Best Chipping Games to Make Your Short Game Practice Fun and Effective

Practicing your chipping shouldn’t feel like a chore — but for many golfers, that’s exactly what happens. They hit ball after ball toward the green without a clear plan or purpose, and it quickly becomes a repetitive grind.

The result? Limited improvement and frustration when those skills don’t translate to the course.

That’s where chipping games come in.

By turning your short game practice into structured, competitive challenges, you add the pressure, focus, and fun that real improvement demands.

These games simulate on-course conditions, help you develop touch and creativity, and keep your sessions fresh.

Whether you’re training solo or with a friend, these chipping games will help you build a short game that actually holds up under pressure.

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The Par-18 Chipping Challenge

This is one of the most effective and popular short game games — used by both amateur golfers and tour pros. The concept is simple: simulate real up-and-down situations from around the green, and keep score as if you’re playing nine holes of par-2s.

How to Play:

• Choose 9 different chipping locations around a practice green. Mix up lies (tight fairway, fringe, rough), distances (short, medium, long), and green slopes (uphill, downhill, sidehill).
• Treat each location as a par-2 hole: you get one chip and one putt to try and make par.
• If you get up and down, you make par (2). If you one-chip in, that’s a birdie (1). Miss the putt, and you score a bogey (3).
• Add up your score across all 9 holes. The goal is to shoot 18 or better.

What It Builds:

• Realistic pressure with only one ball in play
• Focus on first-touch accuracy and speed control
• Decision-making on shot selection based on lie and slope

To add intensity, repeat this drill once a week and try to beat your previous score. You can also play it as a match against a friend, alternating turns to simulate competitive scenarios.

The Up-and-Down Ladder

This game is perfect for building consistency and maintaining focus across a full practice session. It introduces progressive difficulty — the better you perform, the harder the challenge becomes. That keeps you mentally sharp and encourages disciplined execution on every shot.

How to Play:

• Choose a starting chipping spot with a relatively easy lie and flat green.
• If you successfully get up and down (chip and one-putt), you move up the ladder to a more difficult spot — longer distance, tighter lie, tougher slope.
• Continue progressing to harder shots as long as you keep converting up-and-downs.
• If you fail to get up and down, you drop one level back down the ladder.
• You can create 5–7 “rungs” in total, with the top rung being the hardest challenge (e.g., short-sided chip from thick rough to a downhill pin).

Scoring Option:
Try to reach the top of the ladder in as few total attempts as possible. Or, challenge yourself to reach the top three times in a row without failing.

What It Builds:

• Consistency under pressure — each shot matters, and failure resets your progress
• Adaptability to different lies and distances
• Mental toughness — rebounding after a miss to work your way back up

This is a great solo drill that keeps your focus high and simulates how one mistake in a round can change momentum — but also how quickly you can recover.

Closest to the Tee Circle

This simple yet highly effective game sharpens your ability to land chips close with consistent touch. It’s a perfect drill for working on proximity to the hole and dialing in your feel for short shots — especially when you have limited time or space to practice.

How to Play:

• Place a tee, coin, or ball marker on the green to act as your target.
• Drop 5 to 10 balls from your chosen chipping spot — ideally 10–20 feet off the green.
• Your goal is to chip each ball as close as possible to the target.
• Create an imaginary or marked 3-foot circle around the tee. Only chips that stop inside the circle count for points.

Scoring Option:

• Score 1 point for each ball that finishes inside the circle.
• Bonus: Score 2 points for any that hit the tee or marker.
• Play multiple rounds and try to beat your best score, or compete with a partner.

Variations to Keep It Challenging:

• Change your lie after each round: tight fairway, light rough, sidehill.
• Move the tee to different pin placements (uphill, downhill, tucked corners).
• Reduce the circle size as you improve — from 3 feet to 2 feet.

What It Builds:

• Distance control and soft touch around the green
• Precision landing in tight proximity to the hole
• Pressure focus when trying to hit a small target

This game gives instant feedback and makes each shot count. It’s also great for developing the confidence to get up and down more often during a round.

The Landing Zone Game

One of the biggest differences between good chippers and inconsistent ones is the ability to land the ball precisely where they want — not just “somewhere near the hole.” This game trains you to control the carry distance, trajectory, and landing spot before rollout, which is key to improving consistency and predictability in your short game.

How to Play:

• Use two tees, a towel, or an alignment stick to mark out a landing zone on the green — about 2 feet by 2 feet is a good starting size.
• Drop 5 to 10 balls from a single chipping location.
• Try to land each ball within the target zone — not just finish close to the hole.
• Focus entirely on where the ball lands, not how it rolls out.

Scoring Option:

• Score 1 point for each successful land in the zone.
• Score 0 if it misses entirely, even if the final result is close.
• Bonus Round: After landing 5 in a row successfully, change clubs or move to a tougher lie and start again.

Progressions to Make It Harder:

• Make the landing zone smaller.
• Increase the distance between your chip and the target zone.
• Switch to a different lofted club to work on trajectory variety (e.g., go from a 9-iron to a sand wedge).

