It has almost become a cliche. But the pros all agree. To lower your score, improve your short game.
By TOM JONES
Published October 29, 2003
Knocking 10 strokes off your golf game. For the amateur golfer, it can be more difficult than doing a Rubik's Cube in the dark.
Getting from 100 to 90 is the difference between a duffer and someone who doesn't have to have a panic attack when the boss invites him to play. Going from 90 to 80 is the difference between a weekend hacker and an attractive scramble partner. And going from 80 to 70? It's the difference between playing at it and playing like a professional.
So how do you do it? How do you shave 10 strokes off your score?
"Play about three fewer holes," PGA tour player Notah Begay said.
"Stop after the 16th hole," golfer Paul Goydos said.
All jokes aside, PGA tour players say snipping 10 strokes off your score isn't rocket science. There is a simple solution, they say, yet it's the part of the game few people work on: the short game.
"The best thing an amateur can do is go practice chipping and putting on the greens," Stewart Cink said. "And improve their bunker play. Especially someone in the 90 range because that's where they throw away so many shots."
Who practices their short game? (Hitting balls through windmills and plastic alligator mouths doesn't count.)
Think about it. Amateurs head out to work on their game. Most drive over to the range, pluck their drivers and maybe a couple of irons out of the bag in the trunk, buy a bucket of balls and see how far they can hit them.
"Nobody practices their short game enough," Goydos said. "Not even me."
Before a round of golf, most amateurs hit a bucket of balls, alternating between a driver and a 5-iron. They hit a few 9-iron shots and then head over to the practice green where they maybe chip a half-dozen balls, putt a few more and then scamper to the first tee.
"The short game is one of the key areas that people don't really practice," Begay said. "I'm not talking 50- or 60-yard shots. I'm talking inside 30 yards."
Failing to get up and down from the fringe is the one area, most golfers said, that can turn a score of 80 into a 90. Or worse.
"Most professional golfers will average about 24 putts," Goydos said. "The average 18 handicapper is probably around 40, if not more."
The better one chips, the closer to the hole he or she will be. The closer to the hole, the less chance at a two- or three-putt."
"The best thing to do," Cink said, "is go out to the green and chip and put the ball in the bunker. Try different lies. See how the ball comes out when you hit it one way or another way. Get used to how the ball reacts. Do that and you'll see the difference."
How many times does a golfer get to a green in regulation and then end up missing par because he duffed a chip or needed three putts from 30 feet?
"That's where you're throwing away the most shots," Cliff Kresge said. "If you're capable of getting the ball off the tee and around the greens, and you can get up and down, you're going to shoot 90. If you get it up and down a little better, you're going to get down into the 80s. That's how I look at it."
There are other ways to lower scores. Here's what professional golfers see as the top 5 ways to thrash away 10 strokes, yet all seem to come back to the short game.
1. THE SHORT GAME: "Never overlook how important it is," said Begay, who added that just because chipping and putting are the shortest shots in the round, they are the easiest to miss.
2. TAKE LESSONS: "Take a lot of lessons," Neal Lancaster said.
They don't have to be drastic lessons that change swings and stances.
"Learning how to chip and putt through lessons can make a huge difference," Cink said.
3. RELAX OUT THERE: "Don't try too hard," Lancaster said. "Trying too hard is what hurts most people, including us pros. I see golfers with too much tension in their bodies because they try to force the ball instead of just swinging."
4. USE ENOUGH CLUB: Just because Tiger hits a 9-iron from 150 yards doesn't mean you should, too. If you need a 6-iron, use a 6-iron. Amateurs, the pros say, overestimate the strength of their swing.
"Again, though, if you have a good short game, you can make up for that," Goydos said. "Say you hit a 7-iron when you should be hitting a 5-iron and you end way short and in the bunker. Well, if you have a good short game and get out of the bunker in good shape, you'll be all right. You see, everything comes back to the short game."
5. PRACTICE: Sounds simple, but anybody who is good at anything practices.
"If you can drive the ball," Kresge said, "then just don't go out and hit drives all day. Work on what you need to work on. Every individual is different. Some can putt. Some can drive. Spend most of your time working on your weaknesses."
