Programming non-volatile memory includes applying a series of programming pulses to the memory cells as part of a coarse/fine programming process. Between programming pulses, memory cells in the coarse phase are verified for a coarse phase verify level for a target data state and memory cells in the fine phase are verified for a fine phase verify level for the target data state, both in response to a single reference voltage applied on a common word line. For a memory cell in the coarse phase that has been verified to have reached the coarse phase verify level, the memory cell will be temporarily inhibited from programming for a next programming pulse and switched to the fine phase. For a memory cell in the fine phase that has been verified to have reached the fine phase verify level, the memory cell will be inhibited from further programming.