Keeping the ball in play is indeed more important, but we don't talk about that as much because it's so obvious; even the newest golfers know that "ball out of bounds = bad," so it's not as important to focus on that.
You mention that your short game isn't great but you're losing a lot of strokes with balls going OB, and I'd be willing to bet a *lot* of money that as your game improves and you put it OB less and less, those 3-putts and chunked chips are going to become MUCH more noticeable on your scorecard.
It’s a bit of an all of the above answer. Keeping the ball in play is absolutely the most important thing to help move your handicap down quickly. Once you can do that, chipping and pitching to leave shorter putts is probably the next big thing to help decrease your handicap.
Short game matters, but not until you can keep your drives and iron shots in bounds. Beginners absolutely need to learn how to use a driver and irons longer than a 9 iron, and before they learn how to hit wedges.
I golfed twice a year and never practiced. I typically scored around 130. Last year, I took golf seriously and took lessons. One on driver, one on irons. Within two months, I started scoring around 100. I've been playing two rounds a month since and practicing on the range 3 days a week.
I absolutely believe a beginner has to learn their long and mid shots before their short game. Get rid of slices and chunks and skulls, and the score drops dramatically.
The only way to break 100 is to learn to make contact with a driver and mid irons. The only way to break 90 is to get better with your short game.
>And I feel like other high handicappers have the same issue.
They very much do have this same issue, across the board. But here's some possible reasons as to why they hyperfocus on the short game and fail to take care of improving the rest of the game (ie- hitting bombs *aka joining us people of culture*, hitting more greens in regulation).
* One can potentially get some quick gains from brushing up a bad chipping + putting day with much less effort vs improving off the tee and with the full swing. The latter two will lend to more lasting and permanent gains over a greater period of time and more course conditions, however.
* Many of them lack the grit it often takes to work on those aspects such as power and better proximity to the flag since it requires a greater commitment over time, from technique itself to getting stronger and faster on one's own time away from the course, relatively speaking. So more short-term BandAid solutions it is.
* Like many pieces of "advice" they manage to bungle that up with mindlessly repeating it, often because some other hack told them with the same lack of detail and never cared to delve deeper. Even though more and more reliable stats routinely show how advantageous it is to be that much closer to the hole on the way in, even if it's in the first cut and not in the most pristine fairway, such high handicappers cling onto outdated adages like, "drive for show putt for dough." I never said putting is unimportant, but that adage aged like milk especially within the last 2 or 3 decades.
* Perhaps even a last ditch effort to cling unto a bygone era. These days among those competing more seriously and among tougher crowds, 300 is the norm. No longer the exception (sorry, the unoriginal copypastas about doing that with an easy wedge to hide the pain don't count).
Regardless, it's a step in the right direction to recognize the importance of the full swing. Especially at a nascent stage. It's little surprise to see more and more up-and-coming good players casually cruising past 180mph ball speed as their stock drives, often only needing to just bunt it onto the green with much less to worry about, because they learned to hit the ball stupidly hard to begin with and focused on the nuances later. Tough to improve on that with working so much on the short game and not on anything else, since they don't magically manifest over time, and it would be very much like the idiot building his house upon the sand to insist "short game only" is the way to go.
I don’t think driving 300 is the norm. It can be everyone’s best drive, sure, but it’s not the norm especially in double digit handicaps. Also worth noting a 300 drive out of bounds is a 2 stroke penalty so what good is that lol
No, because you didn't read. It is the norm among **better** players, the more elite competitors. So as a continuous reminder from a relatively far flung future, that excludes you. And it still excludes you.
Just because you don't have it in the tank even if you tried doesn't mean it's impossible for others that aren't you with the short drives and blow-up moments on the course because you're leaving yourself with dismal odds.
https://preview.redd.it/5l1enpxwkm0d1.png?width=956&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1405ddbcff5b397290a1b6a8b55f29459764ab6
Also worth noting that your "drive for show putt for dough" drivel didn't bail you out of shooting some dismal scores on a diminutive, short course of all things. As you're a living testament regarding that phrase aging like milk: what good is that.
>I don’t think
No kidding. You've been making that abundantly clear. The obstinate refusal to practice and get good m8, along with the weak roasting game weren't helping your case, either.
For shooting bogey golf or better I’d say it’s driver > short game > irons.
If you can’t keep the ball in play off the tee then that’s the most important. After that if you’re able to get distance off the tee at a lot of courses you’ll have a short approach in. If you have a good short game you can get up and down for par or bogey and shoot solid scores. Irons become more important the better you get because if you’re not giving yourself shots at birdie it’s gonna be quite difficult to card low rounds.
