Short game

Went out today to the local cow pasture and was very pleased to shoot a 46. I know that's not great, but didn't have any mishits and had a really solid short game from away from the green. The putting needs a ton of work and that's where I surrendered shots.

Basically, two things seemed to really help. One was chipping with the 7-iron and rolling the ball to the hole in situations where I was 5-10 yards from the green with a flat look into it. The other thing that really helped was this week I bought a cheapie gap wedge, 52 degrees, this week. For whatever reason, I was really able to lob it up to the green with that from certain situations, much better than even the 60 degree sand wedge. Could have just been psychological, but also spent some time this week reading up on short game swing fundamentals. So probably a combo of that and the new wedge.

I'm very excited about what seems like the first step toward competence in a game that has frustrated me endlessly for about 20 years now.

 

Just hit every tee shot on the green. Problem solved.

 

What's a "green"?

 

Chipping and putting is just about the only thing I can do well on the golf course.
Most of my practice came from years of working at a club; I'd wait for members to roll in off the course, so I'd chip balls while I waited. I'm not as good now as I was then, but still pretty solid.
Putting got a lot of work then, but you don't need a green to develop a good stroke. If you have a carpeted room, practice in there. Set up a small bulls-eye (I put tape down) and putt from 10-15 feet away. Do it 20 minutes a day. Eventually, you develop a stroke where you won't miss that target; it's really not difficult to translate it out on the course.
My biggest putting problem right now is the putter itself; the shaft is bent from me slamming it into the ground and now I have to turn my hands over a bit to straighten the putter head. Not good for my stroke.