Ricky Bobby (Driver) vs. Shivas (Irons) - Who Wins in a Year?

[iacas]

Imagine you have two players, identical as they can be without this being a parallel universes type situation, and both are… let's go with 9 handicaps. They're both 30 years old, no physical limitations, etc. One, we'll call him Ricky Bobby, is comparatively a great driver of the golf ball. The other, let's call him Shivas, is relatively a great iron player. Let's say their short game and putting are identical, so their "Create a Player" stats would look something like this:

Driver (Ricky):
OTT - 80/100
App - 50/100
ATG - 65/100
Putt - 65/100

Irons (Shivas):
OTT - 50/100
App - 80/100
ATG - 65/100
Putt - 65/100

This kind of assumes that maybe 65/100 is a 9 handicap level Create a Player.

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Now, here's the question: If both players put in an equal amount of work with an equally qualified instructor, in a year, which player will be shooting better scores, and why? You also get to assume they only work on the full swing, and their short game and putting remain a constant 65/100 (or they both go up to 70/100, or whatever, but it isn't a differentiator between them).

To put it another way, Ricky Bobby and Shivas play 10 matches over a variety of courses at the end of the year: who wins the total match? Why?

I have an answer, but I'm going to hold off on sharing what I think for a little while.

[Ty_Webb]

Woof - fascinating question. So I think it’s a question of whether it’s easier to transition a good iron swing to the driver or a good driver swing to the irons. Speaking personally (which is really all I have to go on) I’ve typically throughout my life been a better iron player but my driving has improved massively lately with my iron play getting a bit worse. 
 

I think it’s probably easier to get your irons better if you’re a good driver than the other way but I’d say it’s pretty close. Took me years and a lot of work to get my driving better again. But I’m about 60% certain if that. I’d be very unsurprised if I’m wrong. I would obviously defer to people who’ve seen both and worked with both. 
 

I’ve heard both sides of it. Driver being longer means you have more time to fix stuff, but you have a smaller margin for error because more side spin to back spin with driver so it moves more if your impact conditions are off. Can also get away with more variance in club delivery with driver (since you have a tee) vs iron where ground impact is very destructive. I suspect at the end of the day the answer really is “it depends”. 

[GolfLug]

I too think a better driver usually has an edge in this situation. Mechanically, irons are shorter and need less leverage and hence a good driver who has good leverage control over the longer stick has an advantage in learning and controlling the shorter sticks. I think descending AOA for irons is more matter of ball position at address than mechanics difference.

An inferior driver will also lose more shots to penalty areas and OOBs. Fewer GIRs with irons not as damaging, especially with reasonably competent short game.

In short, driver is king in golf. 

[boogielicious]

I’d go with Ricky too. I think becoming a better driver, including distance is more difficult to achieve than becoming a more accurate iron player. Ricky will be using shorter iron if he is loner off the tee.

[Vinsk]

I understand this is hypothetical but I think we still have to consider ‘realistic improvement’ for both of them. Shivas is the better iron player, Ricky the better driver. We know that APP has a higher SV than Driving, being #1 and #2. If Shivas slightly improves his driving while Ricky slightly improves his APP, they would continue to be equal no? I’m thinking should either one have a significant improvement in their iron play…all else being equal, Ricky would be the better player because his #2 SV skill is higher. Am I any where near the proper thinking on this?🥴

[billchao]

I voted Shivas. My reason is that good iron play requires good control over face and path as well as low point. The foundation of a good swing is more evident.

I’ve seen guys who are good drivers that flip the shit out of the club but it’s teed up so they can get away with it.