Does Golf Shot Distance Really Matter?

There are lots of ways to get golf shot distance into your game. You could buy the best golf clubs, buy the best golf ball, take professional lessons or work on your flexibility. But the best way to add distance is to have a good solid swing. If you can achieve good swing mechanics then you will be striking the ball cleaner, resulting in golf shot distance. A smooth and concise swing will also increase accuracy, which is the best way to reduce your handicap.

But let's just take a step back for a moment. Is distance the ultimate way to become a better golf player, or are we deluding ourselves because we just want to out-drive our friends. It might just be the latter, and this could be the reason why we never improve to the best of our ability.

The top two ranked drivers for distance on the PGA tour are, Bubba Watson and Robert Garrigus, with driving averages of 310yrds and 309yrds respectively. Tiger Woods averages 294yrds and is ranked overall the #1 player in the world. Bubba Watson and Robert Garrigus overall rankings are #75 and #273 respectively.

I don't want to bore you with statistics to get the message across, but I can tell you that Tigers driving accuracy is over 10% better than the two longest drivers on the PGA tour.

Accuracy is the best way to lower your scores and you get accuracy from a repetitive, smooth swing, which feels natural to yourself.

We all need to remember as golfers, that driving is part of the game, but not all the game, and that golf shot distance doesn't win tournaments. It's the person that gets the lowest score that wins and feels good about his or her-self.

Moving on from golf shot distance, we all need to think about our golf shot management also. You need to know what golf shots to play at the right times. If you can manage your shot selection correctly, then your scores will reflect the decisions you make.

Example:

So I have just drove my ball into the heavy rough and the ball is sitting down with about 200yrds to the green. I need to make a decision on whether to go for the green in one so I can hit the green in regulation, or whether to play down the fairway for an easy chip onto the green, with a chance to still save par. I know which shot I would take, but how many people do I know that go for the big shot. I can tell you, it's a lot of people. You can often get into further trouble by taking this long shot on and still not be able to hit the green.

This is just one example, and this example is made all the more real when you remember, that one time, you actually did hit a 200yrd shot, from the rough, with the ball sitting down. We just seem to forget about all the other times that we either topped the ball or took a big chunk out of the golf course.

Golf shot management also comes into play when you are within distance to hit the green. Like par 3's or within 200yrds on the fairway. To have good golf shot management you need to know how far each of your clubs will go. You can only have consistent distances if you have a consistent swing. Keeping your swing mechanics the same for each club, will give you an indication of the distance the ball will travel. There are other factors included, such as wind and what trajectory you are hitting to, but consistent distance is a major weapon on your side.

Just remember that the game of golf can be very cruel, and sometimes having the ball on the fairway and the correct distance from the green, is better than being closer to the green, but in a world of trouble.