Is putting really more important than driving

[Rockwell]

There is no doubt putting is very important. But I still give the nod to Driving for the ability to shave the most strokes off of a round.

From the teepad:

• You can park a hole and effectively not putt.
• You can hit an obstacle and careen hundreds of feet off target (putts don't do that)
• You can land OB one or more times (penalty strokes happen far more often on drives than putts)
• You can miss a mando (haven't seen a mando on a green before)
• You can make a hole play much harder than it should. (throw into schule, off line, or behind obstacles)
• You can land too far away from the basket to give yourself a chance at making the next shot. (putting doesn't even come into play here)

 

[Ryan P.]

I think the "drive for show, putt for dough" is a holdover from ball golf. I think driving holds more weight in disc golf than in ball golf due to the various lines and throws required to hit those lines. I feel like in disc golf there are a lot more ways to drive. If you can hit a ball straight, that is what you will do on most ball golf holes. In disc golf, you may need to throw it on a hyzer or anhyzer or FH or OH or roller or whatever other shot you think will get to the basket or fairway depending on the line.

That said, I still think putting is more important. But where ball golf may be 20% driving/80% putting disc golf would be closer to 40/60. IMO.

Completely agree.

 

[Ryan P.]

Ryan p just summed up pretty much everything I was going to say. It's math, homie. No matter what, you gotta putt. /Thread.

Thanks man.

 

[Ryan P.]

You can't ever play a hole without a drive but you can play it without ever throwing a putt (Ace/hole-in-one)!

I'd love to ace every hole.

 

[youdidwell]

I tend to agree but it depends what you consider good driving. Is it distance, accuracy, or both? Accurate driving is just as important as putting, but distance can be a point of contention. I think a longer accurate arm would be more important than putting since they can do well on both a long and short courses. In the end, you need both.

Though a rec player like myself, I find adding distance to my drive is much harder than improving my putting. So personally, putting is more important because while I can't drive fair I'm usually in the fairway so putting is the major factor in my score.

 

[DavidSauls]

That's a good point, and I always assumed that "drive for show" referred more to distance---the really showy part---than accuracy.

 

[BirdieMachine]

Look at this way, who would score better?

A) Paul McBeth with a 935 rated player doing the putting?

B) 935 rated player doing everything but putting by McBeth (say inside 100 feet)?

Team A wins by double digits all day any day.

I'm taking the elite long game. Putting is still important but not nearly as much. Especially true as you play more difficult courses.

 

[bogeyfreetilinfinity]

Comparing two players a hundred points apart is a misleading argument. I think for each player's individual game, putting is the difference maker.

 

[Jesterian]

Look at this way, who would score better?

A) Paul McBeth with a 935 rated player doing the putting?

B) 935 rated player doing everything but putting by McBeth (say inside 100 feet)?

Team A wins by double digits all day any day.

I'm taking the elite long game. Putting is still important but not nearly as much. Especially true as you play more difficult courses.

That is really very dependent on the 935 player, but my first reaction is to say the team with Paul putting because, well, I've seen that guy putt.

 

[BirdieMachine]

That is really very dependent on the 935 player, but my first reaction is to say the team with Paul putting because, well, I've seen that guy putt.

I was just assuming avg putting, driving, accuracy.

I'll take Mr 935 from 20 feet for birdie over Paul from 60. Tough holes Paul wouldn't even have a birdie putt.

Obviously course difficulty would factor heavily, but even then on a easy course Paul is going to park most of the holes anyways. Mr 935 is good at 5 footers!

I think the easy answer is to say putting because from our own experience great/hot putting is usually always involved in our hot rounds. You can get hot with a putter for a round and make everything from 40 on in. You can't go from throwing 300 with bad form and accuracy to a hot day and throw 450 and park most everything from 300 on in.

 

[Aithos]

Putting in disc golf, like in traditional golf is always the single most important part of your game. Let me try to make it very simple: no matter how good you are at driving/approach shots conditions during your round will leave you with putts outside of "gimme" range. The higher percentage of putts you can make within the circle the lower your score will be. Getting better distance from your drive will gain you very little once you are able to throw between 300-400ft because very few holes ever let you bomb the disc to an open hole location.

Now, assuming you can sink 90% of your putts from within the circle AND your driving sucks then you could make the argument for spending a bit more time driving than putting. However, if you are that good at putting you're probably already good at driving as well.

 

[pastorcoco]

I played my first tournament this weekend and finished at least 10 strokes over what I should have shot in both rounds because my putting game was a little off. That being said, I have a friend who played several holes with Simon Lizotte last year and he said that even though Lizotte isn't a fantastic putter, his drive is so ridiculously accurate that it makes up for his short game.

