SUUNTO Golf - Manual (Page 8)

8
GOLF GUIDE
”You drive for show but you putt for dough.” This famous old line is still true. But
when you take a good look at stats on professional tours, it is fair to say that you
also drive for money. Today, pros hit very far and the stats also tell us how impor-
tant it is to have distance and accuracy off the tee to be a successful player.
Debate about driving distance versus hitting fairways is common and never end-
ing.
The best golfers outperformed the others by the widest margins on par-5s. Par-5s
need distances off the tee and for a long hitter, they are played as par-4s. Birdie
average is heavily weighted toward par-5s. 50 percent of the birdies on the PGA
Tour are made on par-5s, even though they make up just 20 percent of the holes.
Driving distance is one of the key factors that separate amateur golf from pro
tours. Long drives are important in an amateur’s game and when you put down
your distances off the tee, be honest with yourself. It is the only way to make sta-
tistics work for you.
DRIVING
TIP
For amateur golfers, more emphasis should be put on the ac-
curacy of drives. Next time you head for the first tee, remember
to keep score of every fairway you hit. Hitting the green is much
easier from the fairway than from the deep rough.