If you had 2 choices in your golf ability.. which one would you pick..?

[Binson]

I'll take being a +1.  Being a +1 driving it short means I'm such a killer at everything else.  210 at age 75 sounds pretty good too honestly. And I'm still a +1 ten.  That's a no brainer tbh. 

 

 

[Cliffy2020]

35 minutes ago, ChrisSP said:

There's not much as a golfer that's more enjoyable than being a fairly average distance guy and just beating the brakes off of a bomber. They typically take it so poorly. LOL! Never gets old.

I’ve got ~5yrs left of never knowing what that feels like 🤣

[CTG77]

12 hours ago, Jayjay_theweim_guy said:

I've done similar, and I'd almost rather have my case of the tops again, than miss the entire @*#>$>÷ green (and bunkers!) from ~40 yds away.  With a shot I practice routinely.  Though you'd not know it, after that shot.

 

My vote is Door #2, all day.  You can't teach that kind of speed, and---40 yd shank story notwithstanding---the rest of the game besides that skill is not that difficult to achieve competency in.  For cryin' out loud, just do Monte's left arm parallel and no more on everything shorter than a 7-iron, and aim for the center of the green.  You'd almost have to try to not get a GIR.

I was especially mad since earlier in the round, I'd hit a beautiful 2-iron (downwind with a draw, so it went FOREVER) to the water's edge on a short par 4, with 56 left to the pin from a slightly fluffy lie and I stuck it to <3' for the tap-in birdie.  If I can do that from a worse lie at longer distance...ugh, why the garbage performance later from 43 yards? So yeah, #1 all day over the length if it means my iron and wedge game finally catch up to my putting and normal long game prowess.

Edited March 16 by CTG77

[bladehunter]

5 hours ago, CTG77 said:

I was especially mad since earlier in the round, I'd hit a beautiful 2-iron (downwind with a draw, so it went FOREVER) to the water's edge on a short par 4, with 56 left to the pin from a slightly fluffy lie and I stuck it to <3' for the tap-in birdie.  If I can do that from a worse lie at longer distance...ugh, why the garbage performance later from 43 yards? So yeah, #1 all day over the length if it means my iron and wedge game finally catch up to my putting and normal long game prowess.

Just a weird thing to me.  How can you find the middle of the face with a good path , with a 2 iron. But not be able to hit a wedge ?, it has to be lack of work with wedges. No ? Or is it just that you can hit something from a tee peg but not the ground ?  

[Shilgy]

1 hour ago, bladehunter said:

Just a weird thing to me.  How can you find the middle of the face with a good path , with a 2 iron. But not be able to hit a wedge ?, it has to be lack of work with wedges. No ? Or is it just that you can hit something from a tee peg but not the ground ?  

Exactly.💯

As I posted earlier if a player averages 325 he’s hitting the middle of the face. An occasional drive of 325 or the guy that thinks he hits it 325 because he had one once that went that far is a different animal. A player with that speed that hits the middle of the face regularly is very unlikely to be worse than +1 imo.

[mshills]

20 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Exactly.💯

As I posted earlier if a player averages 325 he’s hitting the middle of the face. An occasional drive of 325 or the guy that thinks he hits it 325 because he had one once that went that far is a different animal. A player with that speed that hits the middle of the face regularly is very unlikely to be worse than +1 imo.

Correct. You have to be good to consistently hit it 325. Think about how deep that is….consistently. That is rare.

 

As you said, much different than the guy who hits one 325 once a quarter, and a galaxy removed from the guy who thinks he hits it 325….then you put him on a Trackman and get 285. 😁

[Nels55]

It seems to me that many responses to this question are adding a third answer saying that they will take the long hitter choice and become a plus handicap by practicing a lot. That is not a choice.  Either you are a plus one who kicks a** or you are a long hitter who can't score particularly well.  There is no third option.  I will take the plus option everyday and twice on Sunday!

[vegasandre]

1 minute ago, Nels55 said:

It seems to me that many responses to this question are adding a third answer saying that they will take the long hitter choice and become a plus handicap by practicing a lot. That is not a choice.  Either you are a plus one who kicks a** or you are a long hitter who can't score particularly well.  There is no third option.  I will take the plus option everyday and twice on Sunday!

It's kind of a "choice"..  Option B has the "potential upside variant"   while Option A is limited/maxed out and cannot improve length in typical conditions. 

these freakin' genies..  I don't know how they make these rules...

