Thanks Rock! Hope it helps!

Thanks! I hope it helps! Let me know what you think once you get a chance to try it! What part of NorCal? I have some good friends in that area - God's Country! I'll be out in the San Fran/Napa area this summer - I can't wait, I love it out there!

Rob,

I cant thank you enough for your contribution to this forum. I'm definitely going to try this.

I'm also in Norcal, the East Bay and play a lot in Napa. I'm assuming you don't have to pay for most golf rounds, so all your beers are on me when you come to the area.

made it through the 25 3 foot putts...it was extremely hard bc of 30 mph winds today. I did miss on the 25th one, one of the times...was so frustrating.

wanted to be sure on the lag putts that the radius is 3ft...meaning can miss in any direction by 3 foot?

I am a 10 right now and I am determined to be at least a 6 by the end of the season.

You say to do program A for 2 weeks...how many times would you expect a mid-handicapper to complete this in 2 weeks? I feel that it would take me 2 weeks just to get through this once!

Thanks - I'm really enjoying the forum! I'm jealous of you being so close to Napa! My old assistant is heading to Silverado at the end of this month, and I have another good friend at Orinda CC in the Bay area.

I'll definitely take you up on the beer when I'm out west this summer!

Yes, that's the tough part - missing that last one!
Yes, any direction - I put my putter down & put tees at a few points circling the hole.

I like the goal of 6, it can be done!

How often is really up to the player - time they have to commit, and how much they want/need to improve. Let's say a player is going to practice 2 days/week for 2 hours each day. Maybe you spend 30 mins on the putting at the beginning of each session & 30 mins at the end of each session, do some wedge work/chipping for 30 mins & hit full shots for 30. If you did that for 2 weeks, then you could do the same for then next 2 weeks on the second program - the difference in the two programs is really more about the distances you're practicing. You might not complete the entire program in that time, but you would improve & you would have a good idea what areas needed more attention in your practice sessions.

When I developed the program, the player had very, very lofty goals -I told him he needed lot's of time to improve, and I certainly don't expect everyone to have 10+ hours/week to practice (if you do that's great, and I'm jealous!). The bigger point is not completing the routine, but using it as a guideline to help you work on the areas that are your weaknesses. It's like working out - if I only have 30 mins to workout 2 days/week, I probably won't be ripped in 3 months, but I can get in better shape! This was designed to get you "ripped" in as short a time as possible, but it will definitely take a time commitment.

So, it really comes down to how much time you have to commit to practice - I called this the "Ultimate" because it would take time, but it will cover everything. If you are very limited on time, let me know & I'll be happy to help you with a shorter routine that focus' on the areas that need the most improvement.

Don't sell yourself short - give it a try & see what areas are easiest & what are the most difficult. You might surprise yourself! Typically, the lag putts & wedges are the hardest for the average player, but if they improve on those two areas alone, their scores reduce pretty dramatically over a 3-6 month time frame.

Let me know how it works when you get a chance to try it! Good luck!

Crikey, looks like i'll be taking a flask of coffee to the range for the first time ever.

Will give this a go.

if this is legit i will give it a shot

omg the 3 footers took me 1 hour to make it 23
then i lag puttet: -20 yrds was "easy"
went back to the 3 footers to make the 25 - couldnt make it - all in all i spent 2,5 hours on the green
btw a little question: Can i use any club for the chipping practise (20-30 feet into 3 feet) ? I would pick hybrid or 7 iron, i think with sandwedge its kinda impossible to do theese mega short ones - or is this really recommended technique to use wedge here ?
EDIT: its 1/3 greenedge and 2/3 green.

I am far from a pro but had someone give me advice once that was very useful...others may hate it but it makes sense to me:

on a short chip...(using a 56 SW) lean the shaft forward then take your normal grip...feel like about 75% of your weight is on front foot...then feel like you are making a longish putting motion (ie dont take the club inside)...not sure if this is best way but it helped me out a ton...I was doing the exact opposite before....

oh yeah it should feel as if you are trying to hit the ball into the ground...

Hey DaGolfDoc,

Pretty cool routine you have there. I can definately see how this would quickly improve alot of people's game if they put the time in to do this. As far as making it more difficult, do you know specifically what the college teams you mentioned are using for reps and targets when they tried this drill. I am a +2 handicap but really want to try this out. I was thinking of using length of flagstick for pitches 30-50 yards, inside 10 feet for 70 yarders, inside 3 feet for any type of chips or lag putts and higher reps. Do you feel this would be a tour quality workout for some one like me? Or would they be doing something even harder than this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Love the posts, keep up the good work.

