Diamond Author
So often you hear touring professionals say that your score is made from 100 yards in, so that's where you (the amateurs they're taking to) should spend most of your time practicing. They're right, to a certain extent.
The trouble is, they're projecting the way they score onto your game. The professional game is built around getting the ball in the hole as quickly as possible once it gets to the green. That's how they make birdies, and save pars if they miss the green.
The point they're missing is that they're already getting the ball up to the green as quickly as it is possible to do, and we aren't. If you count on hitting 14 greens every time you play, if that's a given, then the short game is what will make you stand out. But if you generally hit three or four greens, maybe seven on a good day, how is your short game going to help you break 80?
If you're a mid- to high-handicap golfer and want to get your score down, you have to stop wasting shots getting the ball up to and onto the green. Topping, hitting fat, hitting into the trees, out of bounds, into the pond, all these shots cost you strokes that no amount of short game wizardry will get back. Ball-striking is the key, and that means hitting more fairways and more greens. Practice your short game techniques, to be sure, but your priority is to get that swing working.
Get lessons on the swing. Learn what the principles of the swing are, and practice what you've been taught. So many golfers struggle with their swing because they try to figure it out themselves. Don't be one of those people you see at the range who hacks ball after ball with a swing that will never have a chance to work. Get help, learn, practice.
I'm not saying you should neglect the short game, but all you need for now is to be adequate. Get good at approach putting, because getting those 30-footers close is what prevents three-putt greens. Work out a greenside chip that gets the ball within eight feet of the hole -- you don't have to get the ball tap-in close yet. Learn how to hit a pitch that gets the ball on the green from different distances between 50-100 yards so you can start putting.
Right now, though, your most important skill is a swing that reliably hits the ball straight. That's the surest way to get your score down no matter what you're shooting, and the only way to get into the 70s. Once you're there, you can become a short game and putting master if you want to start chasing par. But get that swing straightened out first.
Look at it this way. If you could swap a part of your game with any number of touring professionals, would you trade away your swing for theirs, or your short game and putting? I thought that's what you'd say.
About this Author
Bob Jones is a golf researcher who can show you the reason why you don't strike the ball as consistently as you would like to. It's a little thing, and anyone learn to do it right, in just minutes, right at home. Find out what it is in this FREE download at www.therecreationalgolfer.com.
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