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Short game, how important is it?

I guess each player has a definition of what their short game is. For me short game=wedges & that is 120yds & in. For others it's 100 & in, etc..

My short game keeps me in the holes where my irons or woods have let me down. It allows me to recover from mistakes & as others have said gives me the confidence to free up my swing knowing I have a decent shot of using my wedge and getting on the green.
 
JB said:
Huge impact.
Im a terrible golfer with a good short game.
It shows that anybody with some practice and the right tools can get to single digit.
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I agree. Short game and putting is everything.
 
Including putting its absolutely critical. Even after you take away putting, it's huge. I don't play enough golf to be laser accurate on my approach shots (we won't even talk about off the tee). Being able to get up & down is required for me to score, what I'd consider a good round, of ≤ bogie golf with where my game is right now. Agreed with some of the other posters that being comfortable around the greens adds confidence, which usually leads to a smoother swing and less bad thoughts. All pluses.
 
When I started playing golf I would get beat badly by my buddies who could hit the ball farther. Once I started practicing my short game the tables quickly turned and I started winning. This trend continues for my game to this day. I reflect on my league last summer and when my game from 100 and in was solid I would shoot very well. The days when I lost confidence in my wedges I fell apart. I've been working a lot this off season on half wedge form and once I can get back outside I plan on simplifying my wedge shots to gain consistency!
 
mikeg_74 said:
I guess each player has a definition of what their short game is. For me short game=wedges & that is 120yds & in. For others it's 100 & in, etc..
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That does have a lot to do with it. Of course the more one refers to as being included as part of the "short game" then it holds even even more meaning simply because it includes more of your game. Some will also include putting and some will say its on its own. I lean towards the later.

I don't look at short simply because the club contains the word wedge. First off with todays clubs we are using a pw or even a gap wedge for what use to be a 9i or even an 8i. So we cant say all a sudden that is now the short game when before it wasnt. And I wouldn't consider a full gap or even sand wedge as short game. if I'm 80 yards out and fly one at the green I have to consider that an approach shot and part of a mid game, not the short game. If I cut a corner with a great tee shot on a shorter dogleg and I am 80 yards out, to me that is my approach shot. My short game is when I don't hit the GIR and end up 7 yards off to the left.

To me its about the finesse shots much closer to the green and just off. Shorter pitches and chips mostly. Of course there will always be a gray area with no definite line drawn but the above is my feelings about it for the most part.
 
Don't think I can add too much more to what's already been said. Too many people want to go to the driving range and stroke their egos by spraying balls all over the place... but hey they go really far! Far too few people spend that time on the chipping green, myself included.

Personally, working on my putting and short chips around the green helped a lot this past season. I'm still far too high numbers-wise, but I've noticed I'm two putting when some of my friends are three putting (or worse), and as a rank beginner with a slice and an iron swing that's being 100% re-worked, those fewer putts per round helped me keep pace.
 
I would have said the short game is the most important part, especially as I'm a pretty ok golfer with a crap short game. However, Dennis Pugh is a coach I follow on twitter. He was Monty's coach. Also until recently coached Francisco Molinary and still coaches Ross Fisher. He posted a few tweets a few moths back claiming amateurs can save more shots by working on their long game from the tee rather than their short game. He was of course bombarded with people arguing to which he posted some stats to back up his point. Still find that difficult to accept, and goes against everything I've heard in the past, but who am I to argue with one of Europe's top coaches.
 
I think it is the most important part of the game hands down. With that said I still suck at it.
 
Short game is huge. It's the difference between keeping momentum on your side and having the wheels fall off on you. I can't tell you how much more I've been practicing my short game the past couple months and the improvements it has made. Between that and shots from 100 yards, it's a little less stressful on the long game when you know you can bail yourself out a bit on a sloppy swing.
 
Short game is very important. I think my short game is what is holding me back from shooting really good scores consistently. Needless to say it is something I will be really really focused on this spring and summer. And Freddie I completely agree, if you have a good short game you can play fearlessly and fire at pins all day, because if you miss you're confident enough that you're going to get up and down and move on.
 
A good short game or lack there of is the difference between winning or losing in a tournament or keeping or burning your score card at the end of the round, However each persons definition of "The Short game " varies.
Some feel it is just around the green, Others from 150 or 100 in and still others seem to put most of the emphasis on the green and putting.
My definition is from 100 in which means an excellent wedge and putter game, Touch, feel, and the ability to read the greens not just for putting but pitching and chipping as well...IMHO a good to great short game can easily shave 8 strokes off and average players game.
Before a round i only hit enough balls to loosen my arms and stretch, After that i go to the Chipping green and putting green...
 
