Drill library · Short game

The Landing Ladder

Short gameHandicap 10–3015 minrandom / pressurewedges & chipping

Why this drill

Three towels at three carries, called in random order, turn the chipping stroke into a measuring instrument. Where the towel drill teaches you to hit a spot, the ladder teaches you to change spots on demand — which is what real flags ask.

Setup

Three towels flat on the green at roughly three, six, and nine paces from your chipping station. Twelve balls, one wedge.

The drill

Call a towel before every ball — never the same one twice running — and land the chip's first bounce on it. Two points for the called towel, one for an adjacent one. Twelve balls, twenty-four possible; fifteen means your stroke has gears, not just a setting. Then play the last three balls at a real hole, choosing which "towel" the flag needs and trusting the carry you just rehearsed.

One thought to take with you

The backswing buys the carry — pick the gear before you stand in.