20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[Brakkus]

2: Its very highly unlikely for a 20 handicapper to hit one 300 yards simply due to the fact that if you can hit a driver that well you can hit your irons that well too which would require you to basically be retarded around the green to maintain such a high handicap.




You just described my game,I have hit one drive 300 wind assisted.Last month hit a genuine 280 both measured with my playing partners bushnell digital range finder.
I strike my irons well,tend to make the odd mistake which costs a stroke every 2 holes on average,but my short game has let me down,sometimes skulls,fat contacts and missing the target,leaving long puttS which has led to 3 putting,I'm taking sixes when I've had chances at pars and fives.

Next year I will have a short game to rival my driving and iron ability.

[mako224]

I think there are alot of people who are deeply offended that there are guys who hit it alot farther than they do.

I have played with a number of people who get so twisted when I hit my driver 50 yards past them hole after hole. It F-s up their whole game. Next thing they are doing is swinging out of their shoes and hitting it all over the place.

I think that accounts for alot of the venom I have read in this thread. Some of you have issues.

There are plenty of people out there who hit the driver a mile but don't know how to score.

To the guy that thinks the driver is the hardest club to hit. That is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a while. For someone who practices the driver is perhaps the easiest club to hit. Its got the biggest face, it doesn't take alot of skill to hit it far, and when your hitting a driver you are generally aiming at a gigantic target, all you gotta do is get it in the fairway.

[Brakkus]

I think there are alot of people who are deeply offended that there are guys who hit it alot farther than they do.

Bravo i know a couple of guys who hit it far,but can't hit an iron off the deck,one guy constantly places tees in the fairway to hit his next ball.

[Scott_Tee]

Don't let that bug you (it shouldn't) I hit the ball pretty far off the Tee, yet often get beat by folks uisng Utility Clubs to reach the green in 2. Golf is 90% mental, and this is getting tp you...let it go...ô¿ô

[golf_junkie27]

To the guy that thinks the driver is the hardest club to hit. That is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a while. For someone who practices the driver is perhaps the easiest club to hit. Its got the biggest face, it doesn't take alot of skill to hit it far, and when your hitting a driver you are generally aiming at a gigantic target, all you gotta do is get it in the fairway.

Funny, how almost every golf coach and pro says the same thing: The hardest club to hit is the driver. But hey, what do they though? I'll just let Butch Harmon know what he said about hitting a driver is false.

You're right, it does not take a lot of skill to hit the driver far. The next time my six year old fails to hit the driver 300 yards, I'm packing his bags and sending him to reform school. How big is that gigantic target? You mean, the one, that on average, pros miss forty percent of the time? That one? Wait, let me guess. Not only do you average more distance than a tour pro but you average more fairways hit, too, right?

[Fourputt]

To the guy that thinks the driver is the hardest club to hit. That is one of the stupidest things I have heard in a while. For someone who practices the driver is perhaps the easiest club to hit. Its got the biggest face, it doesn't take alot of skill to hit it far, and when your hitting a driver you are generally aiming at a gigantic target, all you gotta do is get it in the fairway.

Funny, how almost every golf coach and pro says the same thing: The hardest club to hit is the driver. But hey, what do they though? I'll just let Butch Harmon know what he said about hitting a driver is false.

Amen, Bro. The driver may have the biggest face but you are also hitting it farther, thus the margin of error for any misalignment is much less. Add that to the longest shaft in your bag and you have a combo that creates the largest chance of missing your target by the largest amount. If the combination of misalignment and mishit on a 250 yard drive is just a paltry 5° you will miss your intended target by 22 yards, and that doesn't even count the added error for a hook or slice. That is more than half the width of a typical fairway. Most 20+ handicappers will miss the target by considerably more than 5°. Seems pretty darned significant to me.

[iacas]

The driver may have the biggest face but you are also hitting it farther, thus the margin of error for any misalignment is much less. Add that to the longest shaft in your bag and you have a combo that creates the largest chance of missing your target by the largest amount. If the combination of misalignment and mishit on a 250 yard drive is just a paltry 5° you will miss your intended target by 22 yards, and that doesn't even count the added error for a hook or slice.