Super important. I know guys that shoot in the 70's that can't drive it more than 200 yards.
But their short game is amazing.
 
I'm not long off the tee but Sunday from 100 yards & in was money. Really saved my round.
Short game has really come a long way & getting decent scores out of it.


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I think you first have to really specify what short game is and what a "good" score is on holes. Tour players, low hcs, and mid/high hcs are differently affected by the short game and the definition of score on a hole is a little different.

To me, a birdie or better is a good score on a hole. Par is expected... But to most of my playing partners, par is a great score... I'm sure my definition of a good score is pretty wack, but I can't "score" well on an individual hole with just a great short game. Total score is a little different. Around even par is a good score, and that CAN be achieved with a great short game...

According to a huge performance golf metric done by Richie Hunt, the most critical short game shots are from 10-20 yds. 10yds and in is pretty insignificant, because most tour players will get up and down. 20-100 yd shots have shown no correlation to success on tour.

For mid/high hc amateurs, 20-40 yd shots are more common. Thing is, if you have a lot of shots from that distance, you won't be saving par consistently.

Erky said:
The answers may vary based on ability level. If it takes you 5-6 shots to get to a green, your short game won't make you a great player. But at the highest levels, good short game beats good ball striking stats for the most part.

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Speedliner said:
It's not a mistake that tour success often tracks with putting and scrambling rankings, not drive distance, etc... So it's very important.
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Not really true. On tour, great ball striking leads to lower under par rounds more often. Outside of putting, if a pro is striking the ball relatively poorly compared to the field, even if his short game is stellar and he's saving majority of his pars, he won't win.

Chip Star said:
80% or so of amateur golfers shots are from 100 yards in or less. Knowing the shot, 1/4 swing, half swing, full swing, etc ..
and the exact distance are critical .. we hit our drivers what .. 8-12 times a round? 13 at the most for a majority of amateurs?

Lets say we arrive at a # of 25 shots, NOT from 100 yards in .. (Off the tee and second shots on par 4's, along with 2nd shots on par 5's)
If you shot 100, that would be close to the 80% or so of shots inside that 100 yards because of missed greens, landing in GS bunkers, etc ..

I average 11-12 FW in almost every round, but I only hit an average of 6-8 greens. I play the middle tee's (very rarely the tips) and hit it 240-250.
So I leave myself sometimes a fair-way wood in, mostly my go to trusty Callaway Heaven 7 from the ole days. I can hit it 175 to 200 no problem.
And it doesn't leave me with much of a miss when I do .. so I practice all of the shots, and try to know what distance I usually miss more than others.
There is a consistent yardage there also .. and the better I am at that "consistent" yardage, the shorter that putts going to be.

That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it .. :)
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I'm not sure I follow your math. I think it varies heavily on course yardage and how far you hit the ball. But let's say the avg course length mid/high hcs play are 6300 yds, with a driver that goes 200 yds, 7i 150yds. On all the par 4s, that's driver/7i into every green. All par 5s you have 2 shots outside of 100. And we'll say 3 par 3s are over 100 yds. That's 31 shots over 100 right there. Then you add another 33 avg. putts (which I assume you aren't including in the 100yds-and-in) and that totals to 67. That leaves 28 shots for 100 and in, or about 1.6 shots per hole, totaling to a score of 95. Less than 1/3...
 
If you can't finish the hole, the rest doesn't matter. I think all aspects of the game are important.
 
The short game is very critical to me staying in the mid to high 70s. I am not a great ball striker and I play a course with fairly small greens, several of which can be very tricky and leave very small room for error on approach shots. I probably save an average of 6 shots per round by getting up and down.
 
Squiddy said:
A good short game or lack there of is the difference between winning or losing in a tournament or keeping or burning your score card at the end of the round, ...
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I wouldn't disagree that is not often the case but that is assuming the other players are pretty much doing decently similar in the rest of the game. Assuming most of the time most of the field is on or more likely at least mostly near the green in two shots. If one is out there spraying balls all over in his long and mid game it would stand to reason that the reason for him to burn his card would then because of that. He would not then be in that same position in two shots. It would instead be 3 shots or even four. Do that on enough holes and even if his short game is working he too will burn his card.
 
dtak84 said:
I'm not sure I follow your math. I think it varies heavily on course yardage and how far you hit the ball. But let's say the avg course length mid/high hcs play are 6300 yds, with a driver that goes 200 yds, 7i 150yds. On all the par 4s, that's driver/7i into every green. All par 5s you have 2 shots outside of 100. And we'll say 3 par 3s are over 100 yds. That's 31 shots over 100 right there. Then you add another 33 avg. putts (which I assume you aren't including in the 100yds-and-in) and that totals to 67. That leaves 28 shots for 100 and in, or about 1.6 shots per hole, totaling to a score of 95. Less than 1/3...
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I get what you're saying, I think. But I'm saying that the "average" high-handicapped player is not hitting as many fair-ways, and nowhere near the GIR that better players do.

