The fastest way to lower your scores isn’t buying a new driver or obsessing over swing speed—it’s fixing your short game. Shots inside 100 yards make up 60–65% of your total strokes every single round. That stat never gets old, and it never stops being true.

Yet most amateur golfers spend 80% of their practice time beating drivers on the range. No wonder handicaps stay stuck. If you’re serious about shooting lower numbers, the short game is where you need to live. This guide covers every shot you’ll face around the greens—chips, pitches, flop shots, bunker escapes, and the strategic thinking that ties it all together.

The Short Game Advantage

Here’s a reality check: PGA Tour professionals miss roughly 30% of greens in regulation every round. That’s the best ball-strikers on the planet, missing nearly a third of their approach shots. The difference between them and the average 18-handicapper isn’t that they hit more greens—it’s what happens after they miss.

Tour pros convert up-and-downs at around 55–60%. Amateur golfers average closer to 15–20%. If you closed even half that gap—say, improved your up-and-down rate from 18% to 40%—you’d drop 4 to 5 strokes per round without changing a single thing about your full swing.

Think about that. Four or five strokes. No new clubs. No swing overhaul. Just learning to get the ball up and down more often from around the greens.

That’s not magic. That’s short game practice paying dividends.

Know Your Shot Menu Before You Get There

One of the biggest mistakes amateur golfers make is arriving at the ball and then deciding what shot to hit. By then, you’re already behind. The golfers who excel around greens have a clear mental menu of shots they own, and they pick from that menu based on what the situation demands.

Here are the five shots every golfer needs in their arsenal:

Shot	Best When	Club	Ball Flight
Standard Chip	Clean lie, 5–30 yards out, room to roll	7-iron to PW	Low, mostly roll
Pitch Shot	30–70 yards, need height and some spin	Sand wedge or gap wedge	Medium height, moderate roll
Flop Shot	Tight pin, need to stop fast, ball sitting up	60° lob wedge	High, very soft landing
Bump and Run	Firm conditions, flat approach, links-style	7-iron through PW	Very low, runs to target
Bunker Shot	Greenside sand	Sand wedge (54–56°)	High, soft landing

Master these five and you’ll have an answer for any situation a golf course throws at you.

Mastering the Standard Chip

If there’s one short game shot you should make bulletproof first, it’s the standard chip. It’s the most repeatable, lowest-risk shot in the bag, and the one you’ll use more than any other around the greens. Solid chipping technique is genuinely worth more strokes than anything else you can fix in your game.

Setup Keys

• Narrow stance: Feet 6–8 inches apart. This isn’t a full-swing shot—you don’t need a wide base.
• Ball position: Back of stance, off your right instep (for right-handers). This promotes ball-first contact.
• Weight forward: 65–70% on your front foot. Keep it there. Don’t shift back on the takeaway.
• Hands ahead of the ball: The shaft should lean toward the target at setup—and stay that way through impact.
• Grip down: Choke down 1–2 inches for better feel and control.

The Motion

Think of the chip as a putting stroke with a lofted club. Your arms and shoulders move as one unit. Your wrists stay quiet—no hinging, no flipping. Weight stays forward the entire time. Follow-through is low and toward the target, roughly matching the length of your backswing.

If you’re over-thinking it, here’s the one thought that fixes 90% of chip shots: keep the handle ahead of the clubhead through impact. If the clubhead passes your hands before impact, you’ll either skull it or chunk it. Hands lead, always.

Distance Control: The Club Selection Method

For chip shots, vary distance by changing your club, not your swing speed. Use the same swing every time—your hands-forward, arms-and-shoulders motion—and let the loft do the work.

Club	Air Time	Roll	Best For
7-iron	~25%	~75%	Lots of green to work with
9-iron	~35%	~65%	Medium amount of green
Pitching Wedge	~45%	~55%	Moderate green, some carry needed
Sand Wedge	~65%	~35%	Short green, pin is close

Pick your landing spot—usually just onto the green a foot or two—then choose whichever club will roll the ball out to the hole from there. Simple, repeatable, effective.

