20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by spam

So I don't believe a 300 avg is possible for a high handicapper. I do think they can have a few at that level by luck. How about that saevel25

The problem is they don't think it's luck and boast about it like they are superhuman. No doubt anyone can get lucky but with regard to that it doesn't happen as often as they say it does. And the story is tired. It's always the "I'm an athlete" guy with the big ugly swing that leaves a pile of raisinets in his shorts trying to do it. It's not like being athletic is a rare occurrence, many of us here are athletes.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by spam

Also who cares what people hit for average. If they say they hit it let them believe they did. We need more people to play so we can take there skins lmao. 300 yard or said to be in the woods looks like I won the hole

It's not a big deal for people to claim it, and it's not a big deal for me to call them out on it.  Either way, it doesn't really affect anything except how much time we spend out of our work days to argue about it.

[spam]

People that fish say they caught a 7 pound bass on 2 pound test and the deer they shot last year was like a 10 point with eye guards. then they never have any backing on the truth. so like i said let them believe and just take there money on the skins game lol. I dont believe many of us can say we hit 300 average like it was posted earlier pros have a hard time hitting a constant 300 yard avg.

[spam]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

It's not a big deal for people to claim it, and it's not a big deal for me to call them out on it.  Either way, it doesn't really affect anything except how much time we spend out of our work days to argue about it.

agreed 100% but life can get boring without a good debate here and there

[TJBam]

People that are obsessed with driving tend to suck at golf in my experience. Put the ball in play, 250-300 whatever you want, and then the real golf starts.

[TJBam]

Hah[quote name="David in FL" url="/t/18107/20-handicappers-hitting-300-yards-mild-rant/840#post_885486"] My wife tells me that I struggle with this too....... [/quote][quote name="David in FL" url="/t/18107/20-handicappers-hitting-300-yards-mild-rant/840#post_885486"] My wife tells me that I struggle with this too....... [/quote] Hah!! Best line of the thread. "So THAT'S what nine inches looks like!" Sorry honey....

[RayG]

People that are obsessed with driving tend to suck at golf in my experience. Put the ball in play, 250-300 whatever you want, and then the real golf starts.

Few years ago, my friend and I were paired up with a pair of 'Tippers". Youngish, maybe mid-20's with the latest Driver of the moment and the latest in irons. There aren't golf shoes with spikes long enough to keep these guys in their shoes on the tee. They swung soooooo hard, I thought they would hurt themselves. But- here's the rub, we played from the normal tees and I hit my usual drives. The difference between their drives and my drives was always less than the distance back to the tips, OR I was past them by a bit. A few times they would really connect and blow it out there. But that was the ONLY aspect of their games. If I were to offer them a game where they could put their ball at the 150 and I played from the tee, I would have cleaned up. They had absolutely no game from 150 in. It would go something like this- top, top, clank, thinned over green, chili dip, thinned back over green into trap, 2 or 3 go's from the trap, chip on, then 3 or 4 putt. On almost every hole it went like this. They could care less, they only cared about how far off the tee it went and they tracked it with a GPS. Unless they were just practicing for a long drive contest (which they couldn't win because they weren't NEARLY consistent enough), it hardly seemed like a round you could enjoy. They weren't slow, though- they just seemed like they just wanted to get it over with so they could get back on the tee and wail away with their "Big Dogs". In my head trying to track them- neither one broke 100, lucky if they broke 110.

[AntiTankNinja]

I have a buddy that is 20+/310-320 off the tee. I track his yardage (gps) when we play for that very reason....IT'S IMPRESSIVE. He is an Army Special Forces guy I played college baseball with. About 6'3, 230, he is big, athletic, and strong as hell. When I got back from my first deployment, I picked up golf. He soon followed. I'm always amazed at how far he can hit it, making it look effortless. He usually hits over half the fairway so consistent enough. Basic swing and nothing over the top like trying to pound it and comes out of his shoes. We only get together and play between missions and deployments....explaining the 20+ handicap. Playing a handful of times a year....the driver is the easiest swing for him to maintain. He was 3 putting every hole! And honestly, around a 20 handicap is not that bad for someone who plays only 10 times a year. If this gives you any idea, his 120yrd and in club is a 60 degree. The stock GW that came with his irons was flying around 140. So it's possible, but he is the only exception that I know. Best thing is, he is not the guy that stops at your ball, points at his ball, then says "I'm about 40 yards ahead of you!"haha

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by spam

People that fish say they caught a 7 pound bass on 2 pound test and the deer they shot last year was like a 10 point with eye guards. then they never have any backing on the truth. so like i said let them believe and just take there money on the skins game lol. I dont believe many of us can say we hit 300 average like it was posted earlier pros have a hard time hitting a constant 300 yard avg.

A ten point trophy is pretty hard to hide .

