Instruction
Dave Pelz with research on why average golfers need better short games
How important is short game to a golfer’s score? According to Dave Pelz, it’s critical. A new video from the short game guru, which is part of Cleveland Golf’s #own125 campaign, reveals that PGA Tour players get up and down when they miss a green roughly 60 percent of the time.
The video also reveals statistics for scratch, 10-handicap and 20-handicap golfers, which (not surprisingly) are much, much lower.
The LPGA Tour is kicking off its 2026 season this week at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club in Orlando, and the pros are dealing with something most Florida golfers rarely face: freezing temperatures.
“It’s colder here than in the UK at the minute, which is a first,” said England’s Charley Hull during Wednesday’s media day at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.
Even Lydia Ko, who lives at Lake Nona, seemed surprised by the cold snap. “We’re pretty much getting to below zero in celsius here, which maybe in other parts of the country they would be thankful, but when you’re in Florida it is a little bit of a surprise,” she said.
If the world’s best players are adjusting their games for cold weather, recreational golfers should, too. Here’s how to play smart when the mercury drops.
Understand What Cold Does to Your Game
Before you change anything, you need to know what you’re fighting against. Cold air is denser than warm air, which means your ball won’t fly as far. Period.
Hull noticed this immediately during practice rounds at Lake Nona. She mentioned hitting a gap wedge into the 18th hole during a previous win but needing a 4-iron during Tuesday’s practice round. That’s a difference of four or five clubs for the same shot.
Action item: Expect to lose 5-10 yards on every club in your bag when temperatures dip below 50 degrees. Plan accordingly and don’t be stubborn about club selection.
Layer Up Without Restricting Your Swing
Hull admitted she wore three pairs of pants during practice. While that might be extreme for most of us, staying warm is critical to playing well in cold conditions.
Your muscles need warmth to function properly. When you’re cold, your body tightens up and your swing gets shorter and faster. Neither of those things help you hit good golf shots.
Action item: Wear multiple thin layers instead of one bulky jacket. Look for golf-specific cold weather gear that stretches with your swing. Keep hand warmers in your pockets between shots. And don’t forget a good hat because you lose significant body heat through your head.
Take More Club Than You Think You Need
This is where ego gets in the way of good scores. When it’s cold, the ball doesn’t compress as well off the clubface. Combined with denser air, you’re looking at serious distance loss.
The pros at Lake Nona are dealing with a course that measures 6,642 yards but plays much longer this week. If they’re adjusting, you should too.
Action item: Take at least one extra club on every approach shot. In temperatures below 40 degrees, consider taking two extra clubs. It’s better to fly the ball to the back of the green than to come up short in a bunker.
Adjust Your Expectations on the Greens
Cold weather affects putting in ways most golfers don’t consider. The ball is harder and doesn’t roll as smoothly. Your hands are cold, making it harder to feel the putter. And if there’s any moisture on the greens, they’ll be slower than normal.
Ko mentioned that she still sometimes reads the greens wrong at Lake Nona despite being a member for years. Cold weather makes that challenge even tougher.
Action item: Hit putts more firmly than usual. The ball needs extra speed to hold its line on cold greens. Take a few extra practice strokes to get a feel for the speed before you putt.
Embrace the Mental Challenge
Hull said something interesting about cold weather golf: “I like the mental toughness of it.”
That’s the right attitude. Everyone on the course is dealing with the same conditions. The player who stays patient and doesn’t get frustrated by the extra difficulty will come out ahead.
Action item: Lower your expectations by a few strokes. If you normally shoot 85, accept that 90 might be a good score in 40-degree weather. Focus on solid contact and smart decisions rather than perfect shots.
Warm Up Longer and Smarter
This might be the most important tip of all. Cold muscles are tight muscles, and tight muscles get injured easily.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul revealed she’s been protecting a wrist injury that bothered her late last season. Cold weather makes those kinds of injuries more likely if you don’t prepare properly.
Action item: Spend at least 20 minutes warming up before your round. Start with stretching, then hit easy wedge shots before working up to your driver. Keep moving between shots on the course to maintain body heat and flexibility.
