20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[mikelaw]

I know of at least one. Its amazing really. He maybe even more then a 20...haha

[Chas]

I'm not a high capper, but I still only count drives in the fairway, fairways hit, and greens in regulation. There is a definite correlation between fairways hit and scoring. If a guy wants to pump up his ego by counting every wild drive he hits, that's fine by me, but his scoring won't improve until he realizes that the 300 yard drives are the problem, not the cure.

It has taken me far too long to realize that this is the case. Fairly typical I suppose. The important thing, when standing in the tee box admiring the view, is to exercise your cognitive powers (aka THINK) about the risk/reward relationship of the clubs you might use in the bag, rather than contemplating how far you're gonna crush it this time. For me at present, it means restricting the use of driver to the more favorable situations and mostly going with the 3W or even some other club.

I firmly believe that the only way I'm gonna get below 80 (hopefully this year ....) is to achieve a much higher percentage of fairways hit and thus a much higher percentage of greens-in-regulation. Trying to recover and save par from an errant drive has gotten very old for me.

[Chilidipper]

It has taken me far too long to realize that this is the case. Fairly typical I suppose. The important thing, when standing in the tee box admiring the view, is to exercise your cognitive powers (aka THINK) about the risk/reward relationship of the clubs you might use in the bag, rather than contemplating how far you're gonna crush it this time. For me at present, it means restricting the use of driver to the more favorable situations and mostly going with the 3W or even some other club.

I disagree that distance has nothing to do with scoring. With the way the grooves on the wedges are now a days, you can control your wedge play a lot more. With the box grooves you can spin it almost as much as you can spin it off the fw. Reaching 6,000 rpm's even out of the rough. If you are 110 yards longer but in the rough, you are in a prime location or atleast for most players. Id rather be in the rough 125 out rather than 175 on the fw. I think a lot of golfers would.... If you look at fw hits and scoring I took 11 of the top golfers in scoring average and looked at driving distance and accuracy. In no particular order on scoring but they are top 11 in scoring last year. First number is rank is fw hit and second is driving distance Perry 120/33 Leonard 40/156 Allenby 70/61 Furyk 28/162 Singh 150/25 Garcia 153/43 Mickelson 181/35 Harrington 154/32 Kim 159/11 Villegas 166/50 Els 173/64

[denver_nuggs_15]

I disagree that distance has nothing to do with scoring.

I don't get what you are trying to prove. Distance matters. Accuracy matters more. If you hit the ball straight, you'll never have a problem. If you hit the ball far, you can easily have a problem if you're inaccurate...it's called the woods.

Pros are different. They can hit the ball into the rough and still hit an amazing shot. Most of us cannot. 20 HCPs cannot. 20 handicapers are full of it if they think they can average 300 off the tee. Until I see it, I won't believe it.

[Fourputt]

I disagree that distance has nothing to do with scoring.

The only problem with your supposition is that you are using professional golfers to prove your point when we are talking about high handicap players. High handicappers do NOT spin the ball at 6000 rpm, generally not even from a perfect lie in the fairway. They typically hit fat, thin, toe, heel... and those mishits are exaggerated when playing from rough. And rough varies from course to course, and from season to season. In mid-season the regular rough on my home course is just plain nasty, even though it's only cut to about 1.5". Your example of there being a 100 yard difference is a bit extreme too. Most of this discussion has revolved around a difference of 20 to 50 yards, with 50 being the higher end. Then too, when you fail to control your tee shots, rough isn't the only problem you have to contend with. Trees and bushes, bunkers, water hazards, OB... all have to be factored into the discussion.

[Chas]

I disagree that distance has nothing to do with scoring.

Interesting.

Well, I'm not claiming that "distance has nothing to do with scoring". To par a 370 yard par 4, you obviously need to poke it fairly well off the tee to have a decent chance of hitting the green on your second, or at least getting close and then going up-and-down. My yardages (cleanly struck but not "pure" shots), are about 250-260 for driver and about 230-240 for 3W. 3hybrid is about 210-215 if I get some roll. But, for me, accuracy is A LOT better with the 3W than driver at the moment. For reasons I don't fully understand, I still sometimes push it or hook it pretty badly with the driver, getting me into serious trouble that almost always costs me one stroke at least (sometimes an infuriating two ...). Until I get this sorted out, I'm switching to the 3W because then I'm standing on the fairway looking at the green on my 2nd shot (par 4), thinking about which area of the green to aim for - rather than thinking how I'm gonna slice it round that tree or play a chop-down shot under that branch or some such nonsense. On fairly open holes, or if I really do need the distance, I'll pick up the big stick. Nothing feels better when you really let one fly with that baby ...... *sigh* On some of the narrower/tougher courses I play at here in the San Diego area, when I miss badly with driver the ball ends up on a rocky hillside (unplayable), or in a wooded area (lost or right behind a tree - lateral punch-out), or wet (lost), or out-of-bounds (ouch), or maybe in some poor person's living room (****). Very ugly. Chilidipper, I suspect that you don't miss it nearly as badly as I do when you miss with the driver. That may be the difference. But it opened my eyes when the low-handicap Big Hitter that I mentioned (300yd average - I saw him do it many times), a fairly accurate player with all the clubs, pulled out the 2i or 3i and sacrificed some yardage a few times. When someone with that kind of power misses badly with the driver, his shout of "four" needs to be heard in the next County.

[Chilidipper]

I don't get what you are trying to prove. Distance matters. Accuracy matters more. If you hit the ball straight, you'll never have a problem. If you hit the ball far, you can easily have a problem if you're inaccurate...it's called the woods.

