I try to hit the ding in the majority of the shots I play, obviously hitting it usually means a good shot, assuming you have a grasp of how to judge distance and play the wind.
That said, I think a lot of players place too much emphasis on hitting it, as a judge of how well they are playing. As long as you are near to it, the resultant shot can still be fine and sometimes very good also.
For me it is far more important to ding your putts, assuming you play to ding them. That is always the difference between a very good round, decent or average. The number of holed 10 to 25 feet putts makes or breaks a round.