Dave Pelz is a
student of the game of golf. He studied where great players get their greatness, and he discovered, contrary to popular belief, that greatness doesn't come from driving the ball better (though it helps), striking irons more accurately (though it helps) or even putting the ball better (though it helps).
Dave wanted to find out what, specifically, better players have more of that helps them score better. He
statistically analyzed error distances with various clubs and discovered that all tour pros are pretty much in the 7% range. This means that they, on average, hit shots that miss their targets by 7% of the length of the shot. Better percentages didn't
correlate statistically with more wins.
What Dave found was that the
short game was what specifically correlated with more tournament victories. The owners of
touch around the greens (50 yards and in) owned the most trophies. He then went on to correlate this with the putt conversion curve, which maps length of putt with percentage made. At a length of 6 feet, even tour pros only make 50% of their putts. At a length of 15 feet, that percentage drops to around 10%. If your
short game is capable of putting it closer to the hole within that magic 15 feet, your score will improve. Bingo. The
short game is the key.