Mastering the Pitch Shot

Once you’ve got chips dialed in, pitch shots are your next priority. These are your 30–70 yard shots where you need height, some carry, and enough spin to hold the green. The pitch is more involved than a chip, but the payoff is big—suddenly you’re a threat from anywhere inside half a wedge.

Setup Adjustments

• Wider stance: About shoulder-width. You need a bit more stability for a longer swing.
• Ball position: Center of stance, not back like the chip.
• Weight distribution: 55% front foot—still favoring the lead side, but not as extreme.
• Grip length: Full grip, no choking down unless you need an extra-precise touch shot.

The Motion

Unlike the chip, the pitch incorporates some body rotation and natural wrist hinge. Here’s the sequence:

1. Takeaway: Smooth and wide. Let the wrists hinge naturally as the club goes back—don’t force it, don’t restrict it.
2. Backswing: Shoulders rotate. How far back? Depends on the distance (see the clock system below).
3. Downswing: Body leads, not arms. If your arms throw the club down first, you’ll lose your angle and hit it fat or thin.
4. Impact: Ball-first contact. Weight moves forward. Hands slightly ahead of the ball at impact.
5. Follow-through: Full rotation toward the target. Your belt buckle should face the flag when you finish.

Distance Control: The Clock System

For pitch shots, control distance by controlling the length of your backswing—not your tempo or grip pressure. Imagine your lead arm as a clock hand:

• 8 o’clock: 25–35 yards
• 9 o’clock: 40–50 yards
• 10 o’clock: 55–65 yards
• 11 o’clock: Full pitch, 70–80+ yards

The follow-through should roughly mirror the backswing length—8 o’clock back, 4 o’clock through. Spend an hour on the practice green with this system and you’ll be shocked how quickly distance control comes together.

Mastering the Flop Shot

Let me be straight with you: the flop shot is the one short game shot that gets amateurs in trouble more than any other. It’s the move you pull out when you’re between a bunker and a tight pin with almost no green to work with. Gorgeous when it works. Brutal when it doesn’t.

Learn it. But use it only when there’s no other option.

When to Actually Use It

• Ball is sitting up in light rough (not buried—a buried lie will fight you)
• You need to carry a hazard and the pin is tight on the other side
• There’s almost no green between the fringe and the cup
• Conditions are soft enough that the ball will stop quickly

Setup

1. Open the face first, then grip. This is critical. Lay the face open so it’s pointing at the sky—almost flat. Then wrap your hands around the grip. If you grip normally and then rotate the face open, it’ll snap back to square at impact.
2. Open your stance significantly. Your feet and body aim well left of the target (for right-handers). The open face compensates and sends the ball toward the target.
3. Ball position: Off your front instep—much further forward than any other shot.
4. Weight centered: Unusual for short game, but for the flop you need to slide under the ball.

The Motion

Make a longer backswing than you think you need. Swing along your body line (which is left), and let the open face do the work. The key move is a shallow, sliding downswing—you’re sliding the club under the ball, not hitting down on it. Keep that face open through impact and into the finish. Do not decelerate. A decelerated flop shot is either a skull across the green or a chunk that goes nowhere. Commit to the swing every single time.

Bunker Basics: Getting Out Every Time

Here’s a mindset shift that instantly improves bunker play: you are not trying to hit the ball. You’re trying to hit the sand, and the sand pushes the ball out. The ball is just a passenger.

Most amateurs fear bunkers. Good players don’t—because a greenside bunker shot is actually one of the most forgiving shots in golf. You can hit 2 inches behind the ball and still get out fine. That margin doesn’t exist anywhere else in the game.

