Another Short Game Thread

[chrisd]

You going to go and see Ged @ Manston then ?

No, I've just neglected practicing the short game especially on the course. Ged has largely moved back up country and is only doing Manston on odd occasions and im pretty committed to working with Benn Barham

 

[NorwichBanana]

This winter and spring I intend to work 80% on pitching, chipping, bunker play and putting to try and improve those areas to achieve a 3 shot reduction in handicap which, if I stay physically fit should get me to single figures.

It will send you past just 3 shots!!
Play Par 18 on the chipping area at your club if you have one.
Get yourself 9 golf balls and place 3 in easy, 3 in medium and 3 in hard difficulty areas. Try and up and down each one. You'll soon notice pattern of how you recover best from each area, high chips, bump and runs etc. Take that onto the course and any missed greens will still feel like a down in 2!

 

[shortgame]

I've said it before, and I'll no doubt say it again.....putting, putting, putting.

It's the easiest to practice anywhere, anytime

This. There really is no excuse for being a poor putter. All the time I see people hitting 100+ drives etc on the range then 2 mins putting (if at all)

Good putting allied with a consistent basic chip shot can make/save scores

The sexy spun chips, flops, sand saves etc are nice but in general it's the boring chipping/putting that's important *

We might only face 1 bunker shot or flop shot a round but will definitely need 5 or 6 or more basic chips (depending on GIR)



*Of course the better our level the more a variety of shots becomes important

 

[Orikoru]

Exactly. Stats can be misleading if looked at in isolation. The reason i think 30+ putts is a lot for me is because i hit a high % of greens in regulation, so i expect my total putt count to be below 30.

I think you have it the wrong way round. I would expect your putt count to be lower if you miss​ more greens, because you're chipping onto the green and likely leaving it much nearer the hole than a mid-iron approach would be.

 

[PJ87]

Exactly. Stats can be misleading if looked at in isolation. The reason i think 30+ putts is a lot for me is because i hit a high % of greens in regulation, so i expect my total putt count to be below 30.

If you hit high greens in reg then 36 or less putts is good for you

Hit 100% greens in reg and 36 putts would make you a scratch golfer.

 

[hovis]

having a good short game is of course important. but these threads do my head in. getting up and down or sinking a 10ft putt is all well and good but irrelevant if you're 3 off the tee on every hole and dropping out of every water hazard on the course.

short game is no more important than any other part of your game. however, the majority of people i see practicing only work on full swing. in which case it would be beneficial for this person to concentrate on short game

 

[PJ87]

having a good short game is of course important. but these threads do my head in. getting up and down or sinking a 10ft putt is all well and good but irrelevant if you're 3 off the tee on every hole and dropping out of every water hazard on the course.

short game is no more important than any other part of your game. however, the majority of people i see practicing only work on full swing. in which case it would be beneficial for this person to concentrate on short game

If your free off the tee, but have a good short game you could still hit bogey every hole

 

[Deleted member 16999]

having a good short game is of course important. but these threads do my head in. getting up and down or sinking a 10ft putt is all well and good but irrelevant if you're 3 off the tee on every hole and dropping out of every water hazard on the course.

short game is no more important than any other part of your game. however, the majority of people i see practicing only work on full swing. in which case it would be beneficial for this person to concentrate on short game

You’re missing the point of the thread, this isn’t or wasn’t aimed at you single figure golfers, I stated every aspect is important, but if you’re an average golfer playing 95 shots then putting a bit more emphasis on the 59 putting and wedge shots than the 18 tee shots you’ll have a better chance of reducing your score.

You can practise putting in your living room or with you kids making a game of it, difficult to that with any other club.

 

[shortgame]

Exactly. Stats can be misleading if looked at in isolation. The reason i think 30+ putts is a lot for me is because i hit a high % of greens in regulation, so i expect my total putt count to be below 30.

Did you mean to say 'miss a high % of greens in regulation'?

 

[Orikoru]

having a good short game is of course important. but these threads do my head in. getting up and down or sinking a 10ft putt is all well and good but irrelevant if you're 3 off the tee on every hole and dropping out of every water hazard on the course.

short game is no more important than any other part of your game. however, the majority of people i see practicing only work on full swing. in which case it would be beneficial for this person to concentrate on short game

But the whole point of the original post is saying that 59/95 shots on average are chipping and putting, whereas driving is only 14 shots (well that part was obvious I guess). I think you can save a bogey off a terrible drive with a really good short game. But if your short game is poor I think you're more likely to make double bogeys even from the fairway. (e.g. having to chip twice instead of once and then still three-putting).

Obvious as a general rule every shot is important though.

 

[bobmac]

Bill and Ben are on the first tee, Bill slices his drive out of bounds and Ben hits a beauty down the middle.
Bill hits his reload down the middle and hits a lovely 4th shot to 10 feet.
Ben hits his 2nd shot to 20ft and 3 putts for a bogey. Bill holes his 10 footer also for a bogey.
Guess who is in a better mood on the second tee?
Bill hits 3 wood off the 2nd tee

My thought is you can recover from a poor tee shot but you can't from a 3 putt

 

[Yant]

I expect to hit most greens in reg. Perhaps miss maybe 4 or 5 a round on an average day. Say 12 greens in reg which i would like to think i should be expecting to hole 3-4 one putts. The other 6 holes that were missed in regulation resulting in a 3x up and down and 3x 2 putts.

