Chipping and Pitching Landing-Zone Challenge
Practise where the ball lands, where it finishes, and how reliably you can repeat the shot.
Good short-game practice is about more than getting the ball close to the hole. First, you need to control where it lands. Then you need to understand how it rolls or releases from there. This challenge helps you track those two parts separately, establish a baseline and test what changes when you adjust the shot.
Set up your challenge
Choose your shot, landing area and finishing target. Record ten shots, save your baseline, then repeat it or change one variable to see what happens.
Choose a landing area that makes sense for your practice green. Use a visible marker, such as a towel or alignment stick placed safely away from other players.
Tight, standard and wide are your chosen finishing zones around the hole. Keep the zone consistent within a round.
Baseline round
10 shotsBaseline comparison
No baseline saved yet. Complete a round and save it to give yourself something to compare with.
Build your baseline.
Then change one thing.
Choose a repeatable shot
Pick a chip or pitch that you can attempt comfortably. Choose a landing area and finishing target you can identify clearly. Keep the setup the same for all ten baseline shots.
Hit ten shots and record both results
First, record whether the ball landed in your selected area. Separately, record whether it finished short, in your target zone or long. Don't let a good finishing result hide a poor landing, or a good landing hide an unpredictable release.
Save and repeat your baseline
Save the results, then repeat the same shot with the same setup. This gives you a simple check of how repeatable your current result is before you introduce a change.
Introduce one variation
Change just one factor, such as the shot type or landing area. Record another ten shots and compare the landing and finishing results with your baseline. Keep the other factors as consistent as you reasonably can.
Separate the landing
from the release.
Where did the ball land?
This tells you whether you delivered the ball to the area you intended. A ball that lands well short or beyond the marker missed the landing task, even if its final position happens to be close to the hole.
What happened after landing?
Notice how far the ball rolled or released after it hit the ground. A good landing followed by a long finish may tell you something different from a ball that lands too far away in the first place.
Which result repeats?
Look for patterns across ten attempts, not just your best shot. You might land the ball in the right area regularly but struggle with the release, or you might control the finish without consistently hitting the landing zone.
A useful practice result is one you can understand and repeat—not simply one ball that finishes close to the hole.
Useful when your
short game feels guesswork.
You aren't sure where to land it
Choose a clear landing area and see how often you can reach it. This gives your practice a more specific task than simply trying to get the ball close.
Your chips finish unpredictably
Track landing and finishing results separately to see whether the problem is reaching the intended area, controlling the release, or a combination of both.
You want to compare chip and pitch shots
Establish a baseline with one shot type, then test the other while keeping the landing area and finishing target as consistent as possible.
You want practice to transfer to the course
Repeat the same challenge across sessions. Once you have a consistent baseline, introduce a different landing area or shot type rather than changing several things at once.
The aim isn't to make every shot perfect. It's to understand what your ball is doing, build a more reliable landing point and learn how that affects the final result.
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