Forgive me if I didn't state this 80% for most players being the 18+ handicapper.
The 9 holes that I played today in a total of a 39 coming in, I missed one fair-way, and 5 greens.
hole 10 was a FH and a GIR, 2 putt, 2 inside 100 yards. par
hole 11 was a par3 (200 yards) missed the green, chip and a 2 putt, 3 inside 100 yards. bogey
hole 12 was a fair-way missed and a green missed .. chip and a 2 putt 3 inside 100 yards. bogey
hole 13 (par5) a FH and a GIR 2 putt. 3rd shot approach was from 83 yards and a 2 putt. 3 shots in side 100 yards. par
hole 14 short par4 of 280, a FH with an approach of 73 yards .. and GIR 2 putt. 3 inside 100 yards par
hole 15 par4 hit the FW but missed the green, chip and a one putt 2 inside 100 yards .,par ..
hole 16 par3 129 missed the green chip and a 1 putt .. 2 inside 100 yards .. par
hole 17 par5 505 I had 102 yards left in on my 3rd shot and counted it actually .. just because I had my 100 yard club lol. 3 shots inside 100 par
hole 18 par 4 hit the FW and hit an ugly shot that missed the green by 30 yards, chip and a 2 putt .. 3 shots inside 100 yards bogey

24 shots out of 39 = 61.5% inside 100 yards. I shot 3 over, but I apologize for not mentioning someone who doesn't get up and down
as much as a lower handicapper does or should. My bad if it seemed a bit mis-leading.
It's just that the 18+ golfer is going to miss more greens and have a few 3 putts and or leave one in a trap etc ..

edit: hmm, just did a quick YT search and found this. She says 67% of the time just "chipping, pitching, and putting."
I remember that # of 80% from like, 10 years ago .. not that, that should matter, but uhhh yeah, chipping, pitching and putting.
She doesn't mention inside 100 yards though, but higher HC players will take a shot or 2 more to get up and down.

 
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arydolphin said:
I agree with this to a certain extent, but no one is going to score really well if their long game is bad. What I mean is that I can chip up and one putt every single green, but if it takes me 3-4 shots to get to every green, then my score isn't going to be good even though my short game was pretty good. Maybe I'm influenced by Mark Broadie's research (see Hawk's thread on the Every Shot Counts book), but I think that long game is more important than short game. For me, I know that my scores usually go down when my GIR goes up, and that's not related to short game at all.
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Good points Ary, I agree with this. Every shot counts the same none more important than the other.
 
dtak84 said:
I think you first have to really specify what short game is and what a "good" score is on holes. Tour players, low hcs, and mid/high hcs are differently affected by the short game and the definition of score on a hole is a little different.

To me, a birdie or better is a good score on a hole. Par is expected... But to most of my playing partners, par is a great score... I'm sure my definition of a good score is pretty wack, but I can't "score" well on an individual hole with just a great short game. Total score is a little different. Around even par is a good score, and that CAN be achieved with a great short game...

According to a huge performance golf metric done by Richie Hunt, the most critical short game shots are from 10-20 yds. 10yds and in is pretty insignificant, because most tour players will get up and down. 20-100 yd shots have shown no correlation to success on tour.

For mid/high hc amateurs, 20-40 yd shots are more common. Thing is, if you have a lot of shots from that distance, you won't be saving par consistently.





Not really true. On tour, great ball striking leads to lower under par rounds more often. Outside of putting, if a pro is striking the ball relatively poorly compared to the field, even if his short game is stellar and he's saving majority of his pars, he won't win.



