Chipping - Short Game ---- Is it the Most Important Part of the Game?

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bobgeorge

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My GIRs % per round are pretty low and reading threads I am not the only person with this issue. So based on that is the short game to include chipping and putting the most important part of the game and the difference maker in the between a good and bad round?

So this season I am going to spend 50% of practice time on the short game.

What say You? Do you think a better short game is the best way to lower your scores?

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I think 125 and in is important. When I'm having a good round I'm hitting greens from this distance or I'm getting up and down frequently. It's an aspect of the game that allowed me to drop 5 strokes on my cap last year
 
I know for a fact it's important, but whether it's more important than other parts of the game I don't know.

What I can say is that it's much easier to make measurable improvement in the short game vs the full swing because you don't have to have perfect technique to succeed here (with the possible exception of bunker shots). All it really takes is time and a little creativity once you have the basic technique.

I know I still need to do some work here, but overall my short game (especially putting) has improved markedly over the past couple years. The full swing has taken its time in catching up, but I think I'm starting to see the benefits now. I feel like I'm playing like crap and still maintaining my cap from last year. Once the full swing translates to the course I'm gonna be in great shape.
 
My GIRs % per round are pretty low and reading threads I am not the only person with this issue. So based on that is the short game to include chipping and putting the most important part of the game and the difference maker in the between a good and bad round?

So this season I am going to spend 50% of practice time on the short game.

What say You? Do you think a better short game is the best way to lower your scores?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

Read Dave Pelz short game bible. Pretty eye opening stuff he put together after watching the pros for a couple of years.

In short, yes the short game is very important. Missing your target on the green is much more penal than missing your target on the fairway.
 
I think it is very important, but I also think that the ability to get off the tee well is incredibly important.

If you are hitting 3 from the tee, or making it so you have to get up and down for par all the time (as I am right now) it makes if very hard to score well.

I tend to have my best rounds when I am hitting the driver well. Getting up and down well keeps the score in check when I am not hitting driver well. This most likely isn't the case for many people, but what I have seen the last couple years.
 
I would agree that it is very important, looking at my personal stats i gain the most strokes in my short game. I can go from shooting for a par to triple bogey and thats from 100 yards in. I know it is one of my main focuses this year to improve my short game.
 
I hit 3 greens Saturday. I had 11 putts on the front for a 37. 27 putts total and salvaged an 80. I've had rounds where I hit 12 greens and shot 80. Short game is crucial for scoring.
 
I do think it's important, but if you can't get off the tee, it isn't going to matter,
 
Getting up and down is an invaluable skill especially since you are not likely to hit every green. However, I would suggest looking at why you are missing greens and working on your approach shots. Are you in bad position on your second shot; if so, work on your tee shot. if you are missing greens from decent lies, work on the approach shots and aim for the middle of the green. It is kind of a double edge sword, if you keep missing greens and can't get up and down, you are putting more and more pressure on yourself as the round goes on.

if it were me, I would focus on the approach shot.
 
It is very important. Easiest area to gain strokes, imho. A good short game and putter can make up for a lot of mistakes.

But, as was mentioned above, gotta keep the tee ball in play.
 
When I was young I hit the ball a long way but always with a draw so it was hard to hold a green. I would be near or on the fringe so i learned my short game was my only shot at getting up and down. The percentage of putts made by amatuers and pros outside 5 feet being made is so high that you either need to be an exceptional putter or be able to put the ball within a few feet from near the green. I no longer hit the draw or have the distance but the short game has and will continue to help. I think It is a critical aspect of your game.
 
Important? Sure just like everything in golf. but it has been shown with modern strokes gained stats that "Drive for show putt for dough" is wrong and in reality the exact opposite of that. I am sure many people will argue the point and give a story why, but math is math, embrace it.
 
it seems we have this discussion about once per year lol. But its still always a good one. Imo its all equally important from tee and on through till the ball is holed. I do think one will only go so low without a good short game. I think once the other parts of ones game are a given for being efficient, then the short game becomes a difference maker for eventually going even lower. One needs to first be on or near enough the green in a respectable amount of strokes in order to score well too so in that sense its all important.