At 250 yards out to a fairway 40 yards wide, you have +/- 4.57° in which to hit the ball in your "target." (21.9 yards is correct at 5°, Fourputt, but that's from the centerline, so you're barely in the rough on most fairways if you miss by the centerline by 21.9 yards).

From 150 yards to a green 25 yards wide (good luck finding one of those greens), you have +/- 4.75°. To a hole three feet away, you have +/- 3.38 degrees with your putter. So does that mean the putter is the hardest club to hit? The answer depends on your definition. Frankly, I think the driver is one of the easiest clubs to hit at times. My true target is fairly generous (though the target I might be aiming for is smaller than a flagstick) - the fairway - and I rarely mishit it because of the big face. Think of a 5-iron, though. If I'm not on the putting green with a 5-iron, I might be disappointed. The 5-iron might be the "tougher" club to hit simply because of my expectations. But put me on a long par four that requires a draw from the tee, and I might change my mind. It all depends on perspective. Try to apply math or "target size vs. distance" to it and you quickly get into the absurd (unless you truly believe a putter is harder to hit than a driver or a 7-iron). Source: Angles of Error .

[mako224]

So I guess that means the 3-iron is a snap to hit and you guys all have it mastered since it is so much easier to hit and shorter than a driver. Oops, I see you two don't even carry 3-irons.....couldn't hit them, huh??? Guess that's why you find the driver to be such a mystery to hit. Hackers.

[Fourputt]

Oops, I see you two don't even carry 3-irons.....couldn't hit them, huh??? Guess that's why you find the driver to be such a mystery to hit. Hackers.

Now there's a genius comment that lends some quality insight to the discussion.

[grantc79]

I would easily consider the driver the hardest club to hit. Its simply longer which makes it harder to control.

I'll put it to you this way. I never pull hook an iron out of bounds. I never push an iron out of bounds.

I'll do one or the other with a driver just about every round.


Worst case scenario for me with an iron is ill hit a fade when I tried to draw it or vice versa. That is all the way down to a 4 iron (and 3 iron really until I started carrying a hybrid).

With an iron it requires practically no thought, with a driver I'm damn cautious.

[st0wgolf08]

At 250 yards out to a fairway 40 yards wide, you have +/- 4.57° in which to hit the ball in your "target." (21.9 yards is correct at 5°, Fourputt, but that's from the centerline, so you're barely in the rough on most fairways if you miss by the centerline by 21.9 yards).

I agree, because if I mis-hit my driver enough for it to find the rough, I'm still going to have an angle, because I don't hit my driver ever more than a couple yards into the rough. So i don't worry about hitting driver, however, if I hit an iron and miss a green I am highly disappointed. This could be from it being the second shot, making me get up and down or something, whereas from a bad drive, I can just hit a good approach and have birdie attempts.

[golf_junkie27]

So I guess that means the 3-iron is a snap to hit and you guys all have it mastered since it is so much easier to hit and shorter than a driver. Oops, I see you two don't even carry 3-irons.....couldn't hit them, huh??? Guess that's why you find the driver to be such a mystery to hit. Hackers.

Wow, that makes a lot of sense. I don't carry a three iron so that means I can't hit it. Pretty amazing logic as opposed to "maybe he's constantly switching his bag" or "he only hits it once or so a round so why carry it."

Yup, a 9.8 is a hacker. Make your way to NY sometime and let's see how much of a hacker I am. Put your money where your mouth is.

[smith5606]

Oh my goodness. Have sunken to this level of discourse? How could anyone demean the joy of such an innocent child, for whatever purpose?

One of the definitions of retarded in my dictionary indicates that retardation can refer to the lack of emotional development in an individual. I would suggest that there is something truly emotionally retarded about someone, anyone, who could even consider such a picture appropriate - in any concievable context.

Look into the eyes of this beatiful child. I bet that if he could play golf, he wouldn't care if he hit a 300 yard drive or even a 30 yard drive. He would treasure the joy of spending a few hours in the sunlight, playing with people he loves, hearing the squeek of the straps on his golf bag, and the clank of the clubs as the bounced against each other was he walked. Imagine the exhilaration of hitting the ball down the fairway with limbs that are twisted or are barely controlable and the feeling of accomplishment of hearing the ball finally fall into the cup. Image how you would feel if that child were yours. How would you feel about a picture like this?