So, it depends on the course, and the player. Personally I feel like a good approach and putt game can make up for a lot of driving deficiencies.

 

[cblanch4]

Putting in disc golf, like in traditional golf is always the single most important part of your game. Let me try to make it very simple: no matter how good you are at driving/approach shots conditions during your round will leave you with putts outside of "gimme" range. The higher percentage of putts you can make within the circle the lower your score will be. Getting better distance from your drive will gain you very little once you are able to throw between 300-400ft because very few holes ever let you bomb the disc to an open hole location.

Now, assuming you can sink 90% of your putts from within the circle AND your driving sucks then you could make the argument for spending a bit more time driving than putting. However, if you are that good at putting you're probably already good at driving as well.

Im not talking about distance to my drive, Im more asking is it easier/ more efficient to increase my putting range from 25 ft out to 40 ft and drop 6 strokes, or is it easier get my driving accuracy dialed in so that i have 5 or 6 more drives in an 18 hole round land inside the circle. Obviously both will drop my score, but which one can be done most quickly. Currently ill have about 2 to 7 drives land inside the circle on a given round and probably 5 more land in the 35 to 45 ft range. Should i get those 5 shots 10 ft closer, or gain 10 ft on my putting range.

 

[JC17393]

Im not talking about distance to my drive, Im more asking is it easier/ more efficient to increase my putting range from 25 ft out to 40 ft and drop 6 strokes, or is it easier get my driving accuracy dialed in so that i have 5 or 6 more drives in an 18 hole round land inside the circle. Obviously both will drop my score, but which one can be done most quickly. Currently ill have about 2 to 7 drives land inside the circle on a given round and probably 5 more land in the 35 to 45 ft range. Should i get those 5 shots 10 ft closer, or gain 10 ft on my putting range.

Gain 10 feet on your putting range, and I bet some of your drive/approach shots will find themselves landing 10 feet closer to the target. It's funny how that works.

Adding 10 feet to your putting range makes a huge difference in approaching the target because it make the "green" that you're aiming to land on that much bigger. Think of it this way...a 10 foot putting "range" yields a roughly 315 square foot circle to aim for. Increasing it to a 20 foot "range" makes it roughly 1250 square feet to aim at, or four times the target space.

 

[Star Shark]

The other side to that is this: Let's say you max out at 450' drive. What that means is that you may well be able to throw a fairway driver 400' and a mid out to 360ish. This makes the standard distance shots you find on most courses a mid or a fairway driver where joe average is killing the fastest drive they can get their hands on and sometimes not reaching it. More ease of distance means more control on your shots. Slower discs also skip less so that's going to help your accuracy.

 

[MonkeyShine]

On Ken Climo's personal webpage he says, "I once said that putting comprised about 25% of my game. Drives are 40-50% of my game simply because most holes can be reached from the tee. Yes, it all comes down to the putt, but you must be able to set yourself up nicely for the putt. And that takes power and accuracy off the tee."

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this in the thread, I didn't read the whole thing. But I was surprised to hear Climo, who throws textbook perfect putts, say that putting is only 25% of the game. But there it is, wisdom from disc golf's poster boy.

 

[discmeister]

I see many big arms get frustrated and lose rounds when they cannot finish their putts. I see weaker arms play good rounds and place due to their putt & approach game. The key is to recognize what helps you win rounds and what gives you confidence. Play to your strengths and work on your weaknesses. For me, making my putts is key to a good round.

 

[ohtobediscing]

It does seem like putting wins the game. For instance, I rarely shank a drive so badly that I can't recover a par with a great approach. But you can't win without some birdies, and hitting those 30'+ putts will net you some real treasures.
But drives, on the average, are much more fun to throw than putts.

 

[garublador]

First, I'm not trying to pick on you, I'm just using this as an example.

It does seem like putting wins the game. For instance, I rarely shank a drive so badly that I can't recover a par with a great approach. But you can't win without some birdies, and hitting those 30'+ putts will net you some real treasures.

In this case what you'd need to do is record how many times you're "recovering a par" compared to how many times you miss a ~30' putt to see what's more beneficial. If the putting only gets you one or two strokes per round, but you're "recovering" a par 5 or 6 times per round then driving is more important. If it's the other way, than putting is more important.

The thing is people rarely have actual recorded numbers, so no one actually knows what's more important for any given golfer. It's just a bunch of speculation.

 

[FriedInTheDesert]

I like this.

I think driving is more important. Last round was a personal best. My putting was below average for me. I missed 2 putts that I should have made but my driving was good for me. I was throwing it farther and staying out of trouble. I had more birdie opportunities than I usually get.