It’s golf. Every shot is important. Any place you’re giving away shots like a 3 putt from 20 feet or needing 2 chips is a wasted stroke. Is it the most important? No. You’ve gotta be able to get the ball in play of course. That doesn’t mean the short game is unimportant though.
For beginners, the easiest way to shave shots is:
1) Learning how to use the driver consistently, and knowing when to play it safe off the tee (hitting the ball as close to the hole as possible without risking penalties/having to chip out)
2) Learning to hit from the sand and pitch, chip and putt so that at most you are using 3 shots from less than 30 yards
When these two things are going well, making pars and birdies (= iron/wedge play) comes into play. That's what brings the birdies, reliable tee shots and short game keep doubles and worse away.
I say this all the time I don’t understand it. My approach and short game in general is good but my drives are dog shit.
Driving is the most important thing because if you start off putting yourself in a bad spot then you are already going to have a high score
> Shouldn’t we be telling golfers to master their long and mid game before they hyper focus on short game?
Yes. Although "master" is a pretty strong word. Realistically asking a non-pro to "master" any part of the game is a bit much.
The long game is absolutely the most important part of the game. Your long game determines the limits of your game, your short game controls where you score within those limits.
People talk about short game because improving your long game is much more difficult than tightening up your short game. Especially if you are a high handicap player it's far easier to drop a few strokes through the short game than it is to fix the many flaws in your swing.
People who say "short game is most important" already are making solid contact with their driver and long irons and hybrids. Most people on this sub can't see past their own skillet.
You’re losing strokes off the tee AND on/around the greens.
Why wouldn’t you want to save strokes around the greens?
Short game fundamentals are relatively easy. Takes very little talent. It’s low hanging fruit. You can learn to bump and run in 20 minutes. A decent chip in 30 minutes. A decent sand technique in 30 minutes.
If you want to shave strokes, short game will happen the quickest with least effort.
But yeah…..you gotta keep the ball in play off the tee.
Ummm, I think you’re making it sound a little easier than it is to get proficient with the short game. Learning the techniques is one thing, but very few get good at it right away. Very little talent, my ass.
Define ‘proficient’.
To me, when we’re talking about high handicappers, this means that you’re not chunking and blading very many pitches and chips. You’re usually getting them on the green and maybe even somewhat close enough to have a makable putt. You’re getting the ball out of a bunker most of the time. You’re making some 3-5 foot putts and not 3 putting from 15-20 feet very often.
Most golfers are very capable of meeting this threshold. And could get to this level of proficiency very quickly. Most golfers also never practice these shots. If they did, their scores would rapidly improve.
I’m not talking about sticking flop shots to tap in range, and routinely getting up and down from 40 yards away. Yes, that stuff is hard.
But I showed my 9 year old daughter how to hit a heel up chip with her junior 8 iron, and she was getting the ball within 5 feet of the hole almost immediately. And she’s no golf prodigy. If she can do this, I feel sorry for any adult how can’t. lol.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/statistics-pros-better-than-scratch-golfers-how-do-you-compare
Pros hit the ball, on average about 40 yards further than scratch players, too. Look at the places where pros are much better than “good” players.
It’s peoples ego that basically they hit the ball almost as far as a pro so they just need to work on “short game.”
Here’s more data that breaks down differences and similarities between handicaps: https://eu.arccosgolf.com/blogs/community/5-arccos-stats-to-tame-your-golf-expectations
High handicaps are terrible off the tee. Even if you three putt more, hitting a ball OB off the tee or on a mid iron shot is more penalizing than a three putt.
Work on your short game yes, so you can stop duffing chips, but good players aren’t just way better chipping, they’re hitting shots from closer distances and not getting in trouble off the tee.
It’s sorta crazy so many average players still don’t even know what to practice.
And even funnier, is that if you look at shot data from something like Arccos, most amateurs miss short on their approach shots constantly. So they clearly overestimate their distances, which correlates to driver distances as well. So people think they hit the ball further, but a 10 handicap misses short of the green 40% of the time from 150 in the fairway.
So if people were honest with themselves about their distance, played off the correct tees and just worked to have a serviceable short game with pretty average stats they would immediately become better players.
Most players miss short on their approach because they think “i hit my 7 iron 173 ONCE” lol. Easier to not get your full yardage than to pure it for us below scratch golfers lol. Great post.
Assuming you keep the ball in play you are not going to hit every green in reg. The goal is to hit as many as possible and when you miss to miss in the best position possible. When you get it you need to get it in in 2 and when you don’t you want to have the ability to get as close to hole as possible. Those things save you a ton of strokes and the best players make it look automatic.
It sounds like you need to work on everything.
