20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[smith5606]

I thought I was the only person on this forum that didnt hit 300. Are you telling me I am wrong?

Must be. I hit 300 yd. drives regularly. I live in Kansas. Play here in March and April. Three-hundred yards is a cinch. Of course your next drive is probably goin' to be a might shorter - ever had one blown back at you. Oh! the pleasures of playin' golf on the prairre.

[grantc79]

Just as an example... I live and play in Denver, at more than a mile above sea level. The 18th hole (420 yard sharp dogleg left) on my home course has a yardage plaque on the tee box that says "240 yards to clear left bunker". That is legitimate, as I've scoped it with my laser. 95% of the golfers I play with can't clear that bunker, even in the rarefied air here in the Mile High City. It takes a whale of a blow for me to carry that bunker... I usually aim a bit right because it's a slightly shorter carry (225-230) to clear the right bunker and reach the fairway.

There's a whole lot of truth here.

The fact is that the 300 yard drive is like fish stories for fisherman. The only difference is all of these golfers apparently catch that 300 yard fish that no one ever sees on a daily basis.

[907golfer12]

There's a whole lot of truth here.

Haha no joke. One of my good golfing friends always shoots about mid-80's when we play, and can't hit his driver straight. But everytime he is playing and I'm not playing with him his story is always "dude my driver is on, can't do anything wrong, I'm 2 over after 9." And then we play the next day and hes back to hitting one of the worst slices you will ever see

[smith5606]

I have no grounds for snobbery. Some days I play like Arnold Palmer, other days like Arnold Stang (if you know who he is, you probably know what a Club Special is, too). However, I do get a real kick out of the Sunday foursome, formed Saturday night after copious amounts of alcohol, who show up still loaded, add to their load throughout the round, and are amazed that - because of some undefinable act of nature - they are not able to play their normal scratch round of golf or hit their average 300+ yard drives (or even keep them on the course, for that matter). If I didn't have to wait every shot while they look for a lost ball (for the 100th time), instruct the other members on the finer points of course management and shot making, and hustle the cart girl - they'd be more fun than Red Green. Unfortunately, I have a yard to mow. I wish they'd take up trap shooting or catfish noodling.

[Stacey_E]

I have to come down on the side of the people calling BS on so many of these prodigious lengths. Golf is a game of consistancy and I'm in no way impressed by somebody who swings for the long ball while playing "Army golf" - left right left right. I always use the riffleman's analogy - would you rather have a powerful riffle or an accurate one? I'll take the later. Now if you are long and straight, bully for you!

My personal experience (maybe just mine) is that many guys who swing for the fences have no real consequences of hitting way off line. These are often the same guys who roll the ball in the rough, or take a drop and not stroke and distance on OB. I don't want to get off on playing it down....that's another thread. But many (not most) of the longest hitter's I've seen on the course have no reason not to go balls out on every shot. They are not really playing golf anyway. More like an on course driving range with a green and a cup. And before anyone complains, I know, short hitters cheat too!

But if you TRUELY hit 300 ON AVERAGE (not through selective memory) and are still a 20 handicap, one of two things are true: 1). You need to hit the long drive tour or, 2). the rest of your game totally sucks. To those guys I'd have to be a tad judgemental and say, hit something other than the driver on the range. Practice your short game. Get honest about your game. And realize that one of the great ironies in golf is that a 300 yard drive counts the same as a 3 foot putt. But who am I to criticize? I'm not a great deal better than a 20. I hit 240 on average.

Whew....rant over. Great thread.

[Grndslmhttr3]

No lie, I can hit a few drives 300 yards a round. They're usually like 290-ish, but it's not a huge shock for me to hit a 300-yard dinger. Only problem is, it isn't rare for my second shot to end up off the green or in a greenside bunker.
I forgot to mention that I'm quite the advocate of the saying, "Go big or go home" on my tee shots.

[brandon_mcg]

i can say that i usually expect to hit my drives around 270 to 280 consistently and hit a 300 yarder 2 or 3 times a round. that being said my approach shots are usually stinky so that leaves me chipping for birdie then usually two putting for bogey so thats why im still a high capper. and out of those 270-280 yrd drives i usually put a few off the fairway so that never helps any.

guess what im saying is that you can be long off the tee and still shoot poorly, that 4 foot missed putt counts the same as the 300 yard tee shot.

[JaY_B]

I have yet to meet a high handicap golfer who hits it as far as he claims to hit it, I will leave it at that.

[ClairefromClare]

Ah, it's the old Internet correction again. On the Internet, my handicap is 2. From the tips.

[jjb333]

I think it would be fun to take a 300 yard string and measure exactly from the spot where the ball was hit to where the ball stopped rolling. Before the season ends I am going to find a football field and measure goal line to goal line, making a mark at each 100 yard interval, and test myself. I'd be curious to know if I, who believes that he averages about 275 off the tee, and can occasionally hit a 300 yard drive, is right.

