20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Just be patient and don't put any undue pressure on yourself to improve rapidly.  The learning curve of golf is drastically different from a lot of other sports.  There isn't a steady line that gradually increases or decreases.  There are jagged spikes, in both directions, and some flatlines in between that can be quite frustrating.

I do have trouble with that, I typically catch on to most things so quickly that when I come up against something that I don't it bothers me. Recently I've been able to look at golf in a different mindset and accept my good shots and learn from my bad ones without getting upset like I used to. As soon as I did that is when I started really making improvements. Tonight I'm going out to the executive course at a local course and just work on my short game. I won't even score the round because I plan on hitting multiple shots into each green.

[Vector Zero]

Wow, 40 pages on this and still counting. We really are all obsessed with measuring our junk, aren't we?

Personally I haven't really tried to work out what my average drive is because I don't need to. All I know is that I tend to hit my drives further than most other golfers I've played with (although sadly, not always as straight) and am generally taking no more than an 8 iron on par 4 approach shots which will fly about 150 yards on a still summer day.

I recall a section in Harvey Penick's "Little Red Golf Book" which always stuck with me that went something along these lines (forgive me for mis-quoting, it's been a while):

"The average club golfer will go back to the bar and tell everyone how he managed to hit the green with a 7 iron from 200 yards and expect everyone to gasp and feel his muscles. Whereas the professional doesn't care what club is in his hands, as long as the ball is on the green."

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Vector Zero

"The average club golfer will go back to the bar and tell everyone how he managed to hit the green with a 7 iron from 200 yards and expect everyone to gasp and feel his muscles. Whereas the professional doesn't care what club is in his hands, as long as the ball is on the green."

lol, that sounds about right.

I play with a guy who's in denial. We'll be playing a 190 yard par 3 and he's like "Yeah, that should be a soft 6..." and leaves his shot 20 yards short wondering what happened.

[Vector Zero]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

lol, that sounds about right.

I play with a guy who's in denial. We'll be playing a 190 yard par 3 and he's like "Yeah, that should be a soft 6..." and leaves his shot 20 yards short wondering what happened.

perhaps downhill, with wind behind and a baked fairway. But seriously, 190 yards is going to be a nuked 5 iron or a very solid 4 iron for me.

Yes, I've played with golfers like that too. Guys I have been outdriving all day will go reaching for their 7 iron while I've got a 5 iron in my hand. What's the point of owning 14 clubs if you're going to ignore 3 of them entirely?

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Vector Zero

perhaps downhill, with wind behind and a baked fairway. But seriously, 190 yards is going to be a nuked 5 iron or a very solid 4 iron for me.

Yes, I've played with golfers like that too. Guys I have been outdriving all day will go reaching for their 7 iron while I've got a 5 iron in my hand. What's the point of owning 14 clubs if you're going to ignore 3 of them entirely?

Yeah, if it's dry and there's no trouble in front, I'll run it up there with a low trajectory 5 iron, but I'd rather just choke up and hit a REALLY soft hybrid.

[MissouriHack]

I've seen this. I was playing a couple of weeks ago and my group was joined by two younger guys. We were following a slow group so we offered to let them play out the remaining holes with us, 12-18. We were playing from the white tees. They tee'd off from the Black. They both made swings like a man trying to beat off an attacking bear. Nothing impressive as a result, and only one of them landed in the fairway short. Two more shots for them to get to the green and then 3 putts. Double bogey. The next hole, from the Black Tee's 369. Its a slight dogleg left and up hill. One of them absolutely crushed it ending up 7-10 yards off the front of the green. Do the math. He chipped his ball across the green and off the back. Chipped back onto the green but short. Three putt. Double bogey. I didn't see a par out of either one of them. But they could drive the ball 300+. They did the same thing on 18. It was impressive, sort of.