The pros at Lake Nona this week will adapt and compete at the highest level despite the cold. You can do the same at your local course by following these tips and keeping a positive attitude.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Brooks Koepka is back on the PGA Tour, and whether you love him or hate him, the guy knows how to win when it matters. After his LIV Golf stint, the five-time major champion returns this week at the Farmers Insurance Open.
What makes Koepka fascinating? He doesn’t fit the mold. His swing isn’t textbook. He doesn’t obsess over mechanics. Yet he’s won three PGA Championships and two U.S. Opens, regularly making it look easier than guys with prettier swings.
So, what can average golfers learn from someone who treats the game so differently? Quite a bit.
Stop Overthinking Every Shot
Koepka describes his approach as “reactionary” rather than mechanical. While most tour pros grind over swing thoughts, Brooks sees the target and hits it. No mental checklist.
This might be the most valuable lesson for weekend golfers who’ve watched too many YouTube swing videos.
How to actually do this:
On the range, hit five balls where you stare at the target for three seconds prior to addressing the ball. Don’t think about grip or stance. Just burn that target into your brain. You’ll be shocked at how pure you hit it when your brain focuses on where the ball is going instead of how you’re swinging.
Next time you play, give yourself a rule: Once you pull the club, you’ve got 15 seconds to hit. Koepka is one of the fastest players on tour because he doesn’t give his brain time to sabotage him.
If you feel tension in your hands at address, you’re trying to control too much. Koepka’s grip pressure is famously light. Loosen up until the club almost feels like it might slip, then add just enough pressure to hold on. That’s your swing thought: soft hands, see the target.
This approach works better under pressure. When you’re standing over that shot with water left and OB right, the last thing you need is a mental checklist. See it, feel it, hit it.
Play to Your Strengths (Even If They’re Not Pretty)
Koepka uses a strong grip that wouldn’t pass muster in some teaching circles. But he’s built his game around what works for him, elite driving distance and recovery skills. He doesn’t try to be someone he’s not.
Here’s how to build your game like Brooks:
Look at your last five rounds and figure out where you’re actually gaining strokes. Bombing it off the tee, but can’t hit greens? Lean into it. Play courses where distance matters more than precision. On tight holes, grip down on your 3-wood instead of trying to thread a driver through a keyhole you’ll miss seven times out of ten.
Koepka knows he can scramble, so he’s not afraid to miss greens. If you’re deadly from 50 to 75 yards, start leaving yourself those distances on the par 5’s instead of going for them in two every time.
Know when to take your medicine. Koepka in the trees at the PGA? He’s punching out to 100 yards, not trying to bend a 6-iron around three oaks. You’re in the rough with a flyer lie and water short? Hit your 8-iron to the middle and move on. That’s not playing scared, that’s playing smart.
Save Your Best for When It Counts
Here’s a wild stat: Koepka’s putting average in majors is often more than a full stroke better per round than in regular events. He elevates when pressure is highest.
How does an amateur tap into that gear? It’s not about trying harder, it’s about caring differently.
Here’s what actually works:
Decide which rounds matter to you. Club championship? Member-guest? That annual trip with college buddies? Circle those dates and treat them differently. Koepka doesn’t care much about regular tour events, but majors? That’s when he locks in.
Two weeks before your big round, change your practice. Stop beating balls mindlessly. Play nine holes in which every shot has consequences. Miss the fairway? Hit from the rough on the next hole too. Three-putt? Twenty push-ups. Koepka’s practice intensity ramps up before majors because he’s rehearsing pressure, not just swings.
Develop a between-shot routine that resets your brain. Koepka is famous for his blank expression after bad shots. Try this: After any shot, take three deep breaths while walking, then find something specific to notice, a tree, a cloud, someone’s shirt. That’s your reset button. By the time you reach your ball, the last shot is gone.
The Bottom Line
Brooks Koepka’s return reminds us there’s no single path to success in golf. His “substance over style” approach proves that results matter more than looking good.