GIR's can also be argued as most important. Its no coincidence that hitting more GIR's can offer the low scores. Just like it may be argued that one should practice chips and pitches till hell freezes over to score better, it can also be argued that one should work to perfect iron striking to hit many more greens to score better.

And I don't where/what/who decides just what/when short game begins and ends. I guess its all only subjective at best. For me, I don't feel a 125 yrd shot is short game. Just because it may be taken with a pw means nothing to me. Its still a full shot with an iron and imo not a pitch at all but an approach and after a good drive on a not so long hole would be an approach for a GIR. I really consider short game anything close around the greens and don't really have a yardage. To me chips/pitches that require a finesse touch and far less than full swings would be short game. But that's just me. And then some people consider putting part of it and some feel putting is different think in itself. Regardless of that it is of course also very important.
 
it seems we have this discussion about once per year lol. But its still always a good one. Imo its all equally important from tee and on through till the ball is holed. I do think one will only go so low without a good short game. I think once the other parts of ones game are a given for being efficient, then the short game becomes a difference maker for eventually going even lower. One needs to first be on or near enough the green in a respectable amount of strokes in order to score well too so in that sense its all important.

GIR's can also be argued as most important. Its no coincidence that hitting more GIR's can offer the low scores. Just like it may be argued that one should practice chips and pitches till hell freezes over to score better, it can also be argued that one should work to perfect iron striking to hit many more greens to score better.

And I don't where/what/who decides just what/when short game begins and ends. I guess its all only subjective at best. For me, I don't feel a 125 yrd shot is short game. Just because it may be taken with a pw means nothing to me. Its still a full shot with an iron and imo not a pitch at all but an approach and after a good drive on a not so long hole would be an approach for a GIR. I really consider short game anything close around the greens and don't really have a yardage. To me chips/pitches that require a finesse touch and far less than full swings would be short game. But that's just me. And then some people consider putting part of it and some feel putting is different think in itself. Regardless of that it is of course also very important.

I think most agree that each aspect of the game is important and being more consistent of the tee or with approaches will help reduce scores but short game is a critical part of the game. Since you don't think 125 constitutes short game and that's ok as we are all allows to determine what we call short game.

Let's use 50 yes as the determination for short game since that requires some fineness. If we use your current game as the example and we don't change anything about how you play from tee to the 50 yd mark. Then from 50 dyes we reduce the amount of strokes you take from that til you hole out do you think your score would be better if you avg 30 or less putts/round and get up/down 50% of the time?

we are all going to hit bad shots and have to scramble to get around the green. The difference between guys that walk out with an 80 or a 90 is going to come down to efficiency on and around the green.
 
Chipping - Short Game ---- Is it the Most Important Part of the Game?

For me short game is very important. Also the area where if put in the most work, I'll see the best results in my score. Had some good putting and chipping today, kept me in my match. And a few more chips if I just was a little better could have shaved off even more strokes.
 
I think most agree that each aspect of the game is important and being more consistent of the tee or with approaches will help reduce scores but short game is a critical part of the game. Since you don't think 125 constitutes short game and that's ok as we are all allows to determine what we call short game.

Let's use 50 yes as the determination for short game since that requires some fineness. If we use your current game as the example and we don't change anything about how you play from tee to the 50 yd mark. Then from 50 dyes we reduce the amount of strokes you take from that til you hole out do you think your score would be better if you avg 30 or less putts/round and get up/down 50% of the time?

we are all going to hit bad shots and have to scramble to get around the green. The difference between guys that walk out with an 80 or a 90 is going to come down to efficiency on and around the green.

well to be honest and if we talk of my game (and not to thread jack for my game) but I honestly could shave the same strokes be being better with all parts of my game. When things are not working for me (which has been lately) I can equally screw up from tee or with irons or short game. Putting is usally the least of my major setbacks. Sure have bad putting days but usually not killing me on a regular basis. Sure I want to and am practicing shipping/pitching (even took a recent lesson just for this) and some holes and rounds it can hurt but I lose many strokes and often more by not being consistent and often bad from tee and with irons during poor played rounds.

