I find it interesting that the Short Game posts...questions...etc, have far fewer posts. Half of the game IS the short game, pitches, chips, putting, but many of us focus on the "long game". If you watch the pro's, they don't stick approach shots on the pin...far from it. Thus, the short game is VERY important. Plus, the beauty of the short game is no athleticism is required...none. Thus it's far easier to "master" the short game vs. approach shots from uneven lies from 160 yards, or work on blowing out one's back to hit a 10 yard longer drive.
I see SO MANY guys who are 0-4 hcps with crazy good short games. The short game is IMO the short-cut to shooting mid 80's into the 70's.
GolfLivesMatter - looks like you have the facts nailed down. What this means for me is fun times in the 80s and feel like a Pro while on the cutting edge of prime shots. I'm in the process of mastering the Short Game from 60 yards into the Green. Thank you for the gleaning of data.
According to a GolfWRX study the average tour pro hits 11.7 greens in regulation. A 90 golfer hits about 3 greens. 80 golfer about 7 greens. Oddly enough, the tour pro hits only 3.7 more greens in regulation than an 80 golfer. So one might conclude the 80 golfer should be incurring about 3.7 more strokes per round, assuming 2 putts. But the difference in strokes is at least 11. For the pros, the stroke savings are up-and-downs from about anywhere and making birdies instead of pars when they do hit the greens. It's still somewhat surprising that a low 80 golfer is only missing about 4 more greens than the pros. That's not a lot.
What also plays into the higher cap player GIR is guys who play from inappropriately long tee box yardages. A 200 yard average drive player should be playing 5700 yard tee boxes. But I see far too many playing 6400 yard boxes so they'll never have more than a few GIRs no matter how much they practice. Therefore the pressure on their short game is immense as they are always hitting shorter 3rd shots on nearly every hole because they cannot reach the greens in regulation.
Agree, if you can't or just won't practice the short game, it's almost pointless to talk about score, or complain about it. You can be a good ball striker and shoot in the high 80's and well into the 90's if the short game sucks bad enough.
Thanks. I posted another thread on here about what shots we are "really hitting". It's interesting that we hit 14 drives, 14 approach shots, and 4 par 3 shots totaling 32 shots, and the average person shoots about 92. 92-32 = 60. 60 divided by 92 = 65%.
Thus 65% of the shots for the average player do not require athleticism, swing speed, etc, yet these are often the least practiced shots. Thus why folks shoot in the 90's. If those 60 shots could turn into 50 shots they'd be in the low 80's.
Golf Lives Matter - you are right again sir. Men just like to "grip and rip it!" And, "Drive for Show." It is a Ego game for many and they don't care about their scores....same score, different weekend. I have been playing for 50 years and just now learning how important the Short Game really is to me. I read from one Golf Expert that 65% of the Golf Game is Short Game, so that is where I spend most of my time.