Jump to content
TESTERS WANTED! ×

Is Distance or Accuracy Preferable Off the Tee?


Recommended Posts

I used to think accuracy 100%, but I've since changed.....I think it is distance, but that depends on HOW MUCH accuracy you're giving up......I'll take a 250yd drive, that trickles 15 feet off the fairway, over 200 yd drive in the middle......BUT, if that 250 yd drive goes sailing into trees/water, that's a different ball game

Driver:    :honma:TR20 10.5*

Hybrids:   :callaway-small: Epic SuperHybrid 3 18*   Epic 4h 23*   

Irons:    :mizuno-small:JPX900 Hot Metal 5-GW

Wedges:  :cleveland-small:CBX2 52* 56* 60*

Putter:  :EVNROLL:EV8

Ball:    :bridgestone-small:Tour BXS

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Judge nailed it.  I'd rather be long, but not to the point of being wild.

 

Also distance is hard to teach/learn.  Not saying you can't do things to hit the ball farther, but I think there is a large amount of just being born with it when it comes to hitting the ball far.  I'd rather have the ability to hit the ball 300yds and learn to be more accurate than max out at 200 but never get in trouble.

Driver: :taylormade-small: SLDR w/ Fujikura Ventus Black

3w: :taylormade-small:'16 M2 hl w/ Diamana D+ 82

5w: :cleveland-small: Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Yellow

Hybrid: :cleveland-small: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black

Irons: :cleveland-small: 5i - gap Launcher CBX w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Wedges: :cleveland-small: 54 CBX & 58 Zipcore w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Putter: :odyssey-small: Red 7s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The goal is to have a reasonable chance of being on the green in regulation, ideally close to the flag, but just on the green and 2 putts is a nice par. Generally speaking, you want to be as close as you can to the green, but if you can't reach the green on your next shot because of trees or penalties then you did not accomplish anything by being closer to the green.

 

Distance and accuracy are not mutually exclusive. I find that my greatest distance of late comes when I try to hit a smooth swing that goes straight. It is when I try to get more distance I either don't get the distance or hit into the wrong spot.

:ping-small:G430LST 10.5° on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Driver 

:ping-small:G430MAX 3w  on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Fairway 

:ping-small:G425 3H on     T P T    POWER 18 Hi Hybrid 

:taylormade-small:P790 Black 4-A 
on :kbs: TGI 80S
 

:mizuno-small: ES21 54-8° & 58-12° on :kbs: Hi Rev

:L.A.B.:DF2.1 on :accra: White

:titelist-small: ProV1  

:918457628_PrecisionPro: Precision Pro  NX7 Pro

All Iron grips are BestGrips Micro-Perforated Mid

Driver, 3w, 3H are JumboMax JMX UltraLite XS 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like the old guy in that hilarious video, "I may not hit em long, but I hit em straight!"

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Titleist 917D2 10.5

Ben Hogan GS53 3 Wood

PING G425 MAX 5 Wood

Cleveland UHX Launcher 3 Iron

PING G30 5-PW

Cleveland RTX 3.0 50/10 V-MG

Cleveland RTX 3.0 54/14  V-FG

Cleveland RTX 3.0 58/12 V -FG

EVNROLL ER-3

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As others have said the shortest shot in unobstructed and a good angle is best. Many of us have read the Brodie book or use game golf so we are pretty much in the know. Fairways hit is the most over rated stat out there. Too bad for me because it's the one stat of mine that surpasses the your average. Of course that's easy when you only hit it 225. :(

 

Sent from my VS986 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you know that if you don't "play it forward" and hit a straight shot 225, then you can just aim at those bunkers out there and not have to worry about getting to them?    :)   Playing it straight because that's all I got!

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you know that if you don't "play it forward" and hit a straight shot 225, then you can just aim at those bunkers out there and not have to worry about getting to them? :) Playing it straight because that's all I got!

