Inside the Scoring Zone | Part 1 of a Two-Part Series

If you're a 10-handicap golfer, have you ever wondered how your short game compares with other golfers who play at about the same level?

Maybe you're pretty good around the greens but struggle with those awkward 40- to 80-yard shots. Or perhaps you hit some terrific wedge shots, only to chunk or blade the next one.

At Edison Golf, we've collected more than 7,700 WedgeFit® assessment responses from golfers who have shared information about their handicaps, their wedges, and what gives them the most trouble inside 100 yards.

We decided to take a closer look at that information to answer a simple question:

Do golfers at different handicap levels struggle with the same short-game problems?

The answers might surprise you.

What Golfers Are Telling Us

Let's start with three findings from our WedgeFit research.

• 42% say their most common miss from inside 100 yards is coming up short.

• 37% identify inconsistent contact as their biggest short-game challenge.

• 36% say their short-game results are inconsistent from round to round.

Those numbers tell an interesting story. But when we break them down by handicap, things get even more revealing.

How Does Your Handicap Compare?

Here's what golfers at different handicap levels told us.

Handicap	Come Up Short	Contact Issues	Inconsistent Results
0–5	43%	32%	23%
6–10	44%	36%	31%
10–15	45%	38%	35%
16–19	44%	38%	40%
20+	37%	40%	43%

 

Inconsistent Results by Handicap

Source: Edison WedgeFit responses through October 5, 2026. Percentages reflect golfers who answered each question. Handicap ranges are the categories offered in the assessment.

Take a look at that first column.

Even among golfers with handicaps of 0–5, more than four out of ten say coming up short is their most common miss inside 100 yards.

And that percentage barely changes until we reach the highest handicap group.

That's pretty remarkable when you think about it.

But there's another important difference.

Among our lowest-handicap golfers, only 23% identify inconsistent results from round to round as their biggest challenge. Among golfers with handicaps of 20 or higher, that number climbs to 43%.

In other words, better golfers still struggle with wedge distances, but higher-handicap golfers are much more likely to identify consistency as their primary problem.

Here's another finding I found interesting: 44% of our 0–5 handicap golfers say distance control is their biggest short-game challenge, compared with just 18% of golfers in the 20+ group.

That suggests golfers at different skill levels may be focused on different problems, even when they're playing shots from the same distances.

And that brings us to something we've learned from working with amateur golfers.

Three Short-Game Challenges. Which Sounds Like You?

While every golfer's game is different, many of the challenges we hear about fit into three recognizable patterns.

We've developed some helpful resources for each, including practical advice and drills you can take to the practice area.

1. The Distance Controller

You generally make reasonably good contact, but controlling exactly how far your wedges carry is another matter.

A 60-yard shot might fly 50 yards one time and 70 the next. Or you find yourself constantly trying to manufacture distances with different swings.

Interestingly, distance control was the most frequently selected short-game challenge among our lowest-handicap golfers.

The good news is that distance control is something you can improve with a more systematic approach to your wedge game.

Explore The Distance Controller — including tips and drills to improve your wedge distances →

2. The Contact Struggler

You know the shot you want to hit. The problem is making consistently solid contact.

Sometimes you hit it a little heavy. Other times thin. And even when the strike feels pretty good, the result isn't always what you expected.

Our research shows that contact issues are common at every handicap level, with roughly one-third to 40% of golfers identifying this as their biggest challenge.

Improving your setup and impact fundamentals can make a real difference. And because most amateurs don't strike every wedge shot in the center of the face, having wedges designed to perform more consistently on imperfect contact can help, too.

Explore The Contact Struggler — with practical advice for more consistent ball striking →

3. The Inconsistent Scorer

One round, your short game is terrific. You're hitting wedges close, getting up and down, and feeling confident over every shot.

The next round? You can't seem to do anything right.

This is one of the most frustrating parts of golf because you've already demonstrated that you can hit the shots.

Our WedgeFit data suggests this challenge becomes increasingly common as handicaps rise. Among golfers with handicaps of 20 or higher, 43% identify inconsistent results as their biggest short-game problem.

Often, the answer is developing a simpler, more repeatable approach to club selection, setup, and shot execution.

Explore The Inconsistent Scorer — and learn how to build a more reliable short game →

What Does This Mean for Your Game?

Here's the most important takeaway from all this research.

Getting better isn't necessarily about practicing more. It's about understanding what you need to practice.

If distance control is your biggest weakness, that's where your attention should go.

If inconsistent contact is costing you strokes, improving your strike quality may do more for your scores than learning another specialty shot.

And if your short game changes dramatically from round to round, developing a repeatable approach might be your biggest opportunity.

Your handicap tells you something about how well you score. But understanding your specific short-game challenges tells you much more about where you can improve.

At Edison, that's what we're trying to help golfers accomplish — combining better information, purposeful practice, and wedges that complement the way they actually play.

Next Week: Brian's Story

Numbers from thousands of golfers are interesting. But what happens when we look at one golfer's actual performance?

Next week, we're going to revisit Brian, whose short-game journey we've featured previously in Inside the Scoring Zone.

Using his latest Arccos shot-tracking data, we'll look at how his performance compares with golfers at his handicap level, where he's gaining and losing strokes, and what the numbers suggest he should work on next.

Because the most important question isn't whether your short game is better or worse than someone else's.

It's understanding what you can do to make yours better.