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My friend says putting is all about feel. What is the best way to improve putting and chipping? Lessons or just more practice?

Practice practice practice. A putting lesson might help, but the best way to improve putting is practice. It's a lot more personal and unique than the rest of your game.

I have a putting mirror that lets you see your alignment at address...it helps reduce the variables...

the short game is all about time. Everyone can do it for the most part, but to really go to that next step you have to put tons of time in here. Also no matter how much time you put into it, it will always be the first thing to go when you are away from the game for a week or two. I am not saying you will forget how to play golf, but your touch will be way off which will make those birdies be pars or those pars be bogies or worse depending on your game.

If you're new to golf or maybe just don't know a whole lot of the fundamentals of the golf swing/putting stroke I would go take a putting lesson from a pro. After the lesson you should have a good foundation to start with and from there it's all about practice, practice, practice. Putting should be the easiest part of the game, but for majority of golfers it's not.

For me, I like to spend more time on the short putts (inside 5 feet) than I do on the long ones, but the long ones are also very important. Way I figure it is that if my lag putting is on for that day then I'll just have tap ins, but if my lag putting is off that day and I leave myself with numerous 5 footers, then I'll be prepared for that since I practice those all the time.

i find myself with that situation also, when i'm lag putting well, tap ins, if not, 5,6 footers with the occasional 8 footers

I find the putting mirror pretty helpful. A few weeks ago I practiced with it in my living room for a couple of nights and my ability to see the line on the putting green improved. Thus, I was able to two putt most of the holes.

Recently, my putting has not been good at all so I took out the mirror again and practiced in my living room. Wound up putting very well during my last round.

Constant or semi-constant putting practice (even if you only hit 10 putts in your living room before or after dinner) gives you confidence that you are reading the line well and lets you concentrate on your stroke and making good contact.

I practice putting and chipping every time I practice at the range. Our course has a great putting green and a chipping area with lots of different lies and even 3 greenside bunkers, so I can put in a lot of quality time. I can hit chips from about 125 down to greenside fringe, so I can practice with all the scoring clubs. I can set up with the green up or downhill, sidehill, etc. I take a bucket and hit about 20% of them from 5 different locations. Sometimes, I will rake them all off the green and go through it again.

Back on just putting, I practice with 3 balls. I start by lag putting. The goal is to lag putt to the farthest hole on the green and get all 3 balls within the 3ft circle. Then I putt all three in from wherever they ended up. The goal is to have 3 two-putts without a three-putt. Once I have my feel down for the speed, I find a hole where I can produce right and left hand breakers from about 6 ft and work on those until I can make 3 in a row from both sides. Then I will work on 3 footers until I can make 10 in a row from four different positions around the hole. If you can devote that kind of time to it, your putting will certainly improve.

When I do it regularly, my luck always returns... isn't that odd...

Here is a good putting game I like to play...

Take 5 balls and place them at roughly 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 feet from the hole on the same line. Put the first, if you make it, move to the second and so forth. However, miss one and you have to start all over again. You are done when you putt all 5 balls in without a miss.

Another good one that you can either play with a friend or by yourself is a variation on drawback. I tweaked the game a bit to make it more challenging for my friend and I. Pick a spot and a hole on the practice green and putt to the hole. Least strokes wins the hole and gets a point. Easy, eh? There's more... If you miss the putt, you have to draw the ball back away from the hole (in a straight line between the ball and the hole) one putter length (or 3 feet). Even more... if you miss the putt short or below the hole, then you draw it back twice. If you miss it high or long, just draw back once. Keep putting until a winner is declared for that hole. Winner chooses the next putt and goes first. Play first to 10, 20, or whatever. If you play by yourself, putt to 18 holes, count the number of strokes and then try to beat that score the next time.

Both games focus in on shorter putts (3-6 footers) and add pressure to your practice.

Here's a great (but sometimes frustrating) drill to improve your putting.

1. Take three golfballs out onto the practice green and place them 1 foot from the hole. Knock them in at speed, no ticklers; make them hit

the back of the cup and sink.
Do this 3 times holing every single putt. If you miss one putt; start over.
Complete 3 sets of 3 putts from 1 foot.

2. Now move the balls 2 feet and repeat the exercise. Knocking them in at speed. If you miss once; start over with 1 footers!!!
(This could get frustrating at times but it does work!!)

3. Once you've done the 2 footers, repeat this process from 4 feet. Again, if you miss one putt, start again with 1 footers.

4. Finally, move the balls to 8 feet and do the same again. (If you miss one start over with the 1 footers)

This drill not only tests your putting but it's also a great test of character and determination and is sure to lower your Putts per round.

Hope it helps! !

First you need good technique. Practicing bad short game habits is no different than practicing bad full swing habits.... you'll just get really good at making bad shots.

So first make sure that your chipping and putting style is fundamentally sound. That might take a visit to your pro. I've seen lots of different looking styles that all worked well, and I've seen some very classic looking styles that couldn't hole a 2 foot putt on a dare.

Once you know that your technique is good, then PRACTICE. That is really the only way to develop feel... you just have to hit a lot of putts. The same is true of chipping... be sure you are making good strokes, then practice to develop your feel for distance.

Make sure you are standing flat with equal weight distribution on both front and back part of the bottoms of your feet. I had foot problems late last year and had to buy inserts to support my arch, these inserts create proper and even weight distribution. Since I've been using these inserts my putts are much more accurate-its amazing!

Two weeks ago, I was playing the worst golf of my life. Nothing seemed to help, until one night I went to the practice facility at the course, and just hit flop shots and chips into the green, and putted. I did this twice for about 1-1/2 hour each.

This did something to help me get my rhythm back, and my game greatly improved.

As far as putting drills, the three foot circle drill works best for me. Get some string, or imagine, a three foot circle around the hole, and practice lagging putts into the circle. You'll find, before long, that a lot of the putts will start to fall.

The best way to improve your short game is by practicing and practicing. However, your fundamentals HAVE to be solid, especially in chipping. Sure, its a feel shot...but there is a right way to do it. But yeah once you have solid contact and technique down pat, you really don't need lessons. To me the short game is the funnest part of the game to practice, I've always just worked on my chipping and pitching by chipping around the yard with a 60 degree wedge and an ice cream pale.

Update:

I have been practicing quite often with regards to putting. I have spent quite a lot of time finding the right putter to use. I have improved significantly with lag putting from as far as 20-25 feet (compared to hitting it way short before).

One thing I found when starting out was putting 5 balls from the same distance to get a feel from different areas. Now, I use 1-2 balls from different distances to get used to dialing in my distance (since in reality, you only get one putt).

In the end it was a lot more practice to get comfortable with putting. Before that, it was an afterthought. Another thing that has helped was my practice (and improvement) with chipping. Shorter putts are easier from closer distances than from the other side of the green.