Golf's Short Game and your golf short game practice

Dedicate 30 percent of your practice time to your golf short game practice sand short game shots around the green.  Focusing on specifics shots, while using various clubs to improve your versatility.  Shots around the green include these 3 Skills:

• Chipping
• Pitching
• Bunker Shots

Learn a wide variety of Short Game shots.  They are very useful around the course.  Each shot has many different trajectories and shot shapes.  You want to practice and create your "stock" shots and speciality shots.

Here is a great video for how to create different trajectories.

Golf is about making the right choice. To help you make that choice you need to learn about the different conditions you will face with your short game shots:

1. assess the lie of your ball (perfect, buried, thin, soggy, grass behind)
2. the slope of the lie (uphill, downhill, sidehill)
3. grain of the lie (into or down)
4. condition and slope of green (speed, uphill, downhill, side break)

How to read the green and what to look for, is outlined in the video below.

Develop the best feel for distance for different short game shots.  By using a consistent set up, with varying lengths of swing and clubs, you can learn to control how high and far the ball will travel.

• Learn how far each club carries the ball in the air
• Learn how much the ball will roll out with each club

The link below is a great distance control drill for all clubs.

Select the club that provides you the best opportunity to execute your shot choice including:

• Loft and roll for the shot
• Bounce of club for the lie
• Trajectory needed

Here is a great video of 2 different short game shots from the same place, with two different clubs creating two different shots to the same target.

Golf improvement is about repeatability. Maintain Good Fundamentals with:

1. grip 
2. stance
3. posture
4. ball position
5. balance

This video breaks down the elements of the set up and how to practice it.

Understanding the green's slopes and condition is the key during your golf short game practice.  Read the roll out of the ball from the landing spot to the hole like a putt.  This will help you decide on the right spot and roll out required.  

Here is a great drill to get better at landing it on your target.

Golf is best played when we focus on the TARGET!  Don't focus on your mechanics, your score or anything else.  Be an athlete.

• Keep your composure in all situations
• Trust the practice you have put in
• Visualize the shot you are trying to execute
• Focus on your TARGET

Here is a great discussion with an athlete breaking down their pre shot  routine. The elements include focusing on target, landing area and feel.

In your golf short game practice vary the drills and the way you practice.  The more you change up your practices, the better you will get with your different short game shots.

• Stay open to new techniques and innovations in the short game
• Seek out instruction and world's best practices
• watch the pros
• experiment to refine your skills

Here is a 3 step practice routine to create technique and refine your skills.