So that would equal, on average, around 30 putts per round. So for me, anything below that is good. 30 is my yardstick.

I'm interested to know if you think i'm looking at it incorrectly.

 

[garyinderry]

Its equally important for the high handicap and low man to have a good day with the putter and to put some work and effort into improving.

Its the easiest way for the high man to come down shots and its the thing that really decides if the low man has a good day or an alright day.

 

[Orikoru]

I expect to hit most greens in reg. Perhaps miss maybe 4 or 5 a round on an average day. Say 12 greens in reg which i would like to think i should be expecting to hole 3-4 one putts. The other 6 holes that were missed in regulation resulting in a 3x up and down and 3x 2 putts.

So that would equal, on average, around 30 putts per round. So for me, anything below that is good. 30 is my yardstick.

I'm interested to know if you think i'm looking at it incorrectly.

Because, by whatever maths you use, if you just miss a green by a couple of inches that's one less putt than you would have had otherwise. But presumably you can get that chip just as near as the putt would have been. One less in regulation, but one less putt as well.

As PaulJames said earlier in the thread - if you were to hit every green in regulation then 36 putts makes you a scratch golfer. If, as you say, you miss 5 greens in regulation in a round, but you expect to get around 30 putts in the day also, then you are expecting to finish every round one under par?? I mean, fair play if you are doing that as that's obviously very good. But otherwise you're setting very high expectations.

 

[shortgame]

I expect to hit most greens in reg. Perhaps miss maybe 4 or 5 a round on an average day. Say 12 greens in reg which i would like to think i should be expecting to hole 3-4 one putts. The other 6 holes that were missed in regulation resulting in a 3x up and down and 3x 2 putts.

So that would equal, on average, around 30 putts per round. So for me, anything below that is good. 30 is my yardstick.

I'm interested to know if you think i'm looking at it incorrectly.

It's interesting as I average about the same putts per round

However, I don't hit as many GIRs but tend to get up and down a lot

Therefore I have several single putts after chipping close, whereas on the GIRs I maybe only single putt say 20% as the putts are longer (having come in with a mid iron rather than a chip)

 

[PJ87]

I expect to hit most greens in reg. Perhaps miss maybe 4 or 5 a round on an average day. Say 12 greens in reg which i would like to think i should be expecting to hole 3-4 one putts. The other 6 holes that were missed in regulation resulting in a 3x up and down and 3x 2 putts.

So that would equal, on average, around 30 putts per round. So for me, anything below that is good. 30 is my yardstick.

I'm interested to know if you think i'm looking at it incorrectly.

this is one of my favourite pictures in golf. brings it home to check on average what you should be

my GG has me off 26 to be that on average I should :

drive 155 (I beat that often)
fairways / semi hit 38% id say im there or there abouts
putts per round 38 I average 35 atm so beating that
pens per round 2.6 im on that.
greens in reg 2 per round about right again

now to get to 18 I need to

drive 185 on average.. I average 179 I reckon so need a few more yards
fairways need to be 40% which im getting there
greens in reg need to be 3 ., this is an area I need to improve
putts per round 35... perfect on target
pens per round 1.8.. this is prob where I need the most work

can have clear targets here and opens your eyes

30 putts or more is bad? well unless your off 4 or less i wouldnt worry about it.

 

[Sports_Fanatic]

Bill and Ben are on the first tee, Bill slices his drive out of bounds and Ben hits a beauty down the middle.
Bill hits his reload down the middle and hits a lovely 4th shot to 10 feet.
Ben hits his 2nd shot to 20ft and 3 putts for a bogey. Bill holes his 10 footer also for a bogey.
Guess who is in a better mood on the second tee?
Bill hits 3 wood off the 2nd tee

My thought is you can recover from a poor tee shot but you can't from a 3 putt

Interesting analogy but if you were offered three of the tee or two on the green, then I know which one I'd take and I'd be confident that 90% of the time that person stood on the green in two would score better. Short game is clearly important but I do think it's overestimated because of the pros - there it's different as they all get tee to green pretty consistently so it elevates you to being the best by having a great short game/mental game. Would not say the same for a mid-handicapper like me.

 

[louise_a]

I expect to hit most greens in reg. Perhaps miss maybe 4 or 5 a round on an average day. Say 12 greens in reg which i would like to think i should be expecting to hole 3-4 one putts. The other 6 holes that were missed in regulation resulting in a 3x up and down and 3x 2 putts.

So that would equal, on average, around 30 putts per round. So for me, anything below that is good. 30 is my yardstick.

I'm interested to know if you think i'm looking at it incorrectly.

You don't mention your handicap, I assume it is scratch or better.

 

[AMcC]

this is one of my favourite pictures in golf. brings it home to check on average what you should be

my GG has me off 26 to be that on average I should :

drive 155 (I beat that often)
fairways / semi hit 38% id say im there or there abouts
putts per round 38 I average 35 atm so beating that
pens per round 2.6 im on that.
greens in reg 2 per round about right again

now to get to 18 I need to

drive 185 on average.. I average 179 I reckon so need a few more yards
fairways need to be 40% which im getting there
greens in reg need to be 3 ., this is an area I need to improve
putts per round 35... perfect on target
pens per round 1.8.. this is prob where I need the most work

can have clear targets here and opens your eyes

30 putts or more is bad? well unless your off 4 or less i wouldnt worry about it.

Which book was the picture taken from ?

 

[PJ87]

Which book was the picture taken from ?

scot cranfields golf academy training record