short game vs long game!

[Deryck Griffith]

  bwdial said:

It really depends on the skill of the golfer.

Bingo! My younger brother wants to start to playing golf and when I took him to the range the other day, it became VERY clear to me that he is going to have to learn how to hit irons before I place any serious focus on short game keys like pitching and chipping. He is way to much of a beginner for a short game to hide anything when he cant get the ball from tee to green. Once I get him to the point where he is decent off the tee and can get the ball not necessarily on the green but rather, in the actual proximity of the green, then at that time, short game will be the main foucs and should save him strokes.

Naturally, as time goes on, his long/iron game will evolve and the natural focus will turn towards the short game. For me personally, when I started, I spent a TON of time on my irons and got to the point where they were solid. (being a former baseball players helped the speedy progress I made - somewhat) At that time, I realized that I needed to really learn how to chip and pitch much better (at that point, I was around a 12)...my foucs went to that and now I am a single digit and only really focus on short game only when I go to the range. This IMO, is the logical evolution of a fresh beginner.

[armandoartist]

  Zeph said:

I don't practice the short game and putting at all. I improve all the time on the short game and the green, but it is just not where I lose most of my shots during a round. My main goal is to find a) the fairway and b) the green. Once I get that sorted out, I can start working on the short game if I need to.

Well its been a couple weeks I guess. The results are in!!

I do agree that long game comes first and then move on to short game. I was a 13.7 Handicap when this started. Now i shaved 1.5 and now claim a 12.2 Handicap. I worked on my full swing "Driver Mainly" went took a quick lesson and tried it on the range a couple times and BAM!! I was hitting more fairways and getting more GIR's and I began to birdie more and hit for more distance. so the key for me is to keep up the long game and then when its as repetitive and consistant as it can be then work on the short game. Under 10 HC this year is not out of the question.... Thanks all for your comments....

[DavidFehertysBike]

I shot 71 week and a half ago and only hit 7 greens. The two are linked, but you cant hit the ball well all of the time. I did not hit my irons well in that particular round. But you can always get up and down. In my book, the short game outweighs the long game.

[bplewis24]

  normdamarine said:

A great short game will always win over a great long game...

What about a great short game/horrible long game vs. a horrible short game/great long game?

I'm taking the latter. Your long game at least has to be decent. Brandon

[armandoartist]

  bplewis24 said:

What about a great short game/horrible long game vs. a horrible short game/great long game?

yeah I agree with the latter, a horrible short game gets you maybe bogeys. a horrible long game gets you OB and hitting 3rd shots from tee and possible hitting 5th shot from tee. then hitting your approach into the water and then past the green then up and down for a +6

[JWL1957]

If your OB or in the woods all the time, mayby you should tee off with a 3 wood or Hybrid? Duh!

[Joeyvee]

I suck right now. The hope is that when I do get good and accidentally put one in the woods it won't intimidate me because I LIVE in the damn frigging woods right now. I finally had one round with only one ball though. that was cool. I used to run through 4 or 5.

[Easy]

Someone should of put in course management.

When I get one in the woods I always go for the hero shot. Most of the time it doesn't work, but when I do get one through two trees onto the green I'm on a high for the whole round.

I personally think the short game always wins. You don't need a steller long game to post in a good score. If you can hit off the tee 180m (200yards) straight every time you'll be an 18 handicap or under. I think anyone over a 18 handicap doesn't have consistent ball striking in there arsenal yet, regardless of there short and long game.
Everyone looks at there score and says "If I only I didn't three putt there and I should of 1 putted on this hole I would of got so and so a score."
But I'm speaking from a high handicappers perspective it's probably different in the single digit arena..

[Dave H]

Obviously both are important. I would say without a doubt that I "waste" many more shots in the long game then I do the short game. I've been keeping my stats this year, and most of the time, if I'm not on the green in regulation I'm getting down in 3 strokes or less (chip on, 2 putt or better) which at my skill level I find to be acceptable. However, I'm still scoring way too many triples and worse which would imply that I'm not even getting on the green until my 4th stroke or worse.

[lumpuckeroo]

  Dave H said:

Obviously both are important. I would say without a doubt that I "waste" many more shots in the long game then I do the short game.

I would agree, but I think what we consider wasted shots just aren't as obvious in the short game as in the long game. It's very obvious when you blast a drive OB or in an adjacent fairway, but when you are 30 yards in front of the green and only get the ball to within 20 feet of the pin and 2 putt, basically you have wasted a shot.

I think it is important to your mental game to get off the tee box in good shape, but if you want to score you have to have a sharp short game.

[Dave H]

  lumpuckeroo said:

I would agree, but I think what we consider wasted shots just aren't as obvious in the short game as in the long game. It's very obvious when you blast a drive OB or in an adjacent fairway, but when you are 30 yards in front of the green and only get the ball to within 20 feet of the pin and 2 putt, basically you have wasted a shot.

I would agree with this, but at the same time when I consider my skill level if I do no worse than a 2 putt on every hole I'm fairly happy with that. I'm actually averaging better than that right now so even better. I do feel like I wasted a shot when I chip on and am left with a long putt though...

[B-Con]

My short game is better than my long game, not that it is stellar. For me, my long game (5i - driver) is what usually dictates the quality of my round. Hacking out of the rough every hole costs me distance off the tee and a lot of strokes in the end.

[bwdial]

  lumpuckeroo said:

I would agree, but I think what we consider wasted shots just aren't as obvious in the short game as in the long game. It's very obvious when you blast a drive OB or in an adjacent fairway, but when you are 30 yards in front of the green and only get the ball to within 20 feet of the pin and 2 putt, basically you have wasted a shot.

True, but again, it comes down to the skill level of the individual. However, poor shots around the green (unless they're really,

really poor shots) rarely result in multiple strokes being lost. Those guys I talked about playing with in a previous post were carding tens without even counting penalty strokes. If I were a teaching pro, I'd start off teaching half and three-quarter wedges and short irons to a specific target. That way, students would be able to make an easier transition to the long game and have a feeling of power without trying to murder the ball.

[armandoartist]

UPDATE!!!
Well by working mostly on the long game my game has improved and I now carry an 11 handicap down from 13.7. The short game is descent but I need to pay more attention to putts. I'm hitting the ball more consistent and my scores have been in the low 80's and I broke 80 twice now. So I will continue to sharpen up the long game.

hopefully next update I will be down to a 9 HC!!

[McGolf-Doggie]

I'll vote short game, especially after tonight.

Only had to make 13 putts on the nine holes this evening (normally around 17-20 putts), even though I certainly hit about 6 or 7 "pure crap" shots, including 3 of 4 blown long tee shots, and two fiacso shots from the sand.

Most of the scoring was bump-and-run to an easy putt, or an iron to the green / fringe. LW was a little cold, so used the PW/SW to bump and run a few times and it paid off.

While the long game can be more impressive, the short game is all stealth.

People playing with you half the time don't realize how you're saving major strokes, but it's what happens when when you chip or pitch up close enough to one-putt.

I guess it was one of those nights. Golf will surely bring me back to reality soon.