What affects your score more? Driver, woods, irons, wedges, putter... pick only one!

[ShortGolfer]

Nothing kills my score faster than driver into the trees.  Hunting for lost balls throws my game off worse than hitting it into a fairway bunker.

 

Edited July 25 by ShortGolfer

[North Butte]

Before I stopped tracking Strokes Gained about three years ago, there was a difference of around 6 in SG: Total between my good rounds and bad rounds. The comparison across elements of the game was pretty clear. 

 

3 strokes difference due to SG: Approach (basically irons and hybrids)

1-1/2 strokes difference due to SG: Short Game (inside 100 yards)

1-1/2 strokes difference due to SG: Putting

Negligible difference due to SG: Off the Tee

 

 

Edited July 25 by North Butte

[jjfcpa]

3 hours ago, North Butte said:

Before I stopped tracking Strokes Gained about three years ago, there was a difference of around 6 in SG: Total between my good rounds and bad rounds. The comparison across elements of the game was pretty clear. 

 

3 strokes difference due to SG: Approach (basically irons and hybrids)

1-1/2 strokes difference due to SG: Short Game (inside 100 yards)

1-1/2 strokes difference due to SG: Putting

Negligible difference due to SG: Off the Tee

 

 

 

While I haven't tracked my SG, this pretty much sums up what I would expect if I did.  Driver is annoying sometimes, but hardly ever affects my score.  In other words, I never look back at a round and say, boy, if only I could have driven the ball another 10 yards.  As opposed to, dang, I missed 3 putts less than 5 feet or chipping just left me too far from the hole for a 1-putt to save par on 2 or 3 holes.  

[Roejye]

Hmm, this is a good question. My dad joke answer is the putter because you'll probably use it on every hole. Statistically/analytically though, the answer is driver, as that's where most penalties usually come from. Then there's the cop out answer, which is probably the truest answer and that's all of them, because like @Ghostwedge said, if the operator is off with everything, then that's when the really bad rounds happens. 

 

My best rounds have come from the irons being on. My tee game and putting are more of a strength, my approach and short game are passable, but bordering on weakness. If I were to be really critical, short game would be considered a weakness because I generally am not hitting it close enough to give me a good chance to 1 putt when I do miss the green.

[RacineBoxer]

2 hours ago, jjfcpa said:

 

While I haven't tracked my SG, this pretty much sums up what I would expect if I did.  Driver is annoying sometimes, but hardly ever affects my score.  In other words, I never look back at a round and say, boy, if only I could have driven the ball another 10 yards.  As opposed to, dang, I missed 3 putts less than 5 feet or chipping just left me too far from the hole for a 1-putt to save par on 2 or 3 holes.  

 

I really don't think 10 yards matters much, it's really the tee shots with driver that end up in trouble (trees, deep rough, water, OB, etc.) that have the larger impact on SG with the driver.

 

I think I saw somewhere that 10 yards was worth about 1 stroke. So it's not completely meaningless. 

[aabcuue]

On 7/23/2025 at 9:18 AM, Birdieputt19 said:

I’m left eye dominant, so I feel I can never get the line to match how I set the line on the ball with setting up in the middle of my stance. And trying to move it up causes me to pull everything.
 

My late fall purchase was a Tyne H with a white sight line. I ended up covering it up with electrical tape and I found I wasn’t so fixated on setting up “perfect”. I also found that the horizontal line was to close to the heel on that putter, so I felt extremely uncomfortable with how the putter sat behind the ball and would hit it out of the heel very often.

You should read the Putting Doctor advice. He’s who applies the science to putting as a Sports Vision Optometrist
https://www.amazon.com/Putting-Prescription-Doctors-Proven-Method/dp/0470371013

He shows how eye dominance, position of head/body/arm affect alignment and aim. Shows how to test and adjust.

 

As a L eye dominant playing right, you need to move the ball up in your stance. Generally on R edge of Left foot is in the ballpark.

[black bnr32]

My heart says putter but the stats say short irons.  Approach proximity has the largest correlation with score.

[Rbsiedsc]

Driver sets the floor

irons set the ceiling

SG raises the floor

putting raises the ceiling. 
 

full swing are the major pillars. SG and putting are boosters. 

 

 

Edited July 26 by Rbsiedsc

[Birdieputt19]

19 hours ago, aabcuue said:

You should read the Putting Doctor advice. He’s who applies the science to putting as a Sports Vision Optometrist
https://www.amazon.com/Putting-Prescription-Doctors-Proven-Method/dp/0470371013

He shows how eye dominance, position of head/body/arm affect alignment and aim. Shows how to test and adjust.