For a full step-by-step guide on getting out of the sand with consistency, check out our dedicated bunker guide. But here are the essentials:

Bunker Setup

• Open the clubface: Similar to the flop, open the face before you grip. You want the bounce of the club engaging the sand, not the leading edge digging in.
• Open your stance: Aim your feet and body left of the target. The open face will redirect the ball to the flag.
• Dig your feet in: Wriggle your feet into the sand for stability. This also tells you how deep the sand is.
• Ball position forward: Just inside your front heel.
• Weight slightly forward: 60% on the front foot.

The Swing

Pick a spot in the sand 2 inches behind the ball. Hit that spot. Swing along your body line, which points left. Make a full, committed swing—don’t decelerate. The club should enter the sand behind the ball and exit beyond the ball, sending a “divot” of sand onto the green with the ball riding on top of it.

The follow-through should be high and full. If your club buries in the sand at impact, your face was too closed or you hit too far behind the ball.

The Bump and Run: An Underrated Weapon

Golfers who’ve played links courses or firm summer conditions know the bump and run well. Everyone else tends to ignore it, and that’s a mistake.

The bump and run is your friend whenever there’s a clear, flat path to the green and nothing in the way. Firm fairways, no rough to navigate, and the ground is running. This shot is lower risk than any aerial shot, and it behaves predictably.

Treat it exactly like a chip, but with a less lofted club—a 7-iron, 8-iron, or 9-iron. The ball barely gets off the ground, bounds onto the green, and runs to the pin like a long putt. The best thing about it? Less can go wrong. You don’t need perfect contact to get a decent result.

Up-and-Down Strategy: Think Before You Swing

Getting up and down isn’t just about technique. It’s about making the right decisions before you even pull a club. Here’s how to think through any short game situation:

Step 1: Assess the Lie

Is the ball sitting clean on fairway grass? In the rough? On a bare patch? In sand? A tight lie punishes mistakes more than a cushioned lie. If the lie is tricky, go with the lower-risk shot—don’t go hero with the flop from a tight lie.

Step 2: Read the Green

Where is the pin? Is there trouble past the flag (water, slope, bunker)? If there’s danger on the back side, play to the fat part of the green and leave yourself a longer but uphill putt. Never chip into danger trying to get close.

Step 3: Choose the Lowest-Risk Shot That Gets You Close

Given the lie and the green situation, ask: what’s the simplest shot that finishes within 6 feet? Usually that’s a chip or a pitch, not a flop. Take the highest-percentage shot, not the most impressive-looking one.

Step 4: Pick a Landing Spot, Commit, Execute

Once you’ve chosen your shot, visualize the specific landing spot. See the ball landing there and rolling to the hole. Then commit fully. Tentative swings are the leading cause of chunked chips and bladed pitches. Trust your read and go.

Short Game Equipment: What Actually Matters

You don’t need to spend a fortune to have good short game tools, but the equipment does matter. Here’s what to focus on:

Wedge Loft Gaps

Most players carry three or four wedges. The standard setup is:

• Gap wedge (50–52°): Fills the distance gap between your pitching wedge and sand wedge.
• Sand wedge (54–56°): Your most-used wedge. Versatile for chips, pitches, and bunkers.
• Lob wedge (58–60°): High shots, flop shots, and situations requiring maximum height.

Make sure your loft gaps are even—about 4 degrees between wedges. Uneven gaps leave you with awkward in-between distances. If you’re unsure what wedges to get, the Cleveland RTX ZipCore is an excellent option at a fair price—excellent spin, great feel from any lie.

Bounce: The Most Misunderstood Spec

Bounce is the angle between the leading edge and the lowest point of the sole. It’s not glamorous, but getting it wrong makes short game harder than it needs to be.

• High bounce (12°+): Soft turf, fluffy lies, steep swing. Prevents digging.
• Mid bounce (10–12°): Works in most conditions. Good default choice.
• Low bounce (6–8°): Firm turf, tight lies, shallow angle of attack. Gives more versatility for flop shots.