You don’t need a perfect swing; you need a reliable one that holds up under pressure. You don’t need to hit every shot in the book; you need the shots you can count on. And you don’t need to play great every time; you need to play great when it matters.
Welcome back, Brooks. Thanks for the reminder that golf is ultimately about getting the ball in the hole, not winning style points.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “Playing Through” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
Blades Brown made a big impression last week in the California desert, and not just because he’s only 18. He put up numbers that would catch any weekend golfer’s attention. Most of us won’t hit 317-yard drives or find 86% of our greens in regulation, but there’s a lot to learn from how Brown managed his game at The American Express.
Here are three practical lessons from his performance that you can use on your own course this weekend.
Step 1: Give Priority to Accuracy Over Distance Off The Tee
Brown’s driving stats are impressive. He averaged almost 318 yards off the tee, ranking 12th in the field. More importantly, he hit 76.79% of his fairways, tying for fourth place in the tournament.
Think about that ratio for a second. Brown could have swung harder, chased more distance and tried to overpower the course. Instead, he played smart golf and kept his ball in play.
Your Action Item: Next time you’re on the tee box, ask yourself a simple question before pulling the driver. Do you need maximum distance here, or do you need to be in the fairway? If there’s trouble lurking or the hole doesn’t demand every yard you can muster, take something off your swing. Grip down an inch. Make a three-quarter swing. Do whatever it takes to find the short grass. Brown’s approach illustrates that fairways lead to greens, and greens lead to birdies. He made 22 of them last week, along with an eagle.
The math is simple. When you’re hitting three out of every four fairways like Brown did, you’re giving yourself legitimate looks at the green with your approach shots. That’s when scoring happens.
Step 2: Commit To Hitting More Greens
This is where Brown really separated himself. He hit 62 of 72 greens in regulation, an 86.11% clip that tied for first in the entire field. Read that again. An 18-year-old kid tied for the lead in one of the most important ball-striking statistics in professional golf.
How did he do it? By keeping his ball in the fairway (see Step 1) and giving himself clean looks with mid-irons and wedges.
Your Action Item: Start tracking your greens in regulation. You don’t need a fancy app or a statistics degree. Just mark down whether you hit the green in the regulation number of strokes. Par 3s in one shot. Par 4s in two shots. Par 5s in three shots.
Once you know your baseline, set a goal to improve it by 10%. If you’re currently hitting five greens per round, aim for six. The beauty of this approach is that it forces you to think strategically about club selection and shot shape. Brown’s strokes gained approach number was positive (0.179), meaning he was better than the field average. You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be on the dance floor more often.
When you hit more greens, you eliminate the need for heroic short game shots. Brown only had to scramble 10 times all week, and he got up and down 70% of the time. That’s solid, but the real story is that he rarely put himself in scrambling situations to begin with.
Step 3: Minimize Mistakes And Stay Patient
Here’s the stat that jumps off the page: Brown made only three bogeys all week. Three. In four rounds of professional golf against the best players in the world.
He also made just one double bogey. That kind of clean card doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you play within yourself, avoid the big miss and trust that pars are never bad scores.
Your Action Item: Before your next round, decide that you’re going to play boring golf. No hero shots over water. No driver on tight holes just because you can. No aggressive pins when there’s a safe side of the green.
Brown’s performance shows us that consistency beats flash every single time. He didn’t lead the field in any single strokes gained category, but he was solid across the board. That’s how you post numbers and cash checks.
Give these three steps a try. Your scorecard will thank you.
PGA Professional Brendon Elliott is an award-winning coach and golf writer. You can check out his writing work and learn more about him by visiting BEAGOLFER.golf and OneMoreRollGolf.com. Also, check out “The Starter” now on R.org, RG.org’s partner site, each Monday.
Editor’s note: Brendon shares his nearly 30 years of experience in the game with GolfWRX readers through his ongoing tip series. He looks forward to providing valuable insights and advice to help golfers improve their game. Stay tuned for more tips!
