I hate my new delima!

[SteelDriver]

Havent posted in a while....been playing a lot and working 10 times more. hope all is well with you guys but i got a bit of an issue im trying to make sense of.

recently I decided to add a 16* hybrid to the bag. Not sure how often i would play it, I went with a discount priced TM rescue mid with stiff steel shaft for only $80.

The problem?

I hit the darn thing 260 to 275 and I hit my driver that i am in love with only 230 to 260 on the average high. I have had 2 irons and hybrids in the past but ALWAYS out drove them.

I honestly dont want to even pull the driver out at the tee boxes anymore. I even have a huge hammer headcover so it even looks like a real big hammer.

anyone else have something like this going on?

[Soup Fan]

Until recently (read:TODAY) I was hitting my Tight Lies 3 woods a lot better than my driver, and I hit my damn hybrid better than any club in the bag it seems.

Keep the driver in the bag. It looks cool. Hybrids are just too forgiving and easy to hit.

[fusioncal]

Havent posted in a while....been playing a lot and working 10 times more. hope all is well with you guys but i got a bit of an issue im trying to make sense of.

I thought delima was something, like an object before I clicked on the thread.

You hit your 16* hybrid 260-275 yards? Are you sure about that? Well, even if that's true it means you're definitely not hitting your driver right.

[907golfer12]

Like fusioncal I have a hard time believing you hit you 16* hybrid only 10 yards shorter than PGA Tour average .

But if you truly do, and you want to keep a driver in the bag, then I would suggest getting fitted for a driver, as this could put your driver distance over 300 yards.

[Garthmo]

Not sure what the delima is... Get a new driver that hits it farther than your new hybrid...Done

[Guest]

I think it's time for a new driver!! You'll be blasting the cover off the ball with that distance.

[Ceej]

Yeah! Buy new equipment! Don't bother fixing your swing!

[Longshot]

Do you have any idea what your swing speed is? Must be way up there if you're hitting a 16* hybrid that far.

[rudygu]

I hit the darn thing 260 to 275 and I hit my driver that i am in love with only 230 to 260 on the average high. I have had 2 irons and hybrids in the past but ALWAYS out drove them.

Sounds to me like you need to be fitted for a driver shaft and/or work on making better contact with your driver.

You hit your 16* hybrid 260-275 yards? Are you sure about that?

Like fusioncal I have a hard time believing you hit you 16* hybrid only 10 yards shorter than

Do you have any idea what your swing speed is? Must be way up there if you're hitting a 16* hybrid that far.

My driver swing speed is ~105-110 mph and I hit my 19* hybrid 250 yards easily with good contact...I don't think his distances are too outrageous for a 16* hybrid (when struck well).

[DJYoshi]

My driver swing speed is ~105-110 mph and I hit my 19* hybrid 250 yards easily with good contact...I don't think his distances are too outrageous for a 16* hybrid (when struck well).

If your driver swing speed is 110, you should be well into the high 200's range and even 300. I top out at 105 and I've cracked it 300 before.

If your ss is consistently that fast, then it's gotta be the equipment right? 275 is what I hit with my driver.... and I do hit my 2 hybrid further than my 3 wood on a more consistent basis.

[rudygu]

If your driver swing speed is 110, you should be well into the high 200's range and even 300. I top out at 105 and I've cracked it 300 before.

Yep. With a full driver swing hit flush I hit it anywhere from 275 to 300, depending on the weather and course conditions. But, if I toe it, push it, slice it, etc. that number goes way down. The only reason I mentioned my 2h yardage was to point out that I didn't think the OP was exaggerating his 1h distance for a well struck shot.

But yeah, I agree with you. With the swing speed he seems to have, either his driver is a really bad fit for him or he is just making poor contact with it to be hitting it shorter than his 1h consistently.

[iacas]

If your driver swing speed is 110, you should be well into the high 200's range and even 300. I top out at 105 and I've cracked it 300 before.

No. Again, average carry yardage with good contact and near optimal launch conditions is about 2.3, maybe 2.4 yards per mile of swing speed with the driver. With roll, 2.5 yards is about the max you can expect.

110 * 2.4 = 264. 110 * 2.5 = 275. 105 * 2.4 = 252. 105 * 2.5 = 263. You must be getting a lot of roll. And I doubt the OP is hitting it 275 yards with a 19 degree STEEL-SHAFTED club. I'm only going on this little kick about distance because I think it's unhealthy and unwise. People measure their good drives (not their averages), then exaggerate those numbers (whether they do it because they cut a bit off a dogleg or the tees were up in front of the plates or whether it's good old fashioned exaggerating doesn't matter), and then set expectations not only for themselves but for others as well. Going up against these expectations, people unnecessarily swing harder, work on something that doesn't need to be worked on (distance over, say, gaining control), and/or spend more money on a driver that's just going to hit it as far as their current one. It's unhealthy, unwise, and doesn't do squat for anyone's golf game. 110 MPH will not let you hit the ball 300 yards unless you're playing in Denver in really warm weather or you play on fairways that resemble concrete. Watch a PGA Tour event where they have a launch monitor. The guys swing 120 MPH and don't carry the ball 300 yards, and they're often pretty close to ideal launch conditions. Much more so than even a good amateur.

[hurley9192]

I have a 107 swing speed with a 12 degree launch and 2833 spin rate and hit the ball about 260 in the air and then roll out to 275 on average. I rarely hit 300 yard drives unless it's downwind and/or downhill. I do hit a lot of 280-290 drives, but rarely crack 300 on normal conditions. I have a 17 degree hybrid that I've reach 260 with, but regularly pull it from 225-240. 5 iron distance is 195-205.

That's about as average as you will see.

