The Short Game
There is a reason every serious golf instructor eventually says the same thing: drive for show, putt for dough. It is a cliché, but the data behind it is unambiguous. Statistical analysis of Tour players has repeatedly confirmed that proximity to the hole from inside one hundred yards predicts scoring better than driving distance. For the club golfer, the gap between a competent short game and a poor one is often worth four or five shots per round — sometimes more. Understanding what the short game actually demands, and practising the right things, is the fastest route to shooting lower numbers.
What the Short Game Covers
The short game encompasses every shot played from roughly one hundred yards and in, excluding full-swing wedges hit from the fairway. In practical terms it means chip shots from just off the green, pitch shots from twenty to eighty yards, flop shots over obstacles, bump-and-run shots along the ground, and putting. Bunker play — both greenside and fairway — is usually grouped with the short game as well, though it demands its own technique. What unites all of these shots is that they require precision over power. The swing arc is shorter, the contact window is narrower, and the margin for error at close range is ruthlessly exposed by the hole.
Chipping: Keeping It Simple
Chipping is the bread-and-butter skill for any golfer who misses greens in regulation — which describes nearly every amateur who has ever played the game. A chip shot is designed to land just on the putting surface and roll the majority of its distance to the hole, minimising the time the ball spends in the air and therefore minimising the variables. The basic chip setup involves a narrow stance, weight favouring the lead foot, hands pressed slightly ahead of the ball, and a low-lofted club such as a seven-iron or eight-iron for most situations.
The choice of club matters considerably. Many beginners reach for a sand wedge on every chip, producing shots that pop up, land soft, and consistently overshoot or come up short. The old advice to use the least loft necessary to clear the fringe and let the ball run to the hole remains the soundest instruction in the game. A nine-iron chip from just off the apron will roll like a long putt. A fifty-six-degree wedge from the same spot will demand far more precise contact to end up close.
Pitching: Distance Control from Mid-Range
The pitch shot fills the gap between a chip and a full wedge. Typically played from twenty to eighty yards, it requires the golfer to produce a precise distance through a partial swing rather than relying on the full mechanics of a standard iron shot. This is where many amateurs struggle most. The temptation is to decelerate through the ball — to guide it rather than swing through — which produces the thin, bladed shot that screams past the hole or the heavy contact that dumps the ball short.
Good pitching relies on a technique called 'the triangle', where the arms and club form a triangle at address that stays relatively intact through the swing. The body rotates to power the shot rather than the hands manipulating the club. Distance is controlled primarily through the length of the backswing, with a consistent tempo maintained from shot to shot. Tour players such as Phil Mickelson have elevated pitching to an art form, but the underlying principle is available to any golfer willing to spend time on it.
The Flop Shot
The flop shot is the most glamorous and most misused shot in the short-game repertoire. Played with a highly lofted wedge — typically sixty degrees or more — it launches the ball steeply upward and lands it with minimal rollout. It is the correct choice when there is an obstacle between the ball and the hole, such as a bunker or a ridge, or when the pin is cut close to the edge of the green with no room to run a lower shot.
The risk is significant. The flop requires an open clubface and a long, full swing with a short-lofted contact zone. Mishit it slightly — take too much turf or catch the ball too high on the face — and the results are spectacularly bad. Mickelson's famous flop over a bunker at Augusta is the image most golfers carry, but what they miss is the hours of practice behind it. For the average golfer, a bump-and-run or a low chip will produce better results in most situations where a flop feels tempting.
Greenside Bunkers
Sand play intimidates beginners disproportionately. From a greenside bunker, the objective is counterintuitive: the club should not strike the ball at all. Instead, the technique involves hitting the sand an inch or two behind the ball, with the clubface open and the bounce of the wedge engaged, so that the sand underneath the ball pushes it upward and onto the green. The explosion shot. Gene Sarazen's invention of the sand wedge in 1931 — with its wider, angled sole — made this technique possible and transformed bunker play from a near-penalty to a recoverable situation.
The key variables are how open the face is, how far behind the ball the club enters the sand, and how hard the swing is. Most amateur players swing too tentatively, leaving the ball in the bunker. Tour professionals make their greenside bunker average considerably more reliable than their longer pitch shots, because the consistent technique is repeatable once learned.
Getting Up and Down
'Getting up and down' — converting a chip or pitch into a one-putt — is the measure of a competent short game. On the PGA Tour, the best players get up and down from the fringe roughly sixty percent of the time. Scratch amateurs manage perhaps forty to fifty percent. The average club golfer with no short-game practice might achieve twenty to thirty percent. Each percentage point represents shots dropped over a round, and over a season, the cumulative effect is enormous.
The mental component of the short game is often underestimated. Under pressure, the hands tighten, the swing shortens, and the player decelerates. Developing a reliable pre-shot routine — visualising the landing spot, committing to a specific club, making a practice swing that replicates the intended motion — reduces the decision-making burden under pressure and allows the physical technique to function.
Practice Strategies That Work
The short game responds quickly to targeted practice, far more than the full swing does. A golfer who spends an hour a week hitting chips and pitches from various lies around a practice green will improve measurably within a few weeks. The key is to vary the conditions: different lies (tight fairway, rough, bare ground), different distances, different trajectories. Playing games with a target — nearest to the hole from ten chips in a row — creates competitive pressure that translates to the course.
A practice drill advocated by many teaching professionals is the 'up-and-down game': drop nine balls in different spots around the practice green, attempt to chip or pitch and one-putt each one, and track your score. Doing this regularly builds both the technical skills and the confidence to execute under pressure. The practice green is where rounds are genuinely made or broken, and yet it remains the least-used area at most club facilities.
The Short Game and Course Management
A reliable short game changes how you approach a golf course. When you know you can get up and down from around the green, aggressive play from the tee becomes more justifiable. A pin tucked behind a bunker that requires a precise approach can be attacked rather than played away from, because a miss into the sand is not automatically a double bogey. The short game, in other words, is not just about saving par — it underpins the confidence that enables better decision-making across the entire round.
Open the map to find courses near you and start practising the short game that will transform your scoring.