Me too Kenny, me too

 

Sent from my VS986 using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to rip at it a lot. It would get me in trouble and keep me in the upper 80's. Now I try to play smarter and sometimes hit 5w off the tee. I play in World Am in Myrtle Beach every year and that has helped me manage my game better and take more club with an easier swing. I've gone from a 12 to a 7.8. Something must be working not trying to bomb it!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to rip at it a lot. It would get me in trouble and keep me in the upper 80's. Now I try to play smarter and sometimes hit 5w off the tee. I play in World Am in Myrtle Beach every year and that has helped me manage my game better and take more club with an easier swing. I've gone from a 12 to a 7.8. Something must be working not trying to bomb it!

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Unrestricted closest proximity to the green. I appreciate your post but the numbers don't lie, the closer you can get to the green without taking penalties or hitting it to places where you make the next shot more difficult the lower the score you will shoot over the long haul. Certainly a fairway wood in play trumps a driver OB. So if that's what is meant by accuracy I would take accuracy.

 

But given a choice of a 200 yard 5 wood in the fairway or a 240 yard driver in the rough, I'll take the driver almost every time. That's the difference between 7 iron or 4 hybrid or an 80 percent chance of making par verses a 40 percent chance. So we will have to ask the original poster what he means by accuracy. On the course or fairway verse rough.

 

I can put you in the fairway on five holes on my course where you have a far more difficult shot than had you hit it into the rough on the other side. In fact you may have no shot, thanks Tom Fazio.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Accuracy for sure! You don't want to be in the trees and waste a second shot when you could have played it towards the green.

I'm calling for a clear definition of accuracy here. Is it simply fairways in regulation or is it in play? That resolves the whole debate. I doubt anyone would disagree that if by accuracy we mean in play that accuracy becomes more important. When I read accuracy I think fairways in regulation. That is a very over rated statistic even on tour where the pros are dealing with much thicker rough than we encounter. In fact I may aim close to the rough to avoid something bad on the other side of the fairway like a deep trap, water or trees.

 

Could we get a definition Drive for Show?

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm calling for a clear definition of accuracy here. Is it simply fairways in regulation or is it in play? That resolves the whole debate. I doubt anyone would disagree that if by accuracy we mean in play that accuracy becomes more important. When I read accuracy I think fairways in regulation. That is a very over rated statistic even on tour where the pros are dealing with much thicker rough than we encounter. In fact I may aim close to the rough to avoid something bad on the other side of the fairway like a deep trap, water or trees.

 

Could we get a definition Drive for Show?

There is no clear definition.  It depends on the person, and not just the bomber vs. the short hitter.  I think everyone agrees that "not in grass of any kind" likely leads to an extra shot, maybe two.  Rev is right about being closer to the green in the rough, but it also depends on how well a person hits out of the rough that you have on the course.  Someone who bombs it off the tee likely can dig it out of the rough and get close to or on the green; the shorter the hitter, not so much.  So the answer is that it depends.  

 

Using a shorter hitter like me for an example, being in the fairway means that I have a decent chance to get to the green, likely with a mid/long club on most holes.  Even if I could drive 25 yards closer but be in the rough, I may not have the swing speed to get it on the green and depending on the rough, the chance of a mishit increases.  Of course, if the rough is minimal, I'd take the 25 yards!!  

We don’t stop playing the game because we get old; we get old because we stop playing the game.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think I can added anything constructive that hasn't been said already. I'm liking the comments.

For me it's a mix. I hit a lot of fairways usually averaging in the upper 50% range to low 60's. My misses usually are not horrible. However , generally speaking I personally score better from the fairway than the rough, (who doesn't?) But.... what's not over rated is GIR. If my GIR were up there with my FIR I'd be scratch. In other words.... my FIR great. My GIR not great. 

