Wedge practice. Am I on the right track for improvement?

[Bullitt5339]

Well, I've decided to take the advice of lower handicap players and practice my short game in order to bring my handicap down. I average 1 to 2 GIRs per round and 34 putts per round, so I figure that since I'm not hitting greens very well, there's a lot of improvement in my pitching and chipping to be seen, which would yield instantly lower scores.

So I sat down and came up with a wedge practice routine today, and put it in effect tonight. I'm pitching 100 balls per night in the yard. I have a target out in the yard, and I cut the grass very short by the target, and I cut the grass in my teeing area about as long as the fairways at my club.

I started out tonight by figuring out the distances for 1/4 and 1/2 swings on my 58* wedge. I ended up with 30 yard carry with the 1/4 and 50 yard carry on the 1/2. So I measured 30-60 yards and marked them out in the yard. I hit 20 balls from 50, 20 from 30, 20 from 50, 20 from 30 and then to finish the night off, I hit 10 balls from each location and measured them from the target.

I ended up with an average of 8 ft from the target on the 30 yard target and average of 12 ft from 50 yards, but had quite a few that were withing 2ft, just a few stray shots that took off the averages. I plan on doing this every night for about an hour.

Do you think this type of practice will show almost immediate improvement in my scores on the course? I plan on expanding in the next week or so to hitting 60 and 70 yard shots, but that's about all I can do here at the house, I'm out of yard......

[chef35ca]

That is the quickest way i found to improving my own game. The more confident i am in my short game shots, chipping, pitching, half & full wedges, the better every club seems to fly.

It's pretty cool that you have a set routine like that. Nice work. I'm curious to hear about how quickly this will begin to pay dividends for your scores.

[senorchipotle]

in the next few weeks you'll really start to understand the hand/club relationship. little things you can do with your grip/ball position/body alignment etc. that are essential to understanding the short game, and in turn the full swing. this is called feel. you don't get it by hitting drivers and irons out on the range. you get it from within 50 yards with a 56* and/or a 60*, experimenting with flops, low spinners that skip and halt, etc. have fun, and experiment.

[brgolf]

A very good way to practice. I've been doing a similar thing and my 1/4 PW is probably 35y. Like senorchipolte has said you really do get a notion that shots are the consequence of your actions. From the obvious outcome that if I attack the ball with extra venon and the hands further forward that it will fly lower and roll further, to the fact that if I don't accelerate the club then I'll be duly punished if the club gets caught in the grass and then there are the various results that if the ball goes high, right and lands soft vs low and left- then you know that the club face was not square at impact.

[Stu.C]

I recently bought a Mizuno MP T-10, 56-10 and love it. What I am having difficulty deciding is when to change from my "Stan Utley" type sweeping pitch swing, which results in a lovely soft landing, to a more aggressive 'weight forward, take a divot' and maybe get the backspin thing working' type pitch?
Do I really need to work on both? or settle for the floppy landing and work on the consistency of one type of swing. My iron play is more 'S&T; and take the divot' so working on both is possible I guess. I am finding though that, with the Mizuno, if I get too aggressive with it I might be in danger of falling into the hole that I manage to dig.

My technique needs some work you think?

[ks8829]

Its great, but you also need to practice chipping and pitching onto actual greens so that you know the bounce and roll out of each distances shots also, also near the end of practice you need to hits shots and actually make the putt in playing situations.

Do not forget putting which is almost half your scores if you putt 34 stokes per round. if you get up and down you can lower your putts per round as well. Finally track you up and down per round and keep track each time you play. The greatest feeling is experiencing all your hard work with lower scores.

[CarlSpackler]

Sounds like a great plan. I think you will be amazed at how much more confident you will be on the course when you know that you can put the ball within a reasonable range. You might also practice from buried lies too. I would also note if you are missing left or right and work on hitting it straight at the target. You can get some sawhorses or other obstacles to practice pitching over or under. Most importantly, have fun and challenge yourself!

Next you can dig out a bowl shaped bunker and fill it with sand to practice out of. =)

[senorchipotle]

I recently bought a Mizuno MP T-10, 56-10 and love it. What I am having difficulty deciding is when to change from my "Stan Utley" type sweeping pitch swing, which results in a lovely soft landing, to a more aggressive 'weight forward, take a divot' and maybe get the backspin thing working' type pitch?

you must not have much wind in singapore. cause here in texas, if you try to land a high lob from 30 yds out in a 20 mph wind, you might get hit in the face with a golf ball(exaggeration, but the point is valid).

