Golf Digest: The Golf Guru: things every golfer should know

What is the best way to practice? Should you work mostly on short irons, long irons or a little of each?

Scott Braden, Chillicothe, Ohio

About half the shots most of us play in a typical round are on or near the green. Yet we never practice the short game (if we practice at all). Instead we tee up the ball and pull out the driver--something you get to do on only 14 holes at most courses. So spend half your practice time putting, chipping and pitching. Then work on full shots with the scoring clubs--7-iron through wedge. Finish off with a few longer irons, fairway woods and drives.

Quality of practice is more important than quantity, so work on something specific--bad practice will make you get worse, not better. Remember, golf is more a game of rhythm, consistency and confidence than of brute force. The Golf Guru, always preferring to play, doesn't practice much, which surely explains why invitations to play in the Masters and on Ryder Cup teams have never been forthcoming.

None of my friends can agree: Is it easier for a high-handicapper to lower his handicap, or is it easier for a low-handicapper?

Martin Gagnon, Wakefield, Quebec

Improving at golf is like climbing a mountain. You start off as a beginner in the gentle foothills, and you are able to make great strides. You cover a lot of ground easily, and you get tremendously excited when you gaze at the majestic, towering peak above. But gradually, the hill starts to rise and the climb gets steeper. Now you have to work harder to keep advancing. Sooner or later, you get to where you just can't seem to progress any farther. You've found your natural cruising altitude, and though there are always endless breakthroughs and setbacks, for the most part that's where you stay--for years, often decades. The chance of clawing our way just a little higher is what keeps us coming back again and again. It's what gets us out of bed in the middle of the night to make a dawn tee time; it makes us walk for six miles with a bag on our back when our knees and feet already hurt from the six miles we walked the day before; it makes us part far too easily with too much of our hard-earned money. A handful of lucky, talented people get almost to within spitting distance of the summit, though of course no one has ever actually set foot on that sacred place, not even for a day.

Please explain what "presses" are in a golf match. I believe that this method of gambling is often misunderstood.

Robin Taylor, Springfiled, Pa.

Gambling? People gamble on the golf course? I'm shocked. Shocked!

A press is a means of allowing someone who is losing money to win some of it back--or lose even more. The most common is the 2-down press--when you're 2 down, you can "press," which means you elect to begin a new match over the remaining holes, in addition to any existing bets. Automatic presses are popular, too--the new additional match always begins when someone is 2 down, whether they like it or not. Presses can be played in conjunction with a nassau--a bet on the front nine, a bet on the back, a bet on the overall match--and sometimes with any number of other hijinks, too, such as greenies, sandies, barkies.

The Golf Guru hates all that junk. What matters is the match: Did you win or did you lose? There's an intensity to the ancient ritual of an 18-hole game that's ruined if you're having to keep track of all those silly garbage bets, too--it's like trying to watch "Casablanca" on TV while your pesky nephew keeps grabbing the remote. It's a simple game; why make it complicated? Real golfers play a straight match. When it's over, you play a new mini-match on the remaining holes, if there are any, what the British call "the bye." And sometimes there are holes left after that, too. What's that known as? The bye-bye.

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