The Daily Divot: The 80/20 Rule

The 80/20 Rule

“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

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The 80/20 Rule (or Pareto principle) was named after economist Vilfredo Pareto who observed 80% of Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Often you’ll see the 80/20 rule cited by a company making 80% of its profits from 20% of its customers.

In golf, this rule could be applied in many ways, but I think one of the best applications is practice. When it comes to practice, most of us have the 80/20 flipped around. Were simply not getting the bang for our buck during a range session.

TLDR: We spend too much time on things that don’t really impact our score and too little on the things that do.

How many people do you see wailing away for an hour straight with nothing but a driver, 3-wood, and 4-iron? No putting, chipping, or 50-yard half shots.

Invert this! Find more time to putt, chip, and hit shots inside 100 yards. Your game will thank you for it.