not how you drive, its how you arrive

[billnchristy]

This is how I arrive:

 

[Lewis]

It's all about the NEXT shot, whether it's a drive, approach or a putt!

Seconded!

If you can't drive, you can't arrive!

 

[BogeyNoMore]

Adding yards to your maximum drive DOES lower scores in a couple ways:

1) It makes holes that were impossible to birdie possible and
2) It allows you to throw slower/straighter/more reliable discs when you are throwing shorter holes. If I'm throwing a buzz on holes you have to throw a teebird on, on average I'm going to have a better chance at scoring low on that hole.

Then there's people like my dad who can only drive 125-150. He rarely gets the chance to putt for par. Adding 50 feet to his drives would cut off a lot of throws.

I'd have to agree with the above. 2nd shots have always been the strongest part of my game, but as my max drives improved from around 225 to 250, then again to where I hit 275 with some control and flirt with 300 on open fairways (not that I have a big arm - I know I don't), my scores dropped because I started getting more birdies - plain and simple.

Plus, throwing farther off the tee has resulted in fewer bogies on 400'+ holes because from 200' and closer, I can usually place my mids or Challenger close enough for a decent putt. That doesn't happen as consistently when trying the same from 225-250 feet away with my drivers.

Don't get me wrong - there's no use in being able to drive farther if you:
a) have no control and consistently end up in the brush or another fairway.
b) can't accurately place your upshots and leave yourself long putts.
c) usually take two putts to hole out.

But who says driving, upshots and putts are mutually exclusive? There doesn't have to be a trade-off. My upshots didn't suffer when my driving improved - if anything, they got better as I started using my mids more. And neither fell off as my putting range has increased. Perhaps it's just in my head, but using my putters from as far out as 150 or so gave me more confidence with them and I started hitting more putts.