What It Builds:

• Landing spot awareness and carry distance control
• Trajectory adjustments with different lies and club choices
• Touch and accuracy without relying on “guess-and-hope” rollout

This game helps you internalize one of the most important short game fundamentals: you can’t control your rollout unless you can first control where the ball lands.

Resource: How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan

One Club, Five Shots

Versatility is the hallmark of a great short game. This creative game trains you to use one club — typically your sand wedge or lob wedge — to hit five different types of shots from varying lies and trajectories. It forces you to adjust technique, face angle, and swing length without switching clubs — just like you often have to do on the course.

How to Play:

• Pick one wedge (such as your 56° or 60°) and prepare for 5 distinct short game shots:
  1. Low runner: minimal air time, maximum rollout
  2. Standard chip: mid trajectory, moderate rollout
  3. High flop or soft landing chip: high trajectory, minimal rollout
  4. Chip from rough: ball sitting down with grass behind it
  5. Downhill or tight lie chip: ball close to green with little green to work with
• Hit each shot in sequence and rate yourself on a 1–5 scale based on how close you leave the ball or how well you executed the intended shot.

Scoring Option:

• Add up your score out of 25. Try to beat it each practice session.
• Bonus: Play a 3-round match (best total score over 3 sets of 5 shots).

What It Builds:

• Clubface and loft creativity — learning how to open or close the face to manipulate height and spin
• Feel for different shot types using just one tool
• On-course adaptability for when you don’t have time to change clubs

This game teaches you to become more athletic with your hands and feel, not just rely on changing wedges. It’s especially helpful for players who want to simplify their short game without carrying 3–4 different specialty wedges.

Elimination Chipping

Elimination Chipping is a high-pressure game that mimics the mental challenge of needing to get up and down during a round. The format is simple: you must succeed from every station in order to complete the game — and a single mistake means starting over. This game is perfect for simulating tournament-like nerves and focusing your attention on one ball at a time.

How to Play:

• Set up 3 to 5 different chipping stations around the green. Include a variety of lies and shot types: uphill chip, short-sided shot, rough lie, downhill chip, etc.
• From each station, hit one chip and one putt. The goal is to get up and down.
• If you succeed, move on to the next station. If you fail (i.e., don’t get up and down), return to the first station and start over.

Scoring Option:

• Track how many total attempts it takes you to complete all stations in a single run.
• Set a goal to complete the challenge in fewer attempts each week.
• Advanced version: Add a new station each time you beat your previous record.

What It Builds:

• Mental resilience and patience — especially after a setback
• Focused pre-shot routines — one ball, one chance
• Consistency across a variety of lies and conditions

This game forces you to treat every shot like it counts — because it does. The pressure to perform under a do-or-die structure mirrors real course situations, especially when you’re trying to save par or keep a good round going.

Match Play With a Friend

If you want to add competition, fun, and pressure to your chipping practice, this is the go-to format. Practicing with a friend in a match play setup raises your intensity and simulates real on-course challenges — especially when there’s something on the line, even if it’s just bragging rights.

How to Play:

• Grab a partner and take turns selecting chipping spots around the green.
• Both players hit one chip from the same location.
• Whoever finishes closer to the hole wins the hole. If both are equally close, the hole is halved.
• Play a match play format — first to 5 points (or holes) wins.

Variations:

• Add putting: After each chip, finish out with a putt. Only award the point for a true up-and-down.
• Blind pick: Have one player choose the lie and one choose the pin — keeps both players challenged.
• Pressure playoff: If tied, go to sudden death with a tough chip shot under pressure.

What It Builds:

• Competition focus — you’re no longer just practicing, you’re playing to win
• Peer accountability — your technique and results are being watched
• Performance under pressure — great for tournament prep or league players

This game makes chipping more engaging, especially if solo practice has started to feel stale. And it’s ideal for golf buddies who want to improve together while keeping things light and competitive.

Questions to Track Progress and Wrap Up Your Practice

Chipping games do more than make practice fun — they introduce accountability, structure, and feedback, which are the exact ingredients missing from most short game routines. By tracking your performance, setting small goals, and keeping score, you build pressure-resistant skills that translate directly to better scoring on the course.

As you start working these games into your routine, ask yourself:

• Which types of chip shots am I most confident with? Which ones still feel uncomfortable under pressure?
• Am I able to land the ball consistently where I intend to? Or is my contact and trajectory inconsistent?
• How does my short game hold up when I only get one shot? Can I maintain focus, or do I rush the process?
• Am I practicing variety? Or do I keep hitting the same easy chip over and over?
• Have I improved since last week’s scores? What specific skill can I focus on in my next session?

The goal is to stop practicing randomly and start practicing with purpose. These games are designed to help you simulate real pressure, measure your progress, and develop touch and control — all while keeping things fun and competitive.

Add just one or two of these games into each short game session, and you’ll quickly notice your confidence growing around the greens.

Golf Practice Plans to Follow

• How to Score in the 60’s Golf Training Plan
• How to Score in the 70’s Golf Training Plan
• How to Score in the 80’s Golf Training Plan
• All Access: Get Every Practice Plan (Lifetime Membership)

Thanks for reading today’s article!

Nick Foy – Golf Instructor