What trait of a Tour Pro's game would you most like to have?

What trait, or skill, of a Tour Pro's game would you most like to have or think would most help your game?

Distance off the tee, ability to control the ball flight, ball striking, wedge game, chipping, sand game, putting? Feel free to add any more.

I think about this too much. I think for me the trait I would most want is the putting speed of a tour pro. Much of my anxiety on the course comes from standing over a long putt and stressing about the speed and avoiding a three putt. The next one after that I think would be the sand game (greenside bunkers). Obviously I would love all the aspects of a tour pro's game, but I think this would have the biggest and quickest impact on my game.

What part of the pro's game do you most wish you had?

The mental game. It takes amazing mental toughness to play a professional sport like golf where you are going to fail far, far more times than you succeed. And other than in team events like the Ryder Cup, you are always on your own - there is no teammates there to bail you out if you have a bad day.

Iron game, no doubt. I'd be pretty good if I could hit 12-15 greens a round.

wedge game from 50 yards and in.

The distance anymore is untouchable. In the 90’s and earlier it wasn’t uncommon for a tour player to play in the pro am with someone that could hit it past them. Plenty of club level players had “tour length”. The rest of the game obviously lacked, but aside from a few players everyone had somebody at their club that could keep up with most of the tour in terms of distance off the tee and through the bag. That doesn’t happen anymore, the shortest hitter on tour now has plenty of length on any course and they aren’t seeing ams (top college players excepted) hit it past them. For me - the distance is my current “envy”. In college and until I was about 25 I could hit it as far as anyone outside the top 15 longest or so. That is no longer the case or even close, even if I could still hit it as far as I did then I would be a short popper. The advantage of length is irreplaceable. You can teach/learn accuracy, short game, putting, etc to a serviceable level. For some reason you cannot teach length to an established short hitter.

I am always just super impressed with their consistency of setup and pre shot routine, they always look comfortable and relaxed above the ball, which I admire very much.

> @JaNelson38 said:

> The mental game. It takes amazing mental toughness to play a professional sport like golf where you are going to fail far, far more times than you succeed. And other than in team events like the Ryder Cup, you are always on your own - there is no teammates there to bail you out if you have a bad day.

Great answer. I hadn't considered the mental aspect. I certainly lack in this department. I was thinking in terms of their physical skills.

Consistency.

Distance. That's the biggest separator between a decent amateur and a tour pro. At a 5 handicap, I suppose I'm a decent amateur, but give me the ability to add 50 yards to my drive, 20 or 30 yards to my irons, that would make a bigger difference to my scoring than short game, putting, mental toughness, any of them.

Distance ... going from my 250 to Cameron Champ's 317 would be a game changer. If I'm going from 150 to 83 for my average approach, even from the rough, my GIR and proximity to hole, therefore my putts per round, all improves.

> @golfandfishing said:

> The distance anymore is untouchable. In the 90’s and earlier it wasn’t uncommon for a tour player to play in the pro am with someone that could hit it past them. Plenty of club level players had “tour length”. The rest of the game obviously lacked, but aside from a few players everyone had somebody at their club that could keep up with most of the tour in terms of distance off the tee and through the bag. That doesn’t happen anymore, the shortest hitter on tour now has plenty of length on any course and they aren’t seeing ams (top college players excepted) hit it past them. For me - the distance is my current “envy”. In college and until I was about 25 I could hit it as far as anyone outside the top 15 longest or so. That is no longer the case or even close, even if I could still hit it as far as I did then I would be a short popper. The advantage of length is irreplaceable. You can teach/learn accuracy, short game, putting, etc to a serviceable level. For some reason you cannot teach length to an established short hitter.

I agree that distance is a huge factor now. I think this was what Kevin Na was referencing when he said there are only 6 or 7 courses where he believes he has a legitimate chance to win. My home course can stretch out to a little over 7200 yards from what they call "Professional" tees. We play the championship at about 6800 yds. I am by no means a long hitter but I can push it out 260/270 and at that distance I can hang with the longer guys. From the pro tees at over 7000 yards it would be a game changer.

A hot putter. Period.

mental approach.

short game

> @DavePelz4 said:

> Consistency.

+1

Consistency without a doubt for me. During the course of a round I am capible of hitting great shots, good shots, okay shots, bad shots and horrific shots. So my continumm looks like Great <-----------> Horrifc all within one round of golf. What I admire about the pros is that even though they hit bad shots their bad shots a lot of times aren't that bad and they limit the number of horrific shots. If I could halve the number of horrific shots I hit and get the bad shots to be a touch better than they are I could pass as a real golfer.

> @KnightPS said:

> What trait, or skill, of a Tour Pro's game would you most like to have or think would most help your game?

