The 7 Best Short Game Drills to Drop Your Scores & Handicap

The best short game drills I've ever used came from the “Practice Like A Pro” DVD set which came out around 2007 or so.
'Practice Like A Pro" is VERY Lite on technique. It's job, and mine here, is to teach you how to make your practice time as Effective as Humanly Possible.
I used these exact golf drills and games to drop my handicap from 11 or so to a 5.6.
You Will Drop your scores and handicap IF… IF you practice the drills here on this page diligently. I guarantee it.
1. The Clock Putting Drill / Game
Instruction: Place 4 tees around the hole at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o’clock.

The goal is to go around the circle without missing. You MUST go back to the beginning if you miss.
This is my base drill and the first one I do when I practice putting.
Tour | 10 times around without missing: Can increase to 5 ft and go 8 |
0 – 10 Handicap | 5 times (around without missing) |
11 – 20 Handicap | 3 times (around without missing) |
20 + Handicap | 1 time (around without missing) |
**Ideally, you want a combination of straight, right-to-left, and left-to-right puts to build those skills and confidence.
**Phil Mickelson puts 6 or 7 balls around the hole for this drill.
-I've never done this, but am considering doing it now to build confidence even faster.
Embrace this practice. Don’t try to just get through it. You will be building your skills, your confidence, and your putting will be on its way to becoming deadly.
Bonus Skill Building: Start going out to 4ft and 5 ft, even 6 ft. You won’t regret it.
2. The Star Putting Drill / Game (the way I perform it)
Instruction: With our Clock drill setup, we place tees further back on our lines at 4, 5, and closer at 2 ft for higher handicaps. The table below contains the official version.

Tour | Tees at 3, 4, 5 ft.: Go around 2 times without missing a putt |
0 – 10 Handicap | Tees At 3, 4, 5 Ft.: Go Around 1 time Without Missing A Putt |
11 – 20 Handicap | Tees At 2, 3, 4 Ft.: Go Around 1 time Without Missing A Putt |
20 + Handicap | Tees At 3 & 4 ft.: Go Around 1 time with 1 miss allowed |
I perform a variation of this drill usually going out to 6 ft.
Phil Mickelson says that at 6 ft is you can no longer just ram putts in the hole. You have to start exhibiting real touch and read real break at this length and this is excellent training for that.
3. The Lag Putting Drill / Game
We are keeping our clock-face set-up for this drill.
Instruction: We will be lag putting from various lengths trying to get the ball inside either the safe zone (in the hole or no further than 1 putter length past the hole) for tour to 10 handicaps or within our circle for 11-plus handicaps.


Tour |
| |
0 – 10 Handicap |
| |
11 – 20 Handicap | Tees at 15, 25, and 35 ft. Still 3 balls, but now we move to the 3 ft. circle as our target We start with one pass | |
20 + Handicap | Same as 11-20 handicap, but with 2 passes |
4. Chip in 3 ft. Circle Drill / Game
Instructions: Throw balls in different locations around the green and chip within the circle. If you miss, you must start over.
-A hole-out counts as 2 balls in the circle.

This is one of my favorite drills. Frankly, I find chipping more enjoyable than putting.
We are maintaining our clock face configuration of tees and chipping balls to it from various locations around the green.
In my mind, this is where the scoring begins because I add putting to this drill a lot of times to get used to paying off the good chips.
Variation: Chip one ball at a time and and putt your ball in after every chip to simulate what you would do on the course
Tour | 10 in circle in a row |
0 – 10 Handicap | 5 in circle in a row |
11 – 20 Handicap | 2 in circle in a row |
20 + Handicap | 2 out of 4...or one hole out |
These are some best short game drills I know of to sharpen your short game and shoot lower scores with ease.
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