My Sun Mountain bag currently includes:   TWGTLogo2.png.06c802075f4d211691d88895b3f34b75.png 771CSI 5i - PW and TWGTLogo2.png.06c802075f4d211691d88895b3f34b75.png PFC Micro Tour-c 52°, 56°, 60 wedges

                                                                               :755178188_TourEdge: EXS 10.5*, TWGTLogo2.png.06c802075f4d211691d88895b3f34b75.png 929-HS FW4 16.5* 

                                                                                :edel-golf-1: Willimette w/GolfPride Contour

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greens in regulation are where it's at.  It does also all hinge together that's why I hate the saying about driving for show and putting for dough - While I'm sure that Bobby Locke didn't intend it as such it has been blown so out of proportion and abused that it no longer makes any sense.

 

Driving is huge - if you can't keep the ball in play you can't score and if you can't hit it far enough to have a chance at getting it on the green in regulation over 90 percent of the time and short irons in a reasonable amount of the time then your ability to score is severely limited.  Good driving leads to more GIRs which leads to better putting because you're in better position on the green (perhaps not fewer putts but easier putts to hole) and that leads to lower scores. :)

 

This is a good discussion.

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

It's our offseason so auditioning candidates - looking for that right mix of low spin long, more spin around the greens - TBD   

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm gonna agree with Rev here, that there needs to be a clear definition of accuracy. I'm gonna say fairway is the definition. You put Rev and I on a 310yd par 4, there's a chance I put it on the green, but if I'm in the rough, I'd say that 75% of the time Rev would be closer to the hole coming in from 60-70yds from the fairway.

 

With that being said, this year I'm hitting 83% fairways at a 305avg (and it's not even summer yet); as soon as I tighten up my 50-100yd game, I'll be damn near unbeatable.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

With that being said, this year I'm hitting 83% fairways at a 305avg (and it's not even summer yet); as soon as I tighten up my 50-100yd game, I'll be damn near unbeatable*

 

*Except by Lydia Ko

 

 

I fixed that last part for you ;)

Driver: :taylormade-small: SLDR w/ Fujikura Ventus Black

3w: :taylormade-small:'16 M2 hl w/ Diamana D+ 82

5w: :cleveland-small: Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Yellow

Hybrid: :cleveland-small: 22 deg. Launcher HB w/ HZRDUS Black

Irons: :cleveland-small: 5i - gap Launcher CBX w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Wedges: :cleveland-small: 54 CBX & 58 Zipcore w/ Nippon Modus 3 125

Putter: :odyssey-small: Red 7s

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too bad we can't have both all the time...if I had to choose, I'll take distance because I want to know how it feels to hit the long ball...and be the last one to hit into the green....lol

 

Even if my drive is offline, I think my short game is decent enough to get me out of trouble.

 

Sent from MyGolfSpy mobile

WITB:

 

Driver:   :taylormade-small: Sim2 Max w/ Fujikura Motore X F3 shaft

FW Wood:   :cobra-small:  F9 wood 14.5* 

Hybrids:  :taylormade-small: Sim2 Max 3 Hybrid & :nike-small: Vapor Flex 4 hybrid  

Irons:  :srixon-small: Z565 - 7 thru PW & ZU85 - 5 thru 6 with Recoil ZT9 F4 shafts                                            

Wedges:   :cleveland-small: RTX4 52*, 56*, 60* 

Putter:  Scotty Cameron M2 Newport

Ball:  :Snell: Black & :titelist-small: Pro V1

Bag: 2018 MyGolfSpy stand Bag & 2021 Greenside Golf stand bag

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've started making this decision while warming up before a round. Since I had to throw a new driver in to play after damaging my fly z+, I did not have a hot warm up session and had to use 2i off the tee through out my round today. The course I was playing today is narrow and has a lot of old big oak trees with low branches.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy mobile app

My Mixed-Bag:

 

Driver:      :callaway-small: Mavrik Sub zero, ventus black 7x

Fairway:     Still looking!

