Having just joined this forum, I have to say I have learned the most from this post (and from finding references to the "Talent Code"). As a 24 handicap I have long been frustrated with how GOOD my short game is. I get up and down with the same frequency as players much better than myself. (As an example, I couple weeks ago in a tournament I left my self short sided in some fluffy grass hitting to an elevated green. I hit a flop shot with my sandwedge to about 3 feet and tapped in for par. One of the course pros had been watching from the clubhouse and jokingly said I must be as sandbagger, because 20 plus handicappers don't hit that shot, I told him if he could teach me to get to the green I'd be a great player, but the real point is that I didn't get lucky on that shot I saw the shot I wanted to hit, and executed it perfectly) I average between 1.70 and 1.75 putts per round (this has been constant for about 2 years now), and on occasion I have some really great rounds. But, for the most part my scores stay about the same. I put in a lot of time practicing, but again the scores stay the same. Why? After finding this forum and by working with an instructor, I wound say the reason is, that even though I am getting up and down more than my fair share of the time, I am doing it for bogey or worse (sometimes much worse). We have deduced that I am losing the most strokes on my approach shots from the fairway. I now spend around 65% of time working on my ball striking, and I have started to see some dividends from that. The changes are slow, but they are coming, and for the first time I feel like I have a real plan for improving my game. I used to do the reverse, I felt like I was enlightened because I would spend about 70% of my time on the short game and the rest on my ball striking, and while I certainly believe that helped me create the short game I have now, what good does it do me if I am getting up and down for a 7 or 8? For me I think that the most salient point of this post is to be honest with yourself and find what parts of your game are weakest and formulate a plan to start correcting them. For me that is working on my ball striking.
Thanks,
Ryan