If the Average Amateur had Dustin Johnson's Driving...

[RandallT]

Not sure same guy, but there’s similarly named dude:

He does have a couple tweets promoting importance of getting off tee. But nothing as promotional as this stuff above on short game/ putting.  

Strange I can’t find tweets for him past May 2016, but he does go by “wedge whisperer” on a couple tweets. Maybe an old account?

i personally liked how he said first putts account for 19% of scoring.  Let’s see, by my count, there are about 18 first putts. If they account for 19%, then an average score is 94.7.  

Wouldn’t it have been simpler to say there are 18 first putts? Not everyone averages 94.7. In fact, very few. But we all mostly have 18 first putts! But then again, we have 18 tee shots, and 14 iron shots after those tee shots, some fraction of those approaches result in short game, etc. Not sure very effective logic, that’s all.

 

[onthehunt526]

Has this guy ever read Lowest Score Wins? Apparently not. If you played my home course with DJ's average drive, you'd be hitting mid to short iron second shots into the par-5s, driving probably at least 2 par 4s if not 3, and having little chips and pitches into the green on the rest except the 18th. And probably have little need for any clubs in between 3W and 4i.

[roamin]

30 minutes ago, RandallT said:

i personally liked how he said first putts account for 19% of scoring.  Let’s see, by my count, there are about 18 first putts. If they account for 19%, then an average score is 94.7.  

Well, he is the "Wedge Whisperer". I'm sure he's chipping in 4 or 5 of those. 

[Golfingdad]

11 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I would be a plus golfer with DJ's drives. 

 

10 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

That might be a hair optimistic. ;)

I’m rethinking this ... on second though I actually think you’re not far off. ;)

[David in FL]

59 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

 

I’m rethinking this ... on second though I actually think you’re not far off. ;)

Yeah.  Seems like it could be worth 6 or 7 strokes for someone in the 5-7 hcp range...

[iacas]

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

Not sure same guy, but there’s similarly named dude:

Same guy.

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

He does have a couple tweets promoting importance of getting off tee. But nothing as promotional as this stuff above on short game/ putting.  

Strange I can’t find tweets for him past May 2016, but he does go by “wedge whisperer” on a couple tweets. Maybe an old account?

Yeah.

2 hours ago, RandallT said:

Wouldn’t it have been simpler to say there are 18 first putts? Not everyone averages 94.7. In fact, very few. But we all mostly have 18 first putts! But then again, we have 18 tee shots, and 14 iron shots after those tee shots, some fraction of those approaches result in short game, etc. Not sure very effective logic, that’s all.

People like this… tend not to be too logical.

2 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Has this guy ever read Lowest Score Wins? Apparently not.

We've sold a lot of copies, but at the same time… there are a LOT more golfers than that, still. The message has not reached even 10% of golfers, or sadly, those who profess to devote their life to the game.

Here are some of their comments on the post:

https://cl.ly/0K3a0f3o3s1G/Screen Shot 2017-10-29 at 12.21.13 PM.png

I love how he got "tourplayer@pga.com" as his email address (mine is "erik@pga.com").

BTW the post is here: https://www.facebook.com/jeff.thomsen.71/posts/1531300066937224 .

[DeadMan]

3 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

 

I’m rethinking this ... on second though I actually think you’re not far off. ;)

It was a gut reaction, but I would have basically all wedges into par 4s, and I would be able to go at almost every green in 2 on par 5s. I would still have to play the par 3s myself, though, so that could be an issue. But I think I would be hitting 12+ GIR pretty easily. Which would probably translate into a +1 or so. 

It would essentially be like playing from a combo of the women's and senior tees, except with the course rating from the normal tees. I would be scaring/breaking par pretty often.

[mchepp]

If I played from DJ's drives....

Golf would be really really fun. I'd only need to take about 7 full swings a round, the rest would be half wedges. 

 

Oh...and this wedge whisper guy can bugger off. He is a poor man's Dave Pelz.

[Pablo68]

The AVERAGE amateur doesn't break a 100, do they? I would think that a great deal of their score is the inability to get off the tee box consistently. If you gave them 300 yards for 14 holes (disregarding 4 Par 3s) how could their scores not be lower? Sure they'd still screw up around the greens but no question it'd result in lower scores.

[nevets88]

Also in his FB feed, he has a video on the importance of tee shots. This is probably why people are frustrated w/instruction. Same person says black, then white, confusing.

