Instruction – Putting Your Short Game to the Test

What better way to round out the year than doing a self-assessment to see where you need to improve in 2024 to reach your goals. Below are some putting and chipping assessments as well as drills to help you improve and lower your scores in 2024. To shoot lower scores, players need to be able to master the following skills: short putt, lag putt, and chipping distance control. If you can master these three simple things, your scores are sure to lower.

Drill 1: Place five tees around the hole four feet away from the hole. Go around the pentagon twice putting 10 total balls. Keep track of how many putts you made. If you want to break at least 90, you should make nine out of 10 four-foot putts. If you do not make enough four-foot putts, I recommend putting down a yard stick three feet from the hole, learning to keep the club face square at impact to assure you make more putts. Another key to making more short putts is using the line on your golf ball to line the ball up at the hole and aim the line on your putter to the line on the golf ball.

Drill 2: For this lag putting assessment and drill, place five tees 20 to 40 feet from the hole and place six tees around the hole four feet away from the hole, making a target zone to putt the ball into. Go through your five stations twice, putting a total of 10 golf balls and keep track of how many balls ended up inside your four-foot hexagon. If you want to break 90 or better, you should have eight out of 10 golf balls finish inside the four-foot zone.

Drill 3: This drill is one of my favorites for speed control with putting. Place a tee or alignment stick 15 feet away from you and then lay another alignment stick or tee down three feet from the previous one. Perform the drill two more times, making a ladder. From here, place nine golf balls at your starting zone and putt one ball at a time to each zone, trying to get the ball to finish inside your zone. Your goal is to putt one ball into zone 1, then zone 2, then zone 3 without missing, and then come back and putt a ball into zone 3, then 2, then 1. This will help your distance control tremendously.

Drill 4: Here is a chipping assessment test. Place five tees 15 yards away from the hole and place five tees around the hole four feet away from the hole, making a target zone to chip the ball into. Go through your five stations twice, chipping a total of 10 golf balls, and keep track of how many balls end up inside your four-foot pentagon. If you want to break 90 or better, you should have seven out of 10 golf balls finish inside the four-foot zone.

Drill 5: Here is a chipping drill that helps with distance control. Place a tee or alignment stick 15 yards away from you and then lay another alignment stick or tee down three feet from the previous one and perform the drill two more times, making a ladder. From here place nine golf balls at your starting zone and chip one ball at a time to each zone, trying to get the ball to finish inside your zone. Your goal is to chip one ball into zone 1, then zone 2, then zone 3 without missing, and then come back and chip a ball into zone 3, then 2, then 1. After you complete this, you can work on landing areas by practicing flying the ball into each zone. This will help your distance control tremendously. 

If you would like to know other ways to lower your scores, reach out to me at kpikegolf@gmail.com