It's the short game stupid.

[spacey]

If I could be bothered to learn how to putt, I'd probably shave 10-12 strokes per 18 from my score.

[Dunk]

Over the past few years I've golfed in the USA and Canada with a lot of members from different forums and I've noticed something.  A lot of the guys who are higher handicaps than me generally play as well, or better than me when it comes to the full swing, but they loose a ton of strokes around the green.  Things like taking two shots to get out of a bunker, chipping over a green, coming up short on wedge shots, three-putting etc.

Without much of change to their overall games, these guys could easily lose 5 - 10 strokes off their handicap.

However in my case, it's my full-swing shots that cost me strokes.  Errant tee shots and erratic iron play costs me.

[campy]

I'm going to go with the short game for me.  I am usually pretty good off of the tee, and for years just sucked from 100 yards in.  Friday I had a real good 9 holes, and I think I only had 1-2 GIR.   I only had 13 putts for the round, a lot of that has to do with really slow greens and the ability to be aggressive, but it illustrates for my game that without having a really good day with the short clubs, I could have easily added 10 strokes to my score.