Is Distance Really That Important for Amateurs?

[saevel25]

14 minutes ago, pganapathy said:

I agree with all of you that being closer to the green should result in lower scores, but for some strange reason, I can hit the PW a lot better than the SW or LW. 

Do you actually or do you think you just do? Maybe your expectations are too high for a shorter shot.

As golfers we tend to focus away from the averages and more towards the extremes. We remember those great shots, or horrible ones and let that influence how well we think we are. You can duff a pitch every once in a while and still average closer to the pin than if you have a full wedge shot. 
 

16 minutes ago, Lihu said:

LW is a difficult club to hit without blading and allows for nice soft landings, but it's a more advanced club to use.

Not really :)

Though I do prefer the SW because it has more bounce. Bounce is good :) 
 

9 minutes ago, collapse said:

It's difficult to gain feel when the big muscles are saying one thing and the little ones another.I suggest getting the little muscles (ie wrists) out of the equation.

Nope, you want to engage the wrists. They allow feel and touch. Its very hard to gauge distance when you don't let the club travel far enough in the backswing. No PGA Tour player takes the wrists out of their short game shots. They allow the clubhead to travel a good distance for how little the hands move in the backswing. 

[collapse]

4 minutes ago, Lihu said:

It's very difficult to get to an 11 or 12 if someone is casting like you suggest. . .

I think we are agreeing out of control  wrists are a big swing problem,

Edited December 8, 2015 by collapse

[Lihu]

8 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

Not really :)

Though I do prefer the SW because it has more bounce. Bounce is good :) 
 

Nope, you want to engage the wrists. They allow feel and touch. Its very hard to gauge distance when you don't let the club travel far enough in the backswing. No PGA Tour player takes the wrists out of their short game shots. They allow the clubhead to travel a good distance for how little the hands move in the backswing. 

My LW has very little bounce, so I guess my original comment is not a good generalization.

Engage wrists? That's something I'm not really doing at this point. Do you mean even for flop shots and such?

[saevel25]

5 minutes ago, Lihu said:

My LW has very little bounce, so I guess my original comment is not a good generalization.

Engage wrists? That's something I'm not really doing at this point. Do you mean even for flop shots and such?

That discussion is a bit off topic for this thread.  I am sure there are a few pitching threads out there with that information 

[pganapathy]

My SW is high bounce and my LW is low bounce.  It may well be confidence with the PW, because once I am inside 25 yards or so, unless there is a flop shot or bad lie involved, I always pick the PW.  Before I stopped playing regularly (I used to play 3 times a week at one point), I never had these issues with the SW and LW.  Now I find that distance control on the half shots is lacking, though I am straighter.  What I find is if I hit the full PW, I will be close to or on the green and generally from there I can get down in 2 or at worst 3.  Hitting the half shots will generally be long or short and then there is no guarantee of anything.  It may well be that if I start playing regularly all these problems will go away.  I generally don't cast and when playing regularly and well control was not a major issue.  Most of my bad holes were caused by bad decision making when the swing was grooved

[mvmac]

3 hours ago, pganapathy said:

I agree with all of you that being closer to the green should result in lower scores, but for some strange reason, I can hit the PW a lot better than the SW or LW.  Maybe it is trying to be too cute, deceleration, lack of confidence, I don't know. 

Recommend taking a look at these threads then. To change the distance you want to hit those shots, just vary the length of the backswing.

2 hours ago, billchao said:

I don't know your game but I have a feeling you are being affected by confirmation bias or your expectations are off or something. It doesn't take much to "feel" a partial wedge to a certain distance and as a 12, you should be able to get it really quickly.

Yep.

[Lihu]

13 minutes ago, mvmac said:

Recommend taking a look at these threads then. To change the distance you want to hit those shots, just vary the length of the backswing.

As primitive as it sounds, this is all I do. I haven't been trying to "feel my wrists" at all, but maybe I'm paying for it by being more than a 6 to 8 feet from the pin more than half of the time?

More stuff to process. . .

[dkolo]

10 minutes ago, Lihu said:

As primitive as it sounds, this is all I do. I haven't been trying to "feel my wrists" at all, but maybe I'm paying for it by being more than a 6 to 8 feet from the pin more than half of the time?

More stuff to process. . .

If I don't think about my wrists, the pitching motion reverts back to a more Hinge-and-Hold style versus one where I use more bounce, which I am trying to do more

[Lihu]

5 minutes ago, dkolo said:

If I don't think about my wrists, the pitching motion reverts back to a more Hinge-and-Hold style versus one where I use more bounce, which I am trying to do more

That's pretty much all I consciously think about at setup, but my wrists do actually release at some point.

Maybe I could just continue with what I'm doing and just develop the current skill better? Seems like thinking about the wrist consciously is asking for trouble, or I'm just not at that stage yet?

[9wood]

My answer to the question, "Is distance really important to amateurs" I will answer the question with an example. Lets say you're teeing off on a par 4 hole which is 386 yds. If you are able to get off a drive of 250 yds that leaves you with 136 yds left to go. So on your second shot you now have a good chance of putting the ball on the green from that distance which means you have two chances to putt the ball in for par. 

