Orikoru
Tour Winner
Disagree with that. I hit full shots with a "wedge" from 125 yards, and I also chip from greenside with a hybrid - so the latter isn't short game but the former is??A shot with any club that has "wedge" in the name
Short game and putting mastery
- Thread starter TigerTime
- Start date
chrisd
Major Champion
I too hit a "wedge' 125 to 130" but rarely hit it as hard as I might say a 7 iron, so for me Its a "scoring club" and one day it will (I hope)
Mandofred
Well-known member
I'm not currently at a club with a decent practice area.... a real bummer for me. At the courses I used to be at I NEVER saw anybody practice their shots inside of 100 yds with any vigor. I would put out cones at various distances from 100 down to sometimes 20yds. At that time, if I hit 2 bags of balls (about 180)....80-90% of them would be with wedges. All I ever saw on the practice range were people trying to crush their drives and long woods etc. After the round today, one of the guys said my short game was awesome.....I told him what I used to do to get wedge accuracy....not a chance he is going to do it though.
SteveW86
Head Pro
You should try having a lesson
jim8flog
Journeyman Pro
I stopped a lot of my 'short game' practice when they turned our practice ground in to a driving range.
Two of my favourite practices used to be
1. Take a 52 wedge start at 100 yards to a flag hit ten balls, walk forward 10 yards hit another 10 and so on.
2. Place a flag at 100 yards and hit every iron in the bag to that distance
When it was a practice ground I also used to practice with exactly the same type of ball that I played with.
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
Every club (with exception of driver) I've used at some point or another around the greens. I think those people that limit themselves to a couple of clubs are making life harder than it needs to be
Golfnut1957
Newbie
Not really. If you are competent with wedges why complicate things?
Backache
Assistant Pro
Plenty of people practice their wedges in our area. More practice their long game, which I guess makes sense as all the stats suggest it's a lot more important.
Can you point me towards the stats that say a long game is more important than a short game..? I'm in 2 minds as to which to practise more. Thanks.
HPIMG
Active member
I’m guessing he’s meaning at elite level, where there whole game is brilliant.There’s noway in hell I would pick being better off the tee over my short game.
Backache
Assistant Pro
Mark Broadie has studied it extensively and has written a book on it called Every Shot Counts.
He developed the stats of strokes gained which is generally recognized to be the best way we have of measuring and comparing performance across different parts of the game.
He discovered that at every level the long game is approximately twice as important as the short game.
Backache
Assistant Pro
The statistics suggest it is true at all levels.
Incidentally I'm not suggest anyone shouldn't practice their short game, pick up improvement in all aspects, but the stats suggest an improvement in your long game will reduce your score by more than a similar improvement in your short game.
D
Deleted member 29109
Guest
Tee to green is by far the most important.
There is absolutely no point in being world class at chipping and putting if it’s for double.
The short game is to get you out of trouble, it’s not a strategy for lower scores.
D
Deleted member 25575
Guest
Consider this, if you are on a tee on a moderate 530 yard par 5 and you happen to be playing Rory or Scottie or any one of the worlds best, and you both take 1000 drives, then you walk down to the middle of the fairway and from your average finish position you take 1000 second shots, and Rory or whoever does the same from their average finish position.
Then you skip the 3rd shot as Rory is using putter and you’re not.
Just for a laugh you both drop 1000 balls somewhere close to the green and both chip, again marking your average distance from the hole.
So you walk to the green and both out the ball down 40ft from the pin and hit 1000 putts, then do the same with 2nd putts.
Where do you think, over those 5000 shots, Rory will make the most gains over you, what do you think the order will be for each set of 1000 shots?
bobmac
Major Champion
Your average amateur is probably not physically able to have the long game of the top pros but there's nothing to stop them from having a good short game.
D
Deleted member 29109
Guest
There are lots of reasons why us normal folk can’t and aren’t as good as the world’s elite.
We don’t have their natural ability for a start. Then we don’t have the time to practice they have. Proper equipment, the best coaching, the imagination, the experience or their strength.
If by the elite we are talking about top 50 in the world. There is nobody with a handicap that has any part of their game that comes anywhere close.
Some + guys might have a short game that is somewhere near the bottom end of the professional game, but that’s it.
Some people kid themselves that they are nearly as good. But put them on a course set up for a professional event and they would quickly find out they aren’t.
We don’t have their natural ability for a start. Then we don’t have the time to practice they have. Proper equipment, the best coaching, the imagination, the experience or their strength.
If by the elite we are talking about top 50 in the world. There is nobody with a handicap that has any part of their game that comes anywhere close.
Some + guys might have a short game that is somewhere near the bottom end of the professional game, but that’s it.
Some people kid themselves that they are nearly as good. But put them on a course set up for a professional event and they would quickly find out they aren’t.
D
Deleted member 29109
Guest
Another way to look at it.
Around your home golf course. On every hole you and Rory hit 2 shots each. From there you swap balls and finish the hole.
Who shoots the lowest score?
Now imagine the same. But somewhere like Muirfield Village on a Sunday at Memorial.
hambugerpete
Member
It's not about having a pro level long game , just improve the one you have and it will bring rewards. Short game just needs to be reliable and be able to get the ball on the green with minimal fuss.
hambugerpete
Member
Probably Rory still.
bobmac
Major Champion
The point I was making was there are people who are limited to how far they can hit it by illnesses, lack of flexibility, lack of strength, old age etc, whereas they can still chip and putt very well as that doesn't depend on strength and flexibility.
