Better Short Game Equals Better Golf Scores

Many golfers practice in the wrong way when trying to post better golf scores. The importance of practice, only trumped by the importance of the short game can lead to the better scores you desire. Most amateur golfers practice the wrong things. Just because they call it a "driving range" doesn't mean you need to spend the majority of your time hitting driver after driver.

If you want to post your best score ever, you must change the way you practice golf. Most amateurs don't see what is right in front of them and they spend more time working on the things that won't help them improve their golf game as much. Let's break down a typical round of golf and see which clubs you use most.

The Importance of Your Short Game

Those averaging scores over par need to improve their short game if they want to improve their scores. Breaking down the average amount of shots you will take with each part of your game will help give you an idea of the importance of your short game.

Average Score of 100 on 18 holes (assuming 4 par 5's, 4 par 3's and 10 par 4's)

Driver - No more than 14 times and that's pushing it. We will assume 12 times per round or 12% of your shots.

Fairway Woods - Assuming you use these clubs off the tee a couple times, on a few par 5's, and maybe a long par 3, you might hit 6 shots or 6% of your shots with your fairway woods.

Long Irons (3 - 6 irons) - These clubs come into play on par 3's, longer par 4's, on some trouble shots, and on some par 5's. We can realistically assume you will hit about 8 shots with these clubs, so 8% of your shots come from the longer irons.

Short Irons (7,8, and 9 irons) - Most amateur golfers hit these clubs the best and will use them the most out of the irons. We can assume you will hit a shot on more than half of the holes with one of these clubs, so 12 shots or 12% of your shots will come from this part of your bag. (This does not include any chip shots you may hit from inside 40 yards with these irons.)

Wedges (PW, SW, LW, and GW) - Only considering the full shots you will hit outside 40 yards with your wedges, we can assume about one out of every two holes you will use your wedge to approach the green. Therefore, 9 shots or 9% of your shots come from your wedges.

Chipping and shots inside 40 yards - Most amateurs miss quite a few greens and if your average score is 100 or higher, you will hit about 1 shot per hole from this distance, if not more. Assuming 18 shots, this constitutes 18% of your golf game.

Putting - This leave an average of 35 putts, which could be a bit low, but this shows you that more than a third, or 35% of your shots will happen on the green with your putter.

If you actually practice with the same percentages, you might be surprised how good your game gets. However, most amateurs spend more time with their full shots than on the putting green rolling putts and hitting chips. Chipping and putting constitutes more than half of the shots you will hit on the course and you need to spend at least half of your practice time around the green.

Compare this to a player that shoots 80 regularly and you will find the most significant improvement in two areas, putting and hitting greens in regulation. They chip less because they hit more greens and they putt less because when they do chip, they get up and down over half the time. Even Rory Mcilory proved this statistic by leading the field in scrambling when he won the Honda Classic.

Yes, it's important to get off the tee and into the fairway, but you only need to worry about hitting your driver between 10 and 14 times a round. You will use your putter at least twice as much and if you don't hit many greens in regulation, you will also chip quite a bit. Not to mention, most amateurs with higher handicaps mishit many chips causing another chip on the same hole.

If you want to improve your golf game and you want to shoot the best scores of your life, then you must concentrate more on your short game and putting than anything else. Continue to hit your driver, but only spend about 10 minutes of every practice hour on this part of your game. Spend at least half your practice time around and on the green if you want to see lower scores this year.