Leaving Driver in the Bag

[TheSouthernGentleman]

20 minutes ago, jons1 said:

 

 

Yeah, and when you card a 75 and they card a 95... guess what dude, the people in your group will realize they are morons.  period.

 

If you're playing for drunken idiotic fun on the course... of course, hit driver on every hole and donate the balls to charity as needed.  But if you're actually trying to shoot the best possible score, there's a hell of a lot more strategy and course management involved.

LOL!

 

Dude,  not many guys out there shooting 75s, just using their irons.  Every good player I know tees it off with the big stick.  Once you get past a certain distance threshhold , maybe 6300 yards or whatever, the course gets awful long just hitting your irons.  Approach shots a lot longer, a good drive takes all the pressure off approach shots.

 

Show me one accomplished player that used just irons.  You can't.  The modern games means hit driver.  Get fit for the right driver, spend the money and do it right.  THe club is not that hard to hit, it is all in the head.  A lot of players should be playing softer shafts, shorter shafts, and higher lofts, then maybe they could hit the club.

 

LOL!  Never seen any accomplished player, pro or amateur play with just irons.  LOL!

 

Hey, it is a free country.  Tee off with your lob wedge for what I care.  I would love to watch that, and laugh until I drop.

[Santiago Golf]

Unless you can hit a 3 wood 250 yards or playing a course less than 6000 yards ... you need to hit your driver as much as possible. 

 

A mishit 4 iron goes no where compared to a mishit driver. 

[Krt22]

1 hour ago, jons1 said:

 

Depends on how long you can hit it and how good your short game is.  There are people that can hit 3 wood 280 yards... yet they pull out driver and live and die by it.  It's all relative and managing your game.

 

If you have a good short game, even if it took 3 shots to reach a par 4, you could make par.  Let's say it's 400 yard long hole, which for most people is a long par 4.  180 drive (which is less than driver and for some more like a 5 iron), 150 iron to a comfortable wedge distance, 70 yard wedge, one putt... see what I'm saying?  You don't have to be long or hit driver to score... you need a short game.

 

I've played rounds with only a few clubs, never included more than a hybrid as my longest club, and often shot better scores because I was never in trouble (in the 70s easily).

 

Don't be confused by the pros playing bomb and gouge... for amateurs its more like bomb and drop.  The margin of error for an amateur is much larger than a pro and they would be better served not playing more club than they can control reliably (and that can change from day to day).

 

This nearly universally bad advice, especially since the OP isn't even breaking 100. A reliable 180 and 150 yard shot requires decent ball striking, but hitting a 70 yard wedge to statistically makeable par range (8-10 ft max) is highly unlikely, for just about every golfer.

Even pros don't get up and down from 70 yards a vast majority of the time (34% from the fairway, 21% from the rough), their average leave from 75-100yrds is 18', while 1 putt percentage from from 15-20' is less than 10%. If the best of the best are not doing it anywhere close to 50% of the time, there is no way even low single digit guys are going to do with any sort of regularity, let alone high index players

 

For everyone time someone MIGHT get up and down like this, they are looking at double if they make a single bad stroke. Amateurs who cannot control driver, typically don't have dramatically better control of their other long clubs and short game simply cannot make up for poor ball striking. It can turn bad days into decent days, but it isn't going to turn decent days into great days nor is it going to turn a  double digit person into anything other than a slightly lower double digit person. Avg distance off the tee is directly correlated to winning on tour, as well as handicap for amateurs. 

[jons1]

6 hours ago, Krt22 said:

This nearly universally bad advice, especially since the OP isn't even breaking 100. A reliable 180 and 150 yard shot requires decent ball striking, but hitting a 70 yard wedge to statistically makeable par range (8-10 ft max) is highly unlikely, for just about every golfer.

