9 years old and you’re worried about distance. I don’t have anything nice to say at this point

Started golfing when I was 5 with a group of friends. I was always the long ball hitter of the group. But I was a big time slicer and would often find myself in the rough and struggling to beat any of my friends. It was caused by pulling my hands through ahead of the club face trying to hit the ball as hard as I could. Took me a long time to figure out how to hit long and straight. It wasn't decades later that I figured out how to really cut my score. I stopped trying to hit long drives/shots. Started teeing off with one goal in mind, to set up the next shot. Had a club and swing that I knew I could put the ball on the green every time from 140-150 yards out, so I would tee off trying to get within that area. Took me from a 10-12 handicap to a scratch golfer.

Drive for show and putt for dough…

Some truth to this, but hitting an approach shot with a wedge vs a 7 iron or being able to reach a par 5 in 2 is a huge advantage.

Oldest fallacy in golf.....

Ask any player of true substance and the answer will be driving virtually every single time..... if you can't drive it the rest doesn't matter. If you can then it does.....

And, to be honest, brains, heart, and guts matter more than all of it...

John Daly is my hero. Hold my beer and cigarette watch tha

The pros are better putters and chippers than us, but not by a whole lot. Distance is king.

The last short hitter to win a major was Mike Weir, and that was 20 years ago.

I have held 6 course records, and have carded a 59 in competition, I was never a long hitter. Be a wizard with your wedges and putter and you will do just fine. As a matter of fact, the course records I held, I never hit the ball that great.

They are LIGHT YEARS better.... green speed, slopes, bunker severity are all, to a greater or lesser degree, FAR more demanding.....not to mention pin locations. In my day 3 yards from the edge was a close as you'd see a pin placed with 3 a rarity. I've seen em TWO from the edge on Web/Korn and they weren't an anomoly. The slope of the green surrounds is also much more difficult than those encountered by all but the very best (or wealthiest) amateurs.

As for distance and major championships, everything depends upon the course, course set up, conditions, etc etc. It also epends on ones definition of "long." Morikowa has won 2 and he is certainly not long.... and before you argue we played 9 with him last week at Hoylake. He is not a long hitter.... not be a longshot. He was a 165 ball speed guy when he won at Harding..... short to shortish then.