Hitting fairways might be overrated

[cnosil]

11 minutes ago, Shapotomous said:

This seems to be changing things a bit by adding the caveat of how far are you missing fairways rather than FIR.

I agree hitting greens is more important, but...   

i think how important FIR is dependent on the course being played and how that then allows for GIR.

Sure if i am getting 15 more yards in distance and only 3 yards in the rough or in the next fairway on a wide open muni i will take it.  But on many courses i have played getting 15 more yards & missing the fairway by a mere 10 yards will have you in the woods or OB. 

On a particular course cut out of the woods I won a lot of matches against players going for distance with drivers while i was hitting hybrids or irons off the tee on many holes.  That course closed a few years back....hmmm maybe because you couldnt bomb it and score well there.  The sister course about 10 min away was known to be about 4 shots easier even though it was longer, because you could spray it off the tee without penalty and still hit the green.

Definitely need to caveat the use of driver.   Chance of "penalty"; which includes having to pitch out is definitely a consideration as you described.  Have to look at your dispersion patterns to figure out what needs to be done off the tee and for basically every shot.  Sometimes you will have to back off.  Personal feelings will also play a factor as well.  

This  is all part of course management and having a defined strategy to play a course.

 

[Javs]

9 hours ago, cnosil said:

The general purpose of shortening the driver is to make better more centered contact which in most cases increases ball speed and ultimately distance. 
 

f you want to understand the longer is better theory read Mark Boadie’s book, study DECADE course management, or research golf analytics.  

I agree fully with you! Plus bombing it is fun. Ha ha. I wanted to piggy back on this. For one of our Monday money games we play a shamble. Everyone hits their drive and then you pick the best. From that spot each player plays their own ball in. At the end, you add the gross scores. Then add or subtract the handicaps. Then divide by number of players on the team for your team score. I had a 14 and 20 handicap on my team that day. The 20 handicapped shot a gross 77 and the 14 shot a 81. They both kept commenting about how much easier it was for them to score from the spots I drive it. The 20 handicaper’s biggest weakness was his driving. Playing from 150 to 60 yards in the fairway or not was much easier than the fairway at 200 to 185. So, this event confirmed the article’s theory in my mind. Also we won the pot that day!!

[Javs]

46 minutes ago, cnosil said:

Definitely need to caveat the use of driver.   Chance of "penalty"; which includes having to pitch out is definitely a consideration as you described.  Have to look at your dispersion patterns to figure out what needs to be done off the tee and for basically every shot.  Sometimes you will have to back off.  Personal feelings will also play a factor as well.  

This  is all part of course management and having a defined strategy to play a course.

 

Absolutely, agree with you. We aren’t saying just bomb it without thought. Like you said it’s course management and risk/reward. I hit high percentage shots when I am cutting doglegs. I think most decent players know went to go or not go. Also you look for where the best miss is if you don’t hit it perfect.

[ShimmyCocoBop]

After reading the responses in this topic, I see that I was not looking at "Hitting Fairways Might Be Overrated" correctly.

I now agree with the original article and all of the supporting opinions.  

Plus, I learned some new stats to monitor!

Edited March 12 by ShimmyCocoBop

[Shapotomous]

I was reading through this again last night and thought maybe a more meaningful stat than FIR for us would be nFIR.  It might help quantify how bad our driver dispersion is.  It is often said that being able to score well in golf is influenced a lot by how "good" your "bad" shots are.

And it might help indicate when we realistically have a swing at a shot for a GIR than if the fairway was missed so badly a penalty or pitch out was necessary.  You could combine nFIR & FIR, compare it ro GIR and see how you iron game is working for you.

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, Shapotomous said:

I was reading through this again last night and thought maybe a more meaningful stat than FIR for us would be nFIR.  It might help quantify how bad our driver dispersion is.  It is often said that being able to score well in golf is influenced a lot by how "good" your "bad" shots are.

And it might help indicate when we realistically have a swing at a shot for a GIR than if the fairway was missed so badly a penalty or pitch out was necessary.  You could combine nFIR & FIR, compare it ro GIR and see how you iron game is working for you.

Kind of what cnosil was referring to and what I mentioned about a past coach having me score my tee shot for having a shot at the green. 

[cnosil]

This popped up in my social media feeds and thought it was a good addition to the thread.   
 

 

[Preeway]

9 minutes ago, cnosil said:

This popped up in my social media feeds and thought it was a good addition to the thread.   
 

 

I just forwarded that same video to my son. Managung misses in the biggest key to lower scores. I hit 11/14 fairways yesterday but all three misses still resulted in GIR. 

[fixyurdivot]

8 hours ago, Preeway said:

I just forwarded that same video to my son. Managung misses in the biggest key to lower scores. I hit 11/14 fairways yesterday but all three misses still resulted in GIR. 

True dat.  There are misses and there are MISSES .  I drove the ball really well today and had a few that were quite long and left in the rough... but they really did not hurt me.  Right now the Bermuda rough isn't too pemalizing... ask me how this plays out this summer .

[HeathS16]

I did a front tee challenge yesterday with the winds howling at 25-40 MPH (Early Spring golf in Oklahoma...) and took driver on a few holes that I really didn't NEED to.  But most misses were hole high even if off by a dozen or so yards.  Shot even par and hit 6/9 GIRs. I really loved needing only a decent wedge into the greens, I think I only hit 5 fairways, never really even considered that my goal. Loved the article from the OP. A lot of Lou Stagner/SG vibes.