Is Distance Really That Important for Amateurs?

[k-troop]

I think everyone more or less agrees that improving your swing mechanics will produce more distance, better accuracy, and more consistency.  All of those are very helpful for maximizing your scoring potential.

What's tripping people up (I think) is whether to favor accuracy over distance on any particular shot.  This is I the most important revelation of the recent study of golf shot statistics, and the key point of LSW.  Fairways hit are an extremely overrated statistic--this point bears out at all levels, from the PGA Tour to weekend warriors like us.  Those who favor accuracy are probably not hitting driver often enough to maximize THEIR scoring potential.

You should be hitting the longest club you can on any particular shot so that your shot dispersion oval doesn't put you at an unreasonable risk of winding up in a penalty zone.  There's a lot of info in that sentence.  One important piece is knowing your shot dispersion oval.  If you know where 80% of your shots with your driver are likely to land, then you can use your driver more often and with more confidence.  But on most tee shots driver is the play, even if driver is likely to end up in the (normal, typical, non-US Open) rough.

[turtleback]

parker0065,

You wrote, "If you have found a happy place in your game with short accurate drives and a decent short game then that is awesome but it is not the correct formula in maximizing ones scoring ability."

By using the mindset of accuracy over distance, I've not only found the game to be more enjoyable, but I've also lowered my scores from the low 80's to the low 70's. So, please tell me how focusing on accuracy instead of distance is not the correct formula for maximizing ones scoring ability.

And I am sure you did it while averaging 220 yards off the tee.

Oh what?  You hit it further than that?

Maybe, just maybe you ALREADY HAD the distance before you decided to concentrate on accuracy.  I do not think anyone is suggesting that Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson should emphasize distance over accuracy.

And Tiger would be the GOAT.

Would be?  He already IS!  ( back atcha)

Hmmm... Still sounds like that guy would have more potential than the guy that I know.  The one that reaches 240 on a very solid hit once a round......

That is not what a 240 hitter is.  Occasionally hitting it 240 (which I do) does not make someone a 240 hitter.  I'm more like a 200-220 hitter but probably hit at least one 240 per round.  But I would be fooling myself if I thought that made me a 240 hitter.

[14ledo81]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 14ledo81

Hmmm... Still sounds like that guy would have more potential than the guy that I know.  The one that reaches 240 on a very solid hit once a round......

That is not what a 240 hitter is.  Occasionally hitting it 240 (which I do) does not make someone a 240 hitter.  I'm more like a 200-220 hitter but probably hit at least one 240 per round.  But I would be fooling myself if I thought that made me a 240 hitter.

I agree with you.  I was just making reference to myself like @billchao did on the previous post....

[onthehunt526]

Yeah, the wild 280 hitter will always have more potential, in this case. ;-)

Agreed, because with the 280 distance to begin with, he can fine tune his accuracy with that distance, I know it contradicts what I posted before, but my position is you need accuracy with the distance... But that being said, you can fine tune accuracy easier than you can increase Distance... my two cents...

[Osmond]

Wow, what a great thread. I just spent two hours reading and I'm not even half way. I've been a long time lurker on this site but now I just had to register. I've always argued against the nonsense that is "accuracy is all that matters, drive it 220y and you can challenge anyone" - and I'm delighted to see there's people here that really know what they're talking about. And to be honest, I'm having difficulty understanding how a great player such as Simon can have a view so strange.

I've personally struggled with the driver for years - and I actually am one of those that hit the 3W pretty well but spray the driver everywhere. Now, with the help of TrackMan I'm finally realizing that improving my AoA will help me gain the yards I desperately need in order to improve my game. I've never been a short hitter with the irons, but hitting the driver 2-4 degrees down has made playing so frustrating at times. 280y in the rough definitely beats 240y in the fairway, no matter what some people try to, for some weird reason, convince themselves.

[Osmond]

OK, clearly we have entirely opposite opinions.

I just know that it wasn't distance that helped me improve from 28 handicap down to +1 and national junior champion.

It was accuracy.

I was questioning it from the start but I am now certain: you are not a +1 national junior champion. Sorry, a player of that caliber could not be so clueless.

[Lihu]

Wow, what a great thread. I just spent two hours reading and I'm not even half way. I've been a long time lurker on this site but now I just had to register. I've always argued against the nonsense that is "accuracy is all that matters, drive it 220y and you can challenge anyone" - and I'm delighted to see there's people here that really know what they're talking about. And to be honest, I'm having difficulty understanding how a great player such as Simon can have a view so strange.

I've personally struggled with the driver for years - and I actually am one of those that hit the 3W pretty well but spray the driver everywhere. Now, with the help of TrackMan I'm finally realizing that improving my AoA will help me gain the yards I desperately need in order to improve my game. I've never been a short hitter with the irons, but hitting the driver 2-4 degrees down has made playing so frustrating at times. 280y in the rough definitely beats 240y in the fairway, no matter what some people try to, for some weird reason, convince themselves.

It's funny that this conversation came up during my lesson yesterday with Mike ( @mvmac ). Yeah, it's pretty obvious that you need to focus on your long game more.

[DrvFrShow]

The problem I have with my driver is that I don't have a good angle of attack with it. I come in with the club head flat, but the head is de-lofted and I'm hitting line drives even with an 11.5 degree driver.

This is not an issue during the summer when we have firm dry ground conditions since i get a ton of roll, but in the spring and in early morning when the grass is wet, it's not so good.

I will need some lessons on attack angle with this beast. The game is more than hitting your 7 iron at the range.

[JonMA1]

Here's a question towards the training aspect of distance in golf... How do you know when you've reached your maximum (or near maximum) for distances?

