A blog dedicated to lessons related to the game of golf and those lesson's applications to our everyday lives. Steven Miller, M.A. is the author of this blog. Steve is the Head Golf Instructor at Present Moment Golf. Steve offers The Golf Retreat, a week long immersion into process-oriented golf instruction and mindfulness training. Check out the Present Moment website at www.presentmomentgolf.com
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Friday, July 5, 2013
Short Game Practice
Golf courses charge their customers for green fees, range balls, carts, etc. However, the use of the practice putting green/chipping green is almost always free of charge to use. I would argue that if more people practiced their short games, golf courses would think about charging to use that portion of their facility. Sadly, most players are much more interested in slamming drivers out on the range than practicing this vital part of the game....the short game.
One glaring difference between professional golfers and amateurs shows up in practicing the short game. The average pro practices putting, chipping, pitching and sand shots around the green around 70% of their overall practice time. I would estimate that the average amateur devotes somewhere in the range of 10-20% of their practice time to the touch shots around the green.
Haystack Mountain Golf Course in Niwot, Colorado (my teaching location for the summer) features the most beautiful and secluded short game practice area. I call it my "zen temple". It is tucked back at the back of the property, surrounded by trees, and features the sound of a creek warbling by. It is hidden and the area is generally not known to most of the visitors to Haystack.
It is in this short game practice area where I spend a good portion of my summer months. In addition to being my favorite spot on the property (followed close behind by the bridge between #4 and #5 with a stunning view of Haystack Mountain), it is also the place where I practice what I preach about the importance of practicing the short game.
I believe there are a couple of main reasons that people avoid practicing their short games. The first is that most people derive much more enjoyment out of smashing a golf ball as far as they can than they do watching a putt roll into the hole. The second is that most folks get bored fairly quickly with putting and chipping, without much of a goal or competition to their practice. In this article, I hope to offer some games/competition that will make practicing your short game more interesting and will keep you out there more often and for longer periods of time.
UP AND DOWN PERCENTAGE GAME
One game I really enjoy playing in the short game area is the "Up and Down Percentage Game". This is a simple game that simulates playing and measures progress on this important skill in the game of golf.
Take 10 balls (very easy to figure out a percentage with 10) to a location and chose a hole to play 10 shots to. Use the same club and general type of swing (chip, pitch, flop etc.) Hit all 10 shots and then putt into the hole.
Create a pile for those that you get up and down and a pile that you do not. If you chip one in, you can decide if you give yourself a bonus up and down. When I play this game, I remove a miss from my miss pile and add it to the make pile if I chip one of them in.
After you do this for a while you will begin to get a general sense of what part of your short game needs work. For example, if you put 8 out of 10 shots in a 5 foot circle around the hole and only convert 4 up and downs, your putting needs some work. Over time you can get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses in your short game. You can spend more time and perhaps get some instruction to help you improve these weaknesses and to make choices on the golf course that are higher percentage plays for you.
3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THE HOLE
Place 10 balls in a three foot circle around the hole. Ideally, you want to have a slope to deal with around the hole to force you to play, uphill, downhill, right to left and left to right putts. Track your percentage of makes.
The 3 foot putt is an important length in the game of golf. At the professional level, this length putt is made over 90% of the time, with players who are playing well making 100% of these putts over an extended period of time.
The idea of putting is to give a longer putt a chance to go in with good speed control, which also leaves you a putt inside this 3 foot circle for a second putt. When you get confident at making a 3 footer, you can relax and swing the club better on the longer attempts.
3,5,7,9 PUTTING DRILL
Put a tee in the ground or some other kind of marker at 3, 5, 7, and 9 feet. Start with the 3 footer. When you make it from 3 feet, you advance back to 5 feet. If you make it from 5, go back to 7 and all the way to 9 feet. The trick here is that when you miss from any distance you go back to the 3 footer. The drill is completed when you make a 9 footer.
The great thing about this drill is that it builds confidence on the shorter putts and it gets you in the mindset and manufactured pressure of making a 9 footer to end the drill.
I love this drill because the longer you do it, the more you are creating the atmosphere of pressure that you experience when you play. After you have done this drill for 20 minutes or so and you find yourself with a 9 footer to accomplish your goal, you may find yourself a little more excited about the result than if you were just putting a 9 footer on the practice green without this manufactured pressure.
SHORT GAME CHALLENGE
Bring a friend out to the short game practice area and put a small wager on a 9 hole match. Usually a beverage to the winner is a nice, friendly bet to get the competitive juices flowing without making it too serious of a matter.
Match play is a fun format. The lowest score on the hole wins the hole. For example, even if one person makes a 2 and the other makes a 7, the winner only goes up 1 hole instead of 5 strokes.
