Just get really good at putts within 6 feet so you don't need to worry about lag putting. If your lags can't get within that something is wrong with you. I lag putt on the practice green maybe once a year.

LOL'd, if only because I've been able to not get it inside 6 feet when starting from inside 6 feet.

Also, it probably goes without saying that lag putting practice is more useful for people who play courses with large greens.

Gosh, I wish it was that easy. Unfortunately, for most, it isn't. If you can't lag putt, you might roll it over a hump and down a slope and leave yourself 20 feet instead of 6. Also, I firmly believe (and science proves it) that you can never become a good green reader if you cant judge speed and apply it properly. I think lag putting is on of the most important aspects for a player looking to lower their handicap. Since the average distance from the hole for a 10-15 handicap who hits a green in regulation is around 40 feet, I would highly recommend they learn how to roll those putts to a close distance, especially since statistics prove that they only hit 7 greens per round. if a player is a good lag putter it takes a lot of pressure off their approach shot since they don't feel the need to hit it close. Plus, I don't want to have to make 6 footers for par all day, especially in tournament conditions! However, of you're really good at 6 footers, you can be a little more aggressive on a few birdie putts.

Did the twenty 20ft putts within 3 feet today after not practicing for about a month...weeeeee. Live poker(fu.doj) and new ankle biter puttin' a slight dent in my golf practice time.

I think working on really tough 25 foot putts is more beneficial than lag putting. It gets you thinking more about the green+distance than just distance. Then when you actually get to 40+ feet you'll be thinking about all the humps and **** you have to putt over since you're more used to thinking while on the green. People that are bad lag putters just don't put in enough time reading their putts. Either that or they just have no idea how hard to hit putts in general, which probably means they shouldn't be playing too much yet.

tzwien you are a very good player though, I think you don't realize or remember what its like to be a 15+ handicap

Nice work!! I'd wondered where you'd been hiding!

But I see most high handicappers that are actually pretty good at putting. I guess my club has a lot of older players though that just can't hit the ball so they work on their short game a lot. I suppose there could be an even number of high handicappers that struggle with hitting or putting, or even both.

No worries brother!

My routine is definitely more of a warm up. When I'm practicing, I have goals in mind but not so formal as dagolfdoc's routine.

For example, I set little mental goals on the chips like, "if I chip 5 balls to this hole with my 9 iron, I want at least 4 to be inside 3 feet", or something similar. When I'm hitting pitch shots, I pick specific landing spots. On the range, I pick specific targets or shot shapes I'm trying to hit.

I play with lots of poker guys that are relatively new to golf (and was myself not that long ago) and they simply don't practice chipping and putting. New players can screw up putting in so many ways, simple stuff like a bad putting stroke where they actually sometimes hit the ground first or hit the ball off the toe of the putter and impart spin on it, and then of course just misreading the green entirely and playing for a break the other direction, and then finally the speed of the putt.

Can't wait to try this routine (as much as I am able to get through) tomorrow at the range. Will post results, putting is by far the worst part of my game. Are there any tips anyone might have for how to read a green better? I know it just takes practice but what I mean is, is there anything I can do while practicing that may enhance how well I learn to read greens during my practicing?

^^ results:

Took me 30 minutes to make the 25 putts from 3 feet. Then 45 minutes to make the 20 20ft putts into a 3ft radius. Sunk the 20th putt which was an awesome way to finish. Then called it a day, it's still cold/windy here.

Do the rest of you continue on after reaching each goal, to see how far you can go? I would be interested to hear how many 3ft putts everyone has made etc. I kept going with both and made it to 30 3ft putts, failing on #31 and 20 20ft lags, failing on the next one after reaching my goal, #21.

Ship the twenty 30ft putts inside 3 ft today. Took me about 60min to do it. Worked on staying connected and taking a lot of the tension out of my hands and arms.

Also, had the Tour Temp tracks a while back and didn't use them very much. Today I listened to the little song that has the track on the 15 min drive to the course and then used the regular 27_9 Piano track while hitting my driver. I hit the ball much better than I have been. My miss tends to be right block from getting stuck so the 2->3rd tone tempo seemed to help with that.

"Chipping:
8 out of 10 in a 3 foot circle from 20-30 feet"

OMFG, tried this today, but somehow I had noted this down on my paper: "Chipping:
8 out of 10 in a 3 foot circle from 20-30 yards" got 3 of 10 the best try.

