenging yourself.

But if you are really bored, try practicing by placing balls randomly and hitting multiple different kinds of shots. That way you aren't used to playing the shot over and over and you can really get a feel for what your real shot might be like from that situation on the course.

1. Work one one shot steady for ten minutes, then switch to another one for ten minutes. Then go back to the first one for ten and to the second one for ten. The second time around figure out a way to make the shot harder--give yourself a slightly different problem to solve. Keeps the interest up

2. Practice the short shots you flubbed in your last few rounds until you learn how to hit them. Knowing that I'll be able to hit that shot the next time I see it gives me with the motivation to learn, and great satisfaction when I've accomplished it.

I like this one. Practicing the same shot again and again to "get it" and work on form is important, but I think it's fun to set a target (I like to use my golf bag) and then wander around with a bucket of balls and try to chip close from randomly chosen lies and distances. This is also a lot more like the playing situation---you don't get to try the same shot more than once.