While it has been traditional to handle Ring Attack with the well-rounded Mario, it occurred to me that the increased power and differing trajectories of Daisy, DK, and Bowser give them niches that may justify their use over Mario for a full run. Keep in mind that I would not be switching between characters in one run. It takes far too long to return to the Main Menu and Character Select screens just to use another character. Plus, each course is only unlocked after completing all six holes of the previous, unlike Mario Golf (64). Therefore, I made a rigorous 4-way comparative analysis that takes a look at how well they truly handle the wide variety of challenges in Ring Attack and see if theorycraft translates to practice.

Here's an embed:

I have also created a video in which I have taken some of my best IL Ring-Attack attempts and compared them side-by-side course-by-course for Mario and Star Boo. Mario is the typical choice for New-Game Ring Attack; however, if Ring Attack is part of a larger run such as Unlock Characters or 100%, it might be worth considering a stronger character for potential time-saving strategies. Other good candidates for Star Characters for Ring Attack would be Star Wario and Star Daisy, but they have to be unlocked via Character Matches, so a run with them would be relegated to either 100% or NG+ Ring-Attack if that should be added as a new category.

All that being said, here is an embed of the video:

Endnotes: At the time of creating this video: I have been experimenting with other strats. An alternate Mushroom Doom strat with a shorter drive but a full 4w getting the Rings from above might be safer (not sure about faster, but I hate that hole to death). A faster strat for Sorry Bob-Omb involves going for the Heath shrub out and right, then aiming for the left side of the Bob-Omb and continuing as normal, which saves an average of 2 seconds over the bridge strat. Donuts, No Ponds! might be improved by going directly for the tree on the 2nd shot, but this is very risky. Star Boo could get the Ring, bounce off the rock, and land on the island by the tree on his 2nd shot, possibly saving time.

Star Bowser Jr. has no appreciable niche over Star Boo other than having an easier time with Floating Huts and Hoops. Star Petey Piranha is a nightmare to use, so it isn't worth his extra power to save shots on big holes such as Donuts No Ponds! (requires pixel-perfect 1st drive and low 2nd shot to threaten Eagle); Phunky Pharaoh (can easily reach Green in two after a low drive against the cheek); Pyramid Pinnacle (tailwind required to reach the Ring in one shot); Snarky Sharky (a low 1w can reach the Ring; Star Wario & Daisy are better choices); Big Bob-Omb (requires a perfect drive as far left as possible, then a high draw through the Ring to the Green to save time); and That's a Volcano! (a 3w Power can get to the top of the volcano in one shot). Still not worth using him, because Petey's shots go so high and far that most other holes, especially Par 3s, are terribly inefficient.