I've always attributed my lack of distance to a combination of poor mechanics and not being physically gifted. The only thing I can go by is that I'll occasionally get  a bit more distance than usual - probably due to accidentally doing some things correctly. But the fact remains that some of us, no matter how properly we learn to swing a club, can only get so much distance.

[DrvFrShow]

Here's a question towards the training aspect of distance in golf... How do you know when you've reached your maximum (or near maximum) for distances?

I've always attributed my lack of distance to a combination of poor mechanics and not being physically gifted. The only thing I can go by is that I'll occasionally get  a bit more distance than usual - probably due to accidentally doing some things correctly. But the fact remains that some of us, no matter how properly we learn to swing a club, can only get so much distance.

So how do you know? I guess when your technique is good, and you have to swing out of your socks to get any more.

Conditioning: Core work, legs, and glutes. Stay conditioned all over.

[JonMA1]

So how do you know? I guess when your technique is good, and you have to swing out of your socks to get any more.

Conditioning: Core work, legs, and glutes. Stay conditioned all over.

Sounds reasonable. Good advice on staying fit.

I've been told that "you'll know it" once you've developed a decent swing.

[Osmond]

Hmmm... Still sounds like that guy would have more potential than the guy that I know.  The one that reaches 240 on a very solid hit once a round......

Silly conversation. Maybe the 220y player is really a 300y player that hits it in the trees even more :) Now we have a totally new (and as pointless a) conversation. By definition, how can a player that averages 240y suddenly be a "280y player"?

That said, I think everyone ought to understand that without adequate distance you're in trouble. You might be able to compete with the longer hitters every now and then if you have a good short game, but you'll have to rely on it too much and too often. There's not a lot of short hitters in the world that do well at the highest level. The fact that Tim Clark for example does well and Simon uses him as an example why everyone should focus on accuracy to succeed as a golfer is laughable. It is true, though, that if I had the accuracy to average 1ft from 100 yards I'd gladly give up 50 yards of distance - but since that's impossible to achieve why even speculate.

[MiniBlueDragon]

I think the entire focus should be on the handicap you're playing off at the time. By that I mean if you're a 28 capper you're being given a lot of "free" shots so there's no need to focus on distance as a priority, you're better off focusing on accuracy.

Take my father-in-law as an example; he's won quite a few local tourneys, society days etc and for several years only used irons, wedges and his putter; not a wood in the bag. Every tee shot was way behind his opponents but down the middle and then the next shot he'd be closer to the hole than them. All his equipment is second hand from car boot sales and he's never had proper lessons. It's only now that he's won many times and had his handicap cut that he's struggling to win tourneys and is focusing on getting distance off the tee to gain extra shots.

In an ideal world you'd have a combination of distance and accuracy but if I had to choose one only it'd be accuracy to start with and then distance.

[TimS65]

I think the entire focus should be on the handicap you're playing off at the time. By that I mean if you're a 28 capper you're being given a lot of "free" shots so there's no need to focus on distance as a priority, you're better off focusing on accuracy.

Take my father-in-law as an example; he's won quite a few local tourneys, society days etc and for several years only used irons, wedges and his putter; not a wood in the bag. Every tee shot was way behind his opponents but down the middle and then the next shot he'd be closer to the hole than them. All his equipment is second hand from car boot sales and he's never had proper lessons. It's only now that he's won many times and had his handicap cut that he's struggling to win tourneys and is focusing on getting distance off the tee to gain extra shots.

In an ideal world you'd have a combination of distance and accuracy but if I had to choose one only it'd be accuracy to start with and then distance.

I think this is a good point. Also, for high handicappers, if they don't have decent accuracy then they begin to lose confidence and therefore stop playing certain clubs - drivers, woods, long irons. Only by building up their accuracy do they gain the confidence to try to hit the ball further. This was definitely the case with me. So I would say there needs to be a certain level of accuracy before distance becomes important.

[Jakester23]

I think the entire focus should be on the handicap you're playing off at the time. By that I mean if you're a 28 capper you're being given a lot of "free" shots so there's no need to focus on distance as a priority, you're better off focusing on accuracy. Take my father-in-law as an example; he's won quite a few local tourneys, society days etc and for several years only used irons, wedges and his putter; not a wood in the bag. Every tee shot was way behind his opponents but down the middle and then the next shot he'd be closer to the hole than them. All his equipment is second hand from car boot sales and he's never had proper lessons. It's only now that he's won many times and had his handicap cut that he's struggling to win tourneys and is focusing on getting distance off the tee to gain extra shots. In an ideal world you'd have a combination of distance and accuracy but if I had to choose one only it'd be accuracy to start with and then distance.

Either he played some really short courses or he hit his irons really really long. Some of the courses I play would be really hard if you hit 3i off every tee. They are already hard with a driver.

[xmailman]

Wow!  Is there going to be a quiz when this thread ends?  I just pulled and all-nighter going through it for the first time.  I wore out two highlighters..................the Mailman

[iacas]

I have always found, as an absolute amateur, that a strong short game is more beneficial when carding a decent score. I can hit the ball far off the tee but if my putting is off my game goes to pieces. If you aiming for a bogey on each hole then I would say that accuracy down the fairways is more important than distance.

You should read the thread instead of just trying to post in popular threads to build up your promotional "weight."

[mvmac]

Wow!  Is there going to be a quiz when this thread ends?  I just pulled and all-nighter going through it for the first time.  I wore out two highlighters..................the Mailman

Pretty simple, accuracy and distance are both important, distance is a little more important. Both tend to improve when the golfer's mechanics get better.

I have always found, as an absolute amateur, that a strong short game is more beneficial when carding a decent score. I can hit the ball far off the tee but if my putting is off my game goes to pieces.

Welcome to the site, please read the thread, also give this one a look. Ballstriking is king.