What is your Game Importance?

[i-Guy]

I voted for "Short game is where it's at" because the year before last I was a 12 handciap and wanted to be a 10 or less...so I analyzed my game and realized that my ball striking is not what I would ultimately want it to be but I am working on it (coach) and think that even though it is gettting better will always be a work in progress and there will always be days when I hit drives out of bounds etc...so I finally realized that the part of my game that I can do something about "NOW" is my short game (100 yds and in). So I dedicated my self over 2008 to evey time I went to the range to work on my short game before anything else (full swings and putting)...by the end of 2008 my handicap dropped to 8.6. Now I know to go to below 5 is a tough venture and I believe it is imbedded in being more conistsent with my ball striking but I am forever going to pay attention to my short game because it can give you the biggest "Bang for the buck" as they say!

[Fat Slice]

I chose "Iron Play" because I want to avoid the short game! No chips out of the rough or sand shots for me if I hit the green on the approach. A big showy drive isn't anywhere near as important as getting it to the right spot on the fairway where I can let a hybrid or iron go to work with a good lie. As for putting, yeah, it's extremely important...but...I'd rather be putting for birdie, par, or bogie and missing than draining a 40 footer for triple-bogey.

[HSip]

I vote for short game. Looking at the poll results is interesting - more votes for short game and iron play. The "middle" of the hole so to speak. I guess we're looking for something to make up for a so-so tee shot or trying to avoid that 10 footer for par.

[iacas]

Since the short game includes putting, I picked that.

Besides, with a good short game, even if you exclude putting, it's tough to miss the putt from a foot or after you've chipped in.

[i-Guy]

I chose "Iron Play" because I want to avoid the short game! No chips out of the rough or sand shots for me if I hit the green on the approach. A big showy drive isn't anywhere near as important as getting it to the right spot on the fairway where I can let a hybrid or iron go to work with a good lie. As for putting, yeah, it's extremely important...but...I'd rather be putting for birdie, par, or bogie and missing than draining a 40 footer for triple-bogey.

I hear you and makes good sense. However, I recieved this free lesson from a Pro once that opened my eyes:

I was at a course (just started playing the game) practicing my chipping and the local Pro (who I was not and never did work with becuase I was in college and could not afford lessons) came up to me and the conversation went as follows: Pro - "What the heck are you doing?" referring to my lousy form. Me - "Practicing chipping!" Pro - "I bet you do not hit many greens from the fairway do you?" Me - I thought for a minute and said "your right but how did you know that?" Pro - "Because your short game sucks!". Me - "What do you mean?" Pro - "Well a scenario is that you are sitting in the middle of the fairway with an 8 or 9 iron in your hand looking at the green thinking...crap if I miss this green I am dead because I know I cannot get up & down. That builds tension in your swing and sure enough you miss the green. I guarante that if you work hard on improving your short game, you will start hitting more GIR's because you will not be afraid to miss because you will have confidence in your ability to get up & down" And then he showed me a few things about my chipping and walked away never asking to coach me. That thought pattern has always stuck with me but I did not really decide to take his approach until last year when I put the effort into my short game and my handicap dropped from 12 to 8.6. And yes my GIR's are improving as well...

[iacas]

And then he showed me a few things about my chipping and walked away never asking to coach me. That thought pattern has always stuck with me but I did not really decide to take his approach until last year when I put the effort into my short game and my handicap dropped from 12 to 8.6. And yes my GIR's are improving as well...

Another possibility: chipping builds good fundamentals for the full swing, too: hands ahead, developing lag (not releasing it, but maintaining it at least), pulling the club through with your body rotation.

Those can all help you with your iron game. I can't remember who it was but they when their iron game was off, they'd chip. I just remembered, I think: Geoff Ogilvy said it on Playing Lessons with the Pros.

[goblue107501]

I have always thought of this as the chicken and egg analagy. If you drive it well, it takes a little pressure off your irons since you will be in a good spot. If your iron play is good it takes pressure off the driver since you can hit a green from out of the rough, over a tree, from any bad spot. Each phase of the game feeds off the other. If you are good in one or two areas, it makes the other areas easier. IMO, the short game is where you can make up or lose the most strokes. I can top a drive 100 yards, miss a three wood and still be 30 yards from the green, but a good pitch shot from there and a good putt and I still save par. That is better than a great drive, iron in the bunker, SW over the green, chip on, two putt for double.

Any time I play I hope to have two of the three working. I can tolerate bad drives if my irons and short game can save me. At the same time if I never hit OB and hit a lot of greens, the short game can be off since there will be fewer shots from that area. The game is much easier when you are long and straight off the tee, but it is no guarantee of a good score. No three putts and a bunch of up-and-downs will all but guarantee a good score.

Pro - ...crap if I miss this green I am dead because I know I cannot get up & down...I guarante that if you work hard on improving your short game, you will start hitting more GIR's because you will not be afraid to miss because you will have confidence in your ability to get up & down"

Great thought here. Never really thought about it too much, but he is right. I don't get worked up at all if I miss a green. I am confident enough in my short game that I can make a par from just about anywhere and most of the the time I won't give any more than one back.

