Jan
29
2008

The (Non) Importance of Driving Accuracy

Posted by Double Eagle in Miscellaneous

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ballrough.jpgI just watched Tiger Woods victimize the field at the Buick Invitational. The most interesting point, which was brought up on the telecast during the fourth round, was that Tiger Woods dominated the event while hitting less than 50% of the fairways.

At a little over 48% accuracy, that puts him at T162 on Tour in that stat. Yet, he still won big.

I think the other telling stat is that he hit over 80% of the greens. That’s pretty amazing, considering he was in the rough half the time. He certainly putted well too, with an average of about 27 putts per round for the tournament.

It’s kind of tough to apply this lesson to the rest of us, because we’re talking about the best player in the world. I think, however, that this shows us that missing fairways isn’t necessarily as penal as we might think.

Scoring starts from 100 yards and in. Putting is the most important skill in the game. After that, short game (100 yards and in) puts us in better position to make birdie. Beyond that, recovery skill is important. If you miss a fairway or green, being able to handle tricky lies in the rough can be a stroke saver.

Certainly, we should strive to hit every fairway, but we know that it’s usually not going to happen. Hitting the rough is probably a little more of a penalty for us than it is for Tiger Woods, but it’s not the end of the round.

It’s a good idea to try and work on recovery shots at the range and hit from the tall grass if you can. Same thing around the greens. Hit some pitches and chips from the rough. Work on standard finesse wedge shots. Most of all, spend more time putting.

What about a player that does the reverse? How about if you hit a lot of fairways and aren’t as solid in the short game? Last year on Tour, Jose Coceres lead in driving accuracy at just over 70% fairways hit in 17 events. He had only four top-25 finishes. Tiger Woods finished 2007 at 152nd in the category with 15 out of 16 finishes in the top 25.

I understand that we’re talking about Tiger Woods here. But that’s the point. He’s not magical. He just goes out and gets it done where it counts.

Think about this every time the driver comes out of your bag on the driving range. You can miss a lot of the fairways and still win, but only if you have a stellar short game and putt like a champion. If you’re lights-out from the tee but have a mediocre short game, you’re just one of the pack.

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There are currently 7 responses to “The (Non) Importance of Driving Accuracy”

  1. 1

    Saturday Golfer said:

    Great thoughts.

    It will be interesting to see if the rough at Torrey Pines is a lot more difficult to play out of in June for the US Open.

    Posted on January 30th, 2008 at 2:47 am

  2. 2

    Double Eagle said:

    You make a valid point. The rough at the U.S. Open is a whole different animal. They do that to put a premium on accuracy and without a doubt, accuracy becomes very important there.

    At the same time, with the speed of the greens, the short game and putting also become that much more important too.

    Posted on January 30th, 2008 at 8:55 am

  3. 3

    TP Golf Online said:

    One aspect of recovery that was not covered was his scrambling percentage. DE knowing you are a big fan of Dave Pelz books I a bit surprised it wasn’t mentioned. Tiger’s scrambling percentage was 50%.

    Remember in the 2006 US Open all of the contenders missed the green on the 72 hole and only one was able to get the ball up and down. That was Geoff Ogilvy the winner that year.

    Posted on January 31st, 2008 at 1:27 am

  4. 4

    Double Eagle said:

    TP, according to the PGA Tour website, his scrambling percentage is over 71% (he’s only got the one tournament this year, so far). He missed 14 greens and got par on 10 of those.

    Posted on January 31st, 2008 at 8:36 am

  5. 5

    TP Golf Online said:

    The pgatour.com site does show 71% scrambling when you search under individaul stat categories.
    http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/info/?130

    Where I got my figure was from the Leaderboard
    http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboards/current/r004/
    When you click on the S for stats it shows srambling at 50%.

    One column heading I did see on
    http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/info/?130
    was Par or …. (I am assuming it is to mean Par or Better). This may explain the difference in figure if the 50% is the true number of up and downs vs saving par when missing a green.

    I do agree with Saturday golfer that the overall conditions will become more difficult due to the rough length in June. It will also be interesting how the USGA will set up the areas arond the greens. Will they keep the grass closely mown or will they let the rough grow? Extremely tight lies or gnarly deep rough.

    Posted on January 31st, 2008 at 3:15 pm

  6. 6

    Double Eagle said:

    I’ve been kind of wondering that too. I have a feeling that the rough around greens with adjacent trouble will be shaved and the rest will be high and nasty.

    I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

    Posted on January 31st, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  7. 7

    Mike Handles said:

    Hi, beginner golfer here. I feel that my iron game is my strength and my driver is just decent. It really is my short game and putting that makes the difference for me. I don’t spend nearly enough time practicing those elements, and it shows in my scores and when around the greens. Thanks for the reminder to keep working at it.

    Posted on February 5th, 2008 at 3:45 am

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