22: Practice Game for Your Short Game

Does your short game need a little work? Whose doesn't? Grab nine golf balls and head to your favorite practice green to work on it with the practice game named 22 (or Twenty-Two).

Think of 22 as a pitch-and-putt or chip-and-putt (or even a bunker-blast-and-putt) practice game. It starts with nine golf balls. Pick a spot next to a practice putting green — any spot, as easy or difficult as you want to make it.

Drop your nine golf balls at that location, then start trying to get up-and-down. What is the 22 in the game's name? That's how many strokes you are trying to match or beat. Nine balls, 22 strokes to get them up-and-down.

Try different spots. Maybe just a few feet off the green chipping toward a nearby cup on the practice green. Maybe then go over there behind those little mounds, farther off the green, a hit little pitches up and over toward a cup near the middle of the green.

You pick a spot, drop nine balls, and try to get every ball into the target cup in 22 strokes or less.

Are you at the practice green with a friend? You can make a competition out of it. Pick two different locations. You drop nine balls at the first spot, your buddy drops nine balls at the other location. Once you each finish, swap locations. After you've both completed your nine balls from each of the two spots, compare results. Who beat the quota of 44 total strokes by the most? (Or, if neither of you beat the mark, who needed the fewest total strokes?) That's the winner of the bet. (Compare to the short-game-practice wagering game known as Flaps.)

Few recreational golfers ever really practice their short games. Or anything else. Practice methods such as 22 can not just help you hone a part of your game, but actually encourage you to practice more by giving you a challenge or making a game out of it.

Related articles:

• Swing 'up the hill' to correct a slice
• Accelerate through impact to avoid chip shot mis-hits
• Taking the pain out of putting practice