[CarlSpackler]

you must not have much wind in singapore. cause here in texas, if you try to land a high lob from 30 yds out in a 20 mph wind, you might get hit in the face with a golf ball(exaggeration, but the point is valid).

You got that right. If I hit a flop in Texas, I aim away from the target. =)

[Stu.C]

you must not have much wind in singapore. cause here in texas, if you try to land a high lob from 30 yds out in a 20 mph wind, you might get hit in the face with a golf ball(exaggeration, but the point is valid).

No, not much wind here which probably lets me get away with the easy options. I'm originally from Scotland where you need every shot in the bag.

[senorchipotle]

No, not much wind here which probably lets me get away with the easy options. I'm originally from Scotland where you need every shot in the bag.

i've always wanted to play there. i think i'd fair ok what with growing up playing windy conditions. scotland, not singapore.

[CalBoomer]

You are on the right track. Every serious golfer does something similar. I have a set club and swing for 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100.

[Stu.C]

i've always wanted to play there. i think i'd fair ok what with growing up playing windy conditions. scotland, not singapore.

I played my best ever round playing in a gale with the rain bucketing down, makes you really concentrate on every aspect of every shot.

When I was young we used to get red golf balls so you could see your ball when there was snow on the ground and we would carry wooden poles to fight off wolves and marauding vikings.

[boogielicious]

Bullitt,

That is a very good routine to dial in distance. I've done something similar but don't have as big a yard. there's a couple of courses around that have decent practice areas, so I go there when I can.

You need to add how different lies affect the ball flight as well. My hardest shot is the tight lie 30 to 50 yard pitch (makes me nervous). I find a piece of dry, nasty turf or dirt patch near a practice green and work on that. Sometimes there's a divot around to work out of too. The lie can change things dramatically, so you need to know how to approach the shot via the lie.

[Bullitt5339]

I'm planning on adding some variants in there eventually, but to be honest, my short game has been so bad lately, I'm just trying to get somewhere decent. I did go play 9 holes before work this morning, and what I found was horrifying to say the least. I have been keeping track of my stats religiously lately, so here's this mornings:

Fairways Hit - 6 out of 7
GIR's- 4 out of 9

Now, based on those, you would have thought I shot a very good round, but there's more:

Up and Downs - 1 out of 5 attempts.
Putts - 20.... That's so bad, I almost didn't want to post it.

What I noticed was that if I didn't hit the GIR, I could pitch up close, but my putting was so horrible, I 2 putted all exept for one hole.
When I did hit GIR, my putting was so horrible that I three putted 3 of them for bogies. Not a good feeling at all.

So, I ended up with a 45 for 9 holes, dispite the fact that my driver and iron play was actually decent this morning. I really need to learn how to putt, I guess. It's more speed than direction with me though. The greens are so fast right now that I end up putting the ball 4 or 5 ft past the cup. I just have no feel for the speed of the greens anymore, I guess. Oh well, something else to work on.

[sean_miller]

You are on the right track. Every serious golfer does something similar. I have a set club and swing for 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100.

I practice hitting different distances and trajectories with my wedges a lot at the range. On the course I don't have to think about what type of swing to put on the ball - I just do it.

[purduegolfer]

I'm planning on adding some variants in there eventually, but to be honest, my short game has been so bad lately, I'm just trying to get somewhere decent. I did go play 9 holes before work this morning, and what I found was horrifying to say the least. I have been keeping track of my stats religiously lately, so here's this mornings:

Wow, hitting 6 of 7 fairways and coming away with a 45 would be dissappointing, but also promising because you did have a positive long game. Something that helps my buddy friend putt well is to just try to get it close (inside 2 ft). Pretend the hole is a 2 ft wide circle and just try and put it inside that each time, you will be amazed at how many 3 putts you eliminate and how many 1 putts actually will roll in.

[Bullitt5339]

I was a bit disappointed when I added up the score at the end, because I really was playing well. But as soon as I saw the # of putts, I knew why. So I had a great day with my driver and irons, but my putting killed the score. So I feel pretty confident that tomorrow afternoon's round should be better, I typically putt decently, yesterday I just couldn't get the distance right. I guess it would be too much to ask for everything to work on the same day.