May God bless this innocent child and forever shield him from those who would demean him. May God also bless those who feel compelled to exploit the infirmaties of others. I hope that He leads them to think before they act, to protect those who can't protect themselves, and to love with the purity of a child.

[grantc79]

I agree, because if I mis-hit my driver enough for it to find the rough, I'm still going to have an angle, because I don't hit my driver ever more than a couple yards into the rough. So i don't worry about hitting driver, however, if I hit an iron and miss a green I am highly disappointed. This could be from it being the second shot, making me get up and down or something, whereas from a bad drive, I can just hit a good approach and have birdie attempts.

A whole lot of that depends on where you play though.

My home course Willowdale is as narrow of a course as you could find and being in south Louisiana it is filled with 200+ year old Oaks and Cypress trees. We have two par 5's with very narrow fairways with ancient Oak trees sitting in the middle of the fairways. There is a HUGE difference between playing at a place like Willowdale and a wide open links style course where worst case scenario is you are playing from the rough. Here the worst case scenario is you tail it slightly left or right, hit a tree, kick out of bounds, kick back towards you, sit behind a monster tree so you can't due anything but pitch out, or simply never find your ball. I would challenge anyone here to come to my home course and talk about how easy it is to hit driver because I guarantee you if you hit driver all day long you are suffering at least 2 or 3 lost golf ball and out of bounds penalties.

[kyldo]

Oh my goodness. Have sunken to this level of discourse? How could anyone demean the joy of such an innocent child, for whatever purpose?

That was good, but you forgot to hold up a wheel of cheese.

[golfmonke]

At 250 yards out to a fairway 40 yards wide, you have +/- 4.57° in which to hit the ball in your "target." (21.9 yards is correct at 5°, Fourputt, but that's from the centerline, so you're barely in the rough on most fairways if you miss by the centerline by 21.9 yards).

I'd have to go with the Driver being MUCH more difficult to hit than the putter.

It's my belief that people miss 3-4 foot putts because they don't have the correct read, not because they mis hit the putt. Give me 10 3 foot putts where I know the exact break (or no break) and i'll make 9 or 10 almost every time. Can I hit 9 out of 10 drivers in the fairway, no way.

[flopdarock]

this is an amazing thread how length=accuracy...
my arguement still stands at how many long drive champions are beating tour pro's on a weekly basis...
my brother destroys balls at the range and was a very high handicapper till a few clinics at clubgolf in maryland helped him improve his game... heck he bombs guys on the grass tees from the matts on the opposite side of the range and was threatened to get kicked out if he didnt ease up...

going long does not instantly mean acing every hole everytime you address the ball...
like ive said before... ive played 60yr old dudes that are pretty weak that kick my ass by 5-10 strokes and i by no means am a long hitter

[mako224]

I'd have to go with the Driver being MUCH more difficult to hit than the putter.

I have a 10X more difficult time with the putter and chipping around the green than I do with the driver. I feel I have the driver mastered. I am longer than probably 98% of the people who play the game. I keep it in play with the driver. This game is more about controlling your misses. Bombing a driver 300+ yards is not a problem for me. Is every one in the fairway, no. If you care to measure how far I hit the ball without factoring fairways missed or how far off line I am I am sure I average over 300 or darn close to it in the distance the ball travels...not necessarrily the distance towards the hole though. From wherever my driver ends up I almost always have a 7-iron or less to the green on most par fours.

I know that my worst miss with a driver is a powerful push that flies dead strait but goes 40 yards right of my target. I almost never miss left. My driver strategy is simple. I just pick a spot on the left edge of the fairway to aim at and bomb away. Even if I hit a bad drive I am still in play with a shot at the green. From whereever my driver miss ends up I will still have a shot at putting it on the green 90% of the time. If I was anywhere near as good and confident with a putter as I am with the driver, I'd be a scratch golfer. Here is another way to think of it. If I only 3 putted as many times as I hit a driver poorly in a round I'd shave at least 5 strokes off my handicap. For me the driver is mastered while the putter is a mystery.