 

As a L eye dominant playing right, you need to move the ball up in your stance. Generally on R edge of Left foot is in the ballpark.

I’ll have to give that a read, sounds interesting. I have tried moving the ball forward and sadly I tend to pull everything when I do that. Not against testing again

[erock9174]

While all aspects of one’s game impacts score, the driver I feel impacts it the most. If you can’t get off the Tee you will simply not score.
 

Especially if you are racking up penalty strokes off of the tee. 

 

driving is one of the strengths of my game and I feel like I could play a multitude of drivers and make it work. 
 

Wedges and putters I feel like I could swap other clubs in and not impact the score much.   
 

I think fairway woods and hybrids are the hardest to fit.  Irons I always play anything from large Hybrid irons to something as small as zx5’s and my scores haven’t fluctuated much. 
 

 

[aabcuue]

6 hours ago, Birdieputt19 said:

I’ll have to give that a read, sounds interesting. I have tried moving the ball forward and sadly I tend to pull everything when I do that. Not against testing again

Many ppl move ball fwd and usually change alignment of shoulders abd/or position of elbows.

 

One great benefit of watching pros o. Practice day esp Mon/tues is watching them on putting green test and continue checks/ testing putting alignment and setup.

 

Pros are pros because they are ingrain  fundamentals w a consistent repeatable setup that applies alignment and positioning usually

[Maine Golfer]

putter , you can do everything decent and 3 putt! 

[J-Walker]

I want the answer for me to be the driver, but it is absolutely putting. When I’m putting well, I’m in the 70’s, the rest of the time I’m in the 80’s. Driving impacts my morale more than anything else… and putting impacts my scorecard more than anything else. 

[jjfcpa]

2 hours ago, J-Walker said:

I want the answer for me to be the driver, but it is absolutely putting. When I’m putting well, I’m in the 70’s, the rest of the time I’m in the 80’s. Driving impacts my morale more than anything else… and putting impacts my scorecard more than anything else. 

 

I think you nailed it.  The drive affects the psyche and that can have a positive or negative impact on the way you play... hence your results.  This is especially true when your playing partners are driving the ball 20, 30, 40, or 50 yards further than you.  Brings tension into the game when you try to make up for it with your 2nd shot.  

 

As a senior golfer who has never been a long hitter, it doesn't have that affect on me because I'm more surprised when I'm not the shortest with the driver, which does happen, just not very often.  

 

I've learned to play "my" game rather than my playing partner's game.  Consequently, it comes down to chipping and putting which I rely on to be what most affects my score.  If I can look at par from anywhere on the green, I at least feel like I have a chance at par.

[mikes919]

On 7/26/2025 at 4:28 PM, Rbsiedsc said:

Driver sets the floor

irons set the ceiling

SG raises the floor

putting raises the ceiling. 
 

full swing are the major pillars. SG and putting are boosters. 

 

 

 

This is really well said. For me, I feel like driver determines whether it's going to be a good day or not. Once it's a good day, irons decide whether it's going to be a great one. Wedge and putter stats end up reflecting how much I have screwed myself on the drive and approach.

 

All of my statistically great wedge and putter days have been ones where I didn't have to dig myself out of really bad situations all day. I gave myself good/easy opportunities to use my scoring clubs.

 

I tend to think from an equipment standpoint, I could swap in a new putter or irons and adjust pretty quickly. And as long as the driver shaft is a reasonable fit, that's another one that I can adapt to. At least enough to avoid disaster. Fairway woods and hybrids take a lot more range time to dial in.

 

Wedges are probably the hardest to adjust to. I need a few practice sessions and rounds to really get a feel for how much to open the face in different lies, how they react in sand, whether they need a little more lead tape, etc. I'm traveling and renting clubs next week, and I'll spend most my warm-up time hitting chips and pitches to figure out how the wedges react.

[Pepperturbo]

In hindsight, it really depends on the day.  Some days my long game or iron play is a solid factor in posting a decent score.  Other days, my wedges are my saving score grace on every hole.   

 

I believe the more accurate approach is to have an all around game.  To effectively use all 14 clubs at one time or another. If one aspect isn't working, another part picks up and carries the game.

Edited July 29 by Pepperturbo

[rsballer10]

Approach game. Hitting lots of greens, leaving lots of simple 2-putts that could turn into 1-putts yields the lowest scores. But It's not like getting off the tee can be ignored either. Hard hit the middle of the green from behind a tree or a fairway bunker.

[blazman11]

It’s usually driver here in Florida since most holes I play have water left OB/houses/roads right.  

 

If driver is working then literally everything else will fall apart 🙂