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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2004
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    Short Game Practice Routines?

    I am really trying to work on my short game this year, it is the one thing that holds me back from getting to where I want to be. Does anybody have any good short game practice routines, drills or tips? The facility I use is pretty nice, has bunkers, a big green, some room 40-50 yards shots, about everything you would need. Right now I usually spend about 20-30 minutes putting and another 20-30 chipping and pitching, anywhere from 2 to 5 times a week. I am showing some improvement from the practice, just wondering if there is a better way to effectively use my time or if there are any great drills out there than will spice things up a bit.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    Tierra Del Sol
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    I go to my facitility (range, practice green, and short game area) and hit about 50 full shots over the course of 30 minutes.

    Then I take 4 balls and go hit bunker shots, chips, and pitches for 30 straight minutes.

    Then I get a soda and take the same 4 balls and putt for 30 minutes.

    I do this three evenings a week.

    The down side is my practice area has flawless greens and sand. You develop a touch with the short game and then have to adjust it to course conditions out in the real world.

    I like to practice until I can get everything within a couple of feet of the hole.
    Then go out to a real course with lesser greens and leave the same shots 15 feet short all day long.

    Sometimes the whole concept of practice is completely flawed.
    Mostly I just practice because I enjoy it.

    I also hit wedges up to 65 yards in my rear garden. That is just for fun too. I don't find too many 65 yard wedge shots on real courses.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
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    Harbour Town
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    Quote Originally Posted by Roscoe
    **** yeah.

    After going to the ghetto muni I went to the LAME ASS OVERPRICED VSGA headquarters home course/practice facility and putted on their ultra greens. First handful of putts raced 10 feet past the hole.

    Nothing like fine tuning your putting stroke on glass and then taking it out to the shag carpet greens of the world.

    Practice is way flawed. The only way to make it right would be to give yourself a shitty lie, hit a shot, wander around with your bag for 3 minutes, give yourself a shitty lie, then hit it again.

    When you practice bunker shots, stand outside of the bunker.

    When you chip, make sure it is from the top of a hill down to a shortsided pin.

    I watch so many people at that place dump a whole bag of balls in one spot in the chipping area and then hit that identical shot for 30 minutes. They make get that exact shot for real once in their life if they are extremely lucky.
    How much does a round at Independence cost now?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2003
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    The concept behind the course was inspired by Golf Magazine listing Richmond as the worst place in America to be a golfer. So they promised a state of the art facility designed to be walker friendly and afordable for all golfers. This is how they got it all past zoning and even got some county funding. It was a great concept.

    When it was finished they decided to bag all that and make it the most expensive public course in the area.

    Then they hired all these little club pro wannabees to treat everyone who goes there like ****.

    Walker friendly? I guess a few of the tees are within 300 yards of the previous green.

    I went there on a cold and windy sunday a year ago to hit some balls.
    I had a pair of jeans on.
    They told me I can;t go out to the range in jeans.
    I told them I was the only one on the property and if they wanted I would hump it 600 yards to the back end of the range and work there. They said no. No 8 dollars for 30 balls with the jeans on. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. me and my jeans and the willingness to pay 8 bucks for a handful of crappy balls.

    Little counter clown threw some dirty rain pants that would have fit Daly at me and told me I could wear them and go hit balls.

    yeah. It's the only public Fazio course in the state. It is just not worth going there so they can treat you like **** and empty your wallet.

    My range downtown is in the middle of the housing projects. Gunshots are heard within 2 blocks every time I am there. They treat you good. They charge a reasonable rate.

    I will gladly take my chances with the gun play.
    Screw Independence.

  5. #5
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    Jan 2004
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    Don't blame you

    Roscoe/Monteagle:

    Don't blame you for your frustrations...

    I live in Birmingham, but am member at private club. Decent layout (not great) but super condition with great bent grass greens. Hot as hell here in Summer, but Fall and Spring fantastic. Winter tolerable about half the time.

    The Robert Trent Jones courses are really good - not only as golf courses but in their management. It is not uncommon for them to charge comparable price to your course in Richmond (to non-Alabama residents) but they provide nice discounts to golfers with a state drivers license.