Putting:
25 in a row from 3 feet got 12 in a row (I missed 2 from within 3 foot on my 18 holes today, silly me...)
Lag Putting
20 in a row from 20 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle 5 in a row
20 in a row from 30 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle 4 of 5 was best
20 in a row from 45 feet stopping in a 3 foot circle skipped

Yeah, it's tough the first few times you try it! The putting totally exposes any weaknesses! Make sure you're using 3 feet on each side of the hole - it's actually a 6 foot circle, just trying to get the ball within 3 feet of the hole. Since you have already made so many 3-footers, if you can roll a 45 footer to within 3 feet, you know you can make it!

Keep trying & let me know if I can help! I promise you, if you do this regularly, your scores will improve!

I am sad I haven't noticed this thread in 2+2 golf yet. The 100% high number requirements of putting, pitching, and getting out of bunker are certainly daunting, but achievable. Those shots are of great importance, and building confidence in them for mid-high handicappers is a good way to give them better chances of saving par and not getting disasters like dbl bogey+ when they miss their GIR attempt (Or can't even reach the hole with it obviously.). I will definitely give this a try, though I am somewhat saddened I can't do a lot of these things at my home course (pitching, long bunker, iron approaches) accurately. What sucks is those 3 things are probably my worst parts of those. I like my chipping and putting :/

How should I grip the putter? Some basic tips for chipping and pitching?

I think I came across your youtube account with some videos of this, but I cant locate it again, so link to your instruction videos for that?

And thank you very much for the help :-)

Not sure if someone have already asked about it:
What’s the ratio of green to fairway in this? How far from the green should we start?

I don’t know why but I was only doing program A all the time, forgot about B.
First thought: Mickelson says in his ShortGame DVD that pros are about 75% from 5feet. You sure you want us to make 25 in a row from that distance?
It sounds ridiculous

Pros can't pick out a perfect lie tho.

I think there's a big difference between making 25 in a row on the practice green and making them on the course. Even if you pick out 10 positions around a hole you should know the line after a few attempts so basically what you're practicing is hitting the line you already know.

Chipping:
8 out of 10 in a 3 foot circle from 20-30 feet Got 7 of 10 as the best today, doing it right, I chipped in from the fringe of the green and I found your video on chipping and watch it a bunch of times before going to the club: http://www.youtube.com/user/rstocke#p/u/4/jNyutx79ikU

Pitching:
25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 30 yards For some reason plain imposible for me. I feel like I cant get the balls high enough up in the air, and the green wasnt the biggest, and it is not very soft. But I had some that landed in the front of the green and rolled all the way over the green. Do I need to open the 60 degree wedge a lot to do this shot or is there some other way to do it? Any pointers would be nice, Ive never really received lessons on this, but with my current skillset/knowledge 2 in a riw is near impossible
25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 50 yards This went a lot better I feel like, but didnt count, just tried about 50 times with varying results. (on a very small green, maybe 7 yards diameter) Some actually landed and stayed on the green, again had to open the 60 alot, some balls went 45 degress to the right of where I was aiming....
25 in a row landing & stopping on the green from 70 yards didnt get to this

Definitely going to do the short game stuff for this starting next week and will detail my progress here...

Forgot to ask, for pitching, is it 30 yards from the front or the middle of the green?

Glad you found the thread - hopefully it helps you improve! If you can find a baseball/football field or a park, you might be able to put some towels or laundry baskets out at various yardages & hit pitches towards those. I did this as a kid (we didn't have a range), we'd put laundry baskets at 40, 60,80 yards & try to fly balls into them, then hit them back at the golf bag where we started. You might have to be a little creative & search out some spots, but hopefully, you can find an open spot to practice those wedges!

Long bunkers & irons, you'll probably need to do on the course late in the day or early morning when there is very few people on the course.

Good luck!

A basic way to hold the putter is to lay both thumbs down the shaft (on the flat part of the grip) so the palms are facing each other. You want to eliminate the wrists in the putting stroke, so hold the club very lightly and try to keep the wrists from "flipping" the clubhead through the stroke.

Here's a link to my youtube videos, I linked the lag putt, but you can find all the others on my channel from there.

lag putting video