Consistent 220yrds is better than a mix of 200 - 300 yrd drives

[flopdarock]

wow... you guys play alot of long an straight par4's an 5's... no doglegs?
my brother drives consistantly 30yrds longer than i do and that helps him on the straight down the pipe you can see the flag from the teebox holes but he always blasts his balls even if it doglegs left or right and he's constantly in the woods/ruff/oob/water at the end of those doglegs... he's got a huge ego on the range and friends help inflate it by oogling his distance... but i always seem to beat him when we actually play rounds...

ever wonder why those long drive champions arent beating tiger/vijay/paddy/etc in real tourney's?

[mako224]

I am very long with the driver. My key to success though is knowing when to keep the driver in the bag. I play a hybrid or 3-wood off the T on most par 4s that are under 410 yards. With my 3-wood or 19 degree hybrid I am still longer than most of the people I play with. I have realized that I am completely comfortable anywhere from 100 to 160 to the center of the green. My strategy is to play the easiest shot off the T to get me safely in that zone and in the fairway. This year I also learned to hit a towering high cut with a driver that is easy to control that I use in certain situations. My scores have come down dramatically since I stopped hitting driver on short tight holes. For me nothing is worse than a tight lie in the fairway 40 to 80 yards out......for me that is as much trouble as being in a bunker.....at least in a bunker I can hit an aggressive shot.

[photoballmarker]

Was out for an end of year round with a few work buddies, a mixed bag of good golfers and hackers. I had a fairly good game esp off the tee and was hitting my usual 220 - 230 drives everytime I took out the big dog. One of the other guys guys ( a golfer who could be a lot better if he knew what aspects of the game were the most important ) was hitting drives ranging between 200 - 280. I took him handy enough on all the approach shots. Afterwards in the club house I had to smile to myself when he was constantly bringing up talk of how his long hitting off 3 or 4 tees saved him from a right hiding. In no way could he understand that consistent distance is the key off the tee. ie being 100 yards from the pin when that is your killer shot is better than being 30 yrds closer when you have no 70 yrd shot. Any one else here a firm believer in driving for a predetermined distance rather than going for a max distance?

No substitute for distance. The longer the better. The long hitter can throttle back but us shorter hitters can only wish we could throttle up.

How many handicap strokes would you part with to hit it 280 yards. I'd give up five and then start working to get them back.

[microcrayfish]

I think you just have to work with what allows you to shoot the best score. Personally I can't hit my driver too well right now, if i do hit it well i can hit it 240 metres but that's not happening very often right now. I've been teeing off with a hybrid for the last few round since I don't have a 3 wood and I've been hitting a lot more fairways and giving myself a lot more chances at hitting the green in regulation.

I played in a foursome today, one was my mate and the other two were other members at our club. All of the other three were pulling out their drivers at every hole while I was teeing off with my hybrid and unless they really got a hold of one I was easily matching their distance off the tee and just as often hitting further than them than not because of their wayward shots. Granted the course isn't overly long at around 6500 yards but me hitting a hybrid off the tee gives me a reachable green on all but 1 or 2 holes.

Of course I'd like to be able to hit my driver 240 metres consistently and I'll work to be able to do that but right now hitting a shorter club more consistently allows me to shoot lower scores so that's what I'll do.

[MrKadash]

I'll take consistency in golf over a "mix" always.

[Chilidipper]

Consistency is more important IMO.

But 220 to 280 is a big difference. I think id go with 50% fw at 280 over 85% at 220

[gsu_paintballer]

I agree...my drives average 220 yards (range between 210 and 235) and I hit 64% of fairways. When I do miss the fairway it usually isn't OOB. I'll take that any day over the inconsistent but occassionaly long drives.

I'm the same way. I hit about a 210-220 yard drive on a regular basis with probably two-thirds of those in the fairway. I COULD hit it farther, but I don't feel comfortable swinging harder. I need to work on confidence building mainly.

[Fat Slice]

A lot of it is course management, I think. You look at the rough condition, the trees, etc., then decide what the risks are in bombing it. Sometimes I care if I hit the fairway, other times, not so much.

[mako224]

There is no substitute for length though. Being able to reach a par 5 in 2 is a huge advantage to have as is the ability to hit a hybrid 230 yards to the fairway on par 4s while your opponants are hitting drivers. The guy hitting the driver only 220 won't even be able to reach some par 4s in 2.

Up till last year my entire strategy was bomb and gouge. This year by taking the option of throttling back on 1/3rd of the holes I used to hit driver on I have shaved almost 10 strokes off of my scoring average.