Justin

Ha ha! I like it! Let me know how you do with the routine!

It is legit. I've used it for several years. Try it & let me know what you think.

Oh no! Looks like we found a weakness! If you're struggling with the short putts (5 feet & less), it is because the clubface is not square to the target. Usually, it is opening or closing too much on such a short stroke. Assuming you have a solid grip/setup & that the face is aimed correctly, the putterface shouldn't move much on a short stroke. A good drill is too setup to a ball about 1-2 feet from the hole, and don't make a backswing - just push the ball forward towards the hole. You might find that the face wants to turn left or right, but try to keep it square on this drill. The shaft should also be leaning forward (grip end closer to the hole than the clubhead). Hit 15-20 of these to get the feeling for the face staying square through impact.

Let me know how it works!
I think it's a lot of personal preference. Whatever gets the ball on the green and rolling the fastest is probably best. Think minimum air time-maximum ground time. If you experiment with different clubs, you might find one that works best & easiest for you in each situation (hybrid for close, 9-iron for a little longer, SW for more fairway/less green) For my own personal game, I use 1 club for basically all shots around the green, but that's only because it simplified the decision making for me. That way of thinking (1 club for every shot) is not for everyone, so I try to let students discover which method is best for them.

Pretty good advice! I like to get students feeling almost 100% on the front heel (I'll often have students hit shots off the front foot only). I prefer a little wrist set on the backswing (hinge & hold), but it's not a necessity.

Thanks Justin! Sounds like your game is pretty solid! Here's a couple examples of some twists on the routine. Ga Tech uses this (we are their home course), and I know they do both weeks of the wedge routine on practice days (not days they play), so they hit all the yardages, not 20 yd increments. We have a pretty cool wedge range (& Ga Tech has another on campus) which is 10x10 foot target greens each spaced 10 yards apart from 30-110 yards - they hit 25 in a row on those. They also incorporate uneven lies into the equation on most shots. You're right on with the higher reps/smaller targets - 3 feet for bunkers, chips, etc. Many times they will set a goal of a certain amount of shots that they must hole out in the rotation. I remember Justin Leonard telling me how he would take 9 balls and start chipping them, each time he holed one out, he would take it out of rotation - he kept chipping until there were no balls left. So each day he did it, he would hole out 9 shots - it's a great way to free up your chipping because you're just trying to make everything. A great confidence booster too!

Another cool thing I do with Tour/college players (full-swing, mid iron) is place a reflective stick about 10-15 yds in front of them, in line with a green & have them hit 10 shots that start right of the pole and draw into the green so it lands/stays on the green, then 10 that fade onto the green, starting left of the pole. They do 3 sets of 10 with their dominant shot (fade or draw) and 1 set with the non-stock shot. Their goal is usually 8/10 stock shot, and 6/10 non-stock shot. It's great because it gets them away from mechanics and into shot making and seeing the ball flight. Hopefully that makes sense, if not, let me know & I'll throw a pic or video up for you.

I'll throw some other ideas up soon!

Thanks for the suggestions Rob! Sounds like a great bunch of drills. I really like that Justin Leonard drill of holing out 9 chips before he could leave. I have also heard a variation of that ball-striking drill about starting it left or right of a stick and having to curve it around the pole. I believe it was Zach Johnson who did something similar, he would just work on hitting draws though and always try to keep the ball right of his target, if it ended up left of target it would be bad. All in all, great suggestions. If you have any more bits of wisdom keep them coming. Your posts have been a great additional to the forum so far.

Justin

Went to the library and picked up the Watson book (which I hadn't read before) and the Mickelson (which I had). I had forgotten how much I liked the Mickelson book--thinking "hinge & hold" really helps me on my chips and short pitches, and it's something I had gotten away from lately. (I also checked out the Pelz short game book, which I had read once before; I don't really pay much attention to the technique stuff he talks about, but I really like his approach to strategy, course management, etc.) My local branch didn't have the Utley or Runyan books, but they were at other branches, so I'll try to pick them up at some point.

Went to the course today and started off with the putting drills. I don't consider myself an especially good putter, and 3-footers are by no means automatic for me, but the 25 in a row from 3 feet went pretty easily. I had a few makes and misses in the first couple of putts, then 7 makes before a miss, then made 25. Less than 10 minutes total. It helped that the green was pretty flat. Next time I do this I'm going to go to a green with a bit more slope and give myself some different breaks.

