golfrewind.com

Hi,

As i have said in a previous post i am new to golf and still learning lots.
I was wondering how vital it is to drive the ball as far as Woods, or hit middle to high irons 200+ yards in order to be a good golfer?
I'm very much a beginner and dont really feel confident using drivers, last week i was playing with a low handicap player who was a very big hitter, he would step up at send the ball as far as the eye could see down the fairway, i would then take my shot with a 5 wood, or even an iron (depending on how well i was playing) and hit the ball about half the distance he did. But all things being equal (i.e non of the amature fault creeped in, the top, the slice, the shank etc) and i hit the ball properly we still made the green in the same number of strokes, the only difference was my second shot would be with a 5 iron, his would be with an 8. Which got me thinking, is too much emphasis placed on how far you can hit the ball rather than just keeping it on the fairway? Im pretty confident if i could magically learn overnight to hit every ball cleanly, in exchange for never being able to hit the ball like a rocket i would be a far better player than a very powerful player.
Have there ever been any pro's that were not paticularly big hitters?

Thanks for your time

It doesn't make a whole lot of difference. If most of us golfers could get that through our head we would be a lot better at this stupid game! :)

Fred Funk.
And no power isn't as important to us as people make it out to be. Being consistantly accurate and inconsistantly powerful is much better than inconsistantly accurate and consistantly powerful. Belive me, I know.

After you start driving the ball consistently around 240-260, anything farther than that is real good, but not worth getting worked up over. If you're only driving it 200-210 then I would try to work on getting it out there farther otherwise you're just never gonna be able to hit greens in regulation very often.

Power isn't as important as being able to choose the right club for you for the shot to be safe to get onto the green & to putt out in the fewest strokes.

Its not distance, but accuracy & consistency that wins out. If you happen to be a long hitter as well it can help, but not most important.

Get to know how far you hit your irons & which club or type of club is safe to use for a shot. Hitting short can often be better than hitting long, or beyond a pin. You are better in-front or on the front of a green than in the rough/ bunkers/ trees/ or out of bounds beyond.

As for my drivers, I'm only just getting over my fear of them, as there is so much that can go wrong in a swing with a driver. when its right its great. But don't really find I get that much extra yardage with mine.

Up until yesterday about 220 yards was the max with my ITX2 driver on the 251 & 257 yard holes I play. Ironically its definitely the wrong club to try on the 303 yard hole where staying on the fairway is very important & so easy to end up playing Commando golf if it goes a bit adrift.

But with a decent pace & rhythm of playing & so not going **** for leather, I have found I can now actually drive further. only adding 10 or 20 yards to where the ball lands, but if I'd stayed running up the fairway it might have triccled easailly onto the 251 & 257 holes... Just need more accuracy now... but its coming

I don't think it's too important at all really... I think if you can hit it in the fairway most times, good ballstriking and good club selection you can hit GIR most times.
Distance definitely isn't important from the tees I play from anyway... it's shortgame that's the most important.

You don't have to have John Daly type power but if you want to be a low handicap who can complete with other low handicaper then you will need to be able to hit the ball at least longer than the average golfer. By that I mean you should be hitting a wedge at least 110, a 7 155, a 5 180, and a 3 200. You should drive the ball at least 260 - 275 and hit a 3 wood around 225-235. I know I may take some heat on this one, but if you play with the "big" boys and you're hitting a 5 iron and they are hitting a 9 iron they will eat your lunch. You may be able to beat one or two on your good days, but you get in a tournament and give up that much distance, you will be just giving your money away. Simply put, opportunities equal birdies. I like my odds with a 9 iron versus a 5 iron any day.

Missed this question in my first post...sorry.

Cory Pavin's 2005 driving distance so far is 251 yards. So yes there are pros out there that cannot drive it 300+ like most people like to believe all pros can.

Yeah, my point exactly... its one thing getting to or next to the green, but if you can't chip or lob onto a green in a shot & can't sink your putts, then getting right up to the green is a wasted journey.

Its all very well landing that 140 yard shot onto the green in one, but if you are then going to 3 putt, you are still only going to come away with a boggie.

The aim is one chip or lob, then one or two putts. If you can drive accuratly onto the green its even better, but not most important.

Which is better in everyones mind... driving a wood next to the green on a 400 yarder, then struggling to chip or lob on, ending up missing the green twice in a row before accidentally getting on there, before putting for 3, or 4..... Or two good healthy iron shots, or a good driver shot of medium length, before chipping on, or say a 7 or 8 iron after the driver, to withing 2 to 10 foot, then putting out for one or two...?

I know what my answwer is.

