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Short game, how important is it?

My dad only hits the ball about 200 yards off the tee. He has to hit an 8 or 9 iron into greens from 100 yards. But if he's near the green, he ALWAYS gets down in 2. Drives me crazy.
 
For me personally, it is the crux of scoring. I am taking this to be not on the green short game, but around the green.

A good short game can cover/make up for the flaws in your driving, irons and putting game. I don't think any other aspect of the game can do that.

I played my best golf when I had a very solid short game. The key to achieving my goals will be getting the long game and short game synced up at a solid level.
 
I think Short Game is VERY important and here's why:
To post good scores you have to hit greens.
Having a good short game also allows you to put the ball closer to the hole, thus meaning easier putts to make.
Easier putts= fewer putts. Fewer putts=Lower scores.
 
Completely agree that short game is the most important.

Which is why I find it funny that there is only one practice facility here with a dedicated short game practice area (dedicated green, bunkers, short/long rough).

Every other course has putting greens for practice, with very little space for pitching and chipping before a round.
 
Very very very important.

When you only hit 9 GIR's per round that will leave another 9 holes where your short game will likely be tested. Be good around the greens and save pars. Be bad and you're looking at bogey or worse.
 
I'm going to add that I think t's just as important as the drive and approach, I truly believe that the swing dictates the results of all three for me.
 
Very important. Short game can make or break a round or a match. Gotta practice the skills though.

JM
 
It is the most important part of the game. On days when you hit it all over you can still lean on this to shoot a respectable score. On days when you are playing good, it helps you keep that momentum to finish off a round.


Proud Member of #TeamParadise
 
#Cookie said:
Very very very important.

When you only hit 9 GIR's per round that will leave another 9 holes where your short game will likely be tested. Be good around the greens and save pars. Be bad and you're looking at bogey or worse.
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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!
 
It's extremely important, and it's why I am focusing on making it as sharp as possible once the snow breaks. A great short game can make up for a ton of deficiencies in other parts of a player's game.
 
A rediculously huge impact.

Short game alone (or lack there of) is what is stopping me from primiarily reaching some of my index goals
 
For me it's the most important to saving strokes.

It's the only thing that save me from raising to a 36 capper last yr. I saved so many strokes around by putting it close enough to one putt it's sickening.

I had my off days and off holes but as a hole it's the only way I kept my scores where they were.

I will keep working on it hard this year as I have in the past because it is what will allow me to save strokes when I miss those greens and end up in the rough or sand.
 
The better I get, the more important it becomes. This to me is where scores are salvaged or sunk. We aren't on tour. We don't play EVERY single day. We WILL have bad ball striking days or days when our swing "isn't on". Our short game saves us those days.
 
#Cookie said:
Very very very important.

When you only hit 9 GIR's per round that will leave another 9 holes where your short game will likely be tested. Be good around the greens and save pars. Be bad and you're looking at bogey or worse.
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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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Good insights above. I'm probably at about 5-6 GIR per round. I'd been about a 22 handicap for years and my instructor told me to use one club around the greens, practice, and get good at it. I chose my Vokey 60 degree wedge. So clearly I'm pitching the ball more at the hole rather than letting it run. A key for me was to change my attitude towards the short game pitch. I had been treating them like a longer approach shot -- anywhere on the green was good. Of course, that led to a lot of 2 or 3 putts for bogey or worse.

But when I changed my attitude and stared treating my pitches as putts - read the green, choose a landing spot, concentrate on the hole being the target; with some practice I was soon getting a lot more ups and downs for par. I'm still basically a bogey golfer, but I've had rounds in the 80s which I'm happy about, and it's due mostly to saving par with a good short game.
 
Short game is HUGE for everyone. A good short game is 'the cat's meow', 'the head honcho'. Doesn't matter how far or straight you hit it, if you can't get up and down and keep the 3 putts away, you're in trouble.

Take me for example....I'm awful off the tee. I never know where it's going or how far it's going. If I have anything more than an 8 iron in my hand, I'm lucky if I'm near the green. But the great thing about my game is that from 100 yards and in, I'm going to get up and down most of the time. I can chip/pitch it close from under trees, out of bunkers, and anywhere else. And a 3 putt is a rare occurence for me. Being able to do that helps me stay where I am score wise.