[DJYoshi]

No. Again, average carry yardage with good contact and near optimal launch conditions is about 2.3, maybe 2.4 yards per mile of swing speed with the driver. With roll, 2.5 yards is about the max you can expect.

Erik, I've based my drives off of other people's GPS readings. though not completely accurate, it's given me a ball park. It's REALLY dry here in jersey so I get A LOT of roll....especially on the downhill holes. I could really care less about the distance factor... just concerned with good contact & getting on in regulation so I can try to score well.

When I started, I'd outdrive my father every hole, but he'd kick my a** b/c I'd be on in 3 or 4, and he'd be on in 2 or 3. I'd say on avg, my drives are around the 250 - 260 range. with roll... not carry. i'd be happy if I could carry 260 then get a good 20 - 30 yards of roll from our muni courses here...where they hardly water anything and rely on the heaven's

[iacas]

...especially on the downhill holes.

See above about "average" drives. You're only screwing up the games of others and perhaps your own if you take only your "best" drives. It's almost like lying by omission. You didn't say "If your driver swing speed is 110, you should be well into the high 200's range and even 300 on downwind, downhill holes on solid, firm, dry ground." You didn't say "I top out at 105 and I've cracked it 300 before when it was blowing 20 MPH and I played on concrete fairways."

This will be the last post about "distance" in general that I'm going to make and that I'm going to allow in this thread because we're off-topic, but again, I'm going to make a point of mentioning this crap every time I see people claiming silly distances given their stated swing speeds.

I'd say on avg, my drives are around the 250 - 260 range. with roll... not carry.

105 MPH swing speed is gonna max out at about 252 yards of carry. That's with just about perfect launch conditions.

But again, that's not really what you said. It's a fine line, admittedly, and laziness is a factor - you may not feel like typing out all the disclaimers - but in that instance I'd urge people to either say nothing about distance (even lazier! ) or to be very conservative with their estimates. Odds are, they'll still be exaggerating even when they think they're being conservative. Now again, back on topic, please.

[CPHoya]

I don't really get it. Last week it was a 225 yard 6-iron, this week it's a 275 yard hybrid. . .

. . . I mean I'm not trying to be a jerk but it's laughable to think that 12 handicaps or whatever are just parking balls, day in and day out, that someone like me cannot DREAM of hitting more than once, with such consistency that they can legitimately claim to possess those shots. Come on. . .

Just by way of comparison, here are my distances, which are almost always the longest in my randomly assigned group by a wide margin. Just to note, the most ridiculous shot I've ever seen in real life is a guy hit a 7-iron from 192 yards at a par 3, which he stuck, but the hole is probably 15 feet downhill. That is an ENORMOUS 7-iron.

My distance chart:

Driver - ~255 - 265 yards
3W - ~240 yards
2H - ~225 yards
3i - ~210
4i - ~198 (it just doesn't like to go 2 bills, what can I say?)
5i - ~185
6i - ~170
7i - ~160
8i - ~148
9i - ~138
PW - ~125
GW - ~108
LW - ~90

Of course, sometimes my drives do get poked out a little over 300 yards, but they're outliers . Yeah, I can hit the 7i at greens that are actually 175 yards away, but that's situation dependent . My point here is not oooooooooooh look at me, but instead that being three clubs, or more, longer than me is completely absurd unless you're on the tour or you're a good college player or you're huge . The only other explanation is that you're selecting your best ever distances and presenting the following chart to the forum:

A sampling of my forum specific distance chart:

D - 325 yards
3W - 275 yards
2H - 255 yards
3i - 235 yards ( during one of my irons only rounds, from a hugely elevated tee )
4i - 215 yards, UPHILL ( wind )
7i - 180 yards
9i - 162 yards!!!! ( shot was at least 60 feet downhill, helped by at least another club of wind )
LW - 135 yards!!! ( when I blade it over the green )

That chart, by the way, would be envied by almost everyone on the PGA tour (if it were, you know, accurate). I hope I've made my point. Everyone reads those distances and freaks and it's really not fair.

And hey, if you really do hit like my dream chart, good onto you! I, in that case, apologize for calling you out. Either way, there can't be too many of you.

EDIT : Oops, back on topic. If you're hitting any club as straight as your hybrid 275, why even bag the driver? Presumably you're in the fairway in position A all day long, right? Pull the D and the 3W, if you have one, and load up on wedges at the other end. Right? Other option is get fitted for a driver to see if you can get the results your swing should produce from a new stick, or to see if a lesson gets you on track. Pulling the driver, at least for a while, seems wise to me.

[SteelDriver]

I thought delima was something, like an object before I clicked on the thread.

Like fusioncal I have a hard time believing you hit you 16* hybrid only 10 yards shorter than

Are you guys kidding me? I know several players at my club who hit their 16* hybrids over 260. I never thought of getting one until recently because I hate my old 3 wood. I have hit my driver further than 270 but not consistantly. I hit that hybrid off the tee CONSISTANTLY 260 to 275.

trust me, do some asking around. a 16* with steel shaft will go 260+. I thought i'd hit it close to 220 to 230 to replace my 3W. now its replacing my driver.

[SteelDriver]

I don't really get it. Last week it was a 225 yard 6-iron, this week it's a 275 yard hybrid. . .

Seriously, you cant hit a 16* hybrid 260 to 270 off the tee? sucks for you. thats all i can say. Im sure you play with guys who can. Its not abnormal. Its funny how you think its crazy. Maybe your HI is what should be in question. By the way. Your distances are not impressive by any stretch. I hit my 19* 3H further than your 3W.

To answer your question about why have a driver in the bag, read the post again. I had a driver the whole time. I got the hybrid to replace my 3W and found that I hit it way further.