I remember James Kingston, multiple European Tour winner telling me years ago, that he just didn’t think that having a good short game was all that valuable.

Now this was in the era where we all believed, “Drive for show and putt for Dough”, so it was certainly a comment that got me thinking.

See, James Kingston at that time was one of the European Tour’s top ball strikers, that seldom missed a green and when he did, he was just on the fringe, with a simple bump and run to the hole.

So from his point of view he was absolutely correct, having a world class short game wouldn’t do much for him.

Players with James’s abilities are few and far between though.

What if you’re not on Tour, what if you are just a regular golfer shooting in the 80’s or 90’s trying to shave a few shots off your scores?

How important is short game for an average golfer?