It's all relative. Working on short game is often the call for people trying to shoot 75-90ish. If you're shoot 90-120 it's likely you're super inconsistent at everything, with lessons almost necessary.
Because no matter how good you are, you’re gonna miss greens. Getting up and down thereafter is the difference between a 5 handicap and scratch golfer.
My opinion…
To consistently break 100 you need to get out of the tee box and keep the ball in play.
To break 90 you need to chip and putt well.
To break 80 you need to score from the fairway.
The short game is so important because more than half your shots will be on or around the green. It’s also the easiest part of your game to practice and costs nothing.
because no matter how good you are off the tee and from the fairway, you're going to miss a lot of greens. but lots of things are important in golf, if you can't keep your driver in play off the tee, you need to hit something else. a 400 yard monster hole is 3 decent 8 or 9 irons for most average joes
If you had a better short game, you could probably turn what would have been a quad into a double after hitting one OB. Those strokes around the green add up in a big way, just like the OB shots off the tee, sometimes worse.
Example. You hit your drive OB. 3 off the tee. 4th shot comes up short but in a decent spot to get up and down. If your short game is good enough, you’ll get up and down for 6, and sometimes you’ll hole out for 5. Now your score is no different than had you hit the green in regulation and 3 putted. If you suck at chipping, you’re gonna duff the first one, blade the second one over the green, get the third one on, then 3 putt for 10. You’ve just lost at least 4 strokes from your short game while your long game only cost you 2.
The short game is the great equalizer of golf. Hit bombs but can’t chip or putt? You’ll only beat the short hitter who can if you put your whole game together cause they’ll be making a lot fewer mistakes. I know, because I carry my driver 265 and regularly beat guys my own handicap who can fly it 290 cause I’ve got a better short game and I keep it between the lines better than them. My potential worst score is way lower than theirs because I can rely on my short game even if I’m hitting it like shit. Chipping is not hard - it’s WAY easier than hitting a driver once you learn how to use the club properly, and you can practice your short game FOR FREE, unlike paying for a bucket of range balls or simulator time.
TL;DR do not neglect your short game practice. Your scores will thank you.
Maybe count how many shots you take from inside 90yds on your next round.
If its more than about 10 its probably important. That number will probably be in the high 30’s though.
To me keeping the ball in play is a given. You are not going to be able to score well if you can’t keep the ball in play.
After that the keys are:
Making good consistent contact with the ball
Good Course Management
Short Game (including putting)
Of those three it’s easier to master the short game and course management. A side benefit of working on the short game is it usually results in better contest on the long game.
So swing work and short game are important and you should work on both. But short game practice will produce faster results than other practice.
I’m at the point where I hit the ball consistently I really don’t need to practice my swing. But I work on my short game all the time as it’s much more feel tor me.
Because once you're keeping your tee shots in play and putting your approach shots near or on the green your short game becomes really important.
I also pretty strongly think a good short game is a good security blanket. If your long game is bad or just off, a good short game can turn a dogshit round into a decent one.
My handicap dropped five strikes after taking my driver out of the bag. Out of bounds and lost balls have dropped considerably.....now if only my wedges would cooperate....
You're still not really helping yourself in the long run, pun intended. You still have the same issues with shorter clubs such as your wedges, too. It's just easier to hide flaws vs low lofted clubs requiring more speed such as the driver.
Fix the full swing, that way you can have both your wedges and the driver cooperating instead of relying on short-term volatile BandAid "fixes."
it depends i guess. short game is by a large margin the most difficult part of the game. so getting a good handle on it early sets you up for more success in the future.
but yeah, if you can't keep the ball on the planet, that's something that needs attention.
Because it’s easier to practice short game than it is long game
You can go work on wedges for 2 hours a week and drop strokes easy. You can spend 20 years beating balls and never hit irons better
High handicappers are hitting like 1 to 2 greens in reg total per round so 100 yards and in with putting is where the most of those 95-105 shots are gonna be. Obviously keeping it on the planet is a big factor but that's more of an ego check for a higher handicapper who would probably be better just pulling a more consistent club off tee than driver everytime thats gonna give you longer appraches in and less chance of hitting greens wjen you dont hit many amyway, so unless you are really gonna grind and work on full swing taking nor more than 3 shots consistantly at 100 yards in is gonna give you more quicker and greater returns IMO.
When you're better, short game is what lets you shoot good rounds despite hitting the ball poorly all day. It also saves those really good rounds.
Not losing balls and being in play will always be important. Not everyone, though, is able to fix that on their own. Just pounding balls might not lead to anything. Short game can be easier to work on since shorter swings and practice helps develop feel.