Golf Ball

Spin is real, and premium urethane-cover balls do spin more around the greens. If you’re playing a two-piece distance ball, you’re leaving spin on the table. This matters most if you’re trying to hold firm greens or stop flop shots quickly. Titleist Pro V1, Callaway Chrome Tour, or TaylorMade TP5 are all solid options once your technique is good enough to use the spin.

Common Mistakes

Mistake 1: Reaching for the Most-Lofted Club Every Time

Many amateurs default to the lob wedge for everything around the green. More loft means more room for error, not less. A chip with a 9-iron is far more forgiving than a chip with a 60-degree. Use the minimum loft necessary to clear whatever obstacle is in your way, then let the ball roll.

Mistake 2: Ball Position Creep

Ball position drifts forward on chips when you’re not paying attention. The moment that happens, your contact turns inconsistent—fat shots and blades creep in. Before every chip, consciously check that the ball is off your back foot.

Mistake 3: Looking Up at Impact

The urge to watch the ball fly is almost irresistible. Resist it. Your eyes should stay fixed on the contact point until well after the ball has left the clubface. If you’re consistently hitting thin shots, this is almost always the cause.

Mistake 4: Decelerating Through Impact

Fear causes deceleration. You make a reasonable backswing and then slow the club down into impact because you’re scared of hitting it too far. The result is a fat, heavy contact every time. The club needs to accelerate through the ball. Trust the setup and the club selection to control distance—not a slowdown of the swing.

Mistake 5: Trying to “Help” the Ball Up

You do not need to scoop the ball into the air. The loft on the club does that job for you. When golfers try to help the ball up by flipping the wrists through impact, they either skull the shot or chunk it badly. Lean the shaft forward, keep the hands leading, and trust the loft.

Mistake 6: No Clear Landing Spot

Vague intent produces vague results. “Get it somewhere near the hole” is not a plan. Pick a specific blade of grass as your landing spot before every short game shot. This one habit will improve your proximity-to-hole numbers faster than almost any technical fix.

Mistake 7: Playing From a Terrible Lie With a High-Risk Shot

Tight lie next to the green? Don’t flop it. The margin for error on a flop from a bare lie is almost zero. Chip it with a mid-iron, accept the outcome, and make the putt. Course management around the greens matters as much as technique.

Drills to Practice

Reading about short game technique is one thing. Building real feel takes repetition on the practice green. Here are the drills worth your time:

The Towel Drill (Chip Technique)

Place a folded towel about a foot behind the ball. Hit chip shots without hitting the towel. If you hit the towel, you’ve swung too steeply or shifted weight backward. This drill teaches the forward-weight, hands-leading chip motion faster than any verbal cue.

The Ladder Drill (Distance Control)

Set up targets at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 yards. Hit one shot to each target in order, then reverse. The goal isn’t to land it exactly—it’s to feel your swing length changing smoothly as the distance changes. Do this for 15 minutes and your wedge distance control will noticeably improve.

The Circle Drill (Scoring)

Drop five balls at different spots around a practice green—varying distances, varying lies. Try to get each one inside a 6-foot circle around the pin. Track how many out of five you get close. This simulates real pressure and shows you exactly which situations need more work.

One-Hand Chipping (Feel)

Hit chips with your trail hand only (right hand for right-handers). This forces you to feel the clubhead and develop natural release. When you go back to two hands, you’ll notice the motion feels easier and more connected.

The Fringe Chip (Ball-First Contact)

Find tight lies or the edge of the fringe. Hit chip shots from there. Tight lies punish any scooping or fat contact immediately—you get honest feedback with every swing. Ten minutes on tight lies is worth an hour on perfect grass.

Bunker Reps Without a Ball

Seriously—go into a bunker and make swings without a ball. Focus on entering the sand in the same spot every time and following through to a high finish. Once you can splash sand consistently without a ball, add the ball. Your technique will be cleaner because you built the motion without worrying about the outcome.

