1. Hit a ball OB. You're now hitting 3 with the same yardage to the hole.
Get on in 4-5.
Make the putt putts. Score 5-6.
hit the ball OB, 3 off the tee, hit it close 1putt...
for a 5


2. Hit the ball in the fairway.
On in 2-3.
3-putt. Score 5-6.
hit the ball only 200yds, put your 5ir on GIR,
2putt for par, or 1 for a birdie


3. Hit a decent drive.
Duff the 2nd shot. Bad chip. Finally chip onto the green.
2-3 putts. Score 6-7
you need a beer and more practice

4. Hit a drive to the rough.
Pound the 2nd shot to the green.
2 putts. Score 4.
or your chip shot is under 15ft and you birdie it...

from anywhere on the fairway to the rough with a shot,
its about getting on the green with a good shot, GIR...
if not GIR, having a great green side game can still get you par,
you can put it close for a 1 putt and still get par.
if you can only hit any club 200yds pretty straight,
and you have a good short game and have no 3 putts.
you can have a great round, its all the chunk,fat,thin,misses,short shots that kill you.
oh yeah that OB or water shot will cost you too...

So you agree with the fact that driving is not as important as just getting a GIR? 2nd and 3rd shots are crucial to lower scores. 3-putts are reduced drastically by chipping closer to the pin.

OK, you have to be a bit better than 3 putts...
and a course that you can play a bad tee shot from.
if the course has water,dirt,forest,ravine, your going
to add up a lot of shots for lost balls...
but GIR, seem for the most part to always end in par or better.
but, if you don't see GIR on your card then 1 putts are a sign
that your short game is better than you mid game...

putts account for on an avg 34 putts a round,
drives only about 15,
and mid irons about 12,
fairway shots, 5
short chips from missed 2nd shots about 12+
OB, drops, hazards, maybe about 6,

so given the list, putts seem to be one thing you could
take at more off of per round or add to your score.
the missed shots account for 2nd on the list,
then you have penalties for the last one.

Using your math, you're scoring around 84. The average golfer on this site is scoring 90+.

Driver shots are 14
Fairway wood/long irons are 5-8
Mid irons including Par 3's 18-20
Inside of 100 yds 18-24
Putts (based on 2-putting) 36
Penalties 4

Therefore, scores would be 95-106, which is more in the realm of the average golfer.

So with this formula, Putting accounts for most strokes but mid-irons and chipping combined total more. If we get our chips close, we minimize 3-putting and increase the odds of 1-putting. Therefore, improving shots from 150 and closer will lower your scores faster than hitting in the fairway or becoming a better putter.

I would prefer having 18 6'< putts for birdie and making half of them rather than having rather than having 9 3' putts for par and 9 20'> putts for birdie. Accuracy inside of 150 yds is KEY.

As I said at the begining of this thread,the tee shot is usually the cause of all scoring woes for the average golfer.How can you even discuss GIR if your first shot is the water or OB or lost,or behind some tree?

Tough to talk about a GIR when you can't find the green with a mid-iron or wedge either.

As long as your drive is still hittable, you have a chance to get on the green and post a decent score. If your drive is THAT bad, try 3 wood or another club.

Quote:

By comparison,even if I have a 100 ft putt,4 is the most likely number I can add to the hole.A bad drive can easily cost you seven or eight strokes just getting out of the mess your in and eventually getting to the green. Most all of my bad rounds were not caused by poor putting but by horrid tee shots.I think this is the case for most players.

this was your 1st post,
where I had a problem was that a bad drive doesn't cost you 7/8 strokes
for the most part off the tee, maybe 4/5...
the avg slicer on most courses can play from another fairway, its only
when theres OB or trouble like trees that is going to cost them.
another thing I see a lot of higher hdcprs do is try to hit out a bad lie
or one that has no shot, they rarely hit to the fairway to get back in play.
they somehow think that they can make any shot, and that shot will
get them out of trouble, which almost always leads to a couple more
reckless shots which cost them.

Quote:

Inside of 100 yds 18-24

its these shots that seem to cost the higher hdcpr there wows...
you take these out of the factor and you then you have scores about 76-81...
those shots inside of 100, are the scuffs, misses, and short shots to the green.

I think the "Drive for show, putt for dough" is miss leading. Big drives are impressive but for the average golfer very risky. The stroke plus distance penalty is the most severe in golf and will all but kill your chance to make a good score on a hole. An immediate triple boogie for me. A missed putt on the other hand is only one stroke. If the driver is the best shot in your bag by all means, grip it and rip it. The average golfer should probably grab a 3 or 5 wood and keep it in play. I think it's more of a statement about risk vs reward.

I agree with the idea of "drive for show, putt for dough", but for me (and many amateurs), getting a good shot off the tee is critical to scoring well. I know the better and longer (provided in fairway) my drives, the better my scores are. However, I've had days where I drove the ball great, but approaches/short game left me with long putts and I managed to screw up good opportunities by missing putts. I've also had the opposite happen many times - driving not particularly good, but my putting was so good I still was able to post a decent score. A couple of my best rounds have been only OK driving days.

For great players, there is little doubt that it comes down to short game and putting as almost all are hitting the ball long and in play (at least most of the time). For those players, the ability to chip, lag putt and consistently knock down those 6-10 foot putts make a huge difference. If I could get up and down 75% of the time and knock in 75% of all 6-10 foot putts, I'm pretty sure I would be a scratch or better golfer (I'm currently around a 10-11).

A lot of games come down to who makes the putt on the last hole....Putt for dough.

I think the "old saying" should be amended to "drive for show, approach for dough." I firmly belive that your second shot is more important than your tee ball. Greens in reg are the only stat that I concentrate on. I dont' care if I only drive it 200 and am still 200 yards out on a par 4. If I hit the green I am still putting birdie.

I always say that I am the first to hit my second shot but usually last to play my third. Learn to hit your irons, people!

I am a new golfer (playing for about one year) and I feel the worst part of my game are approach shots and pitches.I keep track of my shots and I avg 40-45 putts per round and about 36 pitches(greenside or bunker) Obviously my avg is @120. I think I need to cut at least 18 wedge shots and 9 putts. I find the wedges tough because they are feel shots(not full swing)I hit the green and the ball bounces off the other side and therefore I'm hitting the same shot again.