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Birdie Putts at Dandridge: What Every Made Putt Has in Common

Watch enough birdie putts drop — like this compilation from around Dandridge Golf Course — and patterns emerge. The holes are different, the distances are different, but the made putts share a DNA. Study what the conversions have in common and you can copy it, because none of it is talent. It is all process.

The Common Threads

• Decisive reads. Nobody in this video is standing over the ball second-guessing. Read it, trust it, stroke it.
• Confident pace. Every one of these putts gets to the hole. Short putts never go in — the hole cannot grab a ball that dies two feet away.
• Quiet bodies. Watch the lower body and head: still. The stroke is all shoulders and arms, no extra moving parts.
• Uphill looks. Notice how many of these birdie chances are uphill putts — the approach shots were played to the right spots. Easier read, easier pace, more makes.

Steal the Formula

You do not need a new putter; you need the habits. Putt everything out in practice rounds (no gimmes) to build pressure-tested confidence. End every practice session by holing ten three-footers in a row — boring, but it programs the expectation of the ball going in. Then on the course, give every birdie putt the same committed process you see here.

Birdie putts are not random. They are the output of good approaches, confident reads, and committed strokes — repeatable by anyone willing to build the routine.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

Vokey 56 with 8 Degrees of Bounce, M Grind: What It All Means

Wedge specs sound like alphabet soup until someone explains them — so let’s decode this one. The video above features a Titleist Vokey 56-degree wedge with 8 degrees of bounce and an M grind. Here’s what each of those numbers does for your short game.

Bounce: Your Insurance Policy

Bounce is the angle of the club’s sole — and it’s what keeps the wedge from digging. Eight degrees is a medium-low bounce: versatile enough for most conditions, but happiest on firmer turf and tighter lies where too much bounce would cause thin, bladed shots. If your home course has firm fairways, 8 degrees of bounce is right in the sweet spot.

The M Grind: Versatility King

The grind is the shaping of the sole, and Vokey’s M grind is the all-rounder: medium bounce with heel, toe, and trailing-edge relief. That relief lets you open the face for flop shots without the leading edge digging, and square it up for full swings without worry. It’s the grind fitters hand to players who want one wedge that does everything.

The takeaway: specs matter, but fit matters more. A 56/08 M is a brilliant all-purpose wedge — just make sure your bounce matches your turf and your swing. When in doubt, get fit; the right wedge feels like cheating.

One last thing: keep those grooves clean. A wire brush and a wet towel between shots preserve the spin that bounce and grind are designed to produce. The fanciest wedge in the world can’t grab the ball if the grooves are packed with mud — five seconds of cleaning protects your investment.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

100 Chip Shots to 25 Yards: The Block Practice Drill That Builds Touch

The video above is beautifully simple: 100 chip shots, 25 yards, one landing target. No fancy training aids, no swing thoughts — just relentless, focused repetition. It might be the most effective short-game session an amateur can do.

Block practice gets a bad reputation because people do it mindlessly, but around the greens it is exactly what builds touch. Chipping is a feel skill, and feel comes from volume: seeing the ball land, watching it roll, and calibrating your hands to the distance over and over until it becomes automatic.

How to Run the 100-Chip Session

Set a landing target, not a hole target. Place a towel or an alignment stick 25 yards out and make the goal landing the ball on it — the roll-out takes care of itself once your landing spot is dialed. Tour players think in landing spots; amateurs think in holes. Copy the tour players.

Track your makes in blocks of ten. Write down how many of each ten land within a three-foot circle of the target. Watching the numbers climb from three to six to eight across the session is incredibly motivating, and it turns a grind into a game.

Vary one thing at a time. Once the stock shot is grooving, switch clubs — same 25-yard target, different trajectory. A pitching wedge that flies and stops versus an 8-iron that runs out gives you two weapons for the same distance.

One hundred chips sounds like a lot until you realize it takes about thirty minutes. Do this drill weekly and your up-and-down percentage will quietly become the best part of your game.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

Core Golf 25-Ball Small Bucket: The Most Efficient Range Session in Golf

Here is a controversial opinion: the small bucket is better than the large bucket. This video shows a focused 25-ball range session — “core golf” work with a small bucket — and it is a masterclass in practicing with purpose instead of mindlessly beating balls into the distance.

The problem with 100-ball sessions is that ball 60 through 100 are usually junk reps: tired swings, no target, no feedback. Twenty-five balls forces economy. Every swing has to count, so you pick targets, commit to routines, and actually think — which is exactly how you should practice.

How to Structure Your 25 Balls

Split the bucket into blocks: 5 balls for warm-up and tempo (smooth half swings), 10 balls for your “core” work (one specific skill, like start lines with your 7-iron), 5 balls playing imaginary holes (driver then approach, just like the course), and 5 balls for short game or trouble shots. Every block has a goal; no ball is wasted.

Between shots, step back and go through your full pre-shot routine. It slows the session down and makes each rep transfer to the course. A 25-ball session done this way beats a 100-ball bash session every single time.

Next time you are at the range, buy the small bucket on purpose. Practice like every ball costs you — because in a real round, every shot does.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

100 Balls, One Bucket: Making Range Sessions Count

A hundred balls and an empty range — the video above is a time-lapse of every golfer’s favorite ritual. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most 100-ball sessions make golfers worse, not better. Ball after ball, no plan, no feedback, just grooving the same flaws deeper with every swing.

The bucket isn’t the problem. The mindlessness is. A hundred balls with a purpose beats three hundred on autopilot every time. The time-lapse looks cool, but what matters is what happened between the swings.

The Structured 100-Ball Session

Split your bucket into blocks: 20 balls for warm-up and fundamentals (half swings, alignment checks), 40 balls for your focus skill (draws, wedges, whatever you’re working on), 30 balls for simulated on-course play (pick a target, go through your full routine, change clubs every few balls), and 10 balls for pressure (pick a “must-hit” target to finish).