[Blueman]

I shoot high 80's from the exec tees and have punched several 300 yrders. I have been averaging every drive for the last few weeks and have come up with roughly 255. Holes into the wind bring the 260's and 270's way down as do the rolling hills. Flat holes with no wind I average 270-280. Last week I drove a green 368(tail wind + forward kick) and was pin high. And then comes the key part, I 3 putted : ( This is why I am hung in the 80's, I cant putt. Mainly because I am more focused on trying to get some kind of consistent iron play. My irons have now vastly improved where they are getting like my driver which needs minimal practice. That is what irked me last week. I was htting lasers dead center, found 5 out of 6 greens with the irons but was 3 over thru 6. Very late twilight. Because I rushed up there to get a few holes in, I didnt bother practicing putting which is my biggest weakness at this point. Had 3 3 putts and missed a birdie on 2 by mm's. Could have easily been under par, but just didnt happen. I am now focused 90% putting,10% irons. Am hoping the low 80's/high 70's start showing up some. My boy is just starting out like me and I keep trying to emphasize to him, short game,short game,short game .

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by Slice of Life

Yeah, if it's dry and there's no trouble in front, I'll run it up there with a low trajectory 5 iron, but I'd rather just choke up and hit a REALLY soft hybrid.

Last night I had a 4 iron go an improbable distance due to a big kick and roll off a hill. Had a 261 yd drive and had 254 to center green. Ball went left of green looked for my 5 minutes couldn't find it and took my drop and penalty. After finishing the hole I was helping a group behind me find a ball and saw a ball about 5 yards passed the green and 20 yards left of the green. Thinking it was their ball I ran up to say "here it is!" only to see it was my ball.... So basically I hit my 4i further than my driver! Now I know that's not how far it would have been if not for that kick of the hill but damn!

[liquor box]

I have a decent length shot from the tee and fairway.

Driver 278y (255m)

Wedge 120y (110m)

7i 170y(156m)

I lose most of my strokes on my approach shots. with a wedge I usually am on the fringe of the green, with a 7i about 3m off the green and with a 5i about 5-10m off the green. I have the length to shoot good scores but no the accuracy. I am usually able to chip to 10-20ft and then 2 putt for a bogey on most holes.

[powerdrives]

Here is the deal boys and girls..   I average  330 yards on my drives and I have a 18 handicap due to bad bad putting

I am 23 , 5'10 195lb  I have a swing like jamie sadlowski that hinges with my driver... and a controlled short swing with my iron..

today at the range the fence is 295 yards ... I air all of my drivers into the net you can visually see them hit the net from the air

I also today used a 4 hybrid and was able to hit that in the air 270 yards it rolled to the edge of the fence.

Here is the break down and proof..

330 yards par 4 with lake infront of green 313 yards to clear.. I was able to drive the ball over the lake for a total air of 320 and chip on and 2 putt for par

550 yards,  par 5,  ball landed just behind blue stick middle fairway ,  ball driven 340 yards,   then we take the 6 iron and put in on the green 210 yards....  then we 4 putt for bougey :))

546 yards,   par 5 ,   ball landed left side of fairway behind blue stick for a total of 323 yards into wind.  then we took 5 iron and put in on the green 220 yards...  3 putt for par

547 yards,  par 5      ball lands centre fair way  50 yards behind blue stick  346 yards drive.  6 iron then is used and we make front of the green at 195 yards.      2 putt for birdie...

I have been playing golf since I was kid with my father and never had any professional training, I have only been out on the golf course 5 times this year so my handicap and game can improve drasticallly with practise.

The reason I am able to average such big distance with my driver and irons is very simple.. I have played competitve hockey my whole life and have developed very strong wrist muscles I also am a avid snowboarder so my legs and core are in great shape.. I also have 2 left hands  I write with my left hand but golf and do everything right handed.. and lastly because of my hindged golf swing I am able to create massive club speed while maintaining my balance.

I was able to drive 16 fairways the other day all consistantly over 315 yards.... this proves you can hit the ball long and straight consistanlty


So to all the haters who do not believe this is possible go watch jamie sadlowski and john daly videos they both have over extended backswings which I also have this enables us to generate massive club speed.