> Distance off the tee, ability to control the ball flight, ball striking, wedge game, chipping, sand game, putting? Feel free to add any more.

>

> I think about this too much. I think for me the trait I would most want is the putting speed of a tour pro. Much of my anxiety on the course comes from standing over a long putt and stressing about the speed and avoiding a three putt. The next one after that I think would be the sand game (greenside bunkers). Obviously I would love all the aspects of a tour pro's game, but I think this would have the biggest and quickest impact on my game.

>

> What part of the pro's game do you most wish you had?

Ball striking, as it applies to every club in the bag including putter. Many courses I play are much shorter than Tour set ups and intentionally design in dog legs or force lay ups so you can't "bomb and gouge" like is seen so often.

Miss hits whether thin, fat, toe or heel, etc probably cost me the most. Being able to make the ball go where my mind sees it going almost 100% of the time would be incredible.

Consistency is key.

Scoring average.

Bank account. Successful one of course.

> @ebrasmus21 said:

> > @DavePelz4 said:

> > Consistency.

>

> +1

>

> Consistency without a doubt for me. During the course of a round I am capible of hitting great shots, good shots, okay shots, bad shots and horrific shots. So my continumm looks like Great <-----------> Horrifc all within one round of golf. What I admire about the pros is that even though they hit bad shots their bad shots a lot of times aren't that bad and they limit the number of horrific shots. If I could halve the number of horrific shots I hit and get the bad shots to be a touch better than they are I could pass as a real golfer.

My inconsistent brother! Monday a 6 hole stretch that went triple (after my best drive of the day), birdie, triple, par, double, birdie. Can't begin to explain it.

> @DavePelz4 said:

> > @ebrasmus21 said:

> > > @DavePelz4 said:

> > > Consistency.

> >

> > +1

> >

> > Consistency without a doubt for me. During the course of a round I am capible of hitting great shots, good shots, okay shots, bad shots and horrific shots. So my continumm looks like Great <-----------> Horrifc all within one round of golf. What I admire about the pros is that even though they hit bad shots their bad shots a lot of times aren't that bad and they limit the number of horrific shots. If I could halve the number of horrific shots I hit and get the bad shots to be a touch better than they are I could pass as a real golfer.

>

> My inconsistent brother! Monday a 6 hole stretch that went triple (after my best drive of the day), birdie, triple, par, double, birdie. Can't begin to explain it.

The horrific shots, when they happen, punish my mental game for sure. During my club championship match a couple weeks ago I got to hole 5 that has OB all down the right side. There is the entirity of planet earth to use on the left side of the hole but I still put one OB. So I'm standing on the tee like where the F did that come from?!? It messed with my mind.

The dollar bill sized divot that peaks 4" in front of ball.

DJ’s personal life.

Ball striking with mid to short irons

I'd love to be able to strike shots inside 160 yards as pure as they do. It's the weakest part of my game.

Don't want their skills....... just the awesome practice facilities and Physical Therapy back massages

Driving distance.

I already hit about 60% of fairways. I just happen to do it about 30-40 yards shorter than they do.

If I had their distance, I'm 2+ clubs closer to every green and I'd be a plus.

Driving is 14 holes per round. Short game is only when you miss (and you can get WAY better by practicing). Most holes, a good golfer is going to take the same amount of putts as a pro (if you disagree with this, you don't understand putting.)

If you're hitting less than 50% of fairways or less than 66% of greens, you should be choosing driving or irons. "Ballstriking" is a catch-all for both, and obviously, I'd like that. Pros would hit 16-18 greens at the places I play. No one who takes "short game" is making up for that. They're not getting up and down 100% of the time, or making birdie putts from the places you're putting them in.

Johnny Miller’s closet from 72-78

-Chris

depends on what I’d use these powers for. Going pro id need all the distance I can find, it’s a different game.

Club championship and Saturday game then it’s the putter. With everything else being about the same with my people of similar skills/length a hot putter is devastating.

Distance 10 times out of 10. Unless you're Rory, being closer to the whole makes everything else easier.

> @"Vardon Grip" said:

> depends on what I’d use these powers for. Going pro id need all the distance I can find, it’s a different game.

> Club championship and Saturday game then it’s the putter. With everything else being about the same with my people of similar skills/length a hot putter is devastating.

Right, when everything else is about the same, it's the putter. When you're playing Club Championship, you're generally playing players of your own ability, and whoever sinks a few more putts wins.

But what distinguishes the Champ flight from the A flight from the B flight is primarily ball striking, starting with the driver. And it distinguishes the pros from the +2's at your club.

The question was "what would **most** help your game?"