Do you guys ever practice, or do you just mainly play? 

I recently read an article that referenced a "68% rule."  It echoed what some of you have said in this thread, and basically it is this: if you look at all the shots an average golfer takes during a round, add all the times you hit driver, plus all the times you putt, plus all the times you chip, it comes to a vast majority of the shots you take during a round.  So your practice should focus on those things.  In my case, when I say "chipping," I am saying whatever is not a full swing.  So I would include all those 40 or 50 or so yard half-swings that are so common. 

So, practice should focus on driver, putter, and wedge.  In looking at my recent play, it's absolutely true.  I'm hitting a ton of half-wedges and chip shots.  In fact I would say most of my strokes don't involve a full swing.  It's just not that common that I am taking a full swing from a fairway these days.  

Here's the front 9 from my round the other day:
1) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 40 yard pitch, 2 putts
2) par 3 - shanked my tee shot, re-teed, hit it on green, 2 putts
3) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 30 yard pitch, 2 putts 
4) par 4 - driver, 60 yard wedge, 2 putts.
5) par 4 - driver, 60 yard wedge, ball rolls off green, duffed my chip shot, putted the ball onto the green, 2 putts
6) par 3 - missed the green, chipped on, 2 putts
7) par 4 - driver, full 7 iron, missed the green, chipped on, 3 putted 
8) par 3 - hit the green, 2 putts
9) par 5 - driver, 5-wood, 30 yard chip, 2 putts.  

The course is a bit unusual in that it has five par-5s and five par-3s, the front 9 only having three par-4s.  But in this 9 holes, I count 4 full swings that were not tee shots.  Jesus Christ, when I look at that list, that is only 13 full swings and a plethora of half swings, chip shots, and putts.    

So just in general, how do you guys practice?

I tend to practice whatever sucked the most in my last round. 
(irons/hybrids/approach shots from 140 or more lately) 

But your breakdown above is like lots of cards from lots of amateurs in that you could shave some strokes effectively by making a few more putts and hitting 2 or 3 better chips or pitches per side. 

For me, it's the easiest thing to fix in the game with minimal practice.  

Had a round at King and Bear recently that saw 7 fewer strokes between the front and the back  -  and it was mostly from not duffing chips, zero three putts, and sinking a couple of 12 ft-ish putts on the back. Front side had duffs and 3 putts galore.

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For chipping, and I mean a traditional chip not a 40 yard pitch shot, you should be practicing with a goal to get your chip shots within a 3ft circle of the hole. The data shows that, statistically, the typical person's success putting from 1-3 feet is relatively all close, but once outside of 3 feet, the success rate drops pretty drastically.

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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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