Short game practice should be a large percentage of your golf practice time. Let’s take a look at making it a little more fun, skill oriented and at the same time giving you a way to keep track of your progress.
How many times have you seen someone hitting drive after drive on the range?
I’ve done it myself.
While drives and approach shots are important, you need to practice with your scoring clubs.
I try to dedicate 70 percent of my practice time to short game and putting practice.
Think of it this way. If you never practice from all types of lies, what are you going to do when end up in a less than perfect location.
A few examples: Deep bunker, soft sand , hard sand, long grass, really tight lie, or downhill chip with the green running away from you.
9 hole practice setup
This involves placing 9 soccer cones or something like that at different places around a green.
I bought 20 of these multi-color agility cones online for $10 and they come in a mesh bag for easy carrying.
The goal is to get up and down from various lies.
Getting close enough to one putt is ideal.
Scoring is pretty simple. A par is up and down. That means up on the green and then one putt. A bogey is a two putt, etc.
Here are a couple examples with made up numbers just for reference.
Example 1: Let’s say you got up and down from all locations or had all pars. Even par for 9 holes is 36. That would be equivalent to 72 for 18 holes. Your normal score is 80. Your short game is an asset. It is 8 strokes better than your 18 hole scoring average.
(80 – 72 = plus 8) Your short game is pretty darn good.
Example 2: You make all two putts or bogeys. For 9 holes that is 9 over par. Double that for18 holes or 18 total strokes. If par is 72 add 18 for a total of 90. If your normal round is 80… Your short game needs some work.
(80 – 90 = negative 10) Your short game needs work.
Where to place the cones
Here is an example from my local course which is Spring Creek Golf Center in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Obviously, I would not set up cones on this hole. It’s just a good example for practice locations.
It’s hole number 3 which has locations uphill, downhill, sidehill, several sand traps, short grass and long grass.
Miss the green and it’s a real challenge.
Short Game Challenge Score Card
Here is a score sheet you can print off and copy for this short game challenge.
Keeping track of your progress is a great idea.