The Flop, Earned
Why this drill
The flop is a specialist's tool that amateurs reach for like a default. This progression earns it properly — lie check first, open face second, speed last — so the one time per round you genuinely need the ball to stop, you have a shot instead of a prayer.
Setup
Lob wedge, ten balls on a friendly fluffy lie — the flop's non-negotiable — with a short-sided hole or landing towel over an imagined bunker. Check the lie every ball: if the ball sits down, the flop is off the menu, and that's lesson one.
The drill
Open the face before you grip, aim body left of the target (right-hander), ball forward. Three rehearsal swings sliding the club along the turf under an imaginary ball — long, lazy, full. Then ten flops with real commitment: the flop punishes deceleration above all. Score two points for balls stopping within two club-lengths, one for holding the green's first half. Ten points of twenty passes the course. Finish with two bump-and-runs to remember which shot is the default.
One thought to take with you
Long swing, soft ball — the loft does the stopping, not the scoop.