Short Game Practice Routine (30 Min)

Who this is for

You want to work on your short game specifically — not a full range session with a short-game block tacked onto the end, but 30 minutes entirely dedicated to the shots that happen from 60 yards and in. Chipping, pitching, and bunker play share more in common with each other than any of them share with full swings, which makes a dedicated session worth running on its own from time to time.

This routine assumes access to a short-game area with a green, a bunker, and some fringe or rough to chip from. If you don't have bunker access, the "Adjust the routine if..." section below covers what to do instead.

It follows the same shape as our other routines — see the guide to structuring golf practice for the reasoning — just entirely inside the short-game window instead of spanning the whole bag.

Short Game Routine at a Glance

Time	Block	What you're working on
0-5 min	Warm-up	Contact on short chips
5-13 min	Chipping block	Contact + landing spot
13-21 min	Pitching block	Distance control
21-27 min	Bunker block	Entry point + finish length
27-30 min	Finish	Record a score

The 30-minute breakdown

Minutes 0-5: Warm-up

Hit a dozen short, easy chips from just off the green with your most comfortable wedge, focused only on contact — ball first, then turf. Nothing timed or measured yet; this is just getting a feel for the ground before asking anything precise of yourself.

Minutes 5-13: Chipping block

Run the Chipping Drills for Golfers Who Struggle Around the Green — full instructions are on that page. If you're short on time, prioritize the Coin Drill and the Landing Spot drill over the Weight Forward drill for this particular block.

Minutes 13-21: Pitching block

Run the Pitching Distance Control Drill, using whatever three distances fit your available space. This is the block most golfers skip entirely in a normal range session, which is exactly why it's worth the dedicated time here.

Minutes 21-27: Bunker block

Run the Bunker Drills for Consistent Contact. If time is tight, the Two-Line Box drill on its own is the highest-value single piece of this block — it isolates entry point with a real ball present, which is the fastest read on whether your contact is on track.

Minutes 27-30: Finish and measure

Close with 5 chips from a single spot, all landing at a marked target. Count how many finish within a couple of feet of it. Write the number down with the date. If it's flat after 3-4 sessions, that's a signal to spend more of your next short-game session on chipping specifically, not a reason to add more time overall.

What to record

Two things, no more:

• Chips landed near the marked spot (out of 5)
• Weakest block — which of the three (chipping, pitching, bunker) felt least reliable today

Adjust the routine if...

You don't have bunker access. Skip the bunker block entirely and split its 6 minutes between the chipping and pitching blocks instead — extend each to roughly 11-12 minutes. Running this routine without bunker work is still worthwhile; it's just not a substitute for practicing at an actual bunker when you can.

You only have 20 minutes. Cut the warm-up to 2 minutes and reduce each of the three blocks by 2 minutes rather than dropping one entirely — a shorter look at all three shots beats a full look at only two.

You're a beginner. Spend extra time on the chipping block specifically before moving to pitching and bunker work — solid, repeatable short-game contact on the simplest shot tends to transfer to the other two faster than working on all three from scratch at once.

You want to combine this with full-swing practice. Run this short-game routine first if you're combining it with a range session — short-game work that requires precision is easier to do well before fatigue sets in, the same logic used in the 4-Week Putting Improvement Plan.

FAQ

How does this differ from the short-game block in the 30-Minute Golf Practice Routine? The 30-Minute Golf Practice Routine covers your whole game in 30 minutes, so its short-game portion is only about 10 minutes total. This routine spends the entire 30 minutes on short game alone, with room for all three shot types instead of just chipping and putting.

How often should I run this instead of a normal full-bag session? There's no fixed ratio that fits everyone, but if shots inside 60 yards are costing your rounds more strokes than full swings are, running this routine more often than a full-bag session is a reasonable response — practice time spent where you're actually losing strokes tends to pay off faster than practice spread evenly regardless of where the misses are.

Do I need three different wedges for this routine? No — one wedge works for all three blocks. Using a second wedge with different loft is a reasonable variation once the routine feels automatic, but it's not required to get value from any of the three blocks.

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