Chipping/Pitching Practice Routines

Hi all.  I went to my local course this morning to play a quick nine-hole round.  Unfortunately, with it being spring break around here, the course was full and I wasn't willing to wait around to get 'fit in' somewhere.  Instead, I got a couple buckets of balls and went to the practice range.

I hit the first bucket and some of the second (about 40 balls) and decided to hit the short game practice area as I haven't been chipping or pitching well so far this year.  I dumped the rest of the balls (25 or so) onto the ground and stood about 20 yards from my target on the green.  I hit all 25 balls from the same spot.  I had a pretty wide area that the balls ended up spread over, so I collected them all, tossed them back towards where I was, but scattered some from a few different areas.  I then hit them all to another target on the green, approximately 30 yards away.  Again... a pretty wide area they ended up in.  Finally, I collected about 15 of the balls and put them in the fringe area and chipped them to a target about 25 feet away.  A much smaller area this time, but still not great.

I found myself getting 'bored' though.  So, here's my issue and question.

How do I keep myself from getting bored and still making my practice effective?

My first thought is... was it really effective hitting the shots with range balls as opposed to using my typical ball - TaylorMade Project (a)?

My second thought is... was it more effective having a variety of lies and distances on my second series or having a singular lie and distance from my first series?

What are your routines in the practice areas?  Do you use range balls, or do you use the ball you'd use on the course?

Thoughts?

CY

I like to go to the Masters and learn to chip there.

But, seriously, I have a bag of old NXT Tours that I use on the range. They react decently on chips and bunker shots, but don't wear out in the sand like a urethane ball would. The grass near the targets is basically fairway or rough length, so I don't need spin. I'm mostly practicing strike and trajectory. If I'm putting, I use game balls.

I like to practice difficult shots. Trying to get over the bunker to a short pin, burying balls in sand, trying to hit a branch on and overhanging tree, hitting flop shots from hard pan, etc. It keeps you interested, forces you to improvise, etc.

Hitting 25 balls to the same target isn't going to help you improve your scrambling percentage. On the golf course you only get one chance to gauge the distance correctly. 2-3 balls per target, anything more and you are just grooving that particular shot, not actually developing touch. Different lies,different distances, different angles, practice the way you play.

Good way to practice chipping/short game is to try to keep score. Try to get up and down - so chip/pitch a single ball and follow it up with your putter to finish the hole.....

Take a cardboard box 12" X 24" to any short range or even in your backyard and place it about 25 ft. away.

Then use four different clubs (lob, sand, gap, pitch)

Rotate using each club only once trying to land the ball into the box.

After a couple of tries, move a few yards further away.

To add variety, try for a bounce into the box.

Makes for an interesting challenge and practice.

Club Rat

I have number of different short game practice routines to keep things interesting.  I pick the routines I want to practice any given day based on what my current weaknesses are.   It helps me to focus on the practice.    But going to range for practice session can be a big chore ... and boring.   For those days I can't get myself to go range practice, I practice at home.  Beats watching TV or staring at the laptop monitor all night.   I keep scores on some routines to see what my progress is.  That helps, too.

My routines, range & indoors:

Bunker (SW, LW, GW)

Chipping from various lies (up, down, bad)

Short chip with varying clubs (LW to 7i)

Longish chip  (LW to 7i)

Lob shots

Short pitch (Wedges) <----- getting more of my attention these days

Putting - lag

Putting - short & straight

I've tried the Pelz games with the intention of tracking progress over time, but I never follow through.

usually I just hit balls from all over the place.  I can probably do that for 90 minutes before I get bored.

I don't do a game or a score, but if I dropped the 25 balls I would hit 5 to one target, 5 to the next and 5 to the next.  My goal is to get them all within 3-5 feet.  I then do the same thing but try to take some spin off the ball and make it run out, then the next one try to make it one hop and stop.  If I can do that for about a 30-60 mins and keep them all in the same 3-5 circle while moving my distance back I feel it was good practice.