Then 20-foot lag putting was pretty easy. I started off with 19 in a row, then caught the ground as the putter came forward on the next stroke and ended up short. After a couple more tries I got a streak of 20. Maybe 10 minutes or a little more.

I struggled with the 30-foot lag putting, but I could definitely feel myself improving as it went along. I put together two good streaks but lost both on #19! After about 30 minutes I'd had enough and went out to the course to play.

I definitely felt better with my lag putts on the course. I have a tendency to be too cautious with long putts, sometimes leaving them way too short. That was much less of a problem after going through the practice routine. I didn't get everything within 3 feet, but just about every lag putt was within 5 feet or so. I even sank one from 20 feet, which is a fairly rare occurrence for me. Unfortunately, I missed a lot of putts from 3 feet and in, more than I usually do. I'm not sure if it was overconfidence or pressure or lack of focus, but it was frustrating after taking care of that task easily on the practice green.

Thanks again for your help. I'm looking forward to working my way through more of the routine, and I can already feel it starting to help my game.

Yes, Zach does this drill also. I'm pretty good friends w/his coach, Mike Bender, and we've talked about this drill. Jack Nicklaus used to talk about "never crossing the line" - he wasn't talking about at the top of his swing, but the line between the ball & the target - if he was fading the ball he wanted it to always stay left of the target line. He mentioned when he won the Masters in'86, he crossed it 3 times that week. Hogan discussed it as he wanted the ball always curving towards the hole - but never past it (directionally, not distance). So you are working the ball around a point, but keeping it on the same side of the target (a draw for a rh player would start right of the target, and, while moving left, it would remain right of the target).

Thanks Justin! I'm glad I'm helping!Let me know what else I can do to help you improve!

I really like Phil's "hinge & hold" technique - it's a great way to develop a solid chipping/pitching game! The Runyan book is difficult to find, but worth it - he was way ahead of his time! He could do things with the golf ball around the green that I still can't explain! When he beat Snead 8 & 7 in the PGA (match play at that time, 36 holes), Snead routinely out drove him by over 100 yards! There were 3 par 4's on the course that Paul couldn't reach in 2 shots, and he still won by the biggest margin of victory in a PGA Championship (when it was MP). He would take a range ball (the old one's with the big stripe around it) and set the ball on the ground so the stripe was horizontal, and have me stand 1/2 way between the ball & hole on a 15-20 yard shot (I was off to the side, not on the target line), and he would say "Robbie, count it" and I would count how many times the ball rotated in flight - usually 1-3 times. He hit a knuckleball with a wedge! Paul grew up on sand greens in Arkansas, and learned to use height instead of spin to stop the ball. I still don't know how he hit a soft shot with so little spin! I can tell you if he was playing today, the new grooves wouldn't make a difference with his game. The day I met him, I watched him hole 15 chips in a row (he then quit, he didn't miss) from 5 feet off the green to a hole 20 feet on the green. He was amazing! I could go on & on about him, but I'll refrain from boring everyone (unless someone asks for more).

Keep reading up & practicing - once you fall in love w/the short game, your scores will begin improving quickly!

Started this today, didn't get a long practice session in b/c it was freezing and the wind was blowing to the point of being frustrating.

The 25 putts from 3 feet wasnt that bad. Took a few attempts to get a "feel" for the putter, which actually helped me with the fact that it is super important to also putt a few before each golf round. Then completed the 20 lag putts from 20 feet. I did this my first attempt, but since lag putting is a strength of mine this wasnt surprising. I only made 2 of 20 though, is that a problem? I believe a reason for this was b/c I wasnt really trying to make them, but mainly concentrated on speed instead.

That was the extent of my practice today, a product of a late poker schedule last night, and the weather. No excuse though, will put in a solid session tomorrow.

Waiting for the practice ranges to open up here in Iowa . . . but I'm looking forward to rocking this drill. I think it will be great for me, for a couple reasons:
1) I suck at lag putting. I lead the world in 3-putt bogies. I had a 5 putt for triple last week in Florida.
2) I'm a completion-nut. I can't stop playing a game until I've 100%-ed it. I bet a lot of poker players are like that. This drill will definitely force me to stay at it until I've completed the task. I anticipate that my first trip through the drill will take at least a week. Can't wait to see how I do the second time through.

Glad you gave it a good run despite the weather today! Don't worry about only making a couple longer ones - the goal is get them ALL close - if a few fall, even better! I'm looking for real consistency, not flash-in-a-pan greatness! You've got the right mindset to really improve this season! Keep up the hard work, and let me know what else I can do to help you improve!