golfers - "excellent short game" - please explain

[vanbasten]

i was watching the match play event yesterday.

these announcers kill me - the drama they create, i understand why - but one thing that baffles me is when they make a comment about someone's "short game"

how "i wouldn't be surprised if he knocks this close with the excellent short game he has".

i understand that some of these guys can drive it further than others - and i understand that some of them can putt better than others - but these guys are at this level for a reason.

don't they all have to have "excellent short games"??

my short game is what kills me, especially after a layoff, but these guys on the pga or in a wcg event are the creme of the crop, playing everyday.

without an excellent "short game or wedge play" they wouldn't be here!!

 

[s_dooley24]

The announcers just need something to talk about, but I would gather that relative to other guys on the PGA tour Tiger Woods has han "excellent" short game. Everyone on tour is obviously good so the announcers look to this phrase to distinguish good from great.

 

[Agent 0659]

I agree, they are always trying to create drama. I love it when they are chattering about how a guy has NO shot and is dead and meanwhile the guy is stiffing it about 2 feet and makes them look retarded. I enjoy the ex players more than the others. Really like Azinger and Faldos back and forth.

 

[vanbasten]

thanks for the replies, i heard the "great short game comment" yesterday in reference to henrik stenson's third shot into 18 against chad campbell, from about 110 yards. henrik stenson??

i also love when the anouncers sigh in disappointment when someones drive rolls from the fairway into the short rough, like their ball just dropped into a gopher hole or something. i personally love hitting out of the short rough - ball's usually teed up a little - nice and fluffy. sometimes hitting off the fairway is like trying to hit a ball off a tile floor.

now i understand the good players can "control it" off the short stuff, get spin and all - but seriously, don't act like it's the end of the world that it trickled into the rough!!!

 

[Agent 0659]

I love when they moan about a guy being in the bunker, those guys would RATHER be there than in the rough around the greens. Much easier shot.

 

[BleedDodgerBlue]

fck the short game

chicks dig the long ball

 

[kosar]

I love when they say, 'that was a great golf shot.' Ohhhh, it was a golf shot was it?

I've also loved hearing in every tourney about Mickelsons sand trap in the backyard that he grew up with. Which brings us back to his 'great short game.'

 

[vinnie]

WATCHING GOLF :mj07:

 

[Franky Wright]

"Thats a nice Plumb Bob" moon1
Heard that one last summer, my foursome laughed our asses of one beautiful summer day last year as we all Plumb Bobbed every Putt. Even the tap ins! :scared

 

[acehistr8]

I got down to a 5 handicap this year and it is all about the short game. These guys can get up and down from almost anywhere within 100 yards, bunkers, fairway, rough - it doesnt matter. Practicing my short game is what helped me the most. Think about how many shots in a round you give away inside 100 yards whether its dubbed chips, bladed shots, hit out of the bunker and then 3 putt, these guys are just up and down from anywhere.

 

[buddy]

buddy - Short Game Expert

"Available to give or take lessons"

 

[Agent 0659]

When I was down in Florida playing I became pretty good friends with Walt Zembriski, he had the entire back of the range to himself at Cypress Creek and had those little irrigation flags set up every 5 yards from 10 to 125. He would go out there EVERY morning and EVERY evening and hit 10 shots to each flag from 10-125 then back from 125 down to 10. His backswing was like the numbers on a clock and he knew the EXACT length to take it back for each yardage. I started practicing with him and you just cant imagine the improvment from doing this. After that the mindset any time I was inside 125 was I was trying to hole it, no matter what the situation was. This is a guy on the Senior Tour who had the game "mastered", and I figured if someone who was out there worked that hard I had to work twice as hard to knock them off :scared

 

[acehistr8]

Read Pelz's Short Game Diary and you will be convinced by his research and data. After that I built a little wedge yardage book for my four wedges and the 4 different swings for each. Extremely useful book and great stories he tells about working with some of the PGAs legends.