Practising the shortgame

I was wandering how people practise their short game i.e. chipping and pitching, because i get bored when i just hit chip after chip and i get nothing out of it.

Any drills would be great.

What do you want out of it? Distance control on differant clubs?

Practicing without a purpose is a dangerous way of practicing ...

When I work with students on short game, I follow the following process:
a> putting
b> chipping around the green
c> pitching
d>longer pitches from the fairway
I teach them the correct techniques with a single club and after they have reached their goal, we start experimenting and learning with other clubs, longer 5-wood chips, etc. etc

If you want to make it interesting, practice to learn or refine a particular skill - that's important. Also, play games by taking a few golf balls and see how many you can get to within a given targetor not going home until you've holed out 3 or 5 or 50 chip shots ... give yourself a realistic target but you get the idea.

I use practice drill software software and it's great. You can get it on www.worldgolfranking.com.
Also, this is a great book for skills learning: Precision Wedge and Bunker Shots by Fitzgerald - get ut cheap from Amazon.com

Hope this helps make your practice more beneficial, it's a pity to waste all that effort practicing if you don't get the benefit.

__________________
Golf is easy ... once you know how.
Graham Arnott, teaching professional
Kelrosa Golf Studios
www.kelrosagolf.com
Class 'A' PGA Member
Full Member: World Golf Teachers Federation (GB&I)

Hi,

I assume you become a better player from it?

I would suggest that when you go to the range you practice a number of different skills. for example:

Warm up with 10 7 iron shots.
5 Drives
10 pitches to various distances
5 fairway wood or long iron shots
10 chips with varied irons
5 Drives
5 7/8 iron shots
5 fairway or long irons
5 chips

You can vary this as much as you like, some times you may wish to just concentrate on a particular part of your game, make sure you are working on becoming a better player rather than a range rover that turns up with only his driver!

At my club we cant hit more than a 4 or 5 iron because the range is so short. I think that is why i dont hit my fairway woods off the deck well as i cant practise them.

Mc,

You must always practice with purpose. It may seem boring but confidence is gained from it.

I like to spice things up.

For example, I'll put my stand bag between me and the hole. There may be some 15 metres in total distance. I'll use my s/w and chip ten balls over the bag trying to hole or get it close.

Another time, I'll go to an area on the golf course (practice area) and punch ten balls with my 3 wood underneath a tree limb to a target 80 - 90 metres away.

Hit balls through a fork in the tree.

Hook or slice around objects.

I also like to have putting or chipping comps for small amounts of money, bragging rights or beer with my friends. I once read this is good because all types of players and standards can compete together.

There are many ways to make practice fun - good imagination helps on the course. Set a task, once it is completed walk away. Always leave practice in a positive frame of mind.

Cheers

__________________
VP

Hi ya mcdougle mate,

Well I practice my chipping at home in the garden, with my umbrella turned upside down and chip in 10 balls one after another using my wedge from 30 to 50 yrds. This you can play yourself a game of how many balls can I get in out of the ten. Upto now my max is 4 which you might say is 40% but this is very tricky as most will fly out if hit hard. The aim of this is to get your chipping shots out or over trouble with a soft landing and this will help on fast greens.

Cheers
Mark