20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by theworldengine

I think its extremely rare for a 20 hcp to hit 300 yd drives, which should go without saying. I just played with a 18 hcp who can generate a lot of swing speed since he's tall and very athletic. He hit a couple pure which did not go more than 280 carry.

300 yd carry really ****ing far for amateurs

This is true, and most drives that are "300" typically cut the corner and while the distance left to the hole would indicate a 300 yd drive the actual distance the ball went may only be 260. I know I can bust one out to 300 on occasion, however I also realize that a lot of the drives I thought were 300, or close to it, weren't because of cutting corners and/or course yardage mis-marking. A lot of things lead to the misjudgement of drive distances, not all of which can be put on people exaggerating their drives.

[Dave2512]

Seems the biggest problem with many of these claims is the liberal use of words like consistent. The reason people take exception to it is we've all been there. I remember was it was like playing to a 20+ because it was just last year. Nothing about it was consistent, most of how I play now isn't consistent and I imagine that may never change because at some point I'll plateau at a level where golf is still anything but consistent. This is just the way it is for all but the elite amateurs.

I suppose everyone is different but for me the longer clubs were the most difficult to not only control but also posed a challenge just to make half decent contact. When I started golfing again in 04/2012 I was terrible. It was weeks maybe even months before I stopped picking up the ball after getting to 8. Honestly I really didn't start keeping the ball in play until I took everything out of the bag longer than a 4 iron. I played that way until mid summer eventually working up to a 3w. Didn't even buy a driver until spring of this year because I knew I couldn't control it, I tried and failed with that experiment.

I know how much I struggled and I made fast progress but only because I had significant previous golf experience. First took up the game at age 7 and I played almost daily in the summer months because we lived on a golf course and had seasonal passes. I had instruction from the time I started through jr high. I played on teams and in leagues. It wasn't like I started without experience in 2012 and I was still terrible. Heck I am terrible now.

[Parker0065]

I take this thread as tongue in cheek, but I will just add one last comment then I'm done with it.

To say that there is no way a high handicapper could hit a 300 yard drive in play would be wrong but it is so very, very rare. So rare that in 38 years of playing as a single paired with others and in countless tournaments I've never seen it. I say it's possible only because the odds are the big strong young high handicapper that swings hard statistically can't hit them all O.B. or three fairways over. Eventually once a week, once a month or once a year they catch one really solid and on the correct swing path,,,,eventually.

Probably the closest I've come to seeing it was a couple years ago they added a single to our group on the first tee. He was a Navy kid in decent shape and in his early twenties with a mediocre swing of the 20+ handicap range. I hit a solid tee shot in the fairway my normal 275-280 yards out. The Navy kid steps up and hammers a beautiful drive down the left side of the fairway 10 yards ahead of me at around the 290 mark. I though it was cool because it is very rare that I get out driven unless I'm playing with other scratch players or D1/D2 college golfers in competitions.

Unfortunately for the Navy kid that was the only good contact he would make all day long. The rest of the day his tee shots were in the 240 yard range with very poor contact.

The other problem that has also been very well documented across these boards and others is the simple fact that people do a bad job of guesstimating driving distance without some kind of valid measuring tool.

Another story from some co-workers a couple years ago shows how bad some people guess yardage. My co-workers(all of them high handicappers) told me that one of our fellow employees Mitch had been just hammering the ball 300 yards all season long in the company league night. I don't play in the league so had not had the opportunity to witness these gargantuan drives. So we set up a golf day where Mitch and I went out to play with a couple other co-workers. Well poor Mitch said he had an "Off Day" that round. He was never better than 25 yards behind me the entire round so at best he was bombing it out there a whopping 250 yards on a good one.

So basically it's a hard sell for a high handicap player to claim they can easily hit it 300 yards. Especially to those of us that have played this game for many decades and have reached a single digit to scratch level of play. A high handicap claiming they can consistently hit the ball 300 yards(at or around sea level) just doesn't match up to the reality of what actually happens day in and day out on every golf course across the world. I don't refute that there may be "outliers" from a statistical point of view that may be able to do it, but statistically there are too many high handicappers on the internet claiming they can for them to all be valid!

In the end it's a combination of ego and poor measuring or guesstimating of distance that lead people to believe they hit it farther than reality.

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by Parker0065

In the end it's a combination of ego and poor measuring or guesstimating of distance length......

My wife tells me that I struggle with this too.......

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by Parker0065

Well poor Mitch said he had an "Off Day" that round. He was never better than 25 yards behind me the entire round so at best he was bombing it out there a whopping 250 yards on a good one.

All the low handicappers I have seen hit about the same distance as you. It doesn't really matter how big they are built either. I have seen people from 5'4" to 6'6" and weights from something like 120 pounds to 280 pounds, but all the low handicappers (scratch to 8) hit about 275-ish.

Just wondering why this is the case?

[mdl]

Just to throw in some new thoughts on the original topic.

I didn't start touching 300 on drives until I was about a 12 or so.  I remember going to my range with a buddy who grew up golfing and being totally amazed that he could clear the huge fence (30-40 feet tall?) at 235-240 yards.  At the time, only my bombs even hit the fence in the air.  Now it's a mishit if I don't clear the fence.

BUT.  My "little" brother plays pretty rarely, probably 6-10x per year.  He's 6'6", 4-year DIII 3-hitter, very stubborn and overly confident in his athletic ability, so refuses to take any swing that doesn't look like he's trying to hit his longest home run of the year on a low fastball.  When I play with him he's typically in the 90s, rarely triple digits, have seen him shoot high 80s once or twice.

