Par Golf, and the low single digit players you know

Doesn't matter how well he strikes the ball if he cant putt.Most low handicappers make the putts they need too.Rarely are they going to hit more than 14 greens but when they miss they can get up and down or just make bogey only to be canceled out by rolling in some birdies.Seldom do they find trouble but when they do put stress on the putter it comes thru.Month ago I shot even par by hitting around 12 greens with no birdies but my lag putting and chipping was spot on.18 pars.Im 9 handicap so shooting even par that way is once in a 1000.

I don't think that is correct.  Or, for that matter, even remotely close to correct.

If "like a pro" means like somebody on the PGA Tour then no. Pretty good but nowhere near that good.

All of the players I know that are in the neighborhood of scratch are good ball strikers though. I don't know any of them that I think could beat me in any kind of short game contest and yet they can beat me easily in a round of golf because of their ball striking (and my lack of it).

Yes, I've been to a couple. They are pretty impressive. I probably should have focused the topic on the part about scratch golfer shaving extremely good ball striking, which separates them from us.

I really agree with your last statement. NGIR is really important. It's important to keep the ball in play and evaluate risks of each sot. Nothing is worse than throwing away a couple of birdies with a stupid double bogey. There are two guys in our league who are terrible golfers. 36 cappers, but they have such sweet putters. When they putt, I just watch everything they do because they are so rock solid. They drain 10 footers all day long.

This is the main thing right here. When I miss-hit a golf ball, you can usually tell because it will fly differently (lower, higher, a bit right). When a pro mis-hits the ball, you can be left scratching your head as to why they're so upset about what seemed to be a fairly average shot.

A 10 footer for 7 is a lot easier than a 10 footer for birdie. My buddy plays around a 4 and was down to a .8 a few years ago. The thing I noticed with him was even when he's not hitting it exactly how he wanted he wasn't in a lot of trouble. He is just solid. He might hit one drive ob but he will also have a birdie putt on almost every par 5.

We play a couple of scrambles per year in our league. You must use one tee shot per nine from every player. This one guy is so bad, I don't think I've ever seen him hit it more than 100 yards. Usually just dribbles a drive off the tee. Irons are horrible, chips could end up anywhere. But when he putts, his speed is great and I've never seen anybody run in more 20+ putts. His putter looks like one of those miniature golf putters. He's usually half in the bag after a few holes. He brings a beer on the green when he putts. He's my idol. :-)

I think I know where your going, it's the quality of ball striking that you feel a low digit capper is somewhat the same as a tour pro, yes players at this level will strike the ball just as well from time to time but more often they are playing misses than the guys on TV.  Touring pros are playing a way more precise game than any scratch or even +2 player does, they have their distances dialed in within a yard so when that caddie gives them a number he better be damn near dead on it's just a way more precise game than we can imagine at much longer distances to boot. I occasionally play with a guy who is a +3.9 right now and I see him work the distances and stick some irons real close and also I almost never see a wild shot in fact I think I have only seen him miss a green 2 times in a round, he just tied our course record 63 at 73.4 and 139 slope.

I think a lot of it comes down to what people think is good ball striking and how good or bad a players "misses" are.

For an average golfer a miss can mean off the green from 10-20 yards. For a low to mid single digit handicap a miss might be 3-5 yards off the green. As a scratch player my misses are usually a couple feet off the green or on the fringe or edge of the green(40-50 ft birdie putt). For a Tour player their misses mean they have a 30 footer for birdie or they short sided themselves going after a tough pin which they're still going to get up and down a high percentage of the time.

At least for me this also effects how I attack a pin. My goal on every tee box is to play the hole to give myself the best chance to make birdie but I'm not as aggressive at some pins as a tour player because I prefer not to short side myself knowing my short game is no where near the level of a tour players.

Funny thing I played with a stranger not long ago who was about a 15 handicap and I was just off that day. I was 2 over on the day playing the 15th hole and hit another mediocre shot up on the green about 30 feet. I'm not very vocal on the course but I guess after about every shot that day I was giving myself a very low grunt of disapproval. After I hit the shot the guy says to me I've noticed all day you haven't hardly missed a shot yet you haven't been happy with any of them. In his eyes I was having a great ball striking day hitting most of the greens but I knew I was hitting the ball like dog do do.

The other thing is scratch and low digit players games come in all different shapes and sizes. There are a good number of them that play their short home course over and over with their one shot shape and in their comfortable surroundings. Take them somewhere else on a longer track and many of them are going to shoot in the 78-80 range. Scratch and low digit players that have games that travel well will likely have a more diverse shot selection and ability to work the ball.