[Pnwpingi210]

1 hour ago, vegasandre said:

It's kind of a "choice"..  Option B has the "potential upside variant"   while Option A is limited/maxed out and cannot improve length in typical conditions. 

these freakin' genies..  I don't know how they make these rules...

Wait.  
 

why doesn’t option A have the upside to speed train and further improve?

 

option b just hits it far.  That don’t have the consistent ability to score, and won’t per your options.  If we are letting option be get better at their weaknesses, shouldn’t we let option A?

[Sean124]

I don’t like either option. Me to the genie:

 

[NosajNeelik]

On 3/16/2025 at 2:33 PM, bladehunter said:

Just a weird thing to me.  How can you find the middle of the face with a good path , with a 2 iron. But not be able to hit a wedge ?, it has to be lack of work with wedges. No ? Or is it just that you can hit something from a tee peg but not the ground ?  

Why do most long driver stink at putting or short game? I have a friend who is scratch who is insane tee to green but easily the worst chipper/putter I’ve ever seen (for someone 15 handi or less).  Middles driver every time. Cant get the club back square in a chip shot. It’s so weird and we’ve worked on it. He practices it a lot. He just stinks. Uses a broomstick putter as well. It’s odd 

[NosajNeelik]

2 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

Wait.  
 

why doesn’t option A have the upside to speed train and further improve?

 

option b just hits it far.  That don’t have the consistent ability to score, and won’t per your options.  If we are letting option be get better at their weaknesses, shouldn’t we let option A?

Your not allowed to question magic questions 

[NosajNeelik]

On 3/16/2025 at 4:01 PM, Shilgy said:

Exactly.💯

As I posted earlier if a player averages 325 he’s hitting the middle of the face. An occasional drive of 325 or the guy that thinks he hits it 325 because he had one once that went that far is a different animal. A player with that speed that hits the middle of the face regularly is very unlikely to be worse than +1 imo.

I’ve seen it. He’s currently .03 

[Shilgy]

4 minutes ago, NosajNeelik said:

I’ve seen it. He’s currently .03 

So he’s close to the +1 mark.

 

I gotta admit I question the absoluteness of your answer though.  That means he hits it consistently longer than anyone does on tour.  Not that they are the longest players out there but they are the most consistent.  So for every 295 yard miss he has he needs three 335 yarders and to make up the average.  
 I do not doubt he CAN hit it 325 but I do question a bit the AVERAGE part.

 

Must be fun, and a bit demoralizing, to play with!

[NosajNeelik]

11 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

So he’s close to the +1 mark.

 

I gotta admit I question the absoluteness of your answer though.  That means he hits it consistently longer than anyone does on tour.  Not that they are the longest players out there but they are the most consistent.  So for every 295 yard miss he has he needs three 335 yarders and to make up the average.  
 I do not doubt he CAN hit it 325 but I do question a bit the AVERAGE part.

 

Must be fun, and a bit demoralizing, to play with!

No one believes me until they play with him. He is absolutely the longest hitter I’ve ever seen or played with in person. Great guy too He hits average ball speed of 200 on trackman  He carries his 3 wood 300. It’s seriously unbelievable but it’s true. He’s a monster. When I first met him he was a 5 then I showed him putting lol.  I’m in the 270 range and am consistently 50-70 yards behind him. It is super demoralizing yes   I met him at a qualifier we were paired up I hit a good drive off first tee and he stepped up and flew my ball with a  3 driving iron. No joke. 

Edited March 17 by NosajNeelik

[TheDeanAbides]

10 hours ago, NosajNeelik said:

Why do most long driver stink at putting or short game? I have a friend who is scratch who is insane tee to green but easily the worst chipper/putter I’ve ever seen (for someone 15 handi or less).  Middles driver every time. Cant get the club back square in a chip shot. It’s so weird and we’ve worked on it. He practices it a lot. He just stinks. Uses a broomstick putter as well. It’s odd 

The guys and gals who hit it a long, long way and have a great short game are playing golf for a living. 

[golferdude54]

On 3/16/2025 at 8:33 AM, bladehunter said:

Just a weird thing to me.  How can you find the middle of the face with a good path , with a 2 iron. But not be able to hit a wedge ?, it has to be lack of work with wedges. No ? Or is it just that you can hit something from a tee peg but not the ground ?  