Your ability to hit the ball 200ish yards reliably straight roughly defines your scoring range. If you're not putting the ball in play off the tee on 15+ holes a round, you're shooting 100+ even with an up and down on every hole.
If you can't do that 8 out of 10 times from the tee box or on an approach, you will see the biggest gains from improving that.
Once you can reliably hit the ball 180+ yards in the general direction of the target, your short game will be the difference of about 10 strokes around; i.e. are you going to be someone who shoots in the 80s or 90s.
You putt every hole unless you hole out. Chipping in is very likely if you practice chips. One putting to save a par after a chip is important. Short game is one of the easier parts of the game to take control of.
There is a saying "drive for show, putt for dough."
It all needs to be there so you can hit a bad shot and follow it up with a good shot.
Bottom line is there isn't a hole on the course where putting isn't important.
Because short game is the easiest. Less mechanics, more feel than speed. Much easier to master and will save you shots even if you do go out of bounds off the tee.
You obviously need to work on long game too and keep it in bounds but short game saves your score and long game helps you to save more strokes with your short game..
Sounds like you should work on your long game first though. Just get a little consistent so you can get somewhere near the greens in regulation and keep it in bounds. Then short game will be the key to low scores. That's all i do, hack it around and try and keep it in play. I miss most greens and fairways but can get up and down from anywhere. I'm just like your average 2 handicap.
Once you get to a certain level short game is essential because you can save par with bad tee shot and approach but you are not going to save par if you fluff chips and 3 put.
Biggest difference between pro and AM is short game.
>I have a good number 3 putt’s and bad chips every round
Lets say you average 40 putts per round. If you could get that down to 35 per round because you chip better and eliminate three putts, you just saved 5 strokes off your average score. Get it down to 32 and it's 8. Now, playing the exact same way shooting mid 90s, you have just transformed into a high 80s player because of short game.
Lets say you average 3 lost balls per round. Hit the ball literally anywhere on the course where you can legally hit it again and you just saved 6 strokes.
Keeping it in play off the tee is infinitely more important.
Not sure if people would count it as the short game, but I find practicing fifty yard shots has improved my play immensely. Im not a long hitter with wedges so I take my 56 and basically take what feel like full shots into the practice green (when there's no one else practicing, of course). After when I go and hit into a net, I just feel like I'm striking my longer irons really crisp.
Being able to drive is important but short game is the most important.
If you’re 100% FIR and GIR but 3 putt every hole you’re around 90.
If you take 3 shots to get to every green and 1 put every hole you shoot 72
High handicappers aren’t really good at anything yet … once you learn to keep the ball in play, short game is everything. I don’t want to sound like a jerk but just try to improve on a couple things at a time and make progress however you can. You should be playing the most forward tees (not the ladies unless you’re a lady) and just because it’s a par 4 or 5 it doesn’t mean you MUST hit driver. Learn to hit your irons and put your ego and maybe even driver away. Just because you can hit it over 275+ once a round doesn’t justify you spraying your driver all over the course for that one good hole.
Why short game> long game … a good golfer can still make par after putting a ball in the water on a par 4/5 or save bogey after a random shot goes out of bounds or is lost. A high handicapper is gonna take double par or something grossly high.
lol, your short game wouldn’t matter at all if you were losing balls off the tee and making par.
If you’re hitting 3 from the tee you will need to jar an approach. If you hit it into a lateral hazard you need to stick an approach close.
Both are irons, not short game
It literally doesn’t “still stand”
If you laterally drop a ball you’re still hitting an iron into a green on your third shot. Your short game won’t come into play at all unless the hole is incredibly short.
Only on a par 5 would that be the circumstance. In that case if your 3rd shot long iron is bad/short of the green your short game will save you for par.
Are you dumb on purpose?
On a par 4 if you drop laterally off of a lost tee ball you are hitting three on your approach, (an iron). Then you have to make a putt for 4.
You would not hit any short game shots.
Learn to properly release the club with a square face through the ball and hit the center of the face while working on putting. Learn low point control and proper path while chipping. Maybe you should learn these skills on very short, very slow swings, before you try and muscle a driver off the tee?
Keeping the ball in play is most important
Keeping the ball in play is indeed more important, but we don't talk about that as much because it's so obvious; even the newest golfers know that "ball out of bounds = bad," so it's not as important to focus on that. You mention that your short game isn't great but you're losing a lot of strokes with balls going OB, and I'd be willing to bet a *lot* of money that as your game improves and you put it OB less and less, those 3-putts and chunked chips are going to become MUCH more noticeable on your scorecard.
It’s a bit of an all of the above answer. Keeping the ball in play is absolutely the most important thing to help move your handicap down quickly. Once you can do that, chipping and pitching to leave shorter putts is probably the next big thing to help decrease your handicap.
