Long game vs Short game

Got my first handicap cut last night and while I'm happy about that it was
an interesting round for more reasons than one.

It is the first time I deliberately favoured my 4i off the tee rather than a
3 wood or driver.

I was not hitting my irons too well last night and even found two left hand
lateral water hazards off the tee with my 4i although only one cost me a
penalty shot as the second was playable.

I had switched to my 4i because I believe my tendency to hook is costing me
a lot of shots with the driver and the 3 wood. While a good driver hit will
go a long way further than a 4i, it will also go a lot further left if miss
hit.

I always stay more relaxed and less under pressure on the second shot if I'm
on the short stuff or near as damn it. My bad tee shot with a wood often
gets followed by a poor decision and or a bad iron/recovery shot.

All this got me thinking about short game versus long game importance.

I have been really focusing on short game stuff recently, my chipping has
improved a lot, my short pitching (when not infested with shanks) has come
on leaps and bounds and even my putting is getting better with constant
practice.

My last two rounds have both been 34 putts and so under my personal holy
grail of 36 putts/round.

At the time I felt last nights cut was a direct result of my short game
being better because I did not hit my long irons that well. However now I'm
not so sure. Maybe I scored better because a not so good 4 iron is much
easier to deal with than a not so good driver hit. For sure I only had one
penalty off the tee where as I average 3 with a wood in my hand. Maybe my
tee shots being manageable lead to a good short game performance?

When I look back to the past my best ever scores have always been when my
long game or more especially my driving is on form. While the short game
practice is obviously important, I feel that driving practice for me at
least has to be given the same level of attention. If I combine my best tee
to green round with my best short game round to date the results would be a
sub 80 round of golf. While it's all well and good me teeing off with a 4
iron at 28 handicap on a 6k yard course. I can not do that for ever if I
want to attain a single figure handicap and to be honest that is where my
long term goal lies.

I think to get to a lowest handicap you must need to be able to drive the
ball well as well as being able to chip and put.