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jjoro
Nov 26, 2015 at 10:28 am
What a revelation from a self made, self centered genius. I bet he is the ONLY “guru” to figure that out. WOW, we need a better short game. Kinda like he messed up Phils Putting with his genius observations. He probably thinks the answer is to make more Putts,,, DUH.
DonW
Feb 16, 2016 at 11:57 pm
Pelz may have an interest in selling his short game training classes and publications, but HE IS CORRECT, the short game is the most important area for score improvement. You can’t recover from a missed putt and putts are easier if your short game is more accurate.
Mat
Nov 12, 2015 at 11:08 pm
Pelz also says… tour pros 1-putt half the time from 8ft or less.
The conclusion I draw from this is simple…
If you hit a GIR, your odds of two-putting from anywhere are in the high 60s or better.
The odds of you hitting a green within 8 feet of the pin from anywhere not on the green is likely lower than 25%, and it goes down fast.
Therefore, if you want to par a hole, you want GIR. Most GIR shots are attack shots from 75-175 yards. Practicing those areas, and focusing on your equipment in that area, making sure you don’t have huge gaps is really key.
Pelz is absolutely right when he suggests knowing your partial swing numbers. If you have a 46 yard shot, you should be able to get within a couple yards of it, thus giving you a scramble opportunity. However, he isn’t taking into account the real statistics of accuracy. Longer drives make easier second shots. Second shots will determine your likelihood of par-vs-bogie more than any other factor.
As a 10, if you GIR, you are 70% to par, and 98% to bogey. If you miss GIR, you are 15% chance to par, 60% chance to bogey.
As a 0, if you get your scrambling up to 30%, you’ve shaved 0.15/sph. If you get to iron play of that caliber, you’ve gone from 30->60% GIR, you reduce 0.45/sph. I’ll spend my time where it’s 3x more effective, thanks.
Hudson
Nov 12, 2015 at 4:49 pm
This article looks totally wrong in my case :
On my last three rounds (I am a 10/12 HCP), I lost a total of 33 strokes (on 47 holes)
based on the STROKES GAINED (LOST) approach.
Here is the breakdown:
Tee Par 4/5: -13.2 (39.6%)
Recovery: -0.1 (0.2%)
Second shot on par 5: -2.2 (6.5%)
Lay up P3: -1.2 (3.5%)
Lay up P4: -1.3 (3.8%)
Lay up P5: 0.0 (0.1%)
Attack 0-50 m: -2.7 (8.1%)
Attack 51-100 m: -2.2 (6.7%)
Attack 101-150 m: -4.3 (12.8%)
Attack 151-200 m: -4.4 (13.3%)
Putting: -1.8 (5.3%)
So it means that I am LOSING the most strokes on three parts of the game:
1) Driving (39.6% of the total lost strokes)
2) Attack 151-200 meters: -4.4 (13.3% of the total lost strokes)
3) Attack 151-200 m: -4.4 (13.3% of the total lost strokes)
Short game would only be fourth for me and putting is my best part as I only lost -1.8 strokes on 47 holes…
This confirms what I have seen and calculated for 2 years now based on the strokes gained method…
See here below if interested:
http://golf-made-in-us.blogspot.com/
ders
Nov 12, 2015 at 3:01 am
I reject the “practice your short game” conventional wisdom (as a player who sucks I get all kinds of unsolicited advice on my game). I’m happy when I shoot low 90’s but my average putts per round is just under 34. I take an average of 8 penalty strokes a game. What part of my game should I work on? Its clearly not the short game. If I get my drives under control, I drop my scores by at least 8 strokes. I COULD NEVER PRACTICE ENOUGH TO TAKE 8 STROKES OFF MY PUTTING (my putts per round would be lower than Jordan Speith if I did that). And putting is boring, its not the reason anyone plays golf. Nothing amps you up more than a great drive and nothing bums you out more than slicing your tee shot into the lake. If I hit fairways, I’m having fun regardless if I’m 3 putting every hole.