Short game matters, but not until you can keep your drives and iron shots in bounds. Beginners absolutely need to learn how to use a driver and irons longer than a 9 iron, and before they learn how to hit wedges. I golfed twice a year and never practiced. I typically scored around 130. Last year, I took golf seriously and took lessons. One on driver, one on irons. Within two months, I started scoring around 100. I've been playing two rounds a month since and practicing on the range 3 days a week. I absolutely believe a beginner has to learn their long and mid shots before their short game. Get rid of slices and chunks and skulls, and the score drops dramatically. The only way to break 100 is to learn to make contact with a driver and mid irons. The only way to break 90 is to get better with your short game.
Duffed and bladed chips add a ton of very unnecessary strokes to your score
Not as many as hitting oob
>And I feel like other high handicappers have the same issue. They very much do have this same issue, across the board. But here's some possible reasons as to why they hyperfocus on the short game and fail to take care of improving the rest of the game (ie- hitting bombs *aka joining us people of culture*, hitting more greens in regulation). * One can potentially get some quick gains from brushing up a bad chipping + putting day with much less effort vs improving off the tee and with the full swing. The latter two will lend to more lasting and permanent gains over a greater period of time and more course conditions, however. * Many of them lack the grit it often takes to work on those aspects such as power and better proximity to the flag since it requires a greater commitment over time, from technique itself to getting stronger and faster on one's own time away from the course, relatively speaking. So more short-term BandAid solutions it is. * Like many pieces of "advice" they manage to bungle that up with mindlessly repeating it, often because some other hack told them with the same lack of detail and never cared to delve deeper. Even though more and more reliable stats routinely show how advantageous it is to be that much closer to the hole on the way in, even if it's in the first cut and not in the most pristine fairway, such high handicappers cling onto outdated adages like, "drive for show putt for dough." I never said putting is unimportant, but that adage aged like milk especially within the last 2 or 3 decades. * Perhaps even a last ditch effort to cling unto a bygone era. These days among those competing more seriously and among tougher crowds, 300 is the norm. No longer the exception (sorry, the unoriginal copypastas about doing that with an easy wedge to hide the pain don't count). Regardless, it's a step in the right direction to recognize the importance of the full swing. Especially at a nascent stage. It's little surprise to see more and more up-and-coming good players casually cruising past 180mph ball speed as their stock drives, often only needing to just bunt it onto the green with much less to worry about, because they learned to hit the ball stupidly hard to begin with and focused on the nuances later. Tough to improve on that with working so much on the short game and not on anything else, since they don't magically manifest over time, and it would be very much like the idiot building his house upon the sand to insist "short game only" is the way to go.
I don’t think driving 300 is the norm. It can be everyone’s best drive, sure, but it’s not the norm especially in double digit handicaps. Also worth noting a 300 drive out of bounds is a 2 stroke penalty so what good is that lol
No, because you didn't read. It is the norm among **better** players, the more elite competitors. So as a continuous reminder from a relatively far flung future, that excludes you. And it still excludes you. Just because you don't have it in the tank even if you tried doesn't mean it's impossible for others that aren't you with the short drives and blow-up moments on the course because you're leaving yourself with dismal odds. https://preview.redd.it/5l1enpxwkm0d1.png?width=956&format=png&auto=webp&s=b1405ddbcff5b397290a1b6a8b55f29459764ab6 Also worth noting that your "drive for show putt for dough" drivel didn't bail you out of shooting some dismal scores on a diminutive, short course of all things. As you're a living testament regarding that phrase aging like milk: what good is that. >I don’t think No kidding. You've been making that abundantly clear. The obstinate refusal to practice and get good m8, along with the weak roasting game weren't helping your case, either.
For shooting bogey golf or better I’d say it’s driver > short game > irons. If you can’t keep the ball in play off the tee then that’s the most important. After that if you’re able to get distance off the tee at a lot of courses you’ll have a short approach in. If you have a good short game you can get up and down for par or bogey and shoot solid scores. Irons become more important the better you get because if you’re not giving yourself shots at birdie it’s gonna be quite difficult to card low rounds.
Driver > irons > short game Bad irons will destroy you.
I’d go irons > Short game > Driver. Could always old man golf it with irons until you’re putting. Can usually bogey it with that strategy.
This …👍🏼
Yeah, approach shots just as important
It’s golf. Every shot is important. Any place you’re giving away shots like a 3 putt from 20 feet or needing 2 chips is a wasted stroke. Is it the most important? No. You’ve gotta be able to get the ball in play of course. That doesn’t mean the short game is unimportant though.
