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So, my game has recently began to go downhill, in a good way. My scores are consistently 5-10 strokes lower than they were a month ago. I have gone almost overnight from Joe- nobody to sub bogy golfer. And I have to tell you, it feels great. My method was simple. About six weeks ago I bought my new set (if you want to check that out, look at my bag). I spent the next week shanking balls at the range concentrating on hitting the blasted things consistently. Finally I went to my local instructor, he watched me hit a few and then made a quick adjustment, Turns out my hands were too FAR in FRONT of the ball, I know I shouldn’t have been doing that, but go figure. Anyways, the next day like clockwork I begin to hit nice crisp drives off the fairway. My scores went on small par 32’s from the lower 90’s to the mid 80’s (for 18).

At about this time I began to read some instruction about proper ball placement, since my hands were so far forward to begin with, the iron shots had to be played in the middle of the stance if not further up. So, it turns out that many pros enjoy hitting their wedges off the back of their stance and their irons somewhere between middle and back. I went back to the range; hit another dozen or so buckets of balls over the next week and began to get very comfortable with the shot making. If I bulled a ball I knew automatically that I was just rushing my shot and needed to come from the inside more. All of this was fine and good, but I didn’t see my scores go down any. Turns out I was hitting crisper balls, but I was still averaging double bogey on par 3’s and about 5.5 on par 4’s. Par 5’s were still somewhere about 7’s not very pretty.

One night I was reading Harvey Pennick’s Little Red Book. After about half way through, I noticed Harvey had a sub chapter entitled, “Take 5 strokes off your game” His advice, put down the irons, range balls, and drivers. Pick up your putter and pitching wedge and spend about two weeks working on the short game. It was at this point that I realized I wasn’t getting any better at hitting the greens, nor was I getting better off the tee, I was consistently missing all my up and downs. My putting wasn’t bad, I can 2 put most anything, but it was getting my ball close enough to the whole to make par that was my real issue. I took Harvey’s advice and spent no more money on range balls. I would buy a small bucket to warm up with, but this was all. Using an unfamiliar wedge, my PW, I soon realized how effortless judging distance and speed was with a pitching wedge over my trusty lob wedge. I didn’t have to worry about coming up short, and after learning to hit it low and see how the ball checks up, I discovered a renewed sense of trust in the wedge. My lob went into the bag for the times I needed it, to get over water, sand or out of deep rough. For longer shots, I went back to a 7 or 8 iron; these clubs still work great at getting the ball up on the green and carrying it close to the hole. I took Harvey’s suggestion for making the practice time count. I only bring 1 ball with me to the practice green. And I proceed to play a game of getting the ball up and down in as few strokes as possible. This has given me a new level of confidence I haven’t ever had near the green. All of a sudden my average putts per round dropped from 33 to 27. And my scores actually went down even more. Instead of scalding the ball or leaving it dreadfully short, I can now get the ball on the green and somewhere in the vicinity of the hole. My pars have been able to increase from 1-3 per round of 18 to 9-12. I’d like to say my birdies have gone up also, but sadly this is a new area to begin working on. I play par 5’s well, if I can get down to the green in 2. Sadly it is these holes that I end up 3 putting the most. Last week I had about 5 birdie putts on par 5’s and 3 of them turned into bogeys. My putting has left me also on some of the par 3’s. Today, I had five looks at birdie, two of them I left short, and three of them were nowhere near the hole. I converted par on all the occasions, but really! One putt was a par 3 that I hit about as well as I could have. It landed about 3 feet away from the hole and spun back to around 2.5. This was an easy shot, and I didn’t convert.

So, I picked up a few more of Harvey’s books. And I think I see my next lesson. I should continue to do my chipping practice, but putting now will be my main focus. I spend maybe twenty minutes every few days to do some putting. As do most of you, I’m sure. I think that practicing for at least an hour if not more every day will help out my stroke. If I can bring my putting down to more up and downs, better ability to sink longer putts, and eliminate the most part, the most dreaded shot in golf, then my scores can probably drop another 3-5 stroked per round.

So, here are the results of my game. On easy par 72’s, the ones with ratings of about 70 and slopes of 115. I have been able to break 90 consistently.  On my small home course, the one with a par 32 9 hole, I have shot in the 60’s and now average the mid to lower 70’s. This has been my most major improvement.

So, what’s the lesson? Leave your clubs at home, work on getting up and down, and your putting should be double whatever practice you put in for chipping. Think of it as a two week challenge. It’s not that your driver will miss you or anything, in fact, I think my driving accuracy has improved over the long hiatus I haven’t used it. My distance has increased as well. My iron shot making is improving steadily, especially on the tee. And all of this has come from NOT going to the range. So, the times are hard, I get this, range balls can be expensive, and I understand this. So, why not do the free thing and practice what will really work. And you scratch golfers; I bet you could still benefit from short game practice. Take Pennick’s 2 week challenge, you will love the results, I promise.