• Welcome To ShotTalk.com!

    We are one of the oldest and largest Golf forums on the internet with golfers from around the world sharing tips, photos and planning golf outings.

    Registering is free and easy! Hope to see you on the forums soon!

Importance of hitting fairways

Libre

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2007
185
107
Country
United States United States
DVS-
I can't disagree with you - for accomplished players, the fairway is the place to be, where one can take a "proper divot" and thus get the backspin to make the ball stop on the green.
At my level of play - which is, I'm happy to bogey a hole, the 1st cut is a fine place. True, the lie can vary, but it can vary in the fairway too - at least on public courses, and even on country club fairways, you can get a bum lie anywhere.
The main point, though, is whether you should exclude the woods from the bag, and I just can't see it.
Getting back to the architect's rewards and penalties - how about those holes where you MUST carry at least 200 to put the ball in the fairway, or to avoid a hazard? On many holes, left or right is no problem, but short is death. On higher slope courses, short is almost always bad. Mainly, I don't understand why a good player - as I can see you are from your posts, would want to give up on your most powerful weapons. Have you such little confidence in your big clubs? I see that as a problem to be solved, not avoided.
 
OP
D

DVS

Well-Known Member
Aug 15, 2007
108
0
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #17
Mainly, I don't understand why a good player - as I can see you are from your posts, would want to give up on your most powerful weapons. Have you such little confidence in your big clubs? I see that as a problem to be solved, not avoided.

lol thanks for calling me a good player...though I still can not tend to see myself as one yet. :)

The fact is, I do have very little confidence in my big clubs. Which is why I practice with them on the range to get better at them, but don't use then in a round yet. Yes, I can hit a 3w and a driver...and on a good swing, I'll get it down there. But the odds/percentages are against me right now. I need to get those to better odds first. Since the guys that I play with, we have friendly (non-monetary) side bets, and we keep a running total of our season against each other, its imperative that I score my best when I play with them. So that usually means going with clubs that will get the job done more consistently and more reliably

About holes that require 200 yard carry; the courses that I tend to play on really don't have that kind of layout. So I haven't run into that. I think a 200+ carry would be an issue if one were playing from the tips. I usually play from the whites, so it hasn't been an issue yet.

Anyways, I can only speak for myself here: my scoring, game and overall enjoyment has increased dramatically by doing what I am. It's not ideal for everyone, so I don't recommend it; especially if you shoot in the 80's or lower. But if some of the higher handicappers struggle with the longer clubs, it maybe an interesting experiment to come to play with only the clubs that you KNOW you can hit properly. Forces you to play within your means. Sure you won't make Pars and Birdies on every hole, but from experience I can say that you probably won't card many 8's and 9's either. Its usually those scores that prevent the majority of people from breaking 100 and 90. :)

-DVS
 

Fourputt

Littleton, Colorado
Sep 5, 2006
973
0
But isn't that what the range is for? To practice the stuff we need work on? The way i see it: the range is to learn, the round is to play.

The range is ok for grooving the swing, but it is equally important to practice on the real course too. In fact, for me it is far more important to be on the course. I can bang balls till I puke, but all that does is bore me to tears. It's being on the course, with a real reason to make a certain shot, that gets me focused like I can NEVER be on the range. 95% of my practice time is spent in the chipping area on my short game or in playing practice rounds on the course. No more than 5% is actually put in on the range.

As for having better angles/position from the rough; maybe that may be true from time to time. But I like to think that golf courses are designed in such a manner that as long as you are in the middle of the fairway, you are playing the way the hole was designed to be played; and in most cases, the architect rewards you with good angles to make those pars. (you will never get penalized by the designer for being in the FW).

-DVS

A well designed course does NOT always give you a good shot or angle from the middle of the fairway unless all you want to do is hit the middle of the green. In fact, a well designed course will do just the opposite... it will require you to play the edges of the fairway in order to have the best shot at various hole locations. In many cases, you can have a better angle to the pin from the right rough to a tucked left pin than you would have from the middle of the fairway.

But like you have posted... there are other considerations. My home course has playable rough (2-1/2") up to a certain point (the native rough is 2 feet deep and more, and varies from "Maybe I can get a club on the ball" to lost ball), but with many strategically placed trees to make those shots out of the rough much less attractive as an option. You might leave yourself with a great angle and an easy shot, but more often you will be partially or totally blocked by a Colorado Blue Spruce, or Ponderosa pine. Believe me when I say that I have gotten quite proficient at hitting low punches under the branches... but it will never be the most desirable shot. Punching a 19° hybrid from 120 yards is never going to be my shot of choice.

So while I agree that being in the fairway is usually the preferred place, it has to be balanced with hitting the ball long enough to leave yourself a reasonable approach.
 

🔥 Latest posts

Top