Advice For Working On Short Game

Ok, I finally got my HC down to an official 12 (according the the index system I use at my home course), but I am still very inconsistent.  One day I can shoot in the high 70's and the next a 92.

Once in awhile I will have a bad day from the tees, but most of the time it is all in my short game.  To be honest, I spent a lot of time on the range this past year trying to fix some swing flaws which for the most part I have done.  I usually spent 30min to an hour afterwards on the putting green.  However, I still have fits putting (average 36 a round) and anything 100 yards in can be a disaster at times.  I am usually short which means I am very tentative/scared to hit the ball past the hole.

So, I know I need to spend a lot of time this winter working on that part of my game.

Question to those who have gone through this process, what did you do to improve your short game and how long did it take?  I know everyone is different, but I am hoping that I can get on certain holes on my course during the winter when the course is not busy and put a lot of time into it so I am ready by Spring.

Thanks for any advice.

Well, at the risk of implying that working on putting/short game can actually improve your game considerably (which some have taken me to task on), lemme offer this -

I assume you carry 2 wedges. If so get a gap wedge so you have PW, GW & SW. Go to the range and figure out how far you hit each with a full but controlled swing. For me it's 120 PW, 100 GW & 80 SW. Once you know that then you know based on distance what club to hit...any between' distance take the longer club & three-quarter it (for control). With the SW, find out how far a half & three-quarter swing goes. What this does is give you the club & swing for any shot from 40-120 yards.

Putting - Try this drill:

Take 6 balls and place them around the hole in a circle 4 feet away & try to make all 6 in a row, and don't leave until you do. Much harder than it appears. Then take the 6 balls and go 15 feet away from the hole (don't have to be in a circle) and don't leave until you make half of them. Then go to 40 feet away and don't leave until you two-putt all of them.

That exercise, right there, may take over an hour to accomplish. But it will be a very productive hour & your putting will improve. Do that 3 times a week.

People took you task for suggestion that the secret to breaking 100 was putting. There is a huge difference between someone who can shoot sub 80 and a guy that is over 100 in terms of what they need.

I agree that it sounds like a large portion of the OP problems is not knowing his wedge distances.  Which wedges he uses is a bit of a personal choice (a lot of people swear by full shots with a lob wedge. Others just swear at the wedge) but you need to know you distances with the 3 swings and you need to be able to hit them on demand. Chipping/pitching work to give you makeable putts is probably the easiest way to lower the number of putts per round for most midcappers.

I like your putting drills but making half from 15' seems really hard (I doubt most PGA pros could do it) unless you are putting from the exact same spot. I don't favor putting from the same spot as it disengages the brain (you know the break and the speed) and doesn't simulate what you face on the course very well. Change it to leaving the ball within 18 inches of the hole and I am all over that drill.

The putting drill I really like is about reinforcing your stroke and distance control.  I have a couple of those 'tour sticks' (or driveway markers in my case) and I put a mark every foot.  I lay them end to end giving me marks every foot for 8 feet from the cup.  I make sure it's on a flat piece of green with no break (again this is about your stroke and distance control, not green reading).

Starting at the 1' mark, putt in 3 balls using your full putting routine.  Then move to 2' and repeat all the way out to 8'.  The trick is, if you miss a putt, you need to start over from 1'.  This will also teach you to control your nerves because once you get out beyond 6' you have enough time invested you really don't want to miss!  If I'm pushed for time I'll only drop back to the previous marker, but I try not to do that too often.

I do something similar for my green-side chipping.  But instead of aiming at a cup I'll pick a spot on the green a particular distance from me and stop the ball as close to it as possible.  Then pick a spot farther or closer and repeat.

It is daunting, to be sure, to hole half of your putts from 15 feet. But with repetition it can be done...on the practice green. Yes, on the course it's unrealistic to hole half your putts from 15 feet. On the practice green is a different matter. And what you learn in the process is a solid, repeatable stroke. Cut it down to 2 out of 6 if you get stuck.

Re simulating course conditions by changing the location, that's fine. But the point is not to simulate course conditions with the drill, but to ingrain a good putting stroke through repetition. That's why I made the goal hard - you'll be there a while. It really doesn't matter if it's the same 15-foot putt over & over.

It reminds me of Gary Player's goal when he would practice bunker shots. He wouldn't quit until he holed out 5 of them. The intent was to keep himself there for a while. Same with this.

