Favre all the way here. I'm not smart enough to "manage" a course, that and nothing makes me more hot on a golf course (at myself, lol-obviously having a drunk idjit charge me a few weeks back got me a little upset) than playing it "safe" and chunking a tee shot with an iron. And I'm certainly not above chunking one while playing it safe.
I tend to ride my driver to low or high scores. The most upset I got this year, I stood on 18's tee at -1. 18 was a short par 4 of about 330. It was into the wind but had a 50+ yard wide landing area. There was really no reason to hit anything but driver. Into the wind with soft conditions I wouldn't have got there but it would have been an easy pitch unless I totally lost my swing. I was up one in my match with dad (our version of handicapped). For some reason I decided to play the hole for par and grabbed my 4i, which earlier in the year I didn't use much off the tee. I fatted the living crap out of it and it didn't go 50 yards. Had a crap lie and had to just hack it out to 150 out or so. Ended up making bogey on a super easy hole and tied dad. Our bet hasn't changed in 20 years so I lost out on a free ice cream cone. Fat boys don't like that.
Had I hit driver I'd have made birdie 15% of the time, par 80% of the time, and bogey or worse probably 5% of the time the way I was striking it that day.
I still don't ever "manage" a course. There are a couple holes on my regular ROTA that I've taken to hitting something other than driver from the tee and holes that I once hated now became either par or at worst bogey holes. They weren't long holes just 100% inappropriate driver holes for me. The good news is that I avoid high scores on these holes. The bad news is that one that was an eagle hole IF I hit a fantastic driver now becomes a wedge in for a chance at birdie.
I like to attack, I probably always will. There are just a few holes that it's stupid to. I did stupid for a long time where there wasn't ANY margin for error off the tee. Great shots were rewarded but poor ones were met with a re-tee. And usually another re-tee before I admitted defeat and just hit a mid iron. So now I just hit the iron and try to maybe birdie, probably par. Or at worst bogey.
Interestingly, I played a round hitting 4i off of every par 4 and 5 the entire round recently. It was a short course but somewhat tight. There are trees on both sides of the FW on every hole. It was a pretty boring round. Bad holes were bogey and good holes were par. I gave up some low scores but I also didn't have a bad score (for me 2x bogey or worse). There was no punching out from the tree line. Truthfully it wasn't all that fun but if I wanted to play to my HC every round, this is the route I'd take. I prefer my gunslinger mentality where I have a chance to go low, but high scores are not off the table. FWIW I hit the ball pretty far and play in the low 120's CHS with driver. It ain't a pretty swing (it's been posted and looks like exactly what it is; a aging and overweight former LD competitor swinging the same way as he did in LD comps 20 years ago) but I generate a decent amount of speed with it still. Which is fun for me. Hitting 4i off the tee leads to more consistent scoring but takes a lot of my fun from it. I don't get to cuss myself as much when I just use a 4i
I tend to ride my driver to low or high scores. The most upset I got this year, I stood on 18's tee at -1. 18 was a short par 4 of about 330. It was into the wind but had a 50+ yard wide landing area. There was really no reason to hit anything but driver. Into the wind with soft conditions I wouldn't have got there but it would have been an easy pitch unless I totally lost my swing. I was up one in my match with dad (our version of handicapped). For some reason I decided to play the hole for par and grabbed my 4i, which earlier in the year I didn't use much off the tee. I fatted the living crap out of it and it didn't go 50 yards. Had a crap lie and had to just hack it out to 150 out or so. Ended up making bogey on a super easy hole and tied dad. Our bet hasn't changed in 20 years so I lost out on a free ice cream cone. Fat boys don't like that.
Had I hit driver I'd have made birdie 15% of the time, par 80% of the time, and bogey or worse probably 5% of the time the way I was striking it that day.
I still don't ever "manage" a course. There are a couple holes on my regular ROTA that I've taken to hitting something other than driver from the tee and holes that I once hated now became either par or at worst bogey holes. They weren't long holes just 100% inappropriate driver holes for me. The good news is that I avoid high scores on these holes. The bad news is that one that was an eagle hole IF I hit a fantastic driver now becomes a wedge in for a chance at birdie.
I like to attack, I probably always will. There are just a few holes that it's stupid to. I did stupid for a long time where there wasn't ANY margin for error off the tee. Great shots were rewarded but poor ones were met with a re-tee. And usually another re-tee before I admitted defeat and just hit a mid iron. So now I just hit the iron and try to maybe birdie, probably par. Or at worst bogey.
Interestingly, I played a round hitting 4i off of every par 4 and 5 the entire round recently. It was a short course but somewhat tight. There are trees on both sides of the FW on every hole. It was a pretty boring round. Bad holes were bogey and good holes were par. I gave up some low scores but I also didn't have a bad score (for me 2x bogey or worse). There was no punching out from the tree line. Truthfully it wasn't all that fun but if I wanted to play to my HC every round, this is the route I'd take. I prefer my gunslinger mentality where I have a chance to go low, but high scores are not off the table. FWIW I hit the ball pretty far and play in the low 120's CHS with driver. It ain't a pretty swing (it's been posted and looks like exactly what it is; a aging and overweight former LD competitor swinging the same way as he did in LD comps 20 years ago) but I generate a decent amount of speed with it still. Which is fun for me. Hitting 4i off the tee leads to more consistent scoring but takes a lot of my fun from it. I don't get to cuss myself as much when I just use a 4i