The Flop Shot Matrix
Play the same high, soft flop shot from four lies and three distances — twelve shots in all. Land each ball inside a landing ring beside the flag; the ring shrinks and the distances stretch as the tier rises, so the lie stops being an excuse. The flop is an advanced shot, so the drill starts at the Normal tier.
Chipping Advanced ~7 min 3 difficulty levelsDifficulty levels
Setup & execution
Mark an 8-ft landing ring beside the flag and play the matrix from 5, 10, and 15 yds. At every station play one flop from a good lie, light rough, deep rough, and a tight lie — four balls per station, twelve in total. Commit to the open face on every ball, including the tight lie. Changing club or trajectory to make the shot easier defeats the drill: the matrix is there to show you which lie costs you control.
Goal
Farther stations add 4 extra reward points per distinct distance rank — the lie you play from does not change the reward. Your pass target still uses the original flat outcome values: land 5 or more of 12 balls inside the ring to pass. Record short, long, left, and right misses so the pattern shows whether the lie, the carry, or the start line is costing you.
Tour context
PGA Tour proximity from 10–20 yd averages about 7 ft, and that is with the shot of their choosing rather than a forced flop. An 8-ft landing ring is deliberately wider than that: at this tier the drill is asking whether the shot is repeatable from all four lies at all.
Scoring options
Pick how you are rewarded. Each option records different outcomes and feeds different insights.
Classic
Inside the ring or not. A miss costs you nothing.
Points
The ring pays triple; only running it long is free.
Never Short
Come up short and you lose a point. Other misses are free.
More chipping drills
All chipping
ChippingTee Ball
Find a good lie two steps off the green. Place tees in a line from 2 yd to 14 yd from the front of the green, each tee 2 yd further out. Chip one ball to each tee and score by where the ball finishes, not by whether you strike the tee. Play the full ladder with two wedges — 28 shots in all.
ChippingBuckets
Stand a bucket on the green as your aiming point and mark a landing zone around it. Build four stations in a straight line from 3–20 yd — the exact distances and the size of the zone vary by difficulty tier. Hit 5 balls from each station with two different wedges — 40 shots total. Score 1 point every time the ball first lands inside the zone. Track your points per wedge to find out which club performs best at each distance.
ChippingLand It Low
Hit low-trajectory chip-and-run shots with the lowest-lofted wedge you trust. Land balls inside a chipping ring set 2, 4, or 6 yds onto the green depending on difficulty, with rollout reference discs at 10 and 15 yds. The ring shrinks as the tier rises. Complete three rounds and track how efficiently you can land six balls inside it.