The 80/20 Rule (or Pareto principle) was named after economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80% of Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Another commonly used example of the Pareto principle is when a company makes 80% of its profits from 20% of its customers.
As you probably already guessed, the 80/20 Rule applies to golf, too.
“Roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Perhaps nowhere is this truer than as it pertains to scoring in golf.”
-Shane Jones of Breaking 80
The problem is that many golfers have the 80/20 rule inverted when practicing. We’re putting too much effort into areas that won’t give us an adequate return. We want to flip that 80/20 and focus on the 20% of the game that produces 80% of the results.
That means focusing on Driver, Wedges, and your short game (putting and chipping). This is the majority of our club usage and correlates best to on-course success. It will differ slightly for everyone, depending on your skill level overall and within the various facets of your game (which is why good data helps).
It’s not a science, but be mindful. We just don’t want to be going up and down our bag hitting 5 balls with each club. Sure, there are benefits to practicing with your 3-wood or 4-iron. We don’t want to ignore them, but we do want to be cognizant of how often we actually use certain clubs and whether we are getting the proper return for our effort.
To sum it up. Be aware of what you are focusing on at the range. Flip the 80/20 and practice smarter.
Til next week.