Even pros don't get up and down from 70 yards a vast majority of the time (34% from the fairway, 21% from the rough), their average leave from 75-100yrds is 18', while 1 putt percentage from from 15-20' is less than 10%. If the best of the best are not doing it anywhere close to 50% of the time, there is no way even low single digit guys are going to do with any sort of regularity, let alone high index players

 

For everyone time someone MIGHT get up and down like this, they are looking at double if they make a single bad stroke. Amateurs who cannot control driver, typically don't have dramatically better control of their other long clubs and short game simply cannot make up for poor ball striking. It can turn bad days into decent days, but it isn't going to turn decent days into great days nor is it going to turn a  double digit person into anything other than a slightly lower double digit person. Avg distance off the tee is directly correlated to winning on tour, as well as handicap for amateurs. 

 

What do stats say about scoring when you're hitting it OB, in hazards, and in the trees that aren't likely escapable?  If you keep the ball in play, you at least give yourself a shot at shooting a good score.  If you play more club than you can reliably control that day, you're not... it's really that simple.  

 

It's the same guy that hits a 50 yard slice on the previous 2 holes and still aims down the middle all day with a driver... cause there will be that ONE time that it works out?!?!  That's not how the best players play the game.

 

Does Tiger look like an idiot for hitting a 2 iron stinger?  How about 3 wood?  Or he's not feeling the draw because of whatever is going on that day, and decides to hit a slap cut on a hole that is clearly built for a draw?  There's a reason why the pros score well.  1. they manage their game and 2. they have insanely good short games.

 

 

[Rbsiedsc]

7 hours ago, Krt22 said:

This nearly universally bad advice, especially since the OP isn't even breaking 100. A reliable 180 and 150 yard shot requires decent ball striking, but hitting a 70 yard wedge to statistically makeable par range (8-10 ft max) is highly unlikely, for just about every golfer.

Even pros don't get up and down from 70 yards a vast majority of the time (34% from the fairway, 21% from the rough), their average leave from 75-100yrds is 18', while 1 putt percentage from from 15-20' is less than 10%. If the best of the best are not doing it anywhere close to 50% of the time, there is no way even low single digit guys are going to do with any sort of regularity, let alone high index players

 

For everyone time someone MIGHT get up and down like this, they are looking at double if they make a single bad stroke. Amateurs who cannot control driver, typically don't have dramatically better control of their other long clubs and short game simply cannot make up for poor ball striking. It can turn bad days into decent days, but it isn't going to turn decent days into great days nor is it going to turn a  double digit person into anything other than a slightly lower double digit person. Avg distance off the tee is directly correlated to winning on tour, as well as handicap for amateurs. 

If it was correlated though I should be around 12-15 vs 27 in hdcp. My driver goes 270-280.

[Krt22]

13 hours ago, jons1 said:

 

What do stats say about scoring when you're hitting it OB, in hazards, and in the trees that aren't likely escapable?  If you keep the ball in play, you at least give yourself a shot at shooting a good score.  If you play more club than you can reliably control that day, you're not... it's really that simple.  

 

It's the same guy that hits a 50 yard slice on the previous 2 holes and still aims down the middle all day with a driver... cause there will be that ONE time that it works out?!?!  That's not how the best players play the game.

 

Does Tiger look like an idiot for hitting a 2 iron stinger?  How about 3 wood?  Or he's not feeling the draw because of whatever is going on that day, and decides to hit a slap cut on a hole that is clearly built for a draw?  There's a reason why the pros score well.  1. they manage their game and 2. they have insanely good short games.

 

 

Pure conjecture, the stats don’t lie. The pros score well because they are the most elite ball strikers on the planet, they continuously put the ball close to the hole. Short game and course management aren’t turning a 25 to a 10 or a 10 to scratch. 
 

If you can’t hit the largest and most forgiving club in the bag (the driver) you just aren’t going to score well. 

Edited October 9, 2020 by Krt22

[jons1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-3IKtVru70?t=463

 

Edited October 9, 2020 by jons1

[golfsticks]

If the first number on your final score card is a 1 head to the lesson tee.  Or just put a 2 wood head cover over it and call it a day.

 

Edited October 9, 2020 by golfsticks