I'm not sure I follow your math. I think it varies heavily on course yardage and how far you hit the ball. But let's say the avg course length mid/high hcs play are 6300 yds, with a driver that goes 200 yds, 7i 150yds. On all the par 4s, that's driver/7i into every green. All par 5s you have 2 shots outside of 100. And we'll say 3 par 3s are over 100 yds. That's 31 shots over 100 right there. Then you add another 33 avg. putts (which I assume you aren't including in the 100yds-and-in) and that totals to 67. That leaves 28 shots for 100 and in, or about 1.6 shots per hole, totaling to a score of 95. Less than 1/3...
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Great insights. I agree with you. The fact that most, group all putts skews the numbers. Most don't look at it that way. By my way of thinking you have to have 18 putts (most of the time) just like you have 18 tee shots usually 14 with a long club. I prefer to look at where I can actually save strokes. This does vary by skill level and handicap.
 
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Short game, how important is it?

Where have I been the last few days?!?! These last few have brought on some serious game analyzing. Short game by far is the difference from shooting a 90 over an 85. I feel if the short game is lacking (putting, chipping, saves) your score ultimately will skyrocket.

That is why I typically will spend more time working on this aspect of my game over others. A good short game covers the blemishes in other areas of my game.
 
Chip Star said:
I get what you're saying, I think. But I'm saying that the "average" high-handicapped player is not hitting as many fair-ways, and nowhere near the GIR that better players do.

Forgive me if I didn't state this 80% for most players being the 18+ handicapper.
The 9 holes that I played today in a total of a 39 coming in, I missed one fair-way, and 5 greens.
hole 10 was a FH and a GIR, 2 putt, 2 inside 100 yards. par
hole 11 was a par3 (200 yards) missed the green, chip and a 2 putt, 3 inside 100 yards. bogey
hole 12 was a fair-way missed and a green missed .. chip and a 2 putt 3 inside 100 yards. bogey
hole 13 (par5) a FH and a GIR 2 putt. 3rd shot approach was from 83 yards and a 2 putt. 3 shots in side 100 yards. par
hole 14 short par4 of 280, a FH with an approach of 73 yards .. and GIR 2 putt. 3 inside 100 yards par
hole 15 par4 hit the FW but missed the green, chip and a one putt 2 inside 100 yards .,par ..
hole 16 par3 129 missed the green chip and a 1 putt .. 2 inside 100 yards .. par
hole 17 par5 505 I had 102 yards left in on my 3rd shot and counted it actually .. just because I had my 100 yard club lol. 3 shots inside 100 par
hole 18 par 4 hit the FW and hit an ugly shot that missed the green by 30 yards, chip and a 2 putt .. 3 shots inside 100 yards bogey

24 shots out of 39 = 61.5% inside 100 yards. I shot 3 over, but I apologize for not mentioning someone who doesn't get up and down
as much as a lower handicapper does or should. My bad if it seemed a bit mis-leading.
It's just that the 18+ golfer is going to miss more greens and have a few 3 putts and or leave one in a trap etc ..

edit: hmm, just did a quick YT search and found this. She says 67% of the time just "chipping, pitching, and putting."
I remember that # of 80% from like, 10 years ago .. not that, that should matter, but uhhh yeah, chipping, pitching and putting.
She doesn't mention inside 100 yards though, but higher HC players will take a shot or 2 more to get up and down.

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Yes, but 9 of those 24 shots you must have anyway so you really can't improve on them. 5 missed greens and you shoot 3 over, that's not a bad 9 hole round. You could have saved a few more shots, but you also could have lost a few more shots as well. My point is try to be realistic with your game and score. We could all shoot much lower scores with much better short games or much better long games.
 
Smallville said:
I wish I hit 9 greens a round! 2013 saw me hit 22.5% of all greens. 25.8% of Par 5's, 22.2% on Par 3's and 21.1% on Par 4's. Average on OOB for everyone last year was around 26 or 27 percent!
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Agreed. If someone hits 9 greens a round, they should be able to shoot in the 70s. I can only dream of that. My numbers are very similar to Smalls.

When you're not hitting the GIR, you've got to have a short game.
 
By far, the most important!

I agree with Tadashi when he said that it makes you confident in all aspects. If you have a good short game, you dont have to stand over every approach thinking that you have to hit it perfect.

I am a decent golfer with a pretty strong short game and it has bailed me out numerous of times.
 
It is certainly the place where I will lose the most strokes in one place, and it is the place with probably the best chance to gain a stroke (getting close enough to one putt will have a greater chance with a 20 yd approach vs. a 90 yd approach). Also the thing that is harder for me to be able to practice reasonably than anything else to. My course doesn't have a chipping area or practice sand anywhere. I do it in the backyard until the lawn looks like I've been doing it, but you just never see that variety of situations it comes into call.
 
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