You can take turns picking the starting location and hole you are going to or you can have the winner of the previous hole make the choice of the next hole and flip a coin to see who chooses the shot on the first hole.
These short game challenges can become a lot of fun and they simulate golf course conditions on a short game level.
I hope some of these games will inspire you to get out on that putting/chipping green and spend some time working on the most important part of the game of golf.
One glaring difference between professional golfers and amateurs shows up in practicing the short game. The average pro practices putting, chipping, pitching and sand shots around the green around 70% of their overall practice time. I would estimate that the average amateur devotes somewhere in the range of 10-20% of their practice time to the touch shots around the green.
Haystack Mountain Golf Course in Niwot, Colorado (my teaching location for the summer) features the most beautiful and secluded short game practice area. I call it my "zen temple". It is tucked back at the back of the property, surrounded by trees, and features the sound of a creek warbling by. It is hidden and the area is generally not known to most of the visitors to Haystack.
It is in this short game practice area where I spend a good portion of my summer months. In addition to being my favorite spot on the property (followed close behind by the bridge between #4 and #5 with a stunning view of Haystack Mountain), it is also the place where I practice what I preach about the importance of practicing the short game.
I believe there are a couple of main reasons that people avoid practicing their short games. The first is that most people derive much more enjoyment out of smashing a golf ball as far as they can than they do watching a putt roll into the hole. The second is that most folks get bored fairly quickly with putting and chipping, without much of a goal or competition to their practice. In this article, I hope to offer some games/competition that will make practicing your short game more interesting and will keep you out there more often and for longer periods of time.
UP AND DOWN PERCENTAGE GAME
One game I really enjoy playing in the short game area is the "Up and Down Percentage Game". This is a simple game that simulates playing and measures progress on this important skill in the game of golf.
Take 10 balls (very easy to figure out a percentage with 10) to a location and chose a hole to play 10 shots to. Use the same club and general type of swing (chip, pitch, flop etc.) Hit all 10 shots and then putt into the hole.
Create a pile for those that you get up and down and a pile that you do not. If you chip one in, you can decide if you give yourself a bonus up and down. When I play this game, I remove a miss from my miss pile and add it to the make pile if I chip one of them in.
After you do this for a while you will begin to get a general sense of what part of your short game needs work. For example, if you put 8 out of 10 shots in a 5 foot circle around the hole and only convert 4 up and downs, your putting needs some work. Over time you can get a sense of your strengths and weaknesses in your short game. You can spend more time and perhaps get some instruction to help you improve these weaknesses and to make choices on the golf course that are higher percentage plays for you.
3 FOOT CIRCLE AROUND THE HOLE
Place 10 balls in a three foot circle around the hole. Ideally, you want to have a slope to deal with around the hole to force you to play, uphill, downhill, right to left and left to right putts. Track your percentage of makes.
The 3 foot putt is an important length in the game of golf. At the professional level, this length putt is made over 90% of the time, with players who are playing well making 100% of these putts over an extended period of time.
The idea of putting is to give a longer putt a chance to go in with good speed control, which also leaves you a putt inside this 3 foot circle for a second putt. When you get confident at making a 3 footer, you can relax and swing the club better on the longer attempts.
3,5,7,9 PUTTING DRILL
Put a tee in the ground or some other kind of marker at 3, 5, 7, and 9 feet. Start with the 3 footer. When you make it from 3 feet, you advance back to 5 feet. If you make it from 5, go back to 7 and all the way to 9 feet. The trick here is that when you miss from any distance you go back to the 3 footer. The drill is completed when you make a 9 footer.
The great thing about this drill is that it builds confidence on the shorter putts and it gets you in the mindset and manufactured pressure of making a 9 footer to end the drill.
I love this drill because the longer you do it, the more you are creating the atmosphere of pressure that you experience when you play. After you have done this drill for 20 minutes or so and you find yourself with a 9 footer to accomplish your goal, you may find yourself a little more excited about the result than if you were just putting a 9 footer on the practice green without this manufactured pressure.
SHORT GAME CHALLENGE
Bring a friend out to the short game practice area and put a small wager on a 9 hole match. Usually a beverage to the winner is a nice, friendly bet to get the competitive juices flowing without making it too serious of a matter.
Match play is a fun format. The lowest score on the hole wins the hole. For example, even if one person makes a 2 and the other makes a 7, the winner only goes up 1 hole instead of 5 strokes.
You can take turns picking the starting location and hole you are going to or you can have the winner of the previous hole make the choice of the next hole and flip a coin to see who chooses the shot on the first hole.
These short game challenges can become a lot of fun and they simulate golf course conditions on a short game level.
I hope some of these games will inspire you to get out on that putting/chipping green and spend some time working on the most important part of the game of golf.
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