There is no way around it.....you just have to play a lot.   Short game is critical.....and luckily it's the easiest part of the game to work on and it doesn't need to cost you a cent.  Find an area golf course that has a practice green/bunker and practice you chipping, pitching, sand play and putting.   If you put in the time, you will get better.  How quickly depends on you......  everyone is different.  One guy I play with has only been playing 2yrs and he's already an 8HC!!  he obviously has some talent..

I'm different from most people because I hate practicing.  In fact, I never practice...I just play a lot.  I haven't hit a bucket of balls since 1995.  I figure if I'm at the course, I might as well tee it up on the course.

I agree with the wedge stuff said above about knowing your distances on 1/2, 3/4, and full swings with all wedges in your bag.  It's not a shot I use a ton but something I've just started working on in practice time but it's also worth considering knowing how far little short pitch style shots going with, say, 9i and 7i.  I've recently realized that while I'm not always perfect with distance control from 40-80 yards, I've gotten really good (for my HC) with my 60˚ for those greenside shots, say <25 yards.  Part of why that's easy is you take so many pieces of the full swing out of your motion.  I've realized that if I take a swing that flies 20 yards with my 60˚ but use a 7i, I can hit that shot from maybe 40 yards instead.  If you keep your hands in front you can still get decent spin and not have it roll ridiculously far, though of course if you've got a bunker between you and a pin that's not way on the far side of the green this isn't a shot for that time.  But if you're much better with the true greenside chips and pitches than you are with the 50-100 yard shots, then it's something worth trying out.

Also, on the putting.  The putter sticks thing is good, but I find my problems with putting tend to be more distance control that aim.  Obviously I'm not a machine making every putt with perfect aim but variable distance or anything, but the vast majority of my 3-putts come from poor distance on the first putt, instead of pushes or pulls on the second putt.  With that in mind, I like the drill where you set up balls at intervals, say something like 5', 10', 15', 20', 25', 30', and put an alignment stick or club 3' behind the hole and perpendicular to what will be your target line to the hole.  Then hit all those putts, trying to get the ball past the hole but not to or over the alignment stick.  You can even do this without an actual hole to let yourself concentrate 100% on distance control.

I did two things when I was trying to improve my game back in the late 80's.  First, I played a local par 3 course 2 or 3 times a week before work (was working swing shift so I had mornings free).  That let me work on my irons and short game under game conditions.  I often had the course to myself, so I'd toss a ball into each greenside bunker and work on sand shots, then I might deliberately play tee shots with a shorter or longer club than I needed so that I'd have to chip or pitch up on the second shot.

The other thing I did was to make enough time before each round (especially tournament rounds) to warm up at the chipping green.  My home course has an adequate short game area, but another nearby course has a better one, so I'd often stop there before going to my course and work for 45 minutes to an hour just on chipping.

There is no substitute for practicing.  Learn good technique, then practice to hone your feel.  I don't think that there is any adequate shortcut for just working on it.

Studies have shown blocked learning is pretty ineffective (compared to random or random blocks) once a basic skill level is achieved . I am guessing that the OP is above that level.  If your on a flat piece of green this is going to be too easy.  The first stroke or two gives you the feel for the distance and then you repeat 4 times. I got really good at sinking 20 footers at home but that really doesn't translate to the course. You are learning to make good 2nd, 3rd and nth strokes while in golf you need to make the first one count. You want to do enough strokes from each distance that you can learn (3-6) but not so many that you get numb (100 putts from 15 ft). And yes I know some famous golfers said they sunk 100 3 footers in a row every day before quitting.

I am not saying the drill is a total  waste of time. I am saying the ones where you work on multiple things (speed, effect of break, hitting the ball solid) at the same time are more effective. Take the circle drill. You learn how the break changes as you move around the hole. If you do the progressive circle (move 3 feet back after you make some chunk of them), you learn how the break changes with distance and how you have to adjust your speed. And of course you have to hit the ball well to sink any putts.

You can also choose to believe the studies are crap. I have that though about a lot of the human performance ones I read as it is really hard to control everything.

I think the real key is you need both types of drills.  You need the repetitive ones to ingrain your stroke so that it's predictable for the more dynamic act of reading the green and rolling the proper line.

My putting practice usually starts by doing the ladder drill I described, followed by a variation of that circular drill, then longer and more complicated putts on particular breaks I may have been having trouble with lately.