Another thing that most people don't believe is that I can, with some sacrifice to accuracy, hit a 160 yard 9 iron. Although I've tested this on a football field with 10 yard end zones, I'll test this as well with no bias. Perhaps I'll even test some other people after asking how far they believe they can drive a ball.

One thing I want to know is how people say that someone can't drive a ball 300 yards if they can reach a straight 540 yard par 5 in 2. I mean, either I hit the drive 300 yards or I hit a 3 wood over 240 yards off the deck. Is it that the course is measured incorrectly? Is it that they don't measure straight from the tee box but rather in a "zig zag" style?

[907golfer12]

I think it would be fun to take a 300 yard string and measure exactly from the spot where the ball was hit to where the ball stopped rolling.

I don't know if I am reading this incorrectly, but a football field is only 100 yards long? So you couldn't mark at 100 yard intervals?

[Stacey_E]

I posted a rant earlier but it just dawned on me......
Maybe the reason so many are stuck at a 20 handicap is because they THINK they can hit a driver 300 and and PW 150. Something to think about.

[jjb333]

String starting where goal line meets sideline, all the way down to where goal line meets sidelines=100 yards. Make a mark at 100 yards and then start where the 100 yard mark is on the string and repeat. Then you have the 200 yard mark and can finally add another 100 yards by going from the 2nd mark to the goal line again. It's hard to explain but it is quite a simple process, not sure what you don't understand. I guess I could just use a range finder but I see a 300 yard string as fail proof, provided that it is no stretch.

[Undr Par]

as someone stated way back on page 1, on the internet you can be what ever you wanna be.......I'll go even further and call out high cappers who say they hit it 280 on a regular basis as well.....BS imho.......

I've played golf with a friend of mine who owns a course and played in college at East Tennesse St with Eric Axley and a few others who are on tour and he can't even hit it 280 on a regular basis....and he's a very low capper.... 280 is a bomb....if you do, you need to be in those Calloway commericals, and quit your day job.

[verse214]

I discount pretty much everything I read on internet message boards.

I agree for two reasons.

First in relation to this thread, there is no way.. i repeat NO WAY... that there are a slew of 20 handicappers bragging that they AVERAGE 300 yards a drive. Maybe one out of every 100 that they hit at the driving range will roll that far, but correct me if I am wrong, but don't tour pros averages range from 260 (the lowest) to the low 300's (bubba watson). Second of all, I've noticed that the majority of the people on this forum show handicaps that are low double digits and many single digits. I don't really see many with handicaps between 20-36. Last time I checked, golf is the sport that has the lowest percentage of total players that are proficient enough to make a living off of it. No offense to those who have actually worked their way upto (or down to) scratch/ single digit status, however there must be some sort of exaggeration going on with the above two claims...

[907golfer12]

String starting where goal line meets sideline, all the way down to where goal line meets sidelines=100 yards. Make a mark at 100 yards and then start where the 100 yard mark is on the string and repeat. Then you have the 200 yard mark and can finally add another 100 yards by going from the 2nd mark to the goal line again. It's hard to explain but it is quite a simple process, not sure what you don't understand. I guess I could just use a range finder but I see a 300 yard string as fail proof, provided that it is no stretch.

What I thought you meant was mark off every 100 yards on a football field, and that wouldn't work for trying to get 300 yards that's all. I just didn't read it right. And I wasn't slamming on you, but my lack of creativity didn't let me think outside of the box

[Laxplayer201092]

What I thought you meant was mark off every 100 yards on a football field, and that wouldn't work for trying to get 300 yards that's all. I just didn't read it right. And I wasn't slamming on you, but my lack of creativity didn't let me think outside of the box

haha i was confused too..

But yea, theres no way if your a 20 handicap that you can be bangin it 300. hers my points to be made. i am 6 foot 2, probobly 150 pounds, im skinny haha, not much to me, but i have a decent swing that i hit pretty solid drives alot of the times, and i pretty much always get everything timed well enough to hit one 300 a day, followed by a plethora of 260-280. but a swing that hits the sweet spot is a swing that has good form all around the course, and thats something 20 handicappers lack. On one note tho, i have met a long drive guy ( the guys that hit the ball ungodly distances) and he was a 20 handicap becasue his golf game was the tee box, there was no practice green, nothing. If he could figure out how to chip and putt, that guy would have been gold, but taht wasnt what was improtant to him. thats really the only thing i could see happening with 300 plus, bucasue if 300 is your average, taht means you have a number of them that are 320, and a few 280's, im a 3.. and my longest flat/windless drive is 320.. so lets figure this one out.. Bakke.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Pretty much the Andy Roddick of golf. He can hit his serves really hard, but he just isn't good enough to compete with Nadal or Federer. Or most of the top 10 for that matter.