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by RayG

Few years ago, my friend and I were paired up with a pair of 'Tippers". Youngish, maybe mid-20's with the latest Driver of the moment and the latest in irons. There aren't golf shoes with spikes long enough to keep these guys in their shoes on the tee. They swung soooooo hard, I thought they would hurt themselves. But- here's the rub, we played from the normal tees and I hit my usual drives. The difference between their drives and my drives was always less than the distance back to the tips, OR I was past them by a bit. A few times they would really connect and blow it out there. But that was the ONLY aspect of their games. If I were to offer them a game where they could put their ball at the 150 and I played from the tee, I would have cleaned up. They had absolutely no game from 150 in. It would go something like this- top, top, clank, thinned over green, chili dip, thinned back over green into trap, 2 or 3 go's from the trap, chip on, then 3 or 4 putt. On almost every hole it went like this. They could care less, they only cared about how far off the tee it went and they tracked it with a GPS. Unless they were just practicing for a long drive contest (which they couldn't win because they weren't NEARLY consistent enough), it hardly seemed like a round you could enjoy. They weren't slow, though- they just seemed like they just wanted to get it over with so they could get back on the tee and wail away with their "Big Dogs". In my head trying to track them- neither one broke 100, lucky if they broke 110.

Surprised they made 110 if they made 13s on a typical par 4...

[RayG]

Surprised they made 110 if they made 13s on a typical par 4...

Wellllll, may be a *bit* of exaggeration.... but the jist of the problem was true. absolutely rubbish after the driver went into the bag.

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by RayG

Wellllll, may be a *bit* of exaggeration.... but the jist of the problem was true. absolutely rubbish after the driver went into the bag.

At least you didn't admonish them for slow play. I guess they played pretty fast (maybe too fast?).

[RayG]

At least you didn't admonish them for slow play. I guess they played pretty fast (maybe too fast?).

They played fast enough to get the hole over with so they could bomb away.

[boomerboy]

Okay, I have to chime in on this, because it took me a long time before I ACTUALLY believed I could hit the ball that far.

First point is this:

A driver swing is much different (at least for me) than an iron or a wedge. So, at some point I saw folks saying that somebody capable of a 50 yard duff would not be capable of a 300 yard drive. I do think that is ove stating it if they swing differently.

Second, MORE IMPORTANT POINT:

How do we calculate "average" drive?  Because here's the thing. I KNOW very few folks know the exact distance they hit the ball on a drive. It varies sometimes. I tell people I average 300, because if you add up my drives, I do. A good sample of 10 drives from me looks like this 310, 250, 325, 285, 375, 340, 285, 310, 280, 295. That AVERAGE comes out to 305.5 yards per drive. (And for those of you who doubt the realism of my 375/340, I promise I've been more skeptical than you on such things. I never wanted to be one of "those people" who exaggerated about their game. But I can assure you, I have hit that kind of drive on flat, straight holes multiple times enough to know that it is legit. I have also (once, and only once) hit the green on a 415 yard par 4 with no wind going slightly downhill.) If someone asks, I say that I average between 290 and 310 per drive, and more often than not, that is the range that I hit it in. But do I hit it over 300 every single time without fail? Not a chance in hell. I pop the ball up and ground the ball occasionally, but even popping it up, it still hits 250.

I will say this about MY game that might add perspective. First of all, I have been capable of hitting a 300 yard drive since I was shooting in the high 90's, but it was nowhere near consistent back then. I do think, when people say "I hit the ball 300 yards off the tee", you can generally add a "sometimes" in there, and it would be true. Heck, I had eagled par 5's back then and then turned around and dropped 3 double bogies. It happens.

When I started to practice more often, the FIRST thing that came around was my driving. That raised my score by only a few strokes, maybe put me in the mid-ninties. You remember how bad you were around the green when you first started playing? I was awful. 3 - 4 putts plus 2 inaccurate chips can kill a hole no matter how far you drive it. So, around then, I could actually hit 300 90% of the time but still score low.

After that, my game came around pretty quickly, though. I can say right now that I played a round yesterday and shot my handicap (+10) on a course with a 70.5/124 rating (par 70), and I think I used maybe 5-7 iron shots the entire round, if that, and two of those were off of the tee box. But I can tell you right now that the difference between the 80 and a 95 was my ability to stick the 2nd shot close to the hole AND my ability to sink putts, not my driving. And I can almost assure you the difference between my 10+ and scratch will almost entirely be my putting and approach shots, also.

One more quick point:

***I live in Oklahoma, and a lot of our courses are pretty open here. Good course, but you don't have to be real accurate. Makes it easy enough to swing away on a lot of courses and not have to worry about tight fairways or deep rough (The tough part here is the daily 20+ mph winds that we have to deal with). So, depending on who you talk to, if they do not normally play tight courses, they may not have to worry about it to much.

[boomerboy]

Quote:

nice lie loser

I can really see the intellectual fortitude it had to take for you to muster up such a biting, intelligent retort while hiding behind your computer screen. Give me another nugget of wisdom, Aristotle.

Man, but seriously, that was my FIRST post on this site. I really thought if I took the time to try to add something to the conversation, I would get a little bit kinder response then just a insult borrowed from a middle-schooler. I hope everyone on here isn't like you. If so, I doubt I will be on here long.

[boomerboy]

And as I said, I play in Oklahoma. Half the courses I play are pretty open. When I'm playing a course with extremely tight fairways, I don't use the driver as often, only 4-5 times a round. I'd rather hit an iron of the tee if I don't think I have enough room and might go into real deep stuff.

[cipher]

Somebody pass the popcorn...

[bplewis24]

Boomerboy, you're a 10 handicap now.  Even if you bombed some when you were a 20, wouldn't you say your average drive has increased as your handicap has decreased?

You likely always had the potential to do so, but doing so requires actual mechanics and execution, not just a fast, hard swing.