Irons:         :mizuno-small:MP-18 MB 4-PW

Wedges:     Miura K Grinds

Putter:       Evnroll 1.2 blade

Ball:        :srixon-small: Z star XV

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A combo of distance and accuracy with a slight preference for distance is best off the tee. This is why some people use 3 wood off the tee rather than driver (ignoring other factors such as narrowness of landing zone, length of hole, etc.), because the 3 wood is generally the more accurate club with about 80% the distance of the driver. However, it all depends on how well you're hitting your driver over other clubs. For example, I'm not hitting my driver or 3 wood very well at the moment (I'm blaming the shafts in both clubs as they are too torquey for my swing), so I'd rather hit driver because it's better to be 280yd and in the trees than 240yd and in the trees!

Driver: Cobra F9 Speedback (9.0) with Fujikura Atmos 7X (Avalanche White) 

3 Wood: Callaway Epic Sub-Zero (15 degrees) in Rogue Max 75g stiff shaft

Hybrid: Callaway Apex 20 degree with Kurokage 80g Stiff Shaft

Irons: Wilson Staff CB 4-PW in KBS 120 Stiff shafts

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM6 - 50

              Callaway MD4 - 56 & 60 degrees

Putter: Taylormade TP Collection Soto

Golf Ball: Titliest Pro V1 and Srixon Z-Star 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Usable distance is critical, long drives that are in play.   The problem comes from trying to hit it further by swinging harder, which either produces off-center hits, or inconsistent direction.  If you improve your mechanics and consistency, you'll not only hit the ball straighter, you'll hit the center of the clubface more often, and the ball will go further too.  Sometimes you CAN have the best of both worlds, but its probably going to take good instruction and lots of practice.

:titleist-small: Irons Titleist T200, AMT Red stiff

:callaway-small:Rogue SubZero, GD YS-Six X

:mizuno-small: T22 54 and 58 wedges

:mizuno-small: 7-wood

:Sub70: 5-wood

 B60 G5i putter

Right handed

Reston, Virginia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • SPY VIP

Is it distance? Is it accuracy? Is it forgiveness/consistency? These are exactly the question we've tackled every year during our driver test. Gathering the data is one thing, identifying outliers using some method other than 'that one looks bad' is another, and then finally quantifying everything by some reasonable overall standard is another.

As we were preparing our findings for last year's test we came to the conclusion that a methodology derived from strokes gained was probably the best path forward. It's perhaps an over simplification, but Strokes Gained implies that longer and playable is inherently better than shorter and near perfect (with respect to target line).

To an extent we've observed this for years during our testing. That is to say that the shortest drivers always tended to be the most accurate. Even accounting for launch vectors and what not (our truAccuracy formula) the upper echelon for accuracy almost always comes with a significant distance penalty.

 

While we like our 90% confidence ellipses for irons, for driver they can prove misleading. You can pound 10 balls 300 yards and 20 yards into the left rough, and that shot area will look significantly better than 10 shots that go the same distance but are spread out from the left to right edge of the fairway. Even when we remove outliers we find that shot area can be adversely impacted by extreme inliers.

 

So for this year we're going to tweak how we've done things in the past. First will give you our overall winners (again with swing speed breakdowns). These results are based on strokes gained methodologies, and that does tend to favor longer and decently accurate drivers. 

We'll also give you the longest drivers (based on a sample of the very best shots hit with each driver). It's for the guy who wants the driver that's the longest on his best swings, and is willing to trade other performance criteria to achieve that.

 

Accuracy, Shot Area, Total Average Distance...all that stuff will be available in our dynamic charts, but ultimately we believe strokes gained is the best way to quantify total driver performance.

So to answer the question that started this tread, our philosophy is that the best driver is the one that gains you the most strokes, and generally speaking that is going to favor longer drivers.

MyGolfSpy is only major golf site that refuses advertising from large golf companies. With your support we can keep it that way. Donate Today
 


Subscribe to the MyGolfSpy Newsletter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would love accuracy for me. I have no issue with distance. I actually wish I had less distance in some cases. I mean when me and my father in law hit our balls in the same direction he has a shot and I'm another 100 yards in the woods. So like I said sometimes accuracy would be better.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using MyGolfSpy mobile app

"What better gift from God than acres of neatly manicured scenery to chase a ball on!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...