What is the 70/30 rule in golf?
The 70/30 rule in golf is a commonly-cited practice guideline, not an official rule, suggesting golfers spend roughly 70% of practice time on the short game and 30% on full swing, since most strokes are lost and gained close to the green.
It's a coaching rule of thumb rather than anything written into the Rules of Golf, and the exact split varies by who's teaching it: some coaches argue for an even higher share on chipping, pitching and putting, on the reasoning that half or more of a typical round's strokes happen within a hundred yards of the green. The logic holds up even if the precise number is debatable: a bucket of balls on the range is the easiest practice to arrange and the easiest to measure, and chipping, pitching and putting are the parts that get skipped when time is short. The ratio exists as a corrective to that habit rather than as a measured finding. It appears nowhere in the Rules of Golf and we have found no study behind the particular 70/30 split, so treat the exact numbers as coaching shorthand rather than a measured result. Whatever the split, the number that actually moves is the handicap it eventually shows up in. Reward the graft with our golf gifts.
This is the last of the thirteen answers in the game. It leads naturally to how a handicap is calculated, the number practice is meant to move, and to what is in a golf set, since the ratio is really about which clubs get used.
Written by Craig Fearn, The Golf Gift Co. Last updated .