[GaijinGolfer]

Putting is where its at. I dont care how long your drives are, now good your iron play is or how accurate your short game is; if you 3-putt, none of the rest of it matters.

[Prairie Golfer]

1. putting
2. short game
3. driving
4. irons

[Fourputt]

Well the no brainer answer is easy,the short game,but I personally think it's the second shot from the fairway with the mid irons.Fluff that approach or lay up and I don't care if you are Seve with the wedge and Tiger with the putter you ain't going to shoot pars and bogies on the round it's doubles for you.

My iron play isn't precise, but it gets me somewhere around the green. My last round I shot a 7 over par 79 with only 6 fairways hit and 5 greens hit in regulation. Sort of puts your double bogey theory to bed, doesn't it? If it wasn't for a solid short game I'd have been in the high 80's or even into the 90's.

Short game doesn't include putting in this poll. As it has it's own category.

You take it any way you like it. For me putting is inseparable from the rest of the short game. I often use the putter from off the green to compliment my short game, and if I wasn't a pretty good putter I wouldn't do that. In part, it's my putting that makes my pitching and chipping as good as it is... I can be aggressive because I'm not afraid of being 6 or more feet past the hole. That means that I leave fewer chips short, and give them a chance to fall in the hole more often.

[Brakkus]

My iron play isn't precise, but it gets me somewhere around the green. My last round I shot a 7 over par 79 with only 6 fairways hit and 5 greens hit in regulation. Sort of puts your double bogey theory to bed, doesn't it? If it wasn't for a solid short game I'd have been in the high 80's or even into the 90's. .

From your perspective look at your handicap compared to mine and how long have you been playing?At the moment I have made lots of progress,but the mechanics of my swing still break down at all areas of the game wherever I am on the course.I can 3 putt one hole,overhit or under a wedge,hit OB or fat an iron. Yes I practice the scoring clubs more than the longer ones but the underlying truth is it's all based on having a swing.It doesn't matter how much you practice that wedge a bad swing with your wedge is a bad swing with the driver. Putting however is is a game within a game.So I don't seperate the importance of areas of the game,it's all to do with repeatable mechanics,but then I guess for those of you who have lower handicaps then the short game is the obvious place to look to gain a stroke or 2.

[Three Putt]

Iron Play for me...gir, under gir, and par 3's. If I'm hitting approach shots good = good score.

[i-Guy]

Another possibility: chipping builds good fundamentals for the full swing, too: hands ahead, developing lag (not releasing it, but maintaining it at least), pulling the club through with your body rotation.

Great point! My current coach and I talk about that alot and employ it in my practice. Whenever my swing gets a little out of sequence we just go back to more of a chipping/pitching motion and get everything synced up. Then I can usually find my swing again

[denver_nuggs_15]

When I play well, I hit my irons well. I'll hit greens or be just off the green. I have a decent short game from right next to the green, so I can make par like that. Or, I can get a GIR and hopefully 1 or 2 putt. I don't like relying on my irons because if they go askew, then I'm screwed for the most part. I'd much rather rely on my short game and putter, but that won't happen for a while.

[TheNatural]

For me its without a doubt the driver. I will 3putt once every 2 or 3 rounds and thats it! No 4 putts this year. 4 and 5 footers Im decent. Irons would be the 2nd most important since 4 holes require a iron from the tee to get me on the green and 14 other holes may require a iron on the 2nd stroke. My best score ever was 2 weeks ago and the driver was on 12x in the fairway and of those all were 250-300+ the other 2 were off in the woods 70 yds which was saved for par by EXCELLENT iron and Godlike short game(90 foot putt for par) the other drive was a pull to 200 yds that was bogeyed with excellent iron and average short game. My demon is topping off the tee to 30 yards or into a hazard, i dont slice, but will hook a little with a driver all of which often makes me scramble from 300 yards(4/14 fairways is average, UGHH). Thats too much pressure on the irons when your a high capper. Once I get the driver consistently 275+ and out of trouble, thats 14 holes where I should play bogey golf or better. When that happens I understand that the short game will become more important FOR ME, but I will also be playing to a single digit HI.

[pittpanther]

High handicappers say "Driver and Irons" - we waste so many strokes by driving into the woods/water, or topping it 50-yards forward into a hazard. Or after a perfect drive, we duff our iron shot.

Low Handicappers say "Short Game and Putting" - You are pretty solid with your drives into the fairway and your second shot irons are consistently on or near the green. The only area that could be improved would be the short game.

[Fourputt]

High handicappers say "Driver and Irons" - we waste so many strokes by driving into the woods/water, or topping it 50-yards forward into a hazard. Or after a perfect drive, we duff our iron shot.

I never read this topic as asking what you could improve. I see it as what is the most important part of your game currently. If I wanted to improve something it would be my iron play. My iron play is pretty bad right now, but my short game makes up for it most of the time, which is why I chose that in the poll.

[putput]

I am one for iron play, my short game could always use some help but i feel that if i can get it on the green i am golden. Its getting through all the trees and bunkers at my LGC that always gives me problems.