. I do agree and as said, I believe one can only ever go so low without a respectable short game. But you cant be hitting 5 and still not be on or even at times yet near the green. When my game is bad it actually suffers fairly equally in a parts. Chip/pitch good for 3 holes than kills me on the next one. Tee game great for 4 holes than cost me 4 strokes on the next 2. irons good striking for 4 holes and then cost me 3 stroke on the next one and another 3 on the next. I am never denying short game importance and is why I finally took a lesson (actually two for total of an hour just on that) and glad I did this. But one round (day) you cant pay me to hit a poor tee shot and the next you cant pay me to hit a good one. San with irons. Hit great and then cant hit one. Could be round to round or hole to hole. Or bunches of good and bad.

I willa dmit than when I do hit fairly well through tee to green but cant chip that day, it kills me and is why I am working on that. But it also hurts just as bad when you leave to chunked irons and a lost ball in the process of making one approach shot. That's just as bad as taking 3 chips to get on the green. Either way its 3 strokes.
 
Absolutely, for my game at least PUTTING is just reeking havoc on me atm, This is my 2nd year golfing, and I just think it comes down to me not working at all on my putter yet. I have sorted my driver and am pretty competent with short irons and wedges. I count 12 strokes gained from the putter today. Its not like I was putting the approach shot miles from the flag when landing it on the green either. I just have no feel right now with he putter and its really getting to me. So the PUTTER alone was the difference today from shooting an 83, but instead posting a 95...

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Absolutely, for my game at least PUTTING is just reeking havoc on me atm, This is my 2nd year golfing, and I just think it comes down to me not working at all on my putter yet. I have sorted my driver and am pretty competent with short irons and wedges. I count 12 strokes gained from the putter today. Its not like I was putting the approach shot miles from the flag when landing it on the green either. I just have no feel right now with he putter and its really getting to me. So the PUTTER alone was the difference today from shooting an 83, but instead posting a 95...

Yea that sure looks like a lot of putts. Seems you actually played a pretty nice round otherwise and also fwiw hit a lot of greens. Well done imo but too bad the putting wasn't there for you.
 
well to be honest and if we talk of my game (and not to thread jack for my game) but I honestly could shave the same strokes be being better with all parts of my game. When things are not working for me (which has been lately) I can equally screw up from tee or with irons or short game. Putting is usally the least of my major setbacks. Sure have bad putting days but usually not killing me on a regular basis. Sure I want to and am practicing shipping/pitching (even took a recent lesson just for this) and some holes and rounds it can hurt but I lose many strokes and often more by not being consistent and often bad from tee and with irons during poor played rounds.

. I do agree and as said, I believe one can only ever go so low without a respectable short game. But you cant be hitting 5 and still not be on or even at times yet near the green. When my game is bad it actually suffers fairly equally in a parts. Chip/pitch good for 3 holes than kills me on the next one. Tee game great for 4 holes than cost me 4 strokes on the next 2. irons good striking for 4 holes and then cost me 3 stroke on the next one and another 3 on the next. I am never denying short game importance and is why I finally took a lesson (actually two for total of an hour just on that) and glad I did this. But one round (day) you cant pay me to hit a poor tee shot and the next you cant pay me to hit a good one. San with irons. Hit great and then cant hit one. Could be round to round or hole to hole. Or bunches of good and bad.

I willa dmit than when I do hit fairly well through tee to green but cant chip that day, it kills me and is why I am working on that. But it also hurts just as bad when you leave to chunked irons and a lost ball in the process of making one approach shot. That's just as bad as taking 3 chips to get on the green. Either way its 3 strokes.

as stated previously we are amateurs and will have goo days and bad days. I often struggle to score when I am having problems off the tee but i have also worked on improving my course management and to receiver from a bad tee shot and can be inside 125-150 and have a chance to get in the hole in 3 strokes from that point.

what i have seen in these type threads is that low-mid/low handicaps will say short game is important and mid/high group will say all aspects or tee game is as important or pretty important. For me course management and short game are the two important areas. I'm a firm believer in #own125 and with 65% of the game being played from 125 and in it's hard to ignore this is the most important part of the game and where most of the golfers I watch on the range spend <10% of their practice time.
 
as stated previously we are amateurs and will have goo days and bad days. I often struggle to score when I am having problems off the tee but i have also worked on improving my course management and to receiver from a bad tee shot and can be inside 125-150 and have a chance to get in the hole in 3 strokes from that point.

what i have seen in these type threads is that low-mid/low handicaps will say short game is important and mid/high group will say all aspects or tee game is as important or pretty important. For me course management and short game are the two important areas. I'm a firm believer in #own125 and with 65% of the game being played from 125 and in it's hard to ignore this is the most important part of the game and where most of the golfers I watch on the range spend <10% of their practice time.