 

I've noticed when I practice long irons a lot off grass that it translates pretty dang well to the shorter clubs rather than the other way around. You can be shallow with a wedge and get good results but you can't be steep with a long iron. I'd love to find a relatively firm fairway bunker (not have to rake my stance and such) and practice 1-irons off it all day.

[naval2006]

Under no circumstances can you be 25 years old plus hdc and hit it 240 max in 2025. Improbable combination indeed. 

[vegasandre]

Genie can't make everyone happy.. 
They don't make them like they used to..   I remember that hot one from Cocoa Beach back in the day. 

An interesting note that I have been observing going down the speed rabbit hole. 

Gaining speed will generally help almost everyone. (obviously need to be healthy)
Unless..
They are already Plus /played in college etc.. and decide to try long drive and go for " insane speed" 
Seems to be a common theme where their game weakens a bit    +4  before  plus 1 after ..etc. 
Bryson seems to be the lone outlier in that category. Dude is a freak. 

[Scottbox]

125 mph clubhead speed and the ability to eat limitless amounts of pizza without gaining weight.

[vegasandre]

31 minutes ago, Scottbox said:

125 mph clubhead speed and the ability to eat limitless amounts of pizza without gaining weight.

The stuff of legend.. I love Pizza. 

[Shilgy]

14 hours ago, naval2006 said:

Under no circumstances can you be 25 years old plus hdc and hit it 240 max in 2025. Improbable combination indeed. 

Is it the 25 year old part that bothers you or hitting it 240 max and being plus?

[naval2006]

9 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Is it the 25 year old part that bothers you or hitting it 240 max and being plus?

If you take as a starting point the ballstriking quality of a plus hdc you almost get it.

[Hawkeye77]

There is only one wish.  Major Nelson was a dope.

 

 

Edited March 19 by Hawkeye77

[Shilgy]

2 hours ago, naval2006 said:

If you take as a starting point the ballstriking quality of a plus hdc you almost get it.

Are we being cryptic or is it just too early in the morning for me?🤔

Plus is not necessarily a great ballstriker.  Keep it in play and ,mostly, knock it on in regulation or at least around the green with a decent short game and voila!

[Pnwpingi210]

1 hour ago, Shilgy said:

Are we being cryptic or is it just too early in the morning for me?🤔

Plus is not necessarily a great ballstriker.  Keep it in play and ,mostly, knock it on in regulation or at least around the green with a decent short game and voila!

Agree.  All of the scratch to plus guys I’ve had the pleasure of playing with arent that long.  Maybe 260ish carry driver at most.  
 

the also play the appropriate tees and don’t tip out every course

[Shilgy]

4 hours ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

Agree.  All of the scratch to plus guys I’ve had the pleasure of playing with arent that long.  Maybe 260ish carry driver at most.  
 

the also play the appropriate tees and don’t tip out every course

If they were “that long”, like the 325 drive guy but with their usual skills, they wouldn’t be scratch….they'd be +3 to + +5 guys.

[jda]

I take A if you can guarantee me +1 on any course at any time.  Seen too many 240 yard driving +1 guys on their home course at 6500 yards become -8/10 at 7200 yards when they try and compete with better players.  You cannot hit 4 irons or hybrids into every green with other guys are hitting 8 or 9 irons - if the genie makes this happen, then you take it.

 

I don't care about being a plus one in a tiny pool of fools at a local club.  I want to go to Pebble and play the back tees and shoot 71 instead of 76... or the Ocean Course and not are how hard the wind is blowing.  This is real skill to me.

[Binson]

I'm surprised nobody has said that either option would make them worse

[Shilgy]

1 hour ago, jda said:

I take A if you can guarantee me +1 on any course at any time.  Seen too many 240 yard driving +1 guys on their home course at 6500 yards become -8/10 at 7200 yards when they try and compete with better players.  You cannot hit 4 irons or hybrids into every green with other guys are hitting 8 or 9 irons - if the genie makes this happen, then you take it.

 

I don't care about being a plus one in a tiny pool of fools at a local club.  I want to go to Pebble and play the back tees and shoot 71 instead of 76... or the Ocean Course and not are how hard the wind is blowing.  This is real skill to me.

Shooting 71 from the tips at Pebble is not +1. That would be more like +3 to +4 territory

Course rating is 74.9 with 144 slope. +1 typically does not have the skills you say you want.