I'm not saying a 20 handicapper can average 300 nor can a 14.1 for that matter. What I am saying is distance is just as important as accuracy when it comes to scoring off the tee shots. I'd rather be 50 yards closer everytime at 50% than 50 yards out at 70% is all I am saying. And to be honest so would the pros.

[Chilidipper]

Interesting.

Bottomline is that each hole on each course has it's own identity. You play the best way you can play, I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I am merely saying that distance is very important, just as important as accuracy. I'd rather be in the rough 50+ longer than vice versa. I will play a 3 hybrid off the tee, and sometimes a 4. Nothing wrong with playing smart golf. But for me a 8i or 9i into a green is much better than a 5-6 out of the fw for me.

[Quinn07]

Maybe these golfers aren't really 20 Hdcapers. Even though I am really only joking, a lot of people that I play golf with don't actually know their true handicap. Maybe these golfers are actually lower than what they claim...SANDBAGGERS!!!! (Pardon my language. )

[Chas]

Bottomline is that each hole on each course has it's own identity. You play the best way you can play, I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I am merely saying that distance is very important, just as important as accuracy. I'd rather be in the rough 50+ longer than vice versa. I will play a 3 hybrid off the tee, and sometimes a 4. Nothing wrong with playing smart golf. But for me a 8i or 9i into a green is much better than a 5-6 out of the fw for me.

Fair enough, we seem to be agreeing then. I don't mind the short rough so much either, I just wish I saw more of it than the gnarly stuff after some of my drives. Many of the courses I play have little short rough, you miss by more than a bit and it's unplayable (e.g. rocks or a canyon). I've been overly focused on distance off the tee and it's really been hurting my scores I think. Time will tell of course. Like you say, everyone has to make their own judgment based on their own game and what they see in front of them from the tee box, and every hole is different. Indeed it's what I'm liking more and more about golf, the decision-making process rather than the purely technical/mechanical aspects of the game.

[Par Fore]

LOL, love this topic...

Almost everone I've ever met has hit a 300 yard drive......"the fairway was like a rock....or it ran down the cart path forever....or there was a two club wind at my back, downhill" And they are probably telling the truth....

Personally, I need a little nice wind helping, and downhill doesn't hurt either My average is probably about 230, because mis-hits and crappy 200 yard drives, strong winds in the face, and all that stuff bring it down.....I do have two friends that are 20+ handi's and they both hit at least one 300 yarder a round....both are big boys and it goes a ton when they hit it right....but their average is probably below mine due to duffs and the like....

Yeah, I love the 300 yard average on 20+ handicappers...."300, wow, you hit it a ton....my average is only about 230.....so how about we play for a few dollars a hole??"

[DavidFehertysBike]

hahaha..
Ive seen some high handicaps get ahold of one and knock it out there around 280-290 (which is where I am most of the time) but ive never seen a high handicap hit a 300+ yard drive unless he was one of those long drive specific dudes.

[RobotDoctor]

I live in Colorado (around 5,000 feet elevation) and routinely drive the ball around 300 yards. Sometimes less and sometimes more. We get around 10%-12% additional carry due to the altitude. I play around a 10 because I play once, maybe twice, in a month. Be that as it may, I will find out how far I drive at the end of the month when I play a couple of rounds in Alabama.

As to whether a 20 handicapper can drive the ball 300 yards +, well, it can happen. There are a lot of ways to drive a handicap higher. The old saying, "Long and Wrong" certainly can apply. 300 yards in heavy rough and a player making a foolish attempt of recovery to produce another horrific result can lead to a large score rather quickly causing the handicap to rise. Ego plays a large part in a high handicap. I would rather drive the ball shorter and be in the short grass. The woods are filled with a lot of 300 yard drivers.

[montru]

I once drove a 530 yard drive! I was playing in a torny at Legends Trail Golf Club in Scottsdale AZ, I think it was the 16th, par 5.
I was given a biy of local knowledge by a guy in the pro shop, he said the cart path ran down the left side of the fairway and was all down hill, if you hit it down the left side and fortunate enough to catch the cart path, the cart path has gutters on both sides and the ball will run down the path to the green like a chute.
I caught my drive perfect and sure enough it did what he said, I ended up pin high on the path next to the green, I got a free drop off the path, chipped it on the green and yep you guessed it, three putted

[lhshurdl3r]

Why the hate towards a high handicapper who says the can drive the ball (albeit not all the time) 300yds? I'm a high handicapper... probably 25 or so, yeah that's bad. I'm not a big guy or anything (really size has nothing to do with distance). I can get the occasional 300+ drive without any wind helping me or downhill hole. My swing is VERY inconsistent. Chances are my following shot will end up chunked and only 100yds in front of me or off behind the green.

But there still are some people who can actually routinely drive the ball 300 and still have a high handicap. I've been paired during rounds with some. But then it brings them back to reality when they they 3 putt for double bogey

[SubPar]

I once drove a ball 1475 miles. It was in the trunk of my car when I drove to LA from Texas. Otherwise my drives have been much shorter.

SupPar.

[ryohazuki222]

My record drive so far is a total distance of about 340 yards on a par 5 course shaped to be if you hit the ball just right and carry it about 250 yards (from the white tees) the slope will roll the ball downhill and put you between 150 and 100 from the hole.

[Petden]

I once drove a ball 1475 miles. It was in the trunk of my car when I drove to LA from Texas. Otherwise my drives have been much shorter.

Good answer. I quite enjoyed it.