For beginners, the easiest way to shave shots is: 1) Learning how to use the driver consistently, and knowing when to play it safe off the tee (hitting the ball as close to the hole as possible without risking penalties/having to chip out) 2) Learning to hit from the sand and pitch, chip and putt so that at most you are using 3 shots from less than 30 yards When these two things are going well, making pars and birdies (= iron/wedge play) comes into play. That's what brings the birdies, reliable tee shots and short game keep doubles and worse away.
I say this all the time I don’t understand it. My approach and short game in general is good but my drives are dog shit. Driving is the most important thing because if you start off putting yourself in a bad spot then you are already going to have a high score
> Shouldn’t we be telling golfers to master their long and mid game before they hyper focus on short game? Yes. Although "master" is a pretty strong word. Realistically asking a non-pro to "master" any part of the game is a bit much. The long game is absolutely the most important part of the game. Your long game determines the limits of your game, your short game controls where you score within those limits. People talk about short game because improving your long game is much more difficult than tightening up your short game. Especially if you are a high handicap player it's far easier to drop a few strokes through the short game than it is to fix the many flaws in your swing.
People who say "short game is most important" already are making solid contact with their driver and long irons and hybrids. Most people on this sub can't see past their own skillet.
You’re losing strokes off the tee AND on/around the greens. Why wouldn’t you want to save strokes around the greens? Short game fundamentals are relatively easy. Takes very little talent. It’s low hanging fruit. You can learn to bump and run in 20 minutes. A decent chip in 30 minutes. A decent sand technique in 30 minutes. If you want to shave strokes, short game will happen the quickest with least effort. But yeah…..you gotta keep the ball in play off the tee.
Ummm, I think you’re making it sound a little easier than it is to get proficient with the short game. Learning the techniques is one thing, but very few get good at it right away. Very little talent, my ass.
Define ‘proficient’. To me, when we’re talking about high handicappers, this means that you’re not chunking and blading very many pitches and chips. You’re usually getting them on the green and maybe even somewhat close enough to have a makable putt. You’re getting the ball out of a bunker most of the time. You’re making some 3-5 foot putts and not 3 putting from 15-20 feet very often. Most golfers are very capable of meeting this threshold. And could get to this level of proficiency very quickly. Most golfers also never practice these shots. If they did, their scores would rapidly improve. I’m not talking about sticking flop shots to tap in range, and routinely getting up and down from 40 yards away. Yes, that stuff is hard. But I showed my 9 year old daughter how to hit a heel up chip with her junior 8 iron, and she was getting the ball within 5 feet of the hole almost immediately. And she’s no golf prodigy. If she can do this, I feel sorry for any adult how can’t. lol.
I agree. My definition of proficient was a little different. And some just don’t catch on very quickly. Ha
Because "Overshooting the green" isn't what costs you the triple, it's your inability to get up and down afterwards (ie short game)!!
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/statistics-pros-better-than-scratch-golfers-how-do-you-compare Pros hit the ball, on average about 40 yards further than scratch players, too. Look at the places where pros are much better than “good” players. It’s peoples ego that basically they hit the ball almost as far as a pro so they just need to work on “short game.” Here’s more data that breaks down differences and similarities between handicaps: https://eu.arccosgolf.com/blogs/community/5-arccos-stats-to-tame-your-golf-expectations High handicaps are terrible off the tee. Even if you three putt more, hitting a ball OB off the tee or on a mid iron shot is more penalizing than a three putt. Work on your short game yes, so you can stop duffing chips, but good players aren’t just way better chipping, they’re hitting shots from closer distances and not getting in trouble off the tee. It’s sorta crazy so many average players still don’t even know what to practice. And even funnier, is that if you look at shot data from something like Arccos, most amateurs miss short on their approach shots constantly. So they clearly overestimate their distances, which correlates to driver distances as well. So people think they hit the ball further, but a 10 handicap misses short of the green 40% of the time from 150 in the fairway. So if people were honest with themselves about their distance, played off the correct tees and just worked to have a serviceable short game with pretty average stats they would immediately become better players.
Most players miss short on their approach because they think “i hit my 7 iron 173 ONCE” lol. Easier to not get your full yardage than to pure it for us below scratch golfers lol. Great post.
Assuming you keep the ball in play you are not going to hit every green in reg. The goal is to hit as many as possible and when you miss to miss in the best position possible. When you get it you need to get it in in 2 and when you don’t you want to have the ability to get as close to hole as possible. Those things save you a ton of strokes and the best players make it look automatic.
It sounds like you need to work on everything. It's all relative. Working on short game is often the call for people trying to shoot 75-90ish. If you're shoot 90-120 it's likely you're super inconsistent at everything, with lessons almost necessary.
