3 weeks of daily short game practice made me worse, what the hell

[DrivingRange_Dan]

So I committed to the whole "short game is where you score" thing. 45 minutes a day on the chipping green, every day for three weeks. Different lies, different clubs, 30 to 60 yard pitches, bunker reps, the works. Felt great. Felt like I was building something.

Then Saturday I played a money match and chunked two straight chips in front of the group. Not skulled, not thin, full on fat, club digging in behind the ball like I was trying to plant a tree. I hadn't chunked a chip like that in months. Months!

Here's my theory and I want to know if anyone else has hit this. When I practice a ton I start checking positions. Wrist set here, weight there, hands ahead, ball back in the stance. On the course I'm standing over a simple 8 yard chip and my brain is running a checklist instead of just looking at the hole and hitting the thing. The more reps I get, the more I have to think about.

What snapped me out of it was going back to the most braindead approach possible. Pick a landing spot, look at it, one rehearsal, hit. Dropped 4 of my next 5 to gimme range. Didn't touch a wedge for two days after that on purpose.

So how do you all actually practice short game without it turning into a swing lesson? Do you just hit a pile of balls at one target and go? Do you play games? I've heard of people doing the "up and down 10 in a row from 4 spots" thing but I feel like that just adds pressure reps, not feel reps. Curious what's worked for the high-ish handicaps in here.