When to See a Pro

I’m a firm believer in self-coaching through deliberate practice. Most short game problems respond well to the drills above and some honest feedback from video on your phone. But there are situations where a lesson is the right call—and knowing when to seek it out will save you months of reinforcing bad habits.

See a short game coach if:

• You’re blading or chunking chips consistently after 2–3 weeks of focused practice. At that point something in your motion is fundamentally off and you need eyes on it. A single lesson from a good coach will identify the root cause in minutes.
• You’re avoiding certain shots entirely. If you refuse to hit flop shots, or you always chip out of bunkers instead of playing a proper sand shot, that fear is costing you strokes. A coach in that specific situation—even just one 30-minute session—can break the mental block and give you a reliable technique.
• You’ve improved but plateaued. You went from hacker to decent, but now your up-and-down percentage isn’t moving. A fresh set of eyes can identify the one or two things holding you back that you can’t see yourself.
• Your technique looks fine but the results are still inconsistent. Sometimes the issue is grip pressure, alignment, or a subtle weight shift that’s very hard to feel on your own. A coach with a launch monitor or video analysis will spot it immediately.

One lesson focused on short game is worth more than five lessons on your full swing if you’re a mid-to-high handicapper. The proximity-to-hole improvements from better chipping and pitching will show up on your scorecard immediately—usually within the next round you play.

Building Your Weekly Short Game Practice Routine

Here’s a realistic 45-minute session structure you can run two or three times per week:

• Warm-up (5 min): Easy chips from 10 yards. Just build feel. No target, no pressure.
• Technical work (15 min): Pick one shot type—chips, pitches, or bunker shots. Work on a specific technique point. Towel drill, fringe chipping, or sand reps with no ball. One skill per session.
• Distance control (15 min): Ladder drill or clock system practice. Hit to specific targets and track how many land within 3 feet of where you intended.
• Game simulation (10 min): Play the circle drill. Give yourself actual up-and-down scenarios with consequences—miss the circle and you “made bogey.” This is where the practice becomes competitive and sticks in muscle memory.

Track your circle drill success rate month over month. If you start at 2 out of 5 and work up to 4 out of 5, that translates directly to lower scores on the course. No guesswork needed.

The Mental Side of Short Game

Technical ability only matters if your brain cooperates. Here’s the mental framework that makes a real difference:

Visualize before every shot. See the landing spot clearly. Watch the ball in your mind as it rolls toward the cup. This isn’t woo-woo—it’s how the brain cues the body to produce a specific movement pattern.

Pick a shot and own it. Indecision in the short game—standing over a chip wondering if you should pitch it instead—is a recipe for a tentative, awful swing. Make your decision during your read, not over the ball.

Accept outcomes and move on. Even Seve Ballesteros chipped it in the water at Augusta. Tour pros blade chips on national television. Short game is hard. When you miss, note what went wrong, file it away for practice, and move on. Dwelling on a missed chip while you’re putting is a double disaster.

Final Thoughts

Short game improvement is the single most reliable way to shoot lower scores as an amateur golfer. Not a new driver. Not a swing rebuild. Not a lesson on hitting it 20 yards further. Getting up and down more often, from more situations—that’s the path.

Start with the standard chip. Own it. Make it automatic. Then layer in pitch shots and bunker technique. Add the flop last, once everything else is solid. Build your practice around the drills that give you honest feedback, and track your results so you can see the progress.

The beautiful thing about short game is that it’s equitable. It doesn’t require youth, flexibility, or strength. A 60-year-old with bad knees can have a world-class short game if they put in the right kind of practice. There’s no excuse not to get good at this.

Invest your practice time in the scoring zone—inside 100 yards—and your handicap will follow. That’s a promise the short game always delivers on.

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Looking to go deeper on a specific area? Read our detailed breakdown of chipping techniques for a better short game, or get the full guide to escaping bunkers every time. And if you’re thinking about upgrading your wedge setup, our Cleveland RTX ZipCore review is a good place to start.