[vangator]

40 minutes ago, 9wood said:

My answer to the question, "Is distance really important to amateurs" I will answer the question with an example. Lets say you're teeing off on a par 4 hole which is 386 yds. If you are able to get off a drive of 250 yds that leaves you with 136 yds left to go. So on your second shot you now have a good chance of putting the ball on the green from that distance which means you have two chances to putt the ball in for par. 

Yep, it's that simple.

[RFKFREAK]

On 12/8/2015 at 9:42 AM, Marty2019 said:

I would rather hit my tee shot 220 yards in the middle of the fairway and have a nice clear 5-iron to the green than hit it 250 yards and have a 7 iron off pine straw under a tree branch and over a greenside bunker.    Plus, there's the pace of play issue.   I play with guys that hit it way longer than I do, but they spend an inordinate amount of time looking for their ball.   We had to let a group of women through one time, and they hit it 120 in the fairway, laid up 120, 120 to the green, and sunk the putt for par and off to the next hole.  They were flying along.   Sure, I envy guys who can hit it 330 yards, but since I am 62 years old, I am happy hitting it 220 in the fairway, shooting 82 and staying out of the way of the other groups out there.   Who cares if you can hit the ball 300 yards when half the time it lands on I-295? 

 

As has been discussed thoroughly, barring an extreme circumstance, such as the example you have given in saying a shot off pine straw under a tree branch and over a greenside bunker or in situations where you'll incur a penalty shot, it has been statistically proven that the longer you are off the tee the better you'll score.

[DrvFrShow]

On 12/8/2015 at 6:42 AM, Marty2019 said:

I would rather hit my tee shot 220 yards in the middle of the fairway and have a nice clear 5-iron to the green than hit it 250 yards and have a 7 iron off pine straw under a tree branch and over a greenside bunker.    Plus, there's the pace of play issue.   I play with guys that hit it way longer than I do, but they spend an inordinate amount of time looking for their ball.   We had to let a group of women through one time, and they hit it 120 in the fairway, laid up 120, 120 to the green, and sunk the putt for par and off to the next hole.  They were flying along.   Sure, I envy guys who can hit it 330 yards, but since I am 62 years old, I am happy hitting it 220 in the fairway, shooting 82 and staying out of the way of the other groups out there.   Who cares if you can hit the ball 300 yards when half the time it lands on I-295? 

 

Fact - with my SS, my maximum drive carry can be up to about 230 yds. if I really "rip it". This will roll out to about 250 yds on a normal fairway. However, to get that distance and contact means I have to do everything right. That's club path, hip turn, impact, all the way to follow thru. 

If I send the ball off to the right or left out of play I can guarantee that I did not get everything right in my swing and the ball will be about 200 carry maximum. My swing speed did not change - it's the contact and the way that I presented the club head that did.

Game Golf has proven that my longest drives have been my most accurate drives. I want more distance and I want it now. This means I have to practice hitting balls with my driver. I'm 63 years old, quite athletic, and use my legs a lot to power through impact. My poor knees. My drives aren't all that accurate at the moment, and I've gotten better at hitting out of the pine needles.

[vangator]

The biggest factor for me, by far, for my accuracy is whether I keep my head still or not.  If I sway, the ball goes straight right down my target line.  If I stay synced, my drives are pretty good.

[Lihu]

13 hours ago, DrvFrShow said:

Fact - with my SS, my maximum drive carry can be up to about 230 yds. if I really "rip it". This will roll out to about 250 yds on a normal fairway. However, to get that distance and contact means I have to do everything right. That's club path, hip turn, impact, all the way to follow thru. 

If I send the ball off to the right or left out of play I can guarantee that I did not get everything right in my swing and the ball will be about 200 carry maximum. My swing speed did not change - it's the contact and the way that I presented the club head that did.

Game Golf has proven that my longest drives have been my most accurate drives. I want more distance and I want it now. This means I have to practice hitting balls with my driver. I'm 63 years old, quite athletic, and use my legs a lot to power through impact. My poor knees. My drives aren't all that accurate at the moment, and I've gotten better at hitting out of the pine needles.

This is the case for me with all my clubs, not just the driver. I'm sure GG is a great help in determining these facts. . .

[Dave2512]

I'll add to the Game Golf "facts". Along with my longest drives/shots being the most accurate my lowest rounds always have better than average stats in every category. I don't ever have a poor day performing on the tee that's saved by anything that happens after. Poor driving = bad day, higher than average score for me (and probably everybody).

But I never look at my rounds and think it could have been better if I hit it further. The further I need is just not hitting worst than something between hell friggin' yeah and oh no.

[Marty2019]

 

On 12/10/2015 at 0:18 AM, RFKFREAK said:

As has been discussed thoroughly, barring an extreme circumstance, such as the example you have given in saying a shot off pine straw under a tree branch and over a greenside bunker or in situations where you'll incur a penalty shot, it has been statistically proven that the longer you are off the tee the better you'll score.

Of course that is true.   If all other things are equal, of course distance off the tee is an asset.   I guess what I should have said is that in my experience, with the guys I play with, admittedly a very limited sample, if they could trade some distance for more accuracy, they should do that.   I just see too many guys that can outdrive me by 30 yards, but I get real tired of riding around in the woods looking for their ball.  

 

 

Edited December 25, 2015 by Marty2019