Short Game Tips to Lower Your Score

The short game is where rounds are won and lost. Most amateur golfers spend the majority of their practice time at the driving range, but the fastest way to lower your score is to sharpen what happens inside 100 yards. Here are some short game tips that will help you save strokes every round.

Commit to Your Shot Selection

Before you play any short game shot, decide what type of shot you want to hit and commit to it fully. Second-guessing mid-swing leads to poor contact and unpredictable results. Assess the lie, the distance, the slope, and the hazards, then pick your shot and execute it without hesitation.

Develop a Consistent Chipping Technique

For basic chip shots around the green, keep it simple. Set up with the ball back in your stance, your weight slightly forward, and your hands ahead of the ball. Use a putting-style stroke with your arms and shoulders. Minimize wrist action. The goal is to get the ball rolling on the green as quickly as possible, letting the green do the work of getting the ball to the hole.

Learn to Use Your Most Versatile Club

Many golfers default to one club for every chip, but learning to chip with multiple clubs gives you more options. A 7-iron chip rolls out much farther than a wedge chip from the same distance. Practice with different clubs and develop a feel for how each one behaves. Having options around the green makes you harder to trap.

Build a Reliable Bunker Routine

Sand shots are not as difficult as they look once you understand the fundamentals. Open the clubface before you grip the club. Open your stance slightly. Aim to enter the sand about two inches behind the ball. Accelerate through the shot and finish high. The key mistake most amateurs make is decelerating into the sand, which causes fat or thin contact.

Spend Time on the Practice Green

The single best thing you can do for your short game is spend more time on it. Visit the practice putting green before your round and work through different distances and scenarios. Vary your lies. Practice from the rough, the fairway, and tight lies. Give yourself challenging situations and work through them. The more variety you introduce in practice, the more prepared you will be on the course.

Work on Distance Control, Not Just Direction

Most golfers focus on hitting their target line, but distance control is actually more important in the short game. A chip that lands on line but rolls six feet past is harder to deal with than a chip that lands a foot offline but stops next to the hole. Practice hitting chips and pitches to specific landing zones and develop a sense for how the ball rolls out from different distances.

Understand When to Putt From Off the Green

When your ball is just off the green and the ground between you and the hole is smooth and flat, a putter is often your safest option. It removes the risk of a bad chip and gives you a simpler stroke to execute. Many amateurs overlook this option and try to chip when a putt would leave them in a much better position.

Short game practice is time well spent. Head to the short game and chipping area at Redlands Mesa and put in the work that separates good scorers from great ones.