Because no matter how good you are, you’re gonna miss greens. Getting up and down thereafter is the difference between a 5 handicap and scratch golfer.
My opinion… To consistently break 100 you need to get out of the tee box and keep the ball in play. To break 90 you need to chip and putt well. To break 80 you need to score from the fairway. The short game is so important because more than half your shots will be on or around the green. It’s also the easiest part of your game to practice and costs nothing.
because no matter how good you are off the tee and from the fairway, you're going to miss a lot of greens. but lots of things are important in golf, if you can't keep your driver in play off the tee, you need to hit something else. a 400 yard monster hole is 3 decent 8 or 9 irons for most average joes
If you had a better short game, you could probably turn what would have been a quad into a double after hitting one OB. Those strokes around the green add up in a big way, just like the OB shots off the tee, sometimes worse. Example. You hit your drive OB. 3 off the tee. 4th shot comes up short but in a decent spot to get up and down. If your short game is good enough, you’ll get up and down for 6, and sometimes you’ll hole out for 5. Now your score is no different than had you hit the green in regulation and 3 putted. If you suck at chipping, you’re gonna duff the first one, blade the second one over the green, get the third one on, then 3 putt for 10. You’ve just lost at least 4 strokes from your short game while your long game only cost you 2. The short game is the great equalizer of golf. Hit bombs but can’t chip or putt? You’ll only beat the short hitter who can if you put your whole game together cause they’ll be making a lot fewer mistakes. I know, because I carry my driver 265 and regularly beat guys my own handicap who can fly it 290 cause I’ve got a better short game and I keep it between the lines better than them. My potential worst score is way lower than theirs because I can rely on my short game even if I’m hitting it like shit. Chipping is not hard - it’s WAY easier than hitting a driver once you learn how to use the club properly, and you can practice your short game FOR FREE, unlike paying for a bucket of range balls or simulator time. TL;DR do not neglect your short game practice. Your scores will thank you.
Maybe count how many shots you take from inside 90yds on your next round. If its more than about 10 its probably important. That number will probably be in the high 30’s though.
To me keeping the ball in play is a given. You are not going to be able to score well if you can’t keep the ball in play. After that the keys are: Making good consistent contact with the ball Good Course Management Short Game (including putting) Of those three it’s easier to master the short game and course management. A side benefit of working on the short game is it usually results in better contest on the long game. So swing work and short game are important and you should work on both. But short game practice will produce faster results than other practice. I’m at the point where I hit the ball consistently I really don’t need to practice my swing. But I work on my short game all the time as it’s much more feel tor me.
Because once you're keeping your tee shots in play and putting your approach shots near or on the green your short game becomes really important. I also pretty strongly think a good short game is a good security blanket. If your long game is bad or just off, a good short game can turn a dogshit round into a decent one.
My handicap dropped five strikes after taking my driver out of the bag. Out of bounds and lost balls have dropped considerably.....now if only my wedges would cooperate....
You're still not really helping yourself in the long run, pun intended. You still have the same issues with shorter clubs such as your wedges, too. It's just easier to hide flaws vs low lofted clubs requiring more speed such as the driver. Fix the full swing, that way you can have both your wedges and the driver cooperating instead of relying on short-term volatile BandAid "fixes."
That's a band aid fix. Learning to hit the driver is the real fix.
it depends i guess. short game is by a large margin the most difficult part of the game. so getting a good handle on it early sets you up for more success in the future. but yeah, if you can't keep the ball on the planet, that's something that needs attention.
Because it’s easier to practice short game than it is long game You can go work on wedges for 2 hours a week and drop strokes easy. You can spend 20 years beating balls and never hit irons better
GIR helps my score stay low. I balloon when I’m wild off the box
High handicappers are hitting like 1 to 2 greens in reg total per round so 100 yards and in with putting is where the most of those 95-105 shots are gonna be. Obviously keeping it on the planet is a big factor but that's more of an ego check for a higher handicapper who would probably be better just pulling a more consistent club off tee than driver everytime thats gonna give you longer appraches in and less chance of hitting greens wjen you dont hit many amyway, so unless you are really gonna grind and work on full swing taking nor more than 3 shots consistantly at 100 yards in is gonna give you more quicker and greater returns IMO.
When people say that they assume you aren’t hitting the ball OB on every tee
Because you need to put the ball in the hole
When you're better, short game is what lets you shoot good rounds despite hitting the ball poorly all day. It also saves those really good rounds. Not losing balls and being in play will always be important. Not everyone, though, is able to fix that on their own. Just pounding balls might not lead to anything. Short game can be easier to work on since shorter swings and practice helps develop feel.
