Drive for show my butt!

**NM Golf**

I have heard the "You drive for show and putt for dough" crappy saying ever since I started playing this great game of ours. Who the heck came up with such a erroneous saying. Must have been someone who hit it like a little girl. If I have learned one thing playing golf it is that if you cannot consistantly put the ball in play and and be fairly long off the tee you will NEVER be a good player no matter how good you putt. Even the best players on the PGA tour are around 50% putters from six feet and the percentages drop fast from there. If you are constantly in the rough, behind trees, or hitting long irons into par 4's that is the distance you will be putting from for par. I tell you what I will play the best putter in the world straight up if they can't get off the tee I will go home with every dollar they have. The bottom line is you drive for dough too!

**iacas**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NM Golf

I have heard the "You drive for show and putt for dough" crappy saying ever since I started playing this great game of ours. Who the heck came up with such a erroneous saying. Must have been someone who hit it like a little girl. If I have learned one thing playing golf it is that if you cannot consistantly put the ball in play and and be fairly long off the tee you will NEVER be a good player no matter how good you putt. Even the best players on the PGA tour are around 50% putters from six feet and the percentages drop fast from there. If you are constantly in the rough, behind trees, or hitting long irons into par 4's that is the distance you will be putting from for par. I tell you what I will play the best putter in the world straight up if they can't get off the tee I will go home with every dollar they have. The bottom line is you drive for dough too!

No you don't. Peruse a few articles here. They'll show you that you're inaccurate in your assessment.

Obviously driving well helps, but distance doesn't have much to do with it at all. In fact, it may even be a minor detriment.

OcgolfrChick

Quote:

Originally Posted by NM Golf

I have heard the "You drive for show and putt for dough" crappy saying ever since I started playing this great game of ours. Who the heck came up with such a erroneous saying. Must have been someone who hit it like a little girl. If I have learned one thing playing golf it is that if you cannot consistantly put the ball in play and and be fairly long off the tee you will NEVER be a good player no matter how good you putt. Even the best players on the PGA tour are around 50% putters from six feet and the percentages drop fast from there. If you are constantly in the rough, behind trees, or hitting long irons into par 4's that is the distance you will be putting from for par. I tell you what I will play the best putter in the world straight up if they can't get off the tee I will go home with every dollar they have. The bottom line is you drive for dough too!

NOT TRUE!!! I played an entire round...and hit only one fairway...but i was amazing around the green and it saved my butt..i ended up shooting 6 over..one of my best rounds...i dont agree with ya! sorry..i totally agree with that quote...drive for show putt for dough..if u dont have a short game..u dont have n e thing

**NCGolfer**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NM Golf

I have heard the "You drive for show and putt for dough" crappy saying ever since I started playing this great game of ours. Who the heck came up with such a erroneous saying.

I think the more erroneous one is "fairways and greens", but it sounds cool enough to be in my tag line. It should be "greens and putting". Nothing means more to scoring than hitting greens and putting. It is a fact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NM Golf

If I have learned one thing playing golf it is that if you cannot consistantly put the ball in play and and be fairly long off the tee you will NEVER be a good player no matter how good you putt.

I think that all you have to do off the tee is to put yourself in a position to hit the green. That's all that matters. I don't think that length is a huge factor here, but it will help as long as it doesn't get you into trouble. In my mind, the point of hitting a tee shot is to give yourself the best chance to hit the green, not to hit it as long as possible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NM Golf

Even the best players on the PGA tour are around 50% putters from six feet and the percentages drop fast from there. If you are constantly in the rough, behind trees, or hitting long irons into par 4's that is the distance you will be putting from for par. I tell you what I will play the best putter in the world straight up if they can't get off the tee I will go home with every dollar they have. The bottom line is you drive for dough too!

I religiously worked on two things this year. Ball striking and putting. My swing had a loop in it and was causing me to be very inconsistent. Taking the loop out helped me hit more greens this year than ever. As for putting, I worked mostly on my rhythm and putts ranging from 10 to 25 feet. Those two things I struggled with as well. My putting stats also improved.

What was the net gain of these things? My handicap went from a .3 to a +1.8 and I won a club championship. I never expected to drop 2 shots off my game at this stage when shaving a half of a stroke is doing very well. I can honestly say that I never hit my driver for more than 10-15% of my practice time. Taking the loop out of my swing helped my tee ball, but my improvements off the tee were negligible compared to those in GIR and putting average.

Do I think the tee ball is important? Yes. Only because it is a component of GIR.

*Maverick*

I agree that if you're a long iron out (still) for an up and down save, wouldn't it seem more difficult than if you had a good drive, short iron..no?

*Thrash13*

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maverick

I agree that if you're a long iron out (still) for an up and down save, wouldn't it seem more difficult than if you had a good drive, short iron..no?

It doesn't really matter though because putting and chipping makes up approximately 60% of your golf game. I might have made that number up, but I thought I heard that somewhere (might have been 5 years ago for all I know).

It doesn't matter if you are driving it down the middle all-day long if you are 3-jacking them on the greens every other hole. Putting is definitely the part of the golf game where the most shots can be shaved. Either that or chipping.

I won't bash your topic completely, however. Driving the ball well is more of a mental thing for me. If I'm driving the ball well off the tee, my mental state is much better, and I usually play much better as a whole. That being said, I have saved many pars and picked up some good bogeys after hitting crappy drives because my putting saved my butt.

As a whole, it's definitely "drive for show and putt for dough."

But for me, I need to be driving the ball well to score well due to my weak mental capacity.

**NM Golf**

All I am saying is if you cannot put the ball in play off the tee you cannot do the two most important things neccessary to scoring well: GIR and proximity to the hole. Driving is extremely important and so is length, if it wasn't then why can't the women and the seniors compete with the big boys. The women and the seniors are just as good around the green as the PGA boys but yet cannot compete as a whole. The women (Sorenstam and Wie) who do compete are longer than most. There are old guys at my club who can out putt me any day of the week but cannot compete with me because they do not possess the ability to hit the ball long enough. It is easy to show me stats off the PGA tour and say "Hey look the longest hitter was last." ALL THOSE GUYS GET OFF THE TEE ALL OF THEM Sure all things being equal putting and chipping is definately where you can shave strokes and improve your game, BUT you will never achieve a scratch handicap if you cannot hit the driver PERIOD. Don't diss the driver people it puts you in the position to succeed.

*muskegman*

Yeah, GIR's and putting is where its at. If by driving you mean avoiding hitting it into the woods then yes, driving is pretty important. Putting the ball into play off the tee is of the utmost importance. If you're constantly punching the ball back into the fairway after your tee shot (like I'm known to do) then getting the driver sorted out is a priority.

I find that a good tee shot gives me confidence in all aspects of my game but I do realize that GIR's and putting are bigger priorities that "just a few more yards" off the driver. I'm plenty long when I hit the driver strait and need to get better at hitting greens and putting.

**NM Golf**

Quote:

Originally Posted by iacas

Obviously driving well helps, but distance doesn't have much to do with it at all. In fact, it may even be a minor detriment.

So do you think someone who putts lights out but can only hit the driver 225 yards can compete with the PGA tour boys? NOT A CHANCE I think too many people out there are bunting it around a 6500 yrd course from the white tees. Go to a modern golf course and go back to those black tees then tell my that driving distance is unimportant.