I think good short game shots are game changers as well. Think about how many times you've made a 40 yard shot stop 2 feet from the hole and the relief you felt. Or the time you thought you were in trouble, but drained it from 35 feet for par and went on a run after that. It's what makes/breaks ya. The short game is "The King".
 
Shorts game is, by far, the most important part of the game. You can make up a lot of strokes quickly by simply getting up and down around the green.

As I prepare for the MC, the short game is my primary focus. Putting in particular has to be on point come July.
 
Tadashi70 said:
What are you thoughts? Is short game important? If so how important is it to you?
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Good thread. I would respond with one word -- incredibly.

If one has never been beaten by a 70+ year old while in your 20s, then he probably has not witnessed it first hand and thus not internalized the lesson. The short game is the single biggest reason why the playing field in golf is really even regardless of one's age or physical condition. There is no other sport that I know of where one can make this statement.
 
When my short game is not working (i.e. flubbing short pitches and chips resulting in 2nd/3rd shots from nearly the same spot), it really hurts. When it's working, that is 10 stroke avoidance right there.
 
RadRob said:
Good insights above. I'm probably at about 5-6 GIR per round. I'd been about a 22 handicap for years and my instructor told me to use one club around the greens, practice, and get good at it.
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I have been trying something like that, too. I have been mostly playing pitch & putts and par 3 courses with my tyke as of late, and trying to simplify what I carry with me, so end up with a putter, 56 degree wedge, and a 7-iron.
 
HUGE Difference!!

When I made my first Morgan Cup I really worked my short game...especially the odd 50 yard and in shots and my handicap dropped 5-7 strokes in a few months and it made a big difference when I got to MB...ask the guys I played against on that Saturday....I got up and down from everywhere that day.

I really need to re-devote myself to the short game....this past year I thought since I had this great short game that if I could change my swing and get longer and hit a draw that I could get to single digits......EPIC FAILURE....I did get longer and hit a draw, but the change in my swing made me lose my short game and I have suffered ever since
 
thread reminds me of similar one some time back which BTW was quite the thread if you recall.lol
I always felt all parts are important because they all lead into each other. But I think it also depends on the player and his/her current ability. Obviously if one is such that he/she struggles to keep the ball at least somewhat respectably in play with the longer parts of the game then for that person at the time its going to be those areas of play which may currently be most detrimental to his scoring.

Other than that then the short game is huge. But its still hard for me to say "most" important because it all ties together imo. When I say short game I refer to short pitches and chips from close around the greens. That is one part of my game the last year or two that I finally can do. Prior to that I never had one. Quite the relief that I can now have success from around the greens I didn't have in the past barely at all. But my overall scoring has not dropped because the screw ups still can come from all parts of my game at any time. Hence my feeling that all parts are equally important. At least for me at this time.

But for one who is fairly consistent with the other parts of his game where those parts are not the reason for poor scoring than I say that short stuff becomes of greater importance. I think it fair to say the better one becomes at golf the more important that short stuff becomes. It is as "JB" once put it, where most of your strokes come from. Unless as mentioned (more to the high cap player) the person is loosing far too many strokes simply trying to keep the ball respectably in play then its all just as important. Again, the better you become the more important the short game.
 
It's the area I need to spend the most time on this year. I've been doing some tracking and I figure 2/3 of the extra strokes I take are due to the short game. I need to get up and down more often.
 
There is no doubt short game is huge, the few times I have managed to dip into the 70s, my putting and chipping were on fire.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
HUGE Difference!!

When I made my first Morgan Cup I really worked my short game...especially the odd 50 yard and in shots and my handicap dropped 5-7 strokes in a few months and it made a big difference when I got to MB...ask the guys I played against on that Saturday....I got up and down from everywhere that day.

I really need to re-devote myself to the short game....this past year I thought since I had this great short game that if I could change my swing and get longer and hit a draw that I could get to single digits......EPIC FAILURE....I did get longer and hit a draw, but the change in my swing made me lose my short game and I have suffered ever since
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I still hate you TBT! OF course I am still not too fond of ddec after that day either.
 
Without a short game, I wouldn't have a game. Getting up in years, I'm not that long off the tee anymore. But, I always feel if I can get my ball anywhere around the green, I have a good chance of getting it up and down for par. Putting, chipping, sand shots, and wedges are critical for me, and my practice sessions start from the green and work outwards.
 
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