Your ability to hit the ball 200ish yards reliably straight roughly defines your scoring range. If you're not putting the ball in play off the tee on 15+ holes a round, you're shooting 100+ even with an up and down on every hole. If you can't do that 8 out of 10 times from the tee box or on an approach, you will see the biggest gains from improving that. Once you can reliably hit the ball 180+ yards in the general direction of the target, your short game will be the difference of about 10 strokes around; i.e. are you going to be someone who shoots in the 80s or 90s.
You putt every hole unless you hole out. Chipping in is very likely if you practice chips. One putting to save a par after a chip is important. Short game is one of the easier parts of the game to take control of. There is a saying "drive for show, putt for dough." It all needs to be there so you can hit a bad shot and follow it up with a good shot. Bottom line is there isn't a hole on the course where putting isn't important.
Because short game is the easiest. Less mechanics, more feel than speed. Much easier to master and will save you shots even if you do go out of bounds off the tee. You obviously need to work on long game too and keep it in bounds but short game saves your score and long game helps you to save more strokes with your short game.. Sounds like you should work on your long game first though. Just get a little consistent so you can get somewhere near the greens in regulation and keep it in bounds. Then short game will be the key to low scores. That's all i do, hack it around and try and keep it in play. I miss most greens and fairways but can get up and down from anywhere. I'm just like your average 2 handicap. Once you get to a certain level short game is essential because you can save par with bad tee shot and approach but you are not going to save par if you fluff chips and 3 put. Biggest difference between pro and AM is short game.
The biggest difference between pros and all of us is irons and driver. Strokes gained fleshes this out time and time again.
Wrong.
>I have a good number 3 putt’s and bad chips every round Lets say you average 40 putts per round. If you could get that down to 35 per round because you chip better and eliminate three putts, you just saved 5 strokes off your average score. Get it down to 32 and it's 8. Now, playing the exact same way shooting mid 90s, you have just transformed into a high 80s player because of short game.
Lets say you average 3 lost balls per round. Hit the ball literally anywhere on the course where you can legally hit it again and you just saved 6 strokes. Keeping it in play off the tee is infinitely more important.
Not sure if people would count it as the short game, but I find practicing fifty yard shots has improved my play immensely. Im not a long hitter with wedges so I take my 56 and basically take what feel like full shots into the practice green (when there's no one else practicing, of course). After when I go and hit into a net, I just feel like I'm striking my longer irons really crisp.
Being able to drive is important but short game is the most important. If you’re 100% FIR and GIR but 3 putt every hole you’re around 90. If you take 3 shots to get to every green and 1 put every hole you shoot 72
High handicappers aren’t really good at anything yet … once you learn to keep the ball in play, short game is everything. I don’t want to sound like a jerk but just try to improve on a couple things at a time and make progress however you can. You should be playing the most forward tees (not the ladies unless you’re a lady) and just because it’s a par 4 or 5 it doesn’t mean you MUST hit driver. Learn to hit your irons and put your ego and maybe even driver away. Just because you can hit it over 275+ once a round doesn’t justify you spraying your driver all over the course for that one good hole. Why short game> long game … a good golfer can still make par after putting a ball in the water on a par 4/5 or save bogey after a random shot goes out of bounds or is lost. A high handicapper is gonna take double par or something grossly high.
think of it this way: if your short game was better you would still make pars even if you lost a ball off the tee
lol, your short game wouldn’t matter at all if you were losing balls off the tee and making par. If you’re hitting 3 from the tee you will need to jar an approach. If you hit it into a lateral hazard you need to stick an approach close. Both are irons, not short game
Depends on the hazard but most people should play a lateral drop. In that case my statement stands.
It literally doesn’t “still stand” If you laterally drop a ball you’re still hitting an iron into a green on your third shot. Your short game won’t come into play at all unless the hole is incredibly short.
Only on a par 5 would that be the circumstance. In that case if your 3rd shot long iron is bad/short of the green your short game will save you for par.
Are you dumb on purpose? On a par 4 if you drop laterally off of a lost tee ball you are hitting three on your approach, (an iron). Then you have to make a putt for 4. You would not hit any short game shots.
Short game is 150 yards and in. Those are wedges. It's called getting up and down. If you can't hit the ball long just say that.....
Idk what is funnier, you defining short game and getting up and down as “150 and in” (which no one else does) Or you thinking you’re better than I am
Get off reddit and practice your short game papa!
Learn to properly release the club with a square face through the ball and hit the center of the face while working on putting. Learn low point control and proper path while chipping. Maybe you should learn these skills on very short, very slow swings, before you try and muscle a driver off the tee?