Scratch_in_my_head
Hacker
Interested in sparking a bit of debate. What do people think is more beneficial, extra length but a tendancy to be a little wayward or a short but accurate hitter?
Distance vs Accuracy
- Thread starter Scratch_in_my_head
- Start date
chris661
Money List Winner
There are two or three other threads asking the same thing at the minute.
Like Rambo, some of my best rounds came from the jungle.
USER1999
Grand Slam Winner
Length every time. It is the modern game, bomb it, find it, hit the green. For all the par 4s, it is wedge in. For par 3s it is a short iron. For par 5s it is the only hole where the short game comes in. 4 chips, I'd take that. Cannot see any other argument.
bobmac
Major Champion
Ask Luke
DaveM
Tour Winner
Wot Bob said
..
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Cant hear him, hes too far back down the fairwayAsk Luke
Jonny
Assistant Pro
Currently having a complete rebuild to hit more controlled shots. The key aim is to gain that whilst keeping the power i have but if i have to trade yardage to hit more fairways and greens then i will.
bobmac
Major Champion
He'll still be closer than you in 2
Id use my shot on the index and beat him over the head with it
bladeplayer
Money List Winner
My money is on luke for the golf , Brendy for the beating over the head ..Id use my shot on the index and beat him over the head with it
bluetoon
Challenge Tour Pro
Boom baby !!
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
Short and straight everytime. Who wants to hit a boomer into the rough and have to wander back and reload cos you can't find it. Off my handicap there's no need to attack 430 yard par 4's. had a game plan at FoA to leave 100 yards every time and trust myself to wedge it on and two putt for nett pars. Worked pretty well and starting to take it back to my own club now
Or you can punt it up the middle, dribble another short of the green then chip and three putts. Golf is a game of hindsight.
bladeplayer
Money List Winner
Hammer the bejapers out of it find it & bate it again.. dont know where its going half the time anyway so ..
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
You proved that on the 11th at FoA !!
bladeplayer
Money List Winner
HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
Il have you know i was aiming at that scouts den ,, dib dib dib me a**e
Nearly got caught in the ging gang goolies in all that bracken and bushes
paddyc
Challenge Tour Pro
Depends on the course;its length,if its quite open,if you can open your shoulders of the tee and not get penalised too much then I go for distance.Tight and shorter I opt for 3 wood or hybrid off the tee just to hopefully keep on the short stuff.
Long and tight;if the driver is working then I'd go distance, 3w and hybrid if not.
Long and tight;if the driver is working then I'd go distance, 3w and hybrid if not.
EZprophet
Head Pro
You would obviously need to quantify the question to actually give a decent answer but to answer generally then accuracy wins for me, without a doubt. For the guys on tour then having extra length is a huge advantage due to the fact that the difference for the pros between having a 5 iron into a green or an 8 iron is fairly significant, but at an amateur level, in general, the difference it makes is much smaller. The difference you can make to your score if you cut out those 2 or 3 wild swings per round that put you in the trees however can be hugely significant.
In the last year or so I can think of 4 scratch matches I have played against players with lower handicaps than me, I won one on the 18th and lost the other 3 fairly comfortably (losing 3/2 to a 1 hcap, 4/2 to a 3hcap , and 6/5 to a +1 hcap) and in every single one of those matches I was between 50-80 yads in front on every single drive... against the 1 hcap, I was hitting PW into greens that he was hitting woods into.... Now obviously it sounds kind of crazy (and bad!) that I lost, but he just hit almost every single green and two putted, while I would do the same, but then on 2/3 holes I would just hand him the hole by putting a drive into the trees and having to chip out/reload.
Obviously this doesn't prove anything as they were all better players than me anyway, so by definition will score lower on average and make less mistakes, but at the end of the day, it really doesn't make a difference how long you hit it if you don't have the accuracy to go with it.
In the last year or so I can think of 4 scratch matches I have played against players with lower handicaps than me, I won one on the 18th and lost the other 3 fairly comfortably (losing 3/2 to a 1 hcap, 4/2 to a 3hcap , and 6/5 to a +1 hcap) and in every single one of those matches I was between 50-80 yads in front on every single drive... against the 1 hcap, I was hitting PW into greens that he was hitting woods into.... Now obviously it sounds kind of crazy (and bad!) that I lost, but he just hit almost every single green and two putted, while I would do the same, but then on 2/3 holes I would just hand him the hole by putting a drive into the trees and having to chip out/reload.
Obviously this doesn't prove anything as they were all better players than me anyway, so by definition will score lower on average and make less mistakes, but at the end of the day, it really doesn't make a difference how long you hit it if you don't have the accuracy to go with it.