Totally agree that's why I have decided to play and practise a little smarter and concentrate on 125 in and by doing so alleviate a little of the pressure elsewhere in my game. None of this is 'low hanging fruit' by any means for me but playing to set myself up the best I can for a 2nd or 3rd shot in will keep my decision making honest off the tee and increase my chances greenside.
 
Even the pros miss greens. Short game is very important.
 
as stated previously we are amateurs and will have goo days and bad days. I often struggle to score when I am having problems off the tee but i have also worked on improving my course management and to receiver from a bad tee shot and can be inside 125-150 and have a chance to get in the hole in 3 strokes from that point.

what i have seen in these type threads is that low-mid/low handicaps will say short game is important and mid/high group will say all aspects or tee game is as important or pretty important. For me course management and short game are the two important areas. I'm a firm believer in #own125 and with 65% of the game being played from 125 and in it's hard to ignore this is the most important part of the game and where most of the golfers I watch on the range spend <10% of their practice time.


You are mostly correct that the division in the debate is often usually (with some exceptions) somewhere around the mid-ish HC. But this imo has a lot to do with the fact that this is also a place (HC wise) in which having a fairly consistent and solid long and mid game go from being something one searches for to having it as basically a given (or at least fair enough of a given). Course management and making good/smart choices is huge imo towards better overall scoring too. I also agree nmot enough spend enough time practicing short game.

And again, this 125 subjective marked point to me is simply part of irons play. No difference to me between practicing my pw from 125/130 or my 9i from 140, or my gw from 110. To me its the 20yrd, 10 yrd 3yrd and greenside bunkers, and all that stuff around and near enough the greens which is where I think of short game. However, regardless of what we call which part, that stuff is huge and very important I certainly agree. What good is being close to the green in a couple or so strokes if you cant get on and in via only a couple/few more. But still that same argument applies the other way too and is why the mid-ish capper tends to be the dividing line. It also doesnt do any good for one to be near enough the greens and already hitting 5 and even more. Here again its about whether or not the (other than short game) kind of stuff becomes a given as to whether or not a person feels he/she has a lot more to worry about with it. The importance of those areas then becomes elevated because they are not a given and can hurt them much too badly. Combine that with a poor short game and of course its all double trouble and even that much far worse.

A person will never shoot 79 without a short game, but nor will they shoot it without a long/mid game. I have maintained I don't think one can go low without a short game. Its a must imo in order to do that. But how many pars can anyone make even if they are hitting only just 3 or 4 from near around the greens let alone more than that. Even with a very good short game your still looking at bogey golf and a 90 score.
 
My GIRs % per round are pretty low and reading threads I am not the only person with this issue. So based on that is the short game to include chipping and putting the most important part of the game and the difference maker in the between a good and bad round?

So this season I am going to spend 50% of practice time on the short game.

What say You? Do you think a better short game is the best way to lower your scores?

Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk

If you are missing greens, then your iron play is what is holding you down. Or if you are missing greens because your driver puts you in bad places, then that's what's holding you back. I used to think like you, and short game work can be a quick fix for a few strokes, but it's like putting a band aid on a broken leg. You need to address the real problem, which is the fact that you are missing greens.
 
Important? Sure just like everything in golf. but it has been shown with modern strokes gained stats that "Drive for show putt for dough" is wrong and in reality the exact opposite of that. I am sure many people will argue the point and give a story why, but math is math, embrace it.
They were talking about this Friday during the Wells Fargo. Most players on tour would prefer elite distance over elite putting. If you look at the 2015 and 2016 winners so far, close to 20 wins have come from the top 10 in driving distance while only 5 have come from the top 10 in putting.
 
Yes, it is important. But I think that of equal importance for the everyday amateur is the tee game. Not distance, but accuracy. A good short game will turn three shots into two (or one), but you are never going to score well if you are in recovery or layup mode with the second shot or hitting three with your second swing of the hole. You have to get to that 125 and in first before those skills become useful.
 
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