Tiger says his practice sessions are 2/3 short game.

I try to keep a balance between play and practice, but sometimes I end up hitting the range more than I play. Oddly enough, I find my game quality is tied to my driver. If I'm not driving well, my whole game suffers. It's purely mental. However, I tend to practice my driver less than I used to because if I spend too much time at it, I begin to overthink it. So instead of trying to bomb it, I'm choking up and swinging easier to keep the ball in the short grass.

Over the last year I've been putting a lot of work into iron accuracy and consistency. With these new clubs, my distance has greatly increased. I can get the 5-iron out to 200 yards if it's flush, but the accuracy isn't where I want it. Getting GIR is the goal of my iron work. With the exception of long par 5s, if I can hit the fairway with the driver, the goal of my next shot is to get it on the green. Not always successful but the rate has slowly been increasing over the last year. In turn, I've been working on my short game as well for when the ball doesn't make it. I practiced with my new 52° wedge yesterday and it's spot on. I'm looking forward to playing a round with it soon.

I'm also old school with my mid irons around the green. If the ball is sitting 5-15 ft off the green with not too much elevation change and some green to work with, I use my 6-iron with a putting stroke. You'd be surprised how accurate it is and you don't have to fiddle with figuring the carry and roll out of a wedge. Nice and simple.

With all that said, my game has a lot of loose ends right now. My obsession with iron play has caused me to neglect the other aspects so I'm trying to pull it all together. But I still have that driver monkey on my back. I allow a couple of bad drives to ruin my round and I need to get over it. Keeping Phil Mickelson's 20-second rule in mind is helping.

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