Reeves
Nov 9, 2015 at 7:32 pm
Ok, Dave Plez has some wonderful ideas and he has a great short game school….but you are looking at elite amateur training…How many weekend duffers or retired people who play once or twice a week are really going to pay what his short game schools (or days) cost and even if they did or could how many would put in the practice time, very few. What the ever day player needs is very short and usable fixes that can keep the ball in play..that is where the need is not short game schools and fixes that take hours of practice. Here is an example of what the average Joe and Jill need out on the course…Putt every short shot you can, leave the wedge in the bag all you can around the green….just saved everyone a few shots and got you off the green so the 5 some behind you has the extra time they are going to need to read their putts from every angle….the ones with all the Plez school training…
golfraven
Nov 5, 2015 at 4:31 pm
Last time I played a round with my brother I was all other with the tee shot, imprecise with the green approach but then made great saves and one putter first three holes (par, birdie, par) and then I received an emergency call and had to go home. I could have easily played 3 over but went away with a smile. That is why you need good short game if you are a weekend player.
ca1879
Nov 5, 2015 at 3:34 pm
Best short game in the world won’t help if you’re getting up and down for bogey or worse. You have to get it there first.
Cliff
Nov 6, 2015 at 2:09 pm
The best short game will help if you can’t get the ball to the green. Why is that so hard to understand for people. I can hit 2 crappy shots and be by the green, chip it close and make par. I can also hit 2 good shots and miss the green, chip to 20′, and make bogey. Those 2 good shots don’t put the ball in the hole!
Double Mocha Man
Nov 10, 2015 at 10:39 pm
But those two good shots might put you close enough for a birdie putt.
Large chris
Nov 5, 2015 at 12:39 pm
I certainly believe the more sophisticated recent statistical analysis work, that shows driving and GIR to be far more important than it used to thought….
BUT the much more useful approach for the average golfer is to focus on becoming ADEQUATE in every area. I play with average golfers every weekend, and most have one or two glaring weaknesses, eg off the planet wild driving, total inability to get out of a bunker (think Boomer in the pebble beach pro am), unable to put a roll on a 3 foot putt, 20% of irons topped or shanked….
Focus on becoming ADEQUATE in every area first, before worrying about which bits to spend most time practicing on.
Cliff
Nov 5, 2015 at 1:09 pm
I’ve made plenty of pars rolling the ball off the tee. I’ve never made a par 3 putting, unless it was a par 5.
Large chris
Nov 5, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Then just imagine how many birdies you could make by not topping it…
Cliff
Nov 6, 2015 at 2:05 pm
Doesn’t work that way.
ptat
Nov 4, 2015 at 9:05 pm
It helps Dave sell more wedges for Cleveland is why
Craig
Nov 4, 2015 at 7:44 pm
I play off 16 averaging 44 putts and i’ve been focussing on my putting (without much success obviously!!!), but playing with a 2 h’capper recently really highlighted to me that it may be my chipping which is as much to blame. In particular from under 10-15 yards off a green he was typically up and down in 2, where i was 3 or 4. So this makes sense to me…
Mat
Nov 12, 2015 at 11:13 pm
I’ve been there, man. Only one thing helped me… and I went from averaging 40 to about 34 putts now. Unless you are inside 8 ft, assume that you will miss your first putt. Odds are that almost always you will. That’s ok, that’s normal. Just putt in such a way that you will make your second putt. Forget about the hole and draining the long ones… it’s all a bit of luck at our level anyhow. However, if you put yourself in a position to make the second one, your total strokes will fall faster than any other way statistically. GL
AJ
Nov 3, 2015 at 10:39 pm
Why would anyone advocate the importance of 1 aspect over another, it is all important to your score right?? poor shot game, long game, putting etc. are all detrimental to you score, enjoyment, and a waste of everyone’s time. what is worse.. watching a 20 hdcp zigzag down the fairway or chunk and skull it around the green after? there is no secret to better golf, it is all about practicing every aspect. poor golf is only due to a lack of preparation.
Cliff
Nov 4, 2015 at 10:29 am
I’ve never shot a good round with bad putting.
other paul
Nov 4, 2015 at 9:10 pm
I shot 90 when I hit 16 greens in reg one round. Drove great, approached well, wedges fine, putted like crap. 3 putted the whole way.
