Is it really all about the long ball ??

[inthehole]

Originally Posted by x129

As far as 140 from the rough versus 185 from the fair way, unless the rough is really bad I will take the 145 all day long.  Pulling a 7 or 8 iron versus a 4 iron is huge as far as my accuracy and ability to make solid contact. YMMV

I just have no confidence with a ball buried in the rough - whatever the distance  (the rough on the courses I play from doesn't resemble the rough we see on the TV courses).     Plus, my 4i is by far my favorite club - my mouth practically waters when I have a nice fairway approach shot & I get to take it out ...

[Stretch]

I am a short knocker. You can make it work, but it isn't wildly satisfying. And I'm under no illusions about what would happen if you took me off my 6450 yard home course and dropped me on some 7500 yard monster. I'd shit bricks.

[The Recreational Golfer]

To answer the question, it depends on what set of tees you play from, and whether golf means shooting a low score or knocking the tar out of the ball.

[newtogolf]

Problem gets worse when the par 5 - 510 turns into a par 4 - 470

You're also assuming you have a perfect lie to hit your 3 wood 170 - put the ball on above or below your feet and the shot gets significantly more difficult for many high handicappers.

Leaves you 100 into the green without any certainty of a decent lie after hitting 3 wood.  Yes it's possible to par or bogey, but you have to play it near perfect to do so.  If you can that's great, but on average I'd be happy to bogey or double bogey such a hole.

Originally Posted by carpediem4300

WHY?

average par 5 - 510yards

Drive 200 yards

3 wood 170-180 yards

thats 130 yards left to go, with 3 shots in hand its like playing a par 4?

9i/8i to green and hopefully leave a birdie chance if not a good par opportunity

and if you happen to have a really good short game then birdie is quite realistic

EAGLES - on the other hand will be left down to fluke/lap of the gods if a short hitter is never on the green in two

[GaijinGolfer]

Originally Posted by carpediem4300

WHY?

average par 5 - 510yards

Drive 200 yards

3 wood 170-180 yards

thats 130 yards left to go, with 3 shots in hand its like playing a par 4?

9i/8i to green and hopefully leave a birdie chance if not a good par opportunity

and if you happen to have a really good short game then birdie is quite realistic

EAGLES - on the other hand will be left down to fluke/lap of the gods if a short hitter is never on the green in two

If you are only hitting your drives 200 yards Id love to see you hit a 180 yard 3-wood off the deck.  Aint gonna happen.

[Rudyprimo]

I don't think it's "all about the long ball". Approach shots and the short game, especially putting are very important. But if you want to get to a single digit handicap or scratch you have to be able to hit it long. And the old saying "You drive for show and putt for the dough" is bs in my opinion. Getting off the tee with decent length is just as important as any other part of the game. Even Harry Vardon, in his book "The Complete Golfer", written around 100 years ago, stressed the importance of driving the ball with decent length. In fact he wrote that's the first part of the game a beginner should learn. The USGA describes a scratch golfer as someone who can average 250 yards off the tee and reach a 470 yard par 4 in two shots. If you want to be a good golfer, you have to hit it far. And I also think anyone should be able to drive the ball around 250 yards unless a physical problem is holding them back. Although there are times where laying up is the smart play, laying up all the time is no fun at all.

[FutureTourPro]

I think I would have 50-50 of both but coming down to it, it would be accuracy.. less penalties and such but lack in power would become to somewhat of a higher score but those penalties also raise our scores! so its really hard to pick one over the other. Whats your opinion?

[xmanhockey7]

Depends. If you ask me it's 60-accuracy and 40-power.

[DocPangloss]

False dichotomy thread is false.

Also,

what is the second biggest debate in golf?

[tristanhilton85]

As for the accuracy vs. power debate, I'd choose accuracy every time as long as the distance is manageable.... meaning I'd take 240ish drives down the middle every day over 310 but wild.  Obviously if drives were significantly less than that I'd surrender some of the accuracy to get it back.

What's the second debate?

[Stretch]

Wasn't this just thoroughly hashed out in the "Is It All About The Long Ball" thread? Why yes, yes it was.

