Most important aspect of the golf game?

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lukeysafc100

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Seeing a thread earlier regarding the how important the short game is - I can fully appreciate it! It is massive - if you can get up and down 70% of the time you will save shots! For me - another vitally important aspect to focus improvement on is the tee shot! If you can keep you ball in the play - the very worst you will come away with is bogey (in theory)!Take your ego away from the hitting driver all the time and start playing the game more smart - play the percentages! Hit hybrid/3 wood or an iron! - you'll find you'll hit more fairways and play more confident full shots to the greens meaning you'll hit more! Improve your course management improve you game! A combination of good tee shots and a solid short game I feel will see your score tumble!
 
I don't go along with this hit a 3 wood / iron off the tee. Might do on a very short or very tight hole but, in my opinion, if you can't keep it within the first cut with a driver you need to be practising with this club until you can. In my experience, the nearer you are to the hole, the more likely you are to put the next one close. All this crap about "leave yourself a full shot" doesn't wash with me unless it's a fairly short wedge shot you're talking about. Again, if you can get nearer with, say, a full eight iron than a wedge then you really need to be practising a lot of wedge shots.

On top of that, where's the fun in hitting an iron off the tee when you could be 50 yards further up in knee high rough?
 
lukeysafc100 said:
Seeing a thread earlier regarding the how important the short game is - I can fully appreciate it! It is massive - if you can get up and down 70% of the time you will save shots! For me - another vitally important aspect to focus improvement on is the tee shot! If you can keep you ball in the play - the very worst you will come away with is bogey (in theory)!Take your ego away from the hitting driver all the time and start playing the game more smart - play the percentages! Hit hybrid/3 wood or an iron! - you'll find you'll hit more fairways and play more confident full shots to the greens meaning you'll hit more! Improve your course management improve you game! A combination of good tee shots and a solid short game I feel will see your score tumble!
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if you are getting a load of shots, then yes. but once you get better and the handicap is much lower, then unless you hit the ball a long way, you will prob need to learn to hit the driver.
 
My scores started to improve after I got myself a putting routine, that I use for every putt down to under 18" - sometimes even for 12" putts. I was missing way too many 18"-24". Never mind under 3 footers.

Not only were they irritating they were demoralising, as I could play a hole brilliantly and miss a tiddler. And that irritation and demoralisation was hard to put behind so infected my game. And missing such short putts was also the most significant cause of the 'dribble factor' that continually messed up my medal rounds and drove me nuts.

Now I have my putting routine ingrained I just don't miss putts under 2ft unless I'm really, really stupid - and many fewer 2-3ft. And a huge difference to my general demeanour - which is pleasing for my PPs
 
All of the game is important, I really do not believe that one part is of more importance than another.

If you can't hit driver your going to loose a lot of balls or be too far from the greens to make scores.
If you can't hit irons your going to miss lots of greens.
If you can't chip your never going to get up and down.
If you can't putt you'll never get it in the hole.

The most important thing in golf is learning to enjoy it. I play a lot better when I have a smile on my face, irrespective of how well I am actually playing.
 
My drivers been a work in progress for 2 years and although I know what you're saying you are assuming that you can hit the 3 wood and hybrid off the tee perfectly well which isn't always the case. I've taken these clubs before and hit OOB then sometimes think I'd have been aswell just hitting driver.
 
long game is most important


If you could get Mcilroy to hit all your drives/irons/chips/putts which would you ask him to do?
 
the biggest drop on my handicap was improving tee shots. ok, you need good short game but I find people that bang on about how important it is are short off the tee.
 
All aspects are important. I've made good scores on days when I was hitting lots of GIR and good scores on days when the long game was all over the place but short game and putting was "on".

Very rare to have everything working on the same day so no matter your strength other aspects will need to compensate sometimes.
 
hovis said:
the biggest drop on my handicap was improving tee shots. ok, you need good short game but I find people that bang on about how important it is are short off the tee.
Click to expand...

You hit the ball a long way but have a mid(ish) handicap......ever thought about working on your short game? ;)
 
hovis said:
the biggest drop on my handicap was improving tee shots. ok, you need good short game but I find people that bang on about how important it is are short off the tee.
Click to expand...

I'm short of the tee , but keep it in the fairway and then use my short game to score well

For me a short game is crucial to scoring well but keeping the ball out of trouble can be just as important
 
If you want to be any good (single figures), all parts of the game need to be solid but..........

to improve your short game is easier and takes less time, space, balls, money etc
 
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