Golf tips: Sharpen your short game for better scores

Readers: Recently, I attended the Compaq Classic of New Orleans. It was a great week and I saw some great golf. On the third and forth days, I had the opportunity to follow Phil Mickelson, who was paired with my brother-in-law, Eric Booker. It was interesting and enlightening to compare the games of both players.

Mickelson finished 14th on last years money list with more than $1,700,000. Booker made the top 125 by a hair with winnings of just over $300,000. You'd figure from those numbers that there must be a tremendous difference in their games. Surprisingly enough, there isn't! The difference is a putt here and a putt there. Over four days, that adds up to lots of money.

I watched carefully for two days to try and determine just what makes Phil Mickelson so good. His drives were long but not significantly longer than anyone else's. He didn't hit all the fairways, in fact he's not in the top 10 in driving distance or driving accuracy. He hit many, but not all of the greens in regulation. He's not in the top 10 in that category either.

In fact, in the final 1999 PGA Tour statistics, which include scoring leaders, driving distance, driving accuracy, greens in regulation, putting leaders, sand saves, birdie leaders, total driving (distance combined with accuracy) and eagle leaders, Mickelson was ranked in only one category. He was 3rd in birdies, with almost four per round, which is significant because of the real reason he plays so well.

He hardly ever makes a bogey. If you combine four birdies per round with no bogeys, you're going to finish high up in the money rankings. In fact, the only other tour statistic I didn't mention was the ''all-around'' category, which is a combination of all the other categories. In this category, Mickelson was ranked second to none other than Tiger Woods.

How is it that he hardly ever makes a bogey when he's not the straightest driver or the most accurate with the irons? The answer is in his short game.

He chipped the ball close to the hole and made the putt every time for two days that I watched him, and probably for the other two days that I didn't watch him. Shot for shot, Booker played right with him. Eric's scores for the first three days were 72-66-69, and he was even par through twelve holes in the final round.

But then on the final few holes, some of his chips slid by the hole and he barely missed the putts coming back. A bogey here and a bogey there and all of a sudden, you've spent a lot of money. The pressure on those final few holes, if you haven't been there many times before, is unbelievable.

The point of this story is that you don't have to be able to hit the ball like a touring pro to improve your scores. Anyone can learn to chip and putt. It doesn't take strength or flexibility. It does take practice. If you're really serious about lowering your handicap, spend 1/4 of your practice time on the full swing and 3/4 on the short game. That's what the best players in the world do.

Have a question? Mail it to Jon Ebert, 3350 Pine Ridge Road, Naples, FL 34109, fax it to (941) 649-0500 or e-mail it to Jon@ebertgolf.com. Visit Jon Ebert's website at www.ebertgolf.com