Golf Short Game Practice Plan for 11 and 12 Year Olds
At 11 and 12, the PITCH arrives: the bigger short-game engine (wrists hinging, body turning, the club swinging to hip-height and beyond) for the jobs the chip cannot do: longer carries, softer landings, flights over trouble. With two tools in the bag, CHOICE becomes the skill: chip when the ground can be trusted, pitch when the air must be, and the choosing gets drilled as deliberately as the swings.
This session runs about an hour with a wedge, balls, towels, and enough backyard (or short-game area) for twenty-to-forty-foot shots. The pitch gets built on the chip's religion (brush the grass, loft does the lifting) with the engine simply enlarged, and every block ends in the same professional question, asked aloud: what does this shot NEED: more roll or more air?
This plan was written for every 11 and 12 year old. ParentEdge writes one for yours.
Built around their game, their goals, and what they’re working on.
What exactly is the difference between a chip and a pitch?
Engine size and job: the chip is the putting-like brush that flies low and rolls (for trustable ground), the pitch adds wrist hinge and body turn to fly higher and stop sooner (for carries and soft landings). Ratio of flight to roll is the practical tell, and choosing between them is the real skill.
How does a kid stop chunking and thinning pitches?
The brush spot: both misses are the club bottoming out in the wrong place, usually from trying to help the ball up or from the ball drifting in the stance. The cure is always the same: rehearse the brush on the grass, keep the ball centered-ish, weight slightly forward, and let the L's loft do the lifting.
Should young golfers learn flop shots?
Not yet: the flop is a specialty tool with a big swing and small margin, best learned at 13-plus after the standard pitch is reliable. The two-tool menu (running chip, standard pitch) covers essentially every junior situation, and choosing well between them beats owning exotic shots badly.