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What is more important for you to score well?

Driving all day long. I am all over the place. One day I might hit 11 fairways averaging 295 and the next day hit 2 averaging 260. Now I can salvage decent rounds driving bad but to be under par the driver needs to be decent.
 
Driving the ball off the tee.... keeping it in the fairway is key for me to play well....
 
Long, straight drives. If I am not hitting my second shot out of trouble I generally score well.
 
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Driving, when I hit it well off the tee it sets me up for success.

I hit far more greens, giving me more birdie and par opportunities.
 
Approach shots from 150 yards and in. I am happy with my putting but I have to give myself a chance.
 
If I’m picking just one thing it’s putting. If I’m not hitting driver well, I’m okay to leave it in the bag and use another club off the tee. Can’t do the same for a putter.
 
OldandStiff said:
Iron play, iron, iron play.

Rescues bad tee shots, and can render wedge and putting game basically irrelevant. I drove the ball horribly on Friday, didn't make a birdie putt over 12 feet, and shot a -3.3 differential. Iron play all day.
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Exactly this for me. Proximity to hole with my approach shot is key. When I hit a bunch of iron shots close, I play to my index or better. No golfers make many 25 foot putts so all my good scoring rounds are when I give myself a bunch of chances inside of 12 feet.
 
My driving is really solid (thank you Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero) but I need consistent putting. I can be on fire one day and the next.....grrrr. I just wish I could be more rock solid day in, day out. I’m still saving for a putter, hopefully by spring.
 
I’ve got to get off the tee box safely, if I can keep the ball in play, not even fairways, just playable, I can score a lot better.
 
dazeedmonds said:
I’ve got to get off the tee box safely, if I can keep the ball in play, not even fairways, just playable, I can score a lot better.
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That's me also. I gotta keep away from penalty shots and having to chip out off the tee.
 
I'm pretty straight with woods and irons so seldom an issue for a round. It's all about the short game for me with my best rounds coming when I'm putting well. Putting first with chipping a close second.
 
Definitely the driver for me. If I drive it in play i'm going to shoot my handicap or better 9 out of 10 times.
 
Driver for sure. It doesn’t matter how good my short game is if I’m racking Up penalty shots and forced chip outs from my tee shot.
 
Short game, short game, and more short game. At 72 I'm not getting any more distance, no matter how I try. The only way for me to score is to put the ball close to the hole for a par putt.
 
For me it’s keeping the ball in play on my tee shots. I played a couple of rounds about a month ago when I didn’t have a driver and used my 3 hybrid instead. I actually scored very well, although I had some longer shots into the green. I am too afraid of my game to do this all the time, but it showed me that I could go in this direction if need be. I still like hitting driver too much to abandon completely.
 
Lately I'd have to say driving/hitting fairways as I've been a penalty machine as of late. Can't score well consistently at all when you're punching out or reloading.

But looking beyond my most recent struggles to scorecards last month, it appears that I normally par or even birdie at a somewhat similar pace whether in the fairway or not. Outlier being doubles as the vast majority do occur when I miss a fairway.

I have to say overall, putting, it goes beyond the obvious, that being saving strokes on the green. Because when I'm putting well, it takes pressure off of my approaches as I feel like I can make it from anywhere as long as I'm on.

Conversely, days like yesterday... I had numerous looks of maybe 5' for either birdie or par but missed nearly all of them. This made me feel as if I had to get within that distance for a decent chance to score, LOL.

Unreasonable, sure, but one's confidence can be plenty fickle.
 
Putting? If I get on the green outside of 10 feet it's a two putt most of the time. Inside that distance there's a chance of a 1 putt. Inside 3' it's automatic... usually... unless it's one of those days. Three putts are rare. If I get 34 putts per round I figure I'm doing okay. Then remember I look at this from the viewpoint playing at 19 HC.

Offline drives cost me more strokes than any other shot. If I need to hit my driver on 12 holes, I will be hitting 6 recovery shots - sometimes the recovery shot may lead to a second recovery shot depending upon where the original shot landed. So it's Driving all day. I haven't been happy with my driving this year. So given that my birthday was Saturday, I went for a driver fitting on Monday. Something to help me narrow dispersion. Yes, I have a good driver. It might not be the best for me. The fitter ended up handing me a 3W because the slice disappeared and I could keep it in play. I lost 10 yds carry but at least it doesn't go in the woods.

I'm thinking at some point maybe I should get a used Women's Cobra F9 Driver (11-14 degrees). I have a 55 g Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue Driver Shaft (R-flex) that has a Cobra "Myfly" tip on it laying around.
 
InTheRough said:
I'm thinking at some point maybe I should get a used Women's Cobra F9 Driver (11-14 degrees). I have a 55 g Grafalloy ProLaunch Blue Driver Shaft (R-flex) that has a Cobra "Myfly" tip on it laying around.
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I've been casually looking for one of those for my wife for a while. I don't think people give them up very easily.
 
OldandStiff said:
I've been casually looking for one of those for my wife for a while. I don't think people give them up very easily.
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Maybe next year when the new models come in and the prices drop I'll pick up one and slap that driver shaft in it. I'll just have to add 2 degrees to what the fitting says. That shaft was in my old Amp Cell.
 
Par 3 scoring, if i'm only a couple over on the par 3's it will generally equate to a good overall score.
 
GIRs. For me, it's full swing shots. Even 20 yard near GIRs. I'm pretty good around the green.
 
I would say comfort. Meaning trying to be consistent in all parts of the game, good or bad. But that’s pretty hard to do. So putting the ball in play would be it. At least I would start off giving myself a chance.
 
Can I say control? Meaning lack of penalties.
 
Definitely irons for me. If I am hitting greens...I am going to have a good day
 
chadmac said:
I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A BELIEVER IN PUTTING WELL , YOU WILL SCORE BETTER. EXAMPLE 2 WEEKS AGO I HIT THE BALL VERY GOOD, BUT PUTTED HORRIBLE 3 3 PUTTS AND A LOT 2 PUTTS = 36 PUTTS SHOT 82, NEXT DAY HIT THE BALL ABOUT THE SAME THRU THE BAG , 9 1 PUTTS TOTAL 24 PUTTS AND A CHIP IN. SHOOT 74, 12 PUTTS BETTER, 8 SHOTS BETTER. I ALWAYS SAY FROM THE GREEN BACKWARDS TO PRACTICE
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I liked your post here, but only for one reason. You say "we" will score better if we putt well. Yes of course if we putt poorly we will raise our score vs putting well.
That said we will also score better if we do anything well that we might otherwise do poorly. many (especially as the caps go up) can have more putts yet score better than rounds with less putts. Not all rounds scores (even for you) are always a perfect relation to putts as in your one example. Every round is different. Ive had plenty rounds putting very well and yet too many fails elsewhere added up to be some my worst scored rounds Ive had. But in any given round we will score better making more putts vs missing more. Simply put, its less strokes to add.
 
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