[x129]

It also changes. Distance off the tee is super important (how often do you tee off on a par 4 or 5 with a pitching wedge) but after that it switches over to accuracy.  There is also diminishing returns for both of them. Would you give up 20 yards of accuracy to be 5 yards closer to your target spot? Probably not. But you probably wouldn't give up 5 yards of accuracy to be 20 yards farther if you are already hitting it 320

Originally Posted by DocPangloss

False dichotomy thread is false.

Also,

what is the second biggest debate in golf?

[x129]

Happens all the time among high handicappers. They can hit the 3 wood much better than the driver and probably farther due to the higher loft.

Originally Posted by TitleistWI

If you are only hitting your drives 200 yards Id love to see you hit a 180 yard 3-wood off the deck.  Aint gonna happen.

[carpediem4300]

If you are only hitting your drives 200 yards Id love to see you hit a 180 yard 3-wood off the deck.  Aint gonna happen.

I drive 240+ i was simpy referring to your eaelier post regarding shot hitters And as the chap above mentioned, most high cappers hit their 3 wood better than their driver anyway

[Topper]

I don't know about "long ball" in terms of maximum "eye popping and jaw dropping" distance.  From my experience, I can score reasonably well at par/bogey golf if I can get drives around 225 yards in the fairway combined with consistent approach shots.  When I can do that consistently (which I can't yet), then I'd be in a position to say the short game has higher priority by decreasing my distance to the pin on wedge shot inside 100 yards so that I can have a better chance of parring the hole when I miss the GIR or giving myself an occasional birdie opportunity.

I've got my first lesson next week with a well-respected local golf instructor to focus on my long game...specifically Driver, 5W, and 23*h.  I'm actually OK with the 23* but I can certainly be better and it's a critical part of my long game.

The short answer.....it's all about the long game for me but more about clean ball-striking and consistency than distance.

[Jwat381]

All these big macho internet long ballers lol

[nachosgrande]

It's not all about the long ball or accuracy...it's about both.  You remove either from the equation and you can kiss a good score goodbye on a reasonably long course (say, 6700+).

As for distance...I had been struggling with my driver so I had started to just play my 3H off the tee of late.  I can carry it about 230-240 off the tee and it keeps me in play but it wasn't allowing for many quality birdie looks.  Had a eureka moment two weeks ago with regards to my driver setup and managed to get it all straightened out in two range sessions.  Played yesterday and birdied three par 5s.  It's a lot easier to score when you can hit driver/6-iron into a 510 yard par 5 for a look at eagle.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Shorty

You have to be reasonably long if you are going to score well on longish courses.

It's all very well to talk about hitting par 5s in 2 and hitting short irons into par 4s, when the par 5s are 420 yards and the par 4s are between 220 and 400 yards.

A par 5 on the average "ordinary" course is a short par 4 for the pros.

If you've only ever played short courses or easier tees, you're in for a shock when you play a longish course. You won't be able to hit more than one or two par 4s in two, and you might be hitting hybrids into them.  You won't be able to get within 150 yards of a decent length par 5 in two. You might not even be long enough to reach it in 3 with three of your longest shots.

Short hitting is fine if you are happy to play bogey golf - which most people should be.

Don't be fooled into thinking that short hitting can get you around a lengthy course because it can't.

This is why guys like Dan in the Dan Plan could never ever ever become a serious single figure golfer. He does not have an athletic move which would ever make him a long hitter, amongst other things.  Breaking 80 on a sub 6000 yard course might not be as good as 99 on a serious track.

And - 270 yards is plenty long. 250 is plenty long. Problem is, many people who think they hit it 250 are doing it on rock hard fairways or are actually hitting it 190.

Was with you until the last sentence.  I can't think of a single person I've ever played with (and I play almost always as a single or twosome at busy courses, so play with 2-3 strangers) who look like he can break 100 and who is under 70 whose drives that hit the fairway only go 190 unless it's rock hard.  And that's not just because all the courses I play all mislabel the yardages and I haven't lasered every single drive put in the fairway by some random stranger.  Works the same on par 3s.  All of my main courses have at least one par 3 that's close to or longer than 200 yards.  On ~200 yard par 3s I only even see 3W in the hands of such a player pretty rarely, and then it's usually guys who are pushing towards that 70 years old barrier.  Nobody except oldsters, women who aren't very solid, and the hackeriest of hackers can only put a driver out to 190 on a non hard pan fairway.