    Pay an annual fee of $39 and play any RTJ course in the state at any time for only $39 with cart. Additional discounts for play after 2:00.

    The only other issue here to make it "apple to apple" is Walking. Almost all of these courses are so hilly (if not downright mountainous) that walking is not a consideration. So you're in a golf cart, like it or not. As they say in the wine business, "No additional discounts". $39.

    I have a friend who lives outside Montgomery with a son on the high school golf team. The RTJ complex there has 3 - 18 hole championship courses, including a Scottish links course and one that has hosted the Nike Tour several times. 54 really good golf holes and a nice clubhouse and practice facility. The RTJ Trail is well managed and continues to build new courses at existing facilities. My friend pays $185 per month for unlimited golf at the RTJ facility in Montgomery. $12 for a cart each time they play. Fantastic. Son is 17 and scratch.

    They are building yet a 3rd 18 hole course here in Birmingham that is "supposedly" Tour quality and is constructed to permit large galleries and big crowds. While I'll believe it when I see it (about being a TOUR quality layout) if their past performance is any indicator, it is likely to be a good to very good course. At the same prices.

    My club charges $25,000 to join and $330 per month - just to say Hello. $14 for a cart each time. Average club bill: $650.

    Am considering dropping it and playing public golf.

    Come try the Trail sometime. And actually there are better public access courses in the state (according to Golf Digest Places to Play) than the Trail.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2004
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    K Club, Straffan, Co. Kildare
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    Hey Guys,

    I just have a few observations on practice routines and the lessons to be learned.

    1. The driving range with practice range golf balls like bars of soap. I never put any store into distances, feel or of flight of the ball on these ranges, other than topping or wild hooks/slices, they are designed purely to give you a swing rhythm.

    2. The Club range with your motley assortment of used golf balls collected over the years. Again the condition of the balls together with the different flight characteristics of the golf balls don't tend to give a true reflection as to how your match ball will play.

    3. Putting Greens. I always practice with the balls (3 or4) that I'll use on the course. I start off 3 feet away and putt them as firm as they can go into the hole, this is to ensure that I dont decellerate on the putts. I tend to move a foot back at a time and repeat the same excercise.

    4. Long putts. You can't expect to hole too many of these, but with a feel to the putts you can ensure the dreaded 3 putt stays off the card. What I do is take my line, then I putt looking at the hole not the ball, watch where the ball finishes then re-adjust, coz it's yer eyes that send the signal of feel to your hands. This is the 1 routine which has paid dividends to me, from the self confessed worse putter there was, I average 28-30 putts now. Btw it's a practice routine only, llok at the ball when yer playing ... as if I hadta tell you guys

    Cheers Dave

  7. #7
    Join Date
    May 2004
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    St. Andrews
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    Regarding short game practice - Dave Pelz had an awesome article in Golf Magazine a year or two ago. Basically, it gives you a test you can use to test various aspects of your short game (short putts, long putts, chipping, pitching, sand, lob shots, etc). You give yourself the test, and monitor your score over time. It gives you points, and shows you the average score for people of various handicap levels. It's an excellent way to highlight areas of your game that are holding you back, and to monitor your progress over time.

    Unfortunately, I don't have the test around. Maybe someone else here does?

    - Dave

  8. #8
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    May 2004
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    St. Andrews
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    I found it!!

    Ok, I found a link. This really is an excellent (and fun) way to evaluate your short game, and monitor your progress over time.

    Go to: http://sgf2.golf.se/pdf/idrott/exam2_01.pdf, and go to page 20 (appendix 4). That's the test I'm talking about. This document has some other good Pelzisms in it too.

    - Dave

  9. #9
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    May 2004
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    Breckenridge, CO
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    the beauty of the short game is that you can practice this right at home in your backyard if you've got one. mine isn't all the large (not even 1/8 acre i'm sure ... don't quote me on that tho) i do it all the time and i'm primarily looking to make good contact. Mark off or designate an area where you want the ball to drop and have at it. theoretically, you can practice your pitching in addition to chipping b/c you shouldn't be doing anything different in a 1/4 or half swing that you would with a full swing.

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