Toss and Play
Why this drill
Perfect lies teach half a short game. Tossing balls over your shoulder and playing them exactly where they laugh at you — cuppy lies, hardpan, clumps — is how the scramble stops being luck.
Setup
Five balls, your wedges and a 9-iron, the rough and fringe around the short-game green. A hole as the target.
The drill
Stand at the green's edge, toss all five balls backward over your shoulder into the surrounds, and play each exactly as it lies — no rolling it over, no nudging. Read the lie first out loud: "sitting down, no spin, land it short." Club to match the lie, not the habit. Score up-and-in points: two for inside a club-length, one for on the green inside ten feet. Two circuits. The reading, not the striking, is where the strokes are.
One thought to take with you
The lie picks the shot — your job is to agree with it quickly.