Short Game Practice Thoughts

[Vespidae]

I've really been working on my short game lately and feeling very good about it. If I can get it near the green, I feel pretty confidant about my ability to scramble. 

I started by creating a list of all the typical short game shots and I think I had about 14 in total. But I was trying to reconcile all the different thoughts put out by Runyan, Rodgers, Harrington, Sieckmann and Ridyard to create a better approach to organizing how I approach this. 

Harrington for example, doesn't practice the belly wedge, the use of a hybrid in collection areas or the chip+run. He says the belly wedge is used too infrequently to put much time into it, the hybrid is course-specific and (this was a surprise), the chip+run isn't used on today's fast greens. It's reserved now for mostly flat greens with Stimp<9. So he doesn't practice that much anymore either. (Paul Runyan's assistant said the same thing ... although I love his book ... his assistant said the game has changed and many of Paul's techniques aren't as valid as they used to be so be careful about using too much of it.)

Ridyard said not to bother with practicing the "spinny wedge" as a separate pitch because ... if the mid-trajectory pitch is set up correctly, it IS the spinny wedge. So his emphasis was on learning 5 trajectories and each trajectory has different combinations of height and spin. (But if we drop the chip+run, we have basically just 2 ... the mid and flop.)

Where does that leave me? I practice the following ...

• Fringe chip-putts (this is Runyan with the heel up)
• Short pitches from the rough onto the green (< 5 yards)
• A mid-trajectory pitch from about 20 yards (from fairway)
• Flop shot over a bunker 
• 1/2 wedge from 30-40 yards from fairway (and another from rough)
• 3/4 wedge from 50-60 yards
• Short sand shot (15 yards), Medium sand shot (22 yards), Long sand shot (29 yards) 
• Shots onto the green from various lies (uphill, downhill, side slopes, etc.)

Does that sound reasonable? Or am I overcomplicating this? It works with practice because I start closest to the pin and work my way to the 3/4 wedges before moving onto the full swing which is where I spend most of my time. 

Interested in any thoughts ...

Also, both Ridyard and Harrington said to forget the clock when adjusting distance on pitches. Use speed instead. I've started doing this and it actually works better. Thoughts?

[DaveP043]

1 minute ago, Vespidae said:

Where does that leave me? I practice the following ...

• Fringe chip-putts (this is Runyan with the heel up)
• Short pitches from the rough onto the green (< 5 yards)
• A mid-trajectory pitch from about 20 yards (from fairway)
• Flop shot over a bunker 
• 1/2 wedge from 30-40 yards from fairway (and another from rough)
• 3/4 wedge from 50-60 yards
• Short sand shot (15 yards), Medium sand shot (22 yards), Long sand shot (29 yards) 
• Shots onto the green from various lies (uphill, downhill, side slopes, etc.)

Does that sound reasonable? Or am I overcomplicating this? It works with practice because I start closest to the pin and work my way to the 3/4 wedges before moving onto the full swing which is where I spend most of my time. 

You're overcomplicating this.  To me, there are two "basic" shots, a chip and a pitch.  You can find videos in the instruction section covering each of them. 

You're right to practice from various distances with various trajectories, but these aren't different shots, they're just variations.  

[TourSpoon]

I try to keep it simple. My practice routine is hitting chips from 15-20 feet with three different trajectories (low, medium, high) and then on to pitches from 10-15 yards using the same philosophy. Beyond that practice is pretty random with maybe a few flops from different lies and bunker shots (to a pin 10 yards away varying the carry distance using arm speed). If I hit the first 5-10 balls within 6 feet I usually move on to the next area. I practice knockdown wedges on the range as part of my warm-up. 

From the fairway, I don't use the clock method, I prefer to think percentages except in the bunker where I am specifically thinking arm speed for distance control. If I have a lot of time, I will chip/pitch always with my 54 and then hit a couple with my 50 and 58. The 58 I use sparingly but exclusively from the bunker. 

 

[gbogey]

1 hour ago, Vespidae said:

the hybrid is course-specific

That's an interesting comment. I think of it as being grass specific - works really well on Bermuda but always struggled with it when I lived in the NE and always played bent grass.

I found Sieckmann's book to be the one that helped me the most. That said, I basically practice one chip and one pitch to various distances. Nothing more complicated than that. I figure if I can come close to the right landing spot then the ball is going to be close enough unless I make a bad read. Adjusting for lies and stances comes with playing experience.

[DaveP043]

5 minutes ago, gbogey said:

That's an interesting comment. I think of it as being grass specific - works really well on Bermuda but always struggled with it when I lived in the NE and always played bent grass.

I found Sieckmann's book to be the one that helped me the most. That said, I basically practice one chip and one pitch to various distances. Nothing more complicated than that. I figure if I can come close to the right landing spot then the ball is going to be close enough unless I make a bad read. Adjusting for lies and stances comes with playing experience.

I agree with this approach.  Even the "flop" (I don't really like that term, but who really cares) is an extreme adaptation of a pitching swing.

[p1n9183]

1 hour ago, Vespidae said:

am I overcomplicating this?

Yes. And you are not going to save that much strokes. Reduce your practice to this areas that are the most common and important:

- Short pitches from the rough onto the green (< 5 yards)
- Flop shot over a bunker
- Short sand shot (15 yards)