20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[TN94z]

I have heard many of the guys I play with claim that they hit their drives 300 but when we play together, I regularly hit my tee ball right with them and further. I would say that I average around 260 simply because I see hitting fairways more important than getting after a driver with a chance of hitting it wildly. I have noticed that the "big bombs" that they think are 300 are usually more like 275-280 going by my SkyCaddie. So that is probably alot of what we are seeing on the message boards. Many times their ball will go high but have alot of spin that causes them to fall right out of the sky, so when they look like bombs off the tee, they are usually shorter once we get to them. Now that is not saying that they don't hit 300 yard shots because I have seen them do it, but on average they are not that high. Also, these guys that hit these long drives usually shoot in the mid 90s simply because when they get the short irons in their hands, they usually hit it fat or fly the green. I have one buddy that hits a long ball but he pulls his short irons almost every time and misses the green. Then they seem to hit their chips fat or with no spin that run off the green. And they proceed to 3 putt. I can see a 20 HCr hitting 300 yard drives. The muscled up long ball means nothing if you can't do anything after that....Drive for show, putt for dough, right?

[Bamma]

Well, I am (or was) about a 20 or so (just returning to the game and have not played a round in years). My SS was right around 95 give or take a little, and my good drives, on those rare occasions when I hit a good one, were about 230 or so. I do recall on one particularly hot and dreadful day during the middle of a drought, hitting one of my good drives that landed at the point where the fairway slopes downward, getting a hard bounce off the concrete-like hardpan, and ending within a chip shot of a 350 yard green. So, yeah, I guess I drive the ball 340 too Seriously, that was one drive where course conditions allowed for something well outside my norm.

I also do not hit 9 irons 150, but when I was playing well, 150 was my 8 iron distance.

[thedoxology]

good correction picrig... thanks. I wasn't aware of that, but driving distance is still useless here.

[Ian]

i drive the ball 400 yards and hit a 62* wedge into par 5's nuff said

for anyone who doesent realise i was being sarcastic.

[Flatswinger]

I think it's a combination of things: not understanding arithmetic, not remembering the topped or otherwise terrible shots, & not actually pacing off the tee shots. Anyone who’s taken the trouble to pace off an average drive has been surprised by how much shorter it was than they figured.

Combine that with a terrible iron & short game & there you have it.

[becksfan2185]

Not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet (cause there's about 40 pages of posts and I'm not going to read through them all), but the PGA stats tell a pretty convincing story: exactly 13 players averaged 300+ yards last year on the tour.

So, if only 13 out of the world's best, fittest players - who practice and play for a living - can average 300, there's probably not too many of us that can match them. I know I'm not one of them.

Ultimately, I don't really care what everyone else claims about their game, but it's pretty obvious that the vast majority of posters embelish a bit.

[beung]

From what I can remember, the average for an amateur is like 250yrds.

It's all us Canadians up here with our thin air bombing it 270 that is throwing off the numbers :P

While I as down in Laughlin a couple weeks back, I think I had 1 driver over 300yrds. I hit is 320, down wind, down hill and it landed on a down slope. But it was like 10 degrees out and raining too so it all evens out right ??????

[Dpricenator]

I just wish I could hit it 220 and straight...that would make my day. Never really practiced my driver, as most of my shots are irons and putters anyway. I did get some tips recently and found that the driver is not so scary after all. We'll soon see i have a new Hibore XLS coming this week and a lesson on Sunday. I'm sure by Monday I'll be averaging 300 no problem.


sorry i couldn't keep a straight face with that last comment.

[Ian]

Im gonna take devils advocate here :)

The thing i wonder about : is the pros playing in dry areas, i play almost all my golf in canada and washington state and frankly we dont get nearly as much roll as in the southern states

combine dry air and hard ground= maximum distance

i played once in hawaii and was belting drives off the tee over 280 yards and im only sixteen.

Flexibility strength and mechanics all play key parts, keep in mind im no small sixteen year old (6'3 160)

but still im sure there are some huge guys out there 200+ and ripped and when they lean into that ball probably sent it flying, their putting/short game might be holding them back.

im sure there are 20 handicappers who can hit the ball well over 300 yards, i myself have played with one of my dads friends who consistently hits 320+ and is not scratch or anywhere near.


although im sure there are some guys who tell big fish tales over the internet because frankly its easy as i showed before. (scroll up to my earlier post to see what i mean)

[abris33]

becksfan2185 it doesn't matter what the tour players do. they work on every aspect of their game whereas the 20 hcp players that hit it 300 yrds probably only work on the driver. Plus I know many 20hcps that have started playing golf after playing another sport(like football) for years so their bodies are strong and in shape. and no I don't lay claim to a 300 yard drive,more like 275-280.

[Bryan72]

I don't understand why you care? who gives a damn if they are bsin or not

[907golfer12]

becksfan2185 it doesn't matter what the tour players do. they work on every aspect of their game whereas the 20 hcp players that hit it 300 yrds probably only work on the driver. Plus I know many 20hcps that have started playing golf after playing another sport(like football) for years so their bodies are strong and in shape. and no I don't lay claim to a 300 yard drive,more like 275-280.

You realize that Tour players hit 1000's of balls in a week. Most people can't afford to hit the same amount of balls as Tour players. Plus Tour players practice with a purpose, and IMO practicing with a purpose is better then just randomly hitting the driver a bunch of times.

[ryohazuki222]

I still go by what I posted earlier in this thread. 20 hc is definitely not out of the question that they can hit the occasional 300+ drive. No way in hell they can average it.... PRETTY sure.

