fuffle master;n8894933 said:I know a lot of others use the Grint App, and I have been reading the replies and tried to correlate those that posted favoring the putting versus those that favor off the tee or distance.
I have two questions: One, those using the Grint App do you find the data has helped improve your game in either area off the tee or putting? (I know not really part of this discussion, but I am curious as to what some think)
Two, and more in terms of the discussion here, I have noticed those that lean toward the putting side seem to be lower handicap individuals and those that lean on the off the tee and distance side have mid to higher handicaps. That leads me to think, as some have said, we all pick what is harder for our games when thinking about this discussion. Lower amateur handicap players are generally good off the tee and see themselves as needing to improve in the short game area like putting. While higher handicap players tend to be poor at driving and approach shots, therefore, they need to improve with distance and off the tee to lower their scores.
What do you think? Does handicap play more into your bias versus what you truly think is a more important section of golf?
On the first question, I am not an intense stats consumer, more intrigued to know my game and have been tracking this year some basics for the first time. The biggest point of awareness for me is that by tracking it I in general have more awareness of exactly which parts of my game were sharp or not that day and how my averages may compare to either others my handicap or at the handicap I might aspire to. I've not been practicing my weak areas off course, so most of the improvement comes from course management, mental strategy.
Second point, I have more than average clubhead speed, so for me distance is useless unless its in play. I'm prone to tee shots going far enough to get into trouble, so my whole game is based on using 3H off the tee most often and Driver least. Chasing FIR% and GIR%, leaving smart misses. I definitely see both sides, and have the luxury of distance making a lot of things possible (but not advisable) in my game. To score, you have to leave your ball in a spot to control your ball coming into the green. To that point I'll take 110 yards approach every single time over 50- 80 yards where I have more trouble with distance control and am more likely to be hitting from the rough due to hitting a longer club off the tee. That scenario plays out on many Par 4's.
The reason I posted the stats was simply to show that for me, I need to keep the ball under control coming into the green, peg the GIR%, and hole putts to score. I'll likely never hit the ball tons further, and even now don't need to. Driver is idle most holes, and by random chance at this point in time 20 rounds of golf show I can still score if I miss one more fairway. There is no recovering from a missed putt, your score is one higher. And I know from experience my score blows up when I start making doubles dropping balls out of hazards or the woods off the tee.
I think if the golfer is playing the correct set of tees for them, distance is not so much the problem, it's keeping it in play at the distance you choose. When you are pushing the limits of your ability level on course length and difficulty, or trying to compete at a scratch level, you need both firepower and finesse, there is no way around it.