Any questions?

[cipher]

I have a question. So since you are a monster of the tee. And you are only an 18 hc because of putting, do you three or four putt each green? Oh and you say you are an 18hc but your "proof" shows that you shoot even par, which is it? And how do you drive 16/14 fairways anyway?

[powerdrives]

I consistantly  3 putt & 4 putt  like its my day job ... I have not practised much in the past 2 years and am starting to finally get back into the game .. I have been to the range twice this year and only golfed 5 times   With some practise I believe I can easliy putt up a 8 - 10 over by fixing my putting problem.

for example easy par 3 the other day 157 yards  I hit the ball and landed short of the green,  I then chipped the ball within 10 feet and 3 putted  :)

[Hacker James]

hmmmm. this sounds peculiarly familiar to the story we heard last week from the guy with lightening fast hips, lights out play, perfect tempo. No video of his swing as he promised, and not a word from him since.  Then and now....I say..."I ain't touchin this"......

Shorty?  where are you?.......your turn for enlightenment.  or....probably won't even bother...(I wouldn't).

[Hacker James]

another thought on high handicappers hitting in excess of 300 yards carry.  IF I were able to do that, and IF I were to do it consistently, I think I would keep it to myself rather than put it out there for attacks and ridicule and in a position of having to defend my claims.  There are ways to let people know what you did a bit more subtlety  and with the knowledge that you were able to accomplish that and it matters very little if anybody else even knows or believes you.  There is another old saying...."the wise man holds his tongue and the world judges him a fool, the fool loosens his tongue and proves it". or something like that.

(not that I am not capable of saying some stupid shit on occasion).

[Lihu]

Many long drivers can't play golf well. They can drive far and straight. All of them are targeting for 400 plus yards, to win long drive tournaments.

[powerdrives]

16 fairways were hit because on 2 holes I was not sure if my ball would be found or not they doglegged with high trees  ....so I hit a 2nd ball off the tee twice   300 + yards later they were all on the fairway both times... Also the examples I gave were for distance purposes and holes I did well on,

In response to the fag calling me shorty you probably cant even hit the ball 250 yards so think about this...

The reason I am able to average such big distance with my driver and irons is very simple.. I have played competitve hockey my whole life and have developed very strong wrist muscles I also am a avid snowboarder so my legs and core are in great shape.. I also have 2 left hands  I write with my left hand but golf and do everything right handed..

"and lastly because of my hindged golf swing I am able to create massive club speed while maintaining my balance."  go watch videos of jamie sadlowski my back swing is hinged like his I can see my club in my left eye when on a back swing...  I do not sit here at night making this up.... I truthfully suck at putting which is why I play so bad..


I do not understand why this is hard for people to believe that a 300+ yard driver is a 20 handicap..... I drive the ball 320+ yards and my handicap is 18 ..  I shot a 17 the other day ..

Any questions?

[powerdrives]

lastly I use a nike 9.5 degree driver which is now 4 years old so if I get a proper long driver with 7 degrees I can probably start averaging 350+ bombs...

[rkim291968]

I think people are confused by what it means by "average."    To drive 300 yards average, for very 200 yard miss (if you call it a miss), one needs to hit a 400 yard bomb.   I played over 400+ rounds of golf in the last 4 years.   Not once, was I paired with someone who "averaged" 300 yards.  Not once!    The longest guy I remember averaged 280+ yards and he was hitting pretty straight.   I knew that b/c I had my GPS to measure most of his drives.   And, trust me, he was  a much better than 20 handicapper.   If I ever see a self-proclaiming 20 handicapper averaging 300 yard drive, I will believe it.   Until then, it is just a myth to me.

( If I can hit all my drives well, I would average 240 - 250 yards, with occasional 300 yard drive.   In reality, I "average" much less than 240 - 250 yard drive including all the ones I hit into trees .)