Chipping/Short Pitching Drills

[BC-to-MI]

Hey everyone,

I just finished up reading the 65/20/15 thread, so now I'm curious if anyone has any good drills for the short game portion of their practice. I have a relatively good feel for partial wedges between 50 and 100 yards, but I really struggle around the green and with the short shots either from the rough or fairway, even if they are really straight forward.

I've started working to add the 'putt with an iron' chip shot to my bag, but I'm interested in what you guys do to improve your game from inside 50 yards. My current routine has too much 'dump a bucket of balls in a spot and hit 3 good shots, 4 mediocre ones, and 3 terrible ones, then move to a new spot' to make any positive impact on my game.

Thanks.

[boogielicious]

8 hours ago, BC-to-MI said:

Hey everyone,

I just finished up reading the 65/20/15 thread, so now I'm curious if anyone has any good drills for the short game portion of their practice. I have a relatively good feel for partial wedges between 50 and 100 yards, but I really struggle around the green and with the short shots either from the rough or fairway, even if they are really straight forward.

I've started working to add the 'putt with an iron' chip shot to my bag, but I'm interested in what you guys do to improve your game from inside 50 yards. My current routine has too much 'dump a bucket of balls in a spot and hit 3 good shots, 4 mediocre ones, and 3 terrible ones, then move to a new spot' to make any positive impact on my game.

Thanks.

There are a bunch of practice drills in Lowest Score Wins. There are games where you score each shot. It helps to keep it fresh.

One game I play is 'One ball'. I pick a flag on the practice green and toss the ball off the green. Then I try to get up and down. I usually do that after I warm up with chips and pitches to get the motions down. I vary the lie and distance to try and simulate different situations.

[BC-to-MI]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

There are a bunch of practice drills in Lowest Score Wins. There are games where you score each shot. It helps to keep it fresh.

One game I play is 'One ball'. I pick a flag on the practice green and toss the ball off the green. Then I try to get up and down. I usually do that after I warm up with chips and pitches to get the motions down. I vary the lie and distance to try and simulate different situations.

Thanks. I'll give this a shot.

[Skruske]

I've been working hard on my short game as of late. My current routine takes anywhere from 60-90 minutes. I take 10 of the same balls and hit them all from the same spot around the putting green at one flag and score it as follows.
Make chip = 5 points
Putter length = 2 points
Good contact and makable = 1 point
Bad contact = -1 point

I start with normally a simple pitch and run from a nice fairway lie ~15 yards from hole and then will hop back 5-10 yards and do it again. I do this with a wedge and an iron and have just started incorporating a hybrid as well. Then I will move to a flat rough shot, varying lies. Uphill rough shot, downhill rough shot. 2 sets from each. The main thing is keeping focus and actually addressing the ball each time and going through the routine. 

Just started this as of last week and put a good ~4 hours into just chipping and pitching. My league is tonight so we will see how it has paid off. Best of luck to you!

Edited June 4, 2019 by Skruske

[billchao]

13 hours ago, BC-to-MI said:

Hey everyone,

I just finished up reading the 65/20/15 thread, so now I'm curious if anyone has any good drills for the short game portion of their practice. I have a relatively good feel for partial wedges between 50 and 100 yards, but I really struggle around the green and with the short shots either from the rough or fairway, even if they are really straight forward.

I've started working to add the 'putt with an iron' chip shot to my bag, but I'm interested in what you guys do to improve your game from inside 50 yards. My current routine has too much 'dump a bucket of balls in a spot and hit 3 good shots, 4 mediocre ones, and 3 terrible ones, then move to a new spot' to make any positive impact on my game.

Thanks.

Could be your technique, too. Here's a good thread on pitching:

 

[BC-to-MI]

23 hours ago, Skruske said:

I've been working hard on my short game as of late. My current routine takes anywhere from 60-90 minutes. I take 10 of the same balls and hit them all from the same spot around the putting green at one flag and score it as follows.
Make chip = 5 points
Putter length = 2 points
Good contact and makable = 1 point
Bad contact = -1 point

I start with normally a simple pitch and run from a nice fairway lie ~15 yards from hole and then will hop back 5-10 yards and do it again. I do this with a wedge and an iron and have just started incorporating a hybrid as well. Then I will move to a flat rough shot, varying lies. Uphill rough shot, downhill rough shot. 2 sets from each. The main thing is keeping focus and actually addressing the ball each time and going through the routine. 

Just started this as of last week and put a good ~4 hours into just chipping and pitching. My league is tonight so we will see how it has paid off. Best of luck to you!

Thanks, I like this. I might start doing this and track my scores from each lie and compare session to session to see how I'm progressing over time.

22 hours ago, billchao said:

Could be your technique, too. Here's a good thread on pitching:

 

 

Thanks for the reply. I read this last week and it has already made an impact. Much more consistent strike than trying to be perfect on each swing, just have to dial in my distances with it now.

Edited June 5, 2019 by BC-to-MI

[Cantankerish]

Chipping feels even more mental than most parts of the game to me.  I practice chipping a lot, and getting into the groove is everything.  I find myself creating mnemonic devices in my preshot routine to pick up on when I am on the course so that I can enter that groove at a moment's notice.  The difference between when I do this and when I do not is palpable.  I would recommend such a device.

[Groucho Valentine]

I friend of mine has one of those gravity fit things and i tried it for some chipping and pitching practice a few weeks ago. The 20 or so minutes i practiced chipping with that thing was probably the most ive gotten out of a short game session in 20 years. I have some bar coasters in my bag and i use them as targets for short game practice. I was landing balls on them almost every time and Ive never chipped the ball so crisply as i did with that thing on. Something about it just takes your hands out completely and you just make body moves. Which is easier to control than the flash action of your hands.  Im not paying $100 for a set of rubber bands, but ill ask him if i can use his again sometime.