BUT! If this story is any indication of any kind of possibility. With facts and no embellishments... read on:

The other day I went golfing and it wasn't what I'd consider a windy day at all (my fellow austin golfers can attest to what a windy day is like :)). I got on the first tee box. Hit a drive that felt solid... but it faded/sliced a bit to the right on the other side of the cartpath over the trees and into no real trouble. The hole is sloped down slightly about halfway through so I got a little bit of help there I believe... but nothing out of the ordinary. The course has dry grass and is a muni so its harder... between the two that helps more than anything. It's true that playing in this condition I'm hitting much further than I would in a soft fairway.

I almost drove the green! I was almost completely out of trouble. I had to hit a 30-40yd wedge on my second shot. Unfortunately, I pulled the first and hit a tree branch knocking the ball down. 3rd shot I flubbed the chip and it went a couple feet (I was in a bad position with a bunker guarding the green.) 4th chip finally on the green and not bad or good. Misread the speed on the putt and left myself further than I'd like. My 6th shot was a testing downhill putt. I missed it. Holed out on the 7th shot.

USUALLY, my wedge game is the strongest part. Putting is usually mediocre and sometimes good.

I measured my drive on Google Earth (so those of you can chime in on its accuracy) and my drive without any doubt was AT LEAST 300 yards and no more than 320 by Google Earth measurements.

I'd rank this drive as my second best without any real terrain boost. My best drive is a similar story but further. I ended up holing out in a very very lucky 5.

I've hit a few 330+ drives combining a great drive with some real downhill terrain boosters. One of those would have likely ended in 7 or 8 if I didn't take a second shot mulligan.

So there you go, my top 5 drives of my golfing life average very roughly about 310-325. And I'm easily averaging over 5 strokes a hole.

If you take that to the extreme...... I'm a 20 hc with a 300+ drive. THERE, I'VE PROVEN IT!!!

Back to reality. I'd roughly estimate my driving distance at only 2/3rds of that! And my HC is better.

[denver_nuggs_15]

You realize that Tour players hit 1000's of balls in a week. Most people can't afford to hit the same amount of balls as Tour players. Plus Tour players practice with a purpose, and IMO practicing with a purpose is better then just randomly hitting the driver a bunch of times.

You beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing. The only thing I'll add is that tour pros probably (or definitely) hit more drives per week in practice than us regular guys do...or any 20 hcp.

[abris33]

you guys do realize that even if they hit 1000s a week they are still mainly focusing on iron play and wedges right? tour players never start with the driver, in fact they almost always end with the woods. The time before that is spent on irons wedges and putting. When they do work on the driver they work on mechanics to combine power and accuracy(just like evry other club). What do you think these 20 hcps do. they go up to the tee and smack the ball as hard as they can possibly hit it without worrying about accuracy.Plus none of this really matters if the 20hcp is strong enough to hit 300 yard drives. (Most of them probably don't average 300+ they just hit 300+ sometimes and screw up on the rest)

[907golfer12]

You realize that Tour players hit 1000's of balls in a week. Most people can't afford to hit the same amount of balls as Tour players. Plus Tour players practice with a purpose, and IMO practicing with a purpose is better then just randomly hitting the driver a bunch of times.

you guys do realize that even if they hit 1000s a week they are still mainly focusing on iron play and wedges right? tour players never start with the driver, in fact they almost always end with the woods. The time before that is spent on irons wedges and putting. When they do work on the driver they work on mechanics to combine power and accuracy(just like evry other club). What do you think these 20 hcps do. they go up to the tee and smack the ball as hard as they can possibly hit it without worrying about accuracy.Plus none of this really matters if the 20hcp is strong enough to hit 300 yard drives. (Most of them probably don't average 300+ they just hit 300+ sometimes and screw up on the rest)

You seem to have completely missed the point of my post.

Lemme try this again. You've heard the old saying "practice makes perfect," right? Well I feel that's wrong. If you practice bad habits you're just reinforcing them. I think the saying needs to be "perfect practice makes perfect." If you practice the right things you will get better. So take a Tour players 1000 range balls, they are practicing with an swing coach every time, and their mechanics are amazing. Now take a 20 'capper's 1000 range balls, they will hit say over half with the driver, but they will it it with such poor mechanics and such inconsistency that they don't gain anything from hitting it. I don't buy the whole "all they practice is driver," crap. Just 'cause you practice something a lot doesn't mean that your going to get better with it. That's just my 2 cents.

[abris33]

you don't seem to get my point either. when these 20hcps practice they just try to swing as hard as they can at it. mechanics mean nothing. they are not trying to get accuracy they are trying for distance. like i said in my earlier post tour pros work on mechanics to get the right amount of distance and accuracy, not just distance. yes the 20 hcps might be hitting it 300+ but it is probably 300+ in the trees on the right.

[jcrob902]

I guess I'm not as cynical of the 300 yard driving 20-handicapper, because I do realize how inconsistent they are. A great driver will be followed by a 50-yard duff. Scores at up quickly that way... Some people on this forum describe their game and shots by their potential/optimal performance rather than the average.

I agree, I play with a guy that can hit the ball well over 300 yds but can barely break 90 on a good day just because he can hit the ball far doesn't mean he hit's it straight! I mean the only real reason he can't beat me is because he can't hit a wedge or any 3/4 or 1/2 swing with any consistancy far as that goes but he's great in a scramble though I don't know why so many good golfers think it's imposible for a golfer of inferior skill to hit the ball farther than them ( uh like you ) sorry to kill your ego but ther eare guy's out there that are much stronger and can swing the club faster than you that you can just kill when it comes time to add up scores, it's just the way it is put your ego in check and get over it.