KingTuck: Punch shot? Pffft. Never use it. Silly, silly shot.
It's not all about filling gaps. it about keeping the ball low. It's about landing the ball in the most forgiving parts of the green. sure i can do that with the full shot, controlling distance with spin.. etc. sometimes it's just the right call with punch.
example BPB #6, back pin location. 90 yards to hole, 7 mph headwind
hmm.. I could hit my 105 yard wedge with back spin and spin it back to the hole. this works well, but i'm likely to end up hole high with a breaking putt, i'd rather be at 6 oclock below the hole. Plus there isn't a lot of green to work with behind the hole - if I hit the fringe who knows what could happen.
I could hit my 85 yard wedge with a lot of top spin. this will work nicely also, but if I miss the ding at all, I'm going to push/pull it like crazy.
I could punch my 105 yard wedge which is 87yards with just a tickle of top spin, and even if i miss the ding a little it's going to be within 5 feet below the hole for an easy easy uphill bird.
It's just a subtle way of minimizing your miscues.
But, just like you say there are "other ways at being successful at this game". I personally like to experiment with all sorts of shot types, so yeah I'm not just trying for "success" I'm trying to push my knowledge and to learn how to do things that are somewhat outside of the normal parameters of this game.
And no offence - your stats show you at 85% GIR... No wonder you don't know the value of a punch, or a pitch.. LMAO We should team up for some Alt shot - I'll give your short game a workout.! :P