How to Master the Short Game

The short game is the most difficult part of golf. Every shot is different. The lie is different, the distance is different, the ground you have to carry is different; you will never hit the same shot twice. Yet, you can master this part of the game and keep your score down where it belongs.

The key is to have a few shots, that you hit with a few clubs, and work them to death. Perfect a few basic shots with one or two clubs for each one so you know exactly how the ball will respond. That way you never have to guess or try something you have never done before.

In the Boy Scouts' Golf Merit Badge booklet, of all places, there's an article by Julius Boros saying how he won two U.S. Opens and a P.G.A. with three basic short game shots. He advocates that weekend players build their short game the same way.

Those shots are the chip with a 6-iron, a sand wedge shot from heavy grass close to the green, and a pitching wedge shot off the fairway from about 30 yards or less. These are the shots that you can get close enough to the hole for one putt.

I have mentioned in this space before about the importance of the short game from close in. Seriously. The next time you go to the range, take these three clubs and spend twenty minutes with each one learning how to hit the shot it gets used for. (I might swap the pitching wedge for a gap wedge for the 30-yarder.) A better idea would be to take a lesson in how to hit those shots. Better still, get three lessons, one for each shot.

More than ninety percent of your short shots will be covered by these three shots. Yes, there's sand, and the pitch from 50-100 yards, but do you expect to get up and down? Probably not. All you need to know is how to get out of a bunker so you can start putting. All your pitch needs to do is land on the green. It's not surprising how few people can do even those two things.

Once you're close, though, pride yourself in being deadly. One chip, one putt, done. You learn how to do that by keeping it simple. Three shots, three clubs, over and over and over.

Spend your time learning that. You master the short game by learning to do a few things exceedingly well.

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