So right now he's probably playing around an 18 handicap.  He DEFINITELY hits his straight drives 300+.  His average is surely lower since he's trying to kill it and his consistency is poor, so there are lots of crazy slices two fairways over and whatnot.  But when he's in the fairway he's almost never shorter than 300 yards out.  I've seen him carry it close to 300 and end up at 330+ with solid roll.  He hits PW from 150+.  Crappy 20 yo beat up 3w still goes 250-260 off the deck when he makes good contact.

My point is just that 90s shooters who can absolutely bomb the ball exist.

[spam]

i would have to say that a high handicapper can hit 300 yards. at the same time a broken clock works twice a day so with that said if you think you hit for a avg of 300 i would call bs. i have been on many courses in my area that the markers are off in the fairway and the tee box is back or up so to know the true distance you need a laser and chances of a 20 hc having a laser pretty slim there still trying to buy there game at the pro shop. now i could believe a 300 yard drive that sprayed 150 yards right and 150 out lol. i have hit like maybe 2 300 yard drives and i believe i crush my driver. i have driver swing speed that is 115 but i have had a wind at my back and a solid fairway that gave me a huge bounce so yea i call BS

[saevel25]

Oh they can, it can happen. I've seen it, i've seen some guys pound the ball. But not consistently. But, they are also swinging out of there shoes, and they maybe get 1 out of 20 drives that go that far, if not then its lucky there setting there selves up for anything good to happen on the hole. I mean, some people can generate that amount of clubhead speed, that isn't the issue, the issue is the rate of which they can transfer that speed to the ball over and over again. Hence why pro's average so much difference, and us meager mortals just get lucky sometimes ;)

But, i'll say this, i a persons game will improve if they just improve there swing, take 265-270 in the fairway than 300 once in a while and 280 in the trees all the time.

[res0n0xg]

Originally Posted by spam

i would have to say that a high handicapper can hit 300 yards. at the same time a broken clock works twice a day so with that said if you think you hit for a avg of 300 i would call bs. i have been on many courses in my area that the markers are off in the fairway and the tee box is back or up so to know the true distance you need a laser and chances of a 20 hc having a laser pretty slim there still trying to buy there game at the pro shop. now i could believe a 300 yard drive that sprayed 150 yards right and 150 out lol. i have hit like maybe 2 300 yard drives and i believe i crush my driver. i have driver swing speed that is 115 but i have had a wind at my back and a solid fairway that gave me a huge bounce so yea i call BS

with a clubhead speed of 115, you should be hitting 300 yard drives just about every single round unless you suck complete ass. Mine is around 112 and I typically will have 2-3 per round if I'm playing a long course and actually take the driver quite a bit. All it takes is a little bit of wind behind you to get you there and or a downhill fairway.

[GingerGolfer]

I think what happens with a lot of players is they hit one 300 yard drive and immediately assume that's how far they should hit them all, and if they hit one 250 or so "it was a mishit" or come up with excuses in their minds as to why it didn't happen. I don't believe that they're lying (well some are) but they have just convinced themselves that they should hit it that far every time, although only actually pulling it off a few times. Similar idea to if you tell yourself a lie is true repeatedly it will become your truth.

[Dave2512]

Originally Posted by GingerGolfer

I think what happens with a lot of players is they hit one 300 yard drive and immediately assume that's how far they should hit them all, and if they hit one 250 or so "it was a mishit" or come up with excuses in their minds as to why it didn't happen. I don't believe that they're lying (well some are) but they have just convinced themselves that they should hit it that far every time, although only actually pulling it off a few times. Similar idea to if you tell yourself a lie is true repeatedly it will become your truth.

Probably some truth to this, especially when you consider the overuse of the word consistent in this thread.

[spam]

I never said I don't hit 300 yard drives I do hit them but I don't play my driver as much as most. I use it a lot but would not say I hit 300 avg. I will hit some but if I start spraying the ball I will pull my 3 wood and sacrifice distance for accuracy. 300 yards is not uncommon for the guys I play with but if ya know Washington our air here can get pretty heavy lol.

[theworldengine]

with a clubhead speed of 115, you should be hitting 300 yard drives just about every single round unless you suck complete ass. Mine is around 112 and I typically will have 2-3 per round if I'm playing a long course and actually take the driver quite a bit. All it takes is a little bit of wind behind you to get you there and or a downhill fairway.

A 20 hcp does suck so they can't be expected to hit three per round. And you can easily have a 115 clubhead speed and never touch 300 yds if things like trajectory and spin rate are ****ed up.

[spam]

I am not a 20 hc and I do hit 300 yard drives just would not call it a average lol. My posted index is higher then what I'm playing right now just have not got my handicap updated so I posted my last known handicap. But I agree that most 20 handicaps are not striking as well as lower handicap cap guys. I have a buddy who is a 20 handicap drives well and has decent iron play but puts like a blind guy so handicaps don't always mean you can't strike well.

[saevel25]

Is it me or has this thread become like an AA meeting, "Hello i am insert name here , I'm a high handicapper and i hit it 300 yards".

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by saevel25

Is it me or has this thread become like an AA meeting, "Hello i am insert name here, I'm a high handicapper and i hit it 300 yards".

Hey hey, this is a judgement free zone!

[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

[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