Never hit the same club twice in a row during the simulation block. Real golf never gives you the same shot twice — your practice shouldn’t either. And take breaks: a focused 60-minute session beats a sloppy two-hour marathon.

End every session with something positive. Finish on a flushed 7-iron or a striped drive, and walk off the range with a good feeling in your body. Golf is a confidence game, and the last swing of the day is the one your brain remembers overnight.

Watch the time-lapse, then make your next bucket count. A hundred balls is plenty — if every one of them has a job to do.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

Hole Spotlight: Taming Red #2 at Dandridge

Every course has a hole that sets the tone for the round, and at Dandridge Golf and Country Club, Red #2 is an early exam. The video above walks it — and like most great second holes, it punishes the golfer who is still thinking about the first tee while rewarding the one who is already plotting. Early holes shape rounds; this one shapes them fast.

The strategic key to holes like Red #2 is playing the hole backward in your mind. Before you pull a club on the tee, picture your ideal approach: what yardage, from which side of the fairway, to which part of the green? Then choose the tee shot that creates that approach. Most golfers do this in reverse — hit driver because it is a par 4 or 5, then deal with whatever is left. The backward method turns Red #2 from a guessing game into a plan.

Respect the Early-Round Trap

The second hole carries a hidden danger: you are warmed up enough to feel confident but not grooved enough to be precise. That is when the big miss happens — the over-aggressive line, the hero shot before the swing is ready. On Red #2, the smart play is positional golf: find the fat of the fairway, take your medicine if the approach is long, and let the round come to you.

Study the green complex before you arrive. Mountain courses like Dandridge often defend early holes around the putting surface rather than off the tee — a false front here, a falloff there. Knowing where you cannot miss is more valuable than knowing where the pin is.

Play Red #2 with a plan and patience, and it stops being an exam — it becomes the hole where your round quietly begins.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

25-Ball Bucket on Time Lapse: Making Every Range Ball Count

A small bucket, two camera angles, and a time lapse — this video compresses a focused range session into seconds. But there is a real lesson in the format: 25 balls with intention beats 100 balls on autopilot. And filming from two angles turns a casual bucket into a genuine swing lab.

Quality Over Quantity

Most range sessions fail because they have no structure: ball after ball, same club, no target, mind wandering. Flip it. With 25 balls, every swing has to matter. Pick a specific target for each shot, go through a mini routine, and grade the result. Five deliberate 7-irons at a target teach more than fifty rapid-fire ones into the void. The time lapse looks cool precisely because the session was dense with purpose.

Two Angles, Honest Feedback

One camera down the line, one face-on — that is all it takes to diagnose 90% of swing issues. Down-the-line shows your swing plane and path; face-on shows posture, ball position, and head movement. Film a few swings from both, compare against a simple checkpoint (are your hands ahead at impact? is your head steady?), and you have a feedback loop with no instructor required — though a lesson now and then still helps.

Next time you buy the small bucket instead of the large one, do not apologize for it. Twenty-five focused balls, filmed and reviewed, will move your handicap more than a jumbo bucket ever could.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

Playing 3 Holes on OptiShot 2: Simulator Practice That Transfers

Simulator golf gets dismissed as a video game — until you use it right. The video above shows three holes played on OptiShot 2, and it’s a perfect example of how sim sessions can genuinely sharpen your real game.

Treat It Like a Real Round

The secret is intent. Don’t just rapid-fire balls at the screen — play the holes like you would on the course. Pick targets, commit to clubs, go through your full pre-shot routine, and live with the results. Three focused holes beat thirty mindless range balls every time.

Use the sim’s feedback. OptiShot reads your club path, face angle, and speed at impact — data you’d never get from eyeballing range balls. If your path is consistently out-to-in, that’s a diagnosis you can take to the practice tee.

What Transfers — and What Doesn’t

Full-swing mechanics, distance control, and shot shaping transfer beautifully. What doesn’t: green reading, uneven lies, and the mental weight of real consequences. Use the sim for the mechanical stuff in winter, then take it outside when the weather breaks.

Three holes, full focus, honest feedback — that’s a practice session worth having.

Bonus idea: use the sim to preview real courses. Many OptiShot libraries include famous tracks — play the course you’re visiting next month from your garage and arrive already knowing the doglegs, the carries, and the greens. That’s not gaming the system; that’s preparation.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.

Back to Basics: The Pure Joy of Hitting Golf Balls

Sometimes the title says it all: hitting golf balls with a golf club. No launch monitor, no swing tip, no overthinking — just the simple, satisfying act captured in the video above. And honestly? Every golfer needs more sessions like this.

Modern golf culture pushes constant improvement: fix the slice, shallow the club, optimize the numbers. But improvement without joy burns out fast. The golfers who stick with the game for decades are the ones who still love the feeling of a well-struck 7-iron — the click, the flight, the divot. Protecting that love is legitimate practice.

Making Simple Range Time Productive

Give the session one tiny goal. Not a swing overhaul — just one feel, like smooth tempo or solid contact. Hit balls with that single thought and nothing else. Constraints breed focus, and focus breeds the crisp strikes that make range sessions fun.

Hit every club once through the bag. Start with wedges, work up to driver, then come back down. It keeps the session moving, stops you from grooving one bad pattern for an hour, and reminds you which clubs you actually enjoy hitting.

End on a good one. Always. The last ball of the session should be a flushed shot you walk away remembering — it is what brings you back tomorrow. Golf is hard enough; there is no rule that practice cannot feel like play.

⛳️ Want more raw, unfiltered golf? Browse the full Shankers Blog — every shot, every round, no fluff.