More engaging ways to practice

I enjoy challenging myself to get better in golf by inventing or adapting other folks games to fit my goal for the practice session. The past three days I dedicated to practicing my short game to include chipping the first two days and pitching and chipping the third. I spent a little over an hour on each session but no two sessions were alike.

The first day I worked on a putting drill for inside 10 feet of hole. Then I brought out my Cleveland Smart Sole 3C (aka CCW) for the first test session since my surgery several weeks ago. The scoring method test for chipping chart indicates that a person who scores around 90 should be able to chip from 10 yards 9 of 10 times. However, I misunderstood the chart and set up to chip 10 yards from a pin and with tees I set a 5 foot circle around a central tee. I hit five balls at a time – using the balls I play on the course. At first the rust was quite evident as I couldn’t get a ball to stop anywhere near the pin. I spent too much time thinking about technique and contact. But eventually, I got serious about focusing on the target pin and with that concentration I started hitting 4 out of 5 consistently into a five foot circle.

Day Two - combining tests for Up & Down skill building

I’m retired and self employed but my work involves lots of heavy lifting (lumber for woodworking projects) which I’m not allowed to do while recovering from collarbone repair surgery. So I have few excuses preventing me from heading out to Avery Ranch for practice. I went out yesterday to practice CCW chipping with the clarification that the Scoring Method purposeful practice chart indicates 10 yards from green hitting to 30 foot circle. However, I always change things up to fit where I think my skill level stands. Since I could hit into a 5 foot circle at 10 yards I decided to set my test up at 20 yards from a real hole and set up tees outlining a 15 foot circle around the hole. I also decided to putt out the results to test my Up and Down skills as well. As seen below I ran two tests at 20 yards but forgot to write down the 2nd set of 5 shots. I hit into the target 8 of 10 and putted out 8 of 10 the first go-around, then hit into the target 10 of 10 and putted out 8 of 10 the second go around.

After the 20 yard test I moved back to 25 yards and decided to test if I could be more effective with the my Volkey 56° Sand Wedge getting into the 15 foot circle. Unfortunately, I only hit 2 of 10 into the circle, leaving most short. So I switched back to the CCW and hit 7 of 10 into the target circle including sinking the last two shots!

Afterwards I played my 9 hole lag putting test. I chose random holes at random lengths greater than 30 feet from the hole and scored how I performed. I feel I’ve succeeded when I shoot 18-19 but I scored 21 on this test.

First serious 50 yard pitching test

Today I decided to head out to Avery Ranch with the sunrise and see if I could sneak onto the green at the ninth or eighteenth hole for the purpose of seeing how well I perform with my Sand Wedge at 50 yards from the pin. The following image is of the 18th hole where I ended up practicing this morning.

The tee was forward on the green with about 25 feet to the front edge – perfect setup for a 50 yard SW test! I paced off 50 yards, dropped my ball bag and clubs, and placed five balls to hit. The first five I didn’t count because it’s been seven weeks since I’ve pitched and all but one was short. But then I got serious and focused intensely on the pin and trusted my swing. As recorded in my little notebook shown below, I scored 9 of 10 inside a 25 foot circle. I did notice a pattern though in that in each trial the center of the resulting group of balls was about 8 feet right of the hole. On the third trial, I adjusted my aim a few feet left of the pin and the ball grouping then centered on the pin.

Before I broke my collarbone I found reviewing Game Golf that I had been hitting my SW to less than 20 foot from the pin for a couple of rounds as I had been practicing this a good bit. However, this was the first time that I deliberately checked to see if my perceived skills could pass the acid test. The Scoring Method recognizes a person who scores 90 should be able to hit 9 of 10 from 50 yards into a 30 foot circle. Not only did I beat that metric with my 25 foot circle, but the majority of my shots were inside 12 feet of the pin.

Testing - Sand Wedge vs. Cleveland Chipping Wedge at 25 yards

After I completed the 50 yard test, I moved forward 25 yards and like the previous day, tested if I could achieve better results with the SW or the CCW. First I hit 8 of 10 with the SW with all within 15 ft of the pin except the two misses (one fat short and one bladed long). Then I switched to the CCW. Because the pin was forward I knew I couldn’t land the 8-iron loft CCW on the green and expect it to stop at the forward pin. So I played a Bump and Run short of the green and let it bounce up the fairway/fringe and roll up to the pin. Even with one bad bounce I hit 10 of 10 inside 25 ft, though one I marked bad because I bladed it long. It sat at 24 feet from the pin but I didn’t find the bladed contact acceptable even though the result passed the criteria. I got a lot more of the CCW shots within 8 feet of the pin than the SW shots so I will probably choose to bump and run the CCW if the conditions permit, but I also learned I have nothing to fear using the SW if the conditions are gnarly in front of the green!

Does your short game practice really build the skills you need?

I like to observe people and watch as folks walk up to the putting green, drop three balls near a hole and putt those three balls from virtually the same spot. By the third ball they’ve got a really good read of the break. Then they move the three balls elsewhere and again, read that third putt really well! But you can’t  drop three balls in a tournament or a round with your friends! You wonder why you miss so many putts but it may be you’re not developing the skill to read putts if you keep putting three balls while practicing. Except when I’m grading a skill test like putting N of 10 inside 4 foot from 30 feet, I practice putting with only one ball. And when I’m putting my 9 hole “round” I use my ball marker and read the green and execute my pre-shot routine the same way I would in a tournament. That way I practice what I play which builds confidence in my skills.

The same thing can be said of observing folks in chipping practice. They bring out a bucket of balls and hit chip after chip from one or two spots to the same hole. Yep, there are a lot of balls around that hole! But on the course, you never know what you’ll find when you walk up to your ball. If you want to ensure the ability to succeed at the short game you should develop a more fun, realistic way to build short game  skills.

I build those skills by playing up and down games. The above described practice sessions were tests to determine my skill level according to the Scoring Method but most of my short game sessions consist of bringing my wedges and CCW and randomly dropping or tossing one ball all around the chipping/putting green and trying to get the Up & Down over 9 or 18 holes while keeping score. I’ll drop the ball on hills, in deep grass, behind stone walls forcing a SW flop shot to hit the green and I play the ball where it lies, divot or not. I’ll drop it short, long, and under trees forcing a low bump and run. And I choose the best club to fit the situation – sometimes putting from the fringe, sometimes CCW chips, or GW chips, or SW pitches, or SW flops. This variety builds skills and a mental library of shots that I can pull up when I see that shot on the course AND the imagination to deal with a new situation that arises, and unless you’re a pro, unique situations WILL arise. So you choose – have fun building real applicable skills or chunk endless balls to the same hole – I’ve chosen fun!