The short game is one of the most important parts of the game of golf.

Why?

Because it's been discovered that 60 to 65% of all golf shots are from inside 100 yards of the hole. Naturally a big part of those statistics comprises of putting (which is not the short game) but the fact is….about 80% of all golf shots golfers lose to par happen within 100 yards of the hole. And the large determining factor of this is how close golfers hit their short game shots.

Yes, that’s right….it’s generally not how well a person putts that determines whether they save par or not but it’s how close they hit there short game shots to the hole.

Let me explain that some more…

When it comes to putting it doesn’t matter how good a putter you become because the bottom line is that the closer you hit the ball to the hole the more chance you have of holing the putt. And here are some telling statistics from the best putters in the world…

PGA Pro’s hole putts in the 0 – 5 ft range about 95% of the time.
PGA Pro’s hole putts in the 5 – 10 ft range about 55% of the time.
PGA Pro’s hole putts in the 10 – 20 ft range about 25% of the time.
As you’ll notice from those stats above….there is a big drop off each time you move further away from the hole. The point is, the further you are away from the hole, the less likely you are to hole a putt. And that doesn’t matter how good a putter you become you’ll always be around those figures because the greens are not perfect.

So once you get your putting to a good standard the only way you can lower your scores is to get the ball closer to the hole. And the biggest bang for your buck when it comes to doing this is with the short game. Because if you’re averaging 30 feet from the hole with a wedge from 75 yards and with practice you get that down to averaging 10 feet from the hole on average then you WILL score lower.

The bottom line is that with the short game it’s very possible to cut a lot of strokes from you scores by working hard and smart on improving this area of your game.