TheCityGame
Nov 5, 2015 at 9:14 am
I have. A LOT. I shot 78 with 39 putts one day.
But, I’ve never shot a good round with poor ball striking.
Basically what Pelz is saying here goes against all modern knowledge of scoring. It’s borderline non-sense. He mentions shot link data in the opening line, but apparently has no understanding of it.
Read Broadie.
Cliff
Nov 5, 2015 at 10:53 am
If you consider 78 a good round….
Joe
Nov 5, 2015 at 11:39 am
78 is a good round for the average golfer. Those that agree with Pelz are above average golfers.
If the true average golfer could save just two strokes off the tee (one less ball OB / Lost) just once per round, they would do better than improving their scrambling percentage from 5% to 15% (which is 1.8 strokes if you assume you miss every green).
Kerryn Jamieson
Nov 3, 2015 at 10:10 pm
What I think is being missed here is that the title of the article reads “average” golfers. While driver distance may be an indicator for handicap you have failed to realise that most of these “average” golfers are physically incapable of producing the techniques required to hit that long drive. However they are more likely to be able to produce the physical techniques required to have just as good a short game as a pro. Changing the full swing motor pattern in a 50 year old to get them to swing at 100mph is near on impossible but getting them to hole 90% of 3 and 4 footers and chipping the ball to that 3 and 4 foot range is a much more achievable task and therefore I do believe that improving their to improve their scoring results improving the short game is a goal that is realistically achievable.
AJ
Nov 4, 2015 at 8:52 am
That is why we have forward tees, use em! They’re Not just for ladies and kids……
Cliff
Nov 4, 2015 at 10:30 am
You must hit every GIR!
other paul
Nov 6, 2015 at 9:03 pm
I’m 33 and changed my motor pattern for my golf swing in about 6 months. Went from straight and 97MPH swing up to 117 MPH swing and less straight, but I am sorting it out now (fat grips helped). Read Kelvin Miyahiras articles and use a camera. Focus on body positions and then worry about the club after.
Another Paul
Nov 11, 2015 at 12:01 pm
Can I ask, 97 to 117, are these verified on a trackman type of device? And were they maximums or averages, and are these numbers for a driver swing? Also did you just use the info on Kelvin’s website or did you actually see him for a lesson/s? finally can I ask what was your handicap reduction in that 6 months? His site looks interesting 🙂 Many thanks 🙂
snowman
Nov 3, 2015 at 9:32 pm
Pelz still clings to his 1980’s mantras. He’s not all wrong; no doubt Short game is Important, but there has been lots of study done on this and the major difference in Scratch/Pro and Higher Handicap is quality of Ball striking. There are exceptions — e.g. guys that are mediocre ball strikers and short game or putting magicians, but on average the lower handicap, the better the ball striker. As an illustration to prove the point, someone asked ‘do you have a better chance to beat a pro in a chipping contest or a ball striking contest?’. Unless you have the yips, you are almost certainly closer to a pro short-game than pro ball striker. If you want to really lower your handicap, become a long, reasonably accurate sdriver, and a GIR machine. Once you get to a 5 or better, then you can really prioritize that short game. Side note: I read somewhere that Driving Distance the key determinate in your handicap potential. Oops, Please disregard the above comment. I forgot everyone on WRX is 2 hdcp or better and already carries their driver over 290.
alexdub
Nov 4, 2015 at 6:54 pm
Totally agree with this statement. Ball striking has a tee-to-green effect; that is, improving ball striking has the potential to improve every part of your game. Conversely, practicing 100 yd. wedge shots does not translate into a better driving game (or long iron game, for that matter).
Mike
Nov 14, 2015 at 5:59 pm
I’M A SENIOR 67 years old and I play 6-8 times a month. Been a 3-5 handicap or better since I was 9 years old. In my life I have had 5 lessons and been to Pelz’s short game school twice. I really wish people would learn 1) put the driver in the bag and use whatever you can hit the fairway with. 2) Work on your putting 3) don’t try to knock the cover off the ball. try to make solid contact. Listen to Pelz. 100 yards in is where the scoring happens. Just My $.02!
