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Chipping and Pitching Practice
By Darell Mckissick
TargetPutting.com
The pros hit chip shots and pitches every day for hours on end as a major part of their practice. They know that chipping and pitching is what pays the bills. And it shows when they appear on your TV screen every weekend.
Most golfers are truly weekend golfers. That is, they play only on weekends. That means they never do any golf practice during the week. And it shows on their scorecards every weekend.
Yet nearly every one of those players would like to shoot better when they do play. Most will tell you they can never get to the golf course or range to practice during the week, so they don't practice at all.
Those same golfers have some daylight time after work, they just don't think of practicing golf. After all, there is no green to putt on and even a short iron shot is out of the question for most. It's just not real golf to them.
To those people, I promise you will save at least three strokes a round if you would spend just ten minutes a day pitching and chipping golf balls in the yard. Even one day would help a lot, but if you set aside that ten minutes of time every day you would still be spending less than an hour a week.
I have a five foot diameter kiddie pool that I use as a target and it works great. I recommend you get one. They are about $6 at Walmart.
There is no great secret practice method I can tell you about that would work better than just throwing balls around and pitching them into the pool. Hit shots from 5 to 25 yards or so. Longer if you have the room.
Hit the balls from random distances instead of hitting them all from one place. Chipping and pitching the ball is mostly feel, and moving around will give you the feel for various distances instead of locking yourself into a single shot.
It is OK to use different clubs as well, but I would suggest that you find a "favorite" that you can use for most pitch shots. I spend a lot of time using my 56 degree R90 sand wedge, both on the course and while practicing in the yard.
Work on controlling the trajectory as well as the distance the ball will carry. Hit some high flop shots, hit some low skippers, and hit some in between. Any shot you can imagine you would ever need to hit on the course is a good one to hit practice.
Hit shots how they lie. Chances are the grass in your yard is much higher and thicker than the grass on your course. You will be amazed at how easy it becomes to hit pitch shots out of the rough. If you are really lucky and throw yourself a bunch of perfect lies, step on the ball or push it down in the grass.
If you spend a few minutes a day at home learning how to hit out of bad lies in your yard, the bad ones on the course will probably seem quite easy to you. You will lose your fear of bad lies and be able to hit from them with confidence. And your good lies will be a piece of cake.
So take just ten minutes a day and hit some pitches. Just an hour a week could mean the difference between an 85 and a 79. But if you are happy with your average score, you can always watch TV instead.