I decided to get a lesson today.  Turns out I was doing two major things wrong.  First, I was bringing the clubhead past my hands instead of behind them (trying to lift with the hands).  Also, I am using way too much shoulder and not enough body turn.  Amazing how I had no clue I was doing those two things wrong when I always knew what to do properly but was not doing it.

As you can imagine, my clubhead is not even close to being square at impact.  Its is no wonder I constantly hit short shots, shanks, or ones that go a direction I do not intend it to go.

Going to do a lot of work in the backyard as well as mirror work to make sure my clubhead is square and in line with my target.

I think once I get comfortable using the correct technique I will start to develop more touch around the greens to be able to have less daunting putts (hence lowering my putts per round) and most importantly gain confidence when in tough spots.

Putting wise, I tend to turn my putter head left after impact.  Going to try some different grips to see if I can fix it.  Was told I may want to look into getting a different putter instead of the mallet one I am using now.

First of all, are you playing with the same ball every round? i.e NXT, Pro V1x etc.  that alone can make a big difference, because each ball has different characteristics around the green with regard to spin etc.

I started to put a line on my ball to help me with ligning up my putts, I read the line of the putt,  then put the ball down with the line on the ball along the line of the putt. I then line up the line on my putter with the line on the ball, that way you know that the ball is starting out on the correct line, after that it is purely down to speed.

By doing this, I have almost eliminated three putting, in the Golf Logix app on my phone, I keep all my stats, my putting stats are now down to 1.6 putts per hole.

I've improved my putting and short game tremendously during my golfing career (it isn't a career, a hobby).

How??  Honestly it was a lot of different things.  I'd say mostly it is practice and understanding how to use the club to hit the ball a certain way.  Another thing that is a must is hitting the center of the club and putter.  I'd say that is the biggest difference between me now and 4 years ago with the short game.  I don't really agree that the ball has that much to do with results and consistancy.  I don't like rocks but anything ok reacts similar.  If I have brand new wedges and I'm spinnng the hell out of it around the greens it does matter then, but I actually use an old regular vokey and use trajectory to control it.

My recommendation to improve is pitch around the yard.  Just focus on the swing, where it lands, and the trajectory.  So when you go to the course you can picture that same shot, learn how it reacts on the golf course, then just pitch and pitch and pitch.  Learning how to hit it to exactly where you want it to takes a variable out of the pitch.  You aren't always going to judge it correctly, but if you pitch it the way you want and it doesn't work out, then you learn, remember and try to improve.

I'm with you, hate the driving range or putting greens, but I don't mind chipping for a while.

My putting skills are lacking, but I can save myself a lot by chipping close enough for a "tap in" and save par or bogie.

My favorite practice drill is the "towel game".

We would always put a stick in the ground to mark the "hole" and then lay down a small golf towel right where you would want the ball to land and then roll up to the stick.

Goal #1 chip to practice landing on the towel.

Goal #2 try to get the ball to roll up and stop touching the stick. (or drop in the cup if on a green).

When it comes time to get going, change it up and try to chip and have the balls roll up and stop on the towel.

Then you can just grab the towel with the balls... easy clean up!

If you're like me and never practice and you want to get better.....all I have to say is you had better play A LOT....

Weekends wont cut it......

Here's how to get those extra two strokes off your handicap with your short game.

Long-distance pitching: Just get the ball on the green so you can start putting. The green is a big target, and hitting it from 80 yards is all you need to do. You'll be in two-putt range and that's good enough. Because you don't hit these shots all that often, you get to the point of diminishing returns in practice pretty quickly. Now if you have all day to practice, go ahead, but with limited time, this is the not the shot to concentrate on.

The real place to spend your practice time is from 25 yards and in. This is the range from which, if you learn to get up and down, you will save tons of short game strokes you're now losing.  It is easy to learn how to do this, and a lot more useful than long pitching, because you might have ten of these shorties every round.

That said, none of this will help you if you waste strokes getting up to the green. The short game saves you if one of your full shots isn't quite straight, but it can't get back the extra full shot you had to hit to get close. The swing rules.

Oh, yes. Then there's the five-footer you have to make so your short pitch/chip doesn't go to waste. Gotta practice those, too.

That's me. I hate practicing but I play at least 5 times a week during the summer.