This is me being anal, but I hate the T shot usage. Just spell out tee. What's next, W shot? I shot?

[Golfingdad]

4 hours ago, DeadMan said:

It was a gut reaction, but I would have basically all wedges into par 4s, and I would be able to go at almost every green in 2 on par 5s. I would still have to play the par 3s myself, though, so that could be an issue. But I think I would be hitting 12+ GIR pretty easily. Which would probably translate into a +1 or so. 

It would essentially be like playing from a combo of the women's and senior tees, except with the course rating from the normal tees. I would be scaring/breaking par pretty often.

Even easier than that because Dustin’s drives are straighter than yours.  Taking 6-7 shots off of our score would be easy.  So I think you were definitely right.

At my home course, Id have a long, or mid iron at most into par 5s, band at least 3 of the par 4s are drive-able.  

Edited October 29, 2017 by Golfingdad

[Buckeyebowman]

18 hours ago, Vinsk said:

If I had DJ’s drive on my own course? Criminey, my score would drastically reduce just playing his 3W shot.

Never mind his 3 wood! I've seen him hit mid-irons farther than I can hit Driver! The people who posted this have to be total dummies!

Besides, the original question is a complete Non sequitur! An "average amateur" simply cannot replicate DJ's Driver length or accuracy. So why ask it?

OK, just re-read the original post, which asked the question in a different way that still made no sense! What game are they playing? Foursomes where DJ tees off on every hole?

Edited October 29, 2017 by Buckeyebowman

[Pretzel]

18 hours ago, DeadMan said:

I would be a plus golfer with DJ's drives. 

You and me both! 

 

As far as the topic goes, that has to be one of the more ridiculous "hypothetical" questions I've seen. I'm a decent golfer myself and I'm still sure that I'd drop 2-3 strokes a round if DJ hit all of my tee shots. I hit maybe 3-4 "almost-DJ" tee shots in a round as it stands now, I'd estimate (I say "almost-DJ" because I think he still has at least 10-20 yards on me, my GG average is 308 and I believe DJ is 315-320 on average), so having those tee shots travel 10-20 yards further and making my "normal" tee shots better than my best tee shots would never hurt me.

I know DJ is more accurate than I am, because I only hit ~50% of fairways, so that would also greatly benefit me. My misses also tend to be pretty large, I'd say I usually have at least 1 snap hook in a round, whereas players like DJ are far less likely to put the ball that far out of play. Having his game off the tee would leave me with shorter shots on par 5's to get there in 2, and would bring some par 4's just out of my reach at my home course into play for me. 

If we're going to make it include ALL of my tee shots being played like Dustin Johnson my average score on Par 3's would improve immediately. Having a tour pro hit the hardest shot on the hole means all I would need to do there is maybe get up and down, but more likely try to either 2-putt or make birdie (since most of the par 3's I play aren't long enough that he would have trouble hitting the green). 

[nevets88]

If I drove it like DJ, I would be using the phrase, "Well, this looks like it's a green light special!" like there's no tomorrow.

[Missouri Swede]

Let's see. His average drive is about 120 yards longer than mine.  My home course has 14 par 4 and par 5 holes.  That would effectively shorten the length of the course by almost 1700 yards for me.

Hmmm.  Maybe I'll spend more time at the range working with my driver.

[iacas]

1 hour ago, Pretzel said:

I'd estimate (I say "almost-DJ" because I think he still has at least 10-20 yards on me, my GG average is 308 in Colorado, where the ball goes 5-10% farther and I believe DJ is 315-320 on average), so having those tee shots travel 10-20 yards further and making my "normal" tee shots better than my best tee shots would never hurt me.

FTFY.

I think you'd save two shots a round just on that one duck hook you hit each round.

[Pretzel]

37 minutes ago, iacas said:

I think you'd save two shots a round just on that one duck hook you hit each round.

I agree with that completely. My hopes of a no 6 round usually end on the hole I have my duck hook. It just depends on how bad of a situation the snap hook puts me in. If it's still pretty open and I'm just on the hole over I can still make par, but if I'm in a hazard or some trash then bogey is the new par usually.

Eliminating it entirely would be very helpful, not to mention the other benefits DJ's teeshots would provide.

[14ledo81]

I think 10 strokes for me on my home course.