I'm with you, Pistol. You don't have to be the longest guy out there and you may develop a short game that is deadly, but the ones who can reach the fives in two will always be way ahead if the rest of their game is good. A killer short game just won't make up for coming up short on every green or, like you said, having to hit a mid iron instead of a wedge. If the long guy is putting for birdie on a good number of holes and you're trying to make par, keep your money in your pocket. Have a good one.
Jerry

Agreed you don't have to be the longest guy out there...but I'm taking right by the green on a "400 yarder" everytime. Everyone is this forum is crazy to say thay would rather be 150 yards away on a par 4 rather then 30 yards away.

Let's talk about your average amature and not the top rank amatures who vie for national titles. If you go to any course and ask about their club champion odds are they are going to be a steady down the middle player with better than average distance. Most players who hit the ball enormous distances fail to score not because they cannot chip or putt, but because they cannot stay out of trouble. They take unneccessary risks, hit the ball out of bounds, hit it in the water or in the trees. When you take a short ball hitter and back them up to the tips and they have to hit long and medium irons the demand on their game will take it's toll. We have guys that play at our course and play quite well from the whites, but once you put them on the championship tees, their game suffers due to lack of power (distance). I've played in hundreds of tournaments and have yet to see a short hitter beat a strong field by hitting medium and long irons into par fours, especially in a four day tournament.

Pistol does have a point. If you play from the championship tees an nearly any course, if you don't have some power to go along with the rest of your game your dead before you even tee off. There are many holes that require 250+ drives just to have adequite shots at the green. Of course no normal person (usually) will attempt those tees anyway. So for us average joes thats not a problem.

Yes, & it was sort of my point, if with a slightly different angle, withing the basic idea, that I'm getting at.

I'm saying a player should use what they are best with in order to stay out of trouble. Its so easy for us as players to try & think we are the next Tiger & pick out that driver for the 400 yard shot. I know at the moment my driver is only going to get me 220- 250 yards & travel up to 300 yards max allong the turf, if I hit it right....!

But I know Its as liable to be a grass cutter & go 70-125 yards, or go 90 degrees right & find I've wasted a shot. At best it may go down the fairway & then peel off, leaving me a slightly tricky chip & lob to the green. My use of Driver is improving as I use it, but what I do know I can do is use my 4 iron & get a consistently good shot down that fairway & travel 180-200 yards, almost as far as a lucky driver shot does at best. so getting the safest scoring shot when it counts.

For instance, I know I can use that 4 iron of mine & play into wind with it & be 4 foot in front of the 184 yard pin on the 7th hole & that is across water. But in a competition, if there is a safe option on that hole I'll take the safe route, unless I know its a risk worth taking.

So for your 400 yard hole I know I can either risk using the driver to get the extra few yards & either be on the green for 2 or 6, depending how lucky I am. as If I use my driver, chances are I ether will have to use Iron from near pin, or have to take a PW out of rough , or from amongst trees...

Or...!!! I can take a good Long Iron I know I can hit with relative accuracy & be on the green in 2 - 3 shots. I also know I can extricate myself from Bunkers, which is something I am good at, so if my second shot happens to be in the sand, I can still get to withing feet of the hole on my next, on several occasions I've tickled the hole or bounced off the pin itself from a bunker. I know not everyone can do this, but short game is far more important than a really good drive if you can still get to or by the green in two shots.

Yes If I can get a good distance, use a 6 iron to LW for the second shot I will be happiest in getting closest to the pin on that second shot & hopefully dropping into the hole with one putt... for a 3, which I've actually done on our 257 yard parr 4 the other morning.

But to return to the essence of which is most important decent Iron & short play, or of being able to use a driver to get good distance.

We'd all love to be able to use that big headed driver with ease, but its all for naught if the player has now wedge & putter accuracy.

I rely upon my short game being able to make up for the fact my use of woods is not yet what it should be.

How many times have you seen the Pro's on this last Weekend in the open, take a big headed driver & end up in one of those pepper pot bunkers. And they can use the **** things...! Its so tempting to use a driver whether you can use it or not. Heck in friendly play when I've got a 400 - 600 yard hole to play I'll risk the driver, but not when I want to guaranteed getting to the hole in a match in as few shots as (almost guaranteed) possible.

Don't know about your area but if you live in town like I do where you cant swing a dead cat without hitting a golf course simply seek out the old style courses built before the age of the 300 yard drive. They will be shorter and in most cases tighter but in my opinion more fun to play.

IMO all this technology and resulting mammoth courses is costing golf more than its worth. I would love to pair up Tiger and Jack one day but make them both play with old Precepts on a course tight as a drum with OB on every hole without a gallery to kick it back in and see what the result was.