Why Your Short Game Matters

Most amateur golfers do not score as well as they could for one simple reason: their short games are not good enough.

Chipping, pitching, bunker play, putting—an enormous portion of every round is played from 50 yards and in. Yet this is the area recreational golfers practice the least.

Think about a typical hole. You hit a drive, then some type of approach shot. How often do you actually hit the green? Obviously, that varies according to handicap, but even the best players in the world hit only about 12 greens per round. That means six times during a round, even a Tour professional has missed the green—short, long, left, or right.

So how do they still shoot 68?

Because when they miss a green, they very often get the ball up and down.

That is where scoring takes place.

I—or any competent teacher—could work with you day after day trying to improve your full swing. We might increase your greens in regulation by one or two per round, and two would be significant. We can straighten out a slice, improve your contact, and make your bad shots less damaging.

All of that is worthwhile. But the improvement available there can be small compared with what I have seen golfers accomplish when they seriously dedicate themselves to their short games.

Go to almost any practice facility. You might see 10 or 12 golfers on the driving range pounding balls and two or three working around the practice green. Why?

If such a large percentage of your scoring takes place from 50 yards and in, why wouldn’t a large percentage of your practice time be spent there?

I have taught golf for more than 40 years, and it never ceases to amaze me that golfers—including many of my own students—do not fully appreciate this dynamic.

I understand why. Hitting a driver farther is fun. Striking a seven-iron solidly is satisfying. Golfers naturally want to hit the ball farther, straighter, and more solidly. And if there are flaws in your full swing, certainly they should be addressed.

But if your goal is simply to shoot lower scores, there may be no faster route than improving what happens around the green.

What About “Feel”?

We constantly hear commentators describe professionals as having wonderful “touch” or “feel” around the greens. But I am here to tell you something important: Nobody has great touch with poor mechanics.

Imagine standing over a 30-yard pitch wondering whether you are going to hit it fat or skull it across the green. Perhaps you’re thinking about how far to take the club back, what your hands should do or how you should bring the club down.

How much “feel” can you possibly have while all of that is running through your mind? Very little. You cannot develop touch until you have enough confidence in your technique that you are no longer preoccupied with the mechanics of producing the shot.

You should not stand over a chip, pitch, or greenside bunker shot thinking: How do I take this back? What do I do coming down? Am I going to hit this fat?

Those thoughts interfere with the very thing you are trying to develop—your sense of distance, trajectory, and speed.

Mechanics come first. Feel develops from reliable mechanics.

If you want to improve your short game, see a good teacher and learn sound mechanics. Then practice those mechanics until they become familiar enough that you no longer have to consciously think about them.

Spend considerably more of your practice time around the green—chipping, pitching, putting, and playing bunker shots.

Stop spending nearly all of your practice time trying to perfect a golf swing that will never be perfect.

Learn how to turn three shots into two. Do that often enough, and you will love what happens to your score.