Steven
Nov 3, 2015 at 7:17 pm
This is not what a strokes gained analysis would show.
cdvilla
Nov 3, 2015 at 6:05 pm
I’m living by this well-reasoned argument posted on this very site! Drive it well enough then hit it on the green more often. I’ve built my practice around this approach and it’s working for me.
http://www.golfwrx.com/285949/the-truth-behind-greens-in-regulation-and-scoring/
RHJazz
Nov 3, 2015 at 9:18 pm
The logic in the linked article is very sound. Of course we could score better if our short game was better in general, but I agree with cdvilla and the other article – it’s far more reasonable to think you can significantly improve your score by hitting more greens in regulation.
Ian
Nov 4, 2015 at 8:08 am
+1. My #1 goal is GIR and that generally starts with a good drive.
kevin
Nov 6, 2015 at 6:22 am
I’d like to add to this… In my last round, I hit 3 GIR! Three. T-H-R-E-E!! For an 8 handicapper hitting 3 GIR???
Well, I shot 12 over – was scrambling on 15 holes and managed to up-and-down (or chip in) 5 times for a dismal one-third in scrambling! There’s a graph indicating the capability of scrambling based on your handicap – I should be off a handicap of 5 or lower based on my scrambling. The odds are just not in your favour if you are missing greens in regulation.
All this time, I thought my short game was rubbish – meantime, I can rest easy knowing that the hour a day short game practice I do in my backyard is paying off.
SO, I NEED TO HIT MORE GIRs!!!!!
My chipping and putting is decent – only 1 three putt, 4 one putts and 2 chip ins (one for bird and one for bogey). I can’t remember when I last had more than 2 putts per hole.
I lost 4 shots off the tee with my driver (2 drives under trees forcing me to punch out, one into a fairway bunker with no chance for a GIR and lost two shots on a miss hit tee shot). That totals 5 lost shots…
Further in my analysis, I found I lost two shots on a 7 iron approach shot – tried attacking a sucker pin! Another lost shot (again with 7 iron) in green side bunker short siding myself for a difficult up-and-down. Lost a shot on tee shot of a par 3 landing in green side bunker – it was a very difficult bunker shot of 20 yards up hill (I got the ball to within 15 feet but missed the putt, should have done better with the tee shot).
Only lost one shot to chipping…
I’m probably not considered an average golfer but really, if you keep focusing on the short game, the rest of your game will fail you and you’ll be left trying to save bogey with your amazing short game…
David
Nov 3, 2015 at 4:59 pm
“Average” players could score better if they improved their short game = fact
TheCityGame
Nov 5, 2015 at 9:18 am
“All” players could score better if they improved their short game = fact
“All” players could score better if they improved their long game = fact
“All” players could score better if they improved their putting = fact
Alec Emerson
Nov 3, 2015 at 4:54 pm
This is woefully innacurate. The importance of the 4 parts of the game is 1. iron play, 2. driving, 3. putting, and 4. shortgame. Firstly, while it is true that after a poor drive, you have more time to recover than after a poor short game shot, players misses with longer clubs tend to be further from target, thus increasing probable score on the hole. A bad drive could result in a 2 stroke penalty (stroke and distance), while even the very worst short game shot is only an effective 1 shot penalty (chunk your chip and move it 5 feet). Again staying with the worst shot example, the very worst short game shot vs the best is almost never more than 2 shots (up and down vs down in 4), while the best drive (down the middle in 1) vs the very worst drive (ob, then skank into the rough) yields a greater difference in average scoring than 2 (usually about 2.5)
Jon
Nov 3, 2015 at 3:31 pm
Just like putting stats between pros and amateurs, don’t you think better golfers are typically in a better position to get up-and-down than less skilled golfers, which in turn makes these conclusions less valid? Nice video editing though.
Mike
Nov 3, 2015 at 4:54 pm
have you ever watched pros on the putting green before a tournament? they have a putting coach and hit a million putts. they are not only more skilled but practice like crazy.