20+ handicappers hitting 300 yards (mild rant)

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

That actually makes a lot of sense, the only caveat to it is here in Ohio we have times of a lot of rain and other times where it's pretty windy.

Ideal launch conditions are ideal launch conditions for a WIDE range of wind and weather conditions. You don't really ever want to deviate much from them. So "windy" and "wet" don't change the fact that your ideal launch is still going to be about the same as when it's calm and dry.

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I actually had the misfortune of having to play a ball from the fairway that was plugged about 1/2 the ball deep because of how soft the ground was.

Sounds like you should learn the rules better:

25-2 . Embedded Ball

A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown area through the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole . The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the course through the green . “Closely mown area” means any area of the course , including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I think if nothing else having a driver with lower trajectory I can pull out for those days would be helpful, otherwise I'll just stick with what I have.

1. You should come to this: http://thesandtrap.com/t/67534/first-annual-pittsburgh-erie-cleveland-get-together-august-3 .

2. Stick with what you've got. Almost everyone seems to think they need to hit the ball lower off the tee. They're almost all wrong.

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by iacas

Ideal launch conditions are ideal launch conditions for a WIDE range of wind and weather conditions. You don't really ever want to deviate much from them. So "windy" and "wet" don't change the fact that your ideal launch is still going to be about the same as when it's calm and dry.

Sounds like you should learn the rules better:

25-2. Embedded Ball

A ball embedded in its own pitch-mark in the ground in any closely mown areathrough the green may be lifted, cleaned and dropped, without penalty, as near as possible to the spot where it lay but not nearer the hole. The ball when dropped must first strike a part of the coursethrough the green. “Closely mown area” means any area of the course, including paths through the rough, cut to fairway height or less.

1. You should come to this: http://thesandtrap.com/t/67534/first-annual-pittsburgh-erie-cleveland-get-together-august-3 .

2. Stick with what you've got. Almost everyone seems to think they need to hit the ball lower off the tee. They're almost all wrong.

I always error on the side of not breaking a rule, but true enough had I known this rule I would have been much better off! I will try to make it to that, would be cool to meet some of the people here from the Forums. Is that in Medina?

[Motown88]

1. Hopefull this is formatted correct, my ghetto government computer doesn't allow me to quote stuff so I'm trusting my high school HTML class I took to remember how to do this correctly! btw...that was 10 years ago.

I have a very low ball flight with my driver and it serves me well on most days. I drive the ball roughly 280-290 on average with my low ball flight. The only issues I have is if I have to carry anything 250+, I struggle at that point. If I play a higher shot my drives usually travel around 270 yards.

[tomvk77]

Well i think why there are so many claiming to hit it past 300.

Just got back from a golf trip to Spain to the south. Temperatures are high

fairways are dry and hit 14 out off the 18 holes downhill. Think i was past or

close to 300 on all my drives.

However back in the Netherlands where it's much wet and flat i average about 276.

So don't look at distance all the time just play within your own game.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I really don't care one bit if anyone believes I hit the ball as far as I do,

But you revived this thread to talk about it.  So maybe it bothers you, just a little?

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

because there's no way for me to prove it short of having you see me hit the ball.

Well you can always pay for a trackman session.  I have $100 says you don't hit it 300 (carry+roll) even 20% of the time on the monitor.  And 20% is much less than "many", which I would take to mean 40% or more.

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

But I think it's ridiculous to discount what we say out of hand because of our handicaps. My high handicap comes from a handful bad holes, typically around 5 that are around 3 overs. The rest are bogey/par's with an occasional birdie/double bogey thrown in. So if you think about it, 13 holes at +6 with 5 at +15... Is it really so hard to believe? If so, think about how even the pros can put up holes that are +3 or more.... Seriously, it shouldn't be so hard to believe.

This is the typical mythology that lots of folks have been buying on the internet for years now.  Let me put it plainly: if you are a legitimate 20+ handicapper with legitimate 300 yard drives with any measure of consistency, you would be a part of an outlier group.  This thought of yours (and several others) that there are lots of guys who can crush it 300 but then they can't get on-and-in in less than 4 strokes (on average...meaning sometimes less than 6) because they don't understand the fundamentals of the swing well enough to pitch from within 60 yards is comical.

I know of exactly one guy (whom I met in person) who could regularly drive it around 300 and claimed to be a 15 handicap.  Now, when I played with him he finished +6, and he also had only picked up the game the year prior, so he wasn't a tried-and-true 15 handicap.  Now he says it's around 11.  That's a far cry from 20+.

Nevertheless, when you're ready to put your money in an escrow account and make a trackman session, you let me know .  You could be one of the few, but you would still be wrong about your theory that plenty of folks can crush it, but don't have the fundamentals to hit an approach shot more than once every 5 holes.

[TJBam]

Drive for show, putt for dough

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

But you revived this thread to talk about it.  So maybe it bothers you, just a little?

Well you can always pay for a trackman session.  I have $100 says you don't hit it 300 (carry+roll) even 20% of the time on the monitor.  And 20% is much less than "many", which I would take to mean 40% or more.

This is the typical mythology that lots of folks have been buying on the internet for years now.  Let me put it plainly: if you are a legitimate 20+ handicapper with legitimate 300 yard drives with any measure of consistency, you would be a part of an outlier group.  This thought of yours (and several others) that there are lots of guys who can crush it 300 but then they can't get on-and-in in less than 4 strokes (on average...meaning sometimes less than 6) because they don't understand the fundamentals of the swing well enough to pitch from within 60 yards is comical.

I know of exactly one guy (whom I met in person) who could regularly drive it around 300 and claimed to be a 15 handicap.  Now, when I played with him he finished +6, and he also had only picked up the game the year prior, so he wasn't a tried-and-true 15 handicap.  Now he says it's around 11.  That's a far cry from 20+.

Nevertheless, when you're ready to put your money in an escrow account and make a trackman session, you let me know .  You could be one of the few, but you would still be wrong about your theory that plenty of folks can crush it, but don't have the fundamentals to hit an approach shot more than once every 5 holes.

I came here because I was referred to it in another thread. I was also given some information that does change my idea of my drive length which brings it back to 280-290. A trackman session wouldn't be as simple as you put out because there aren't any areas close to me with that available. I am currently trying to find a place to get a good club fitting but it seems most are at least 1 1/2  hrs away. I can only go by what my courses have marked for yardage to gauge my shots at this point, and by those markings that's how I come to the numbers I have posted. Perhaps you are right, and I don't really reach 300 as often as it seems due to poor markings on the local courses. This would be an honest mistake on my part and I would have no trouble admitting it, just as I have already with other information given me.

[Motown88]

Markings on the golf courses can be misleading. If you have a smartphone download one of the free GPS apps and calculate your distance off of that. It's not perfect but it may give you a better idea of how far you're hitting.

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by Motown88

Markings on the golf courses can be misleading. If you have a smartphone download one of the free GPS apps and calculate your distance off of that. It's not perfect but it may give you a better idea of how far you're hitting.

Yeah, I've been wanting to do that, however my phone *droid razr* dies so quickly that I ordered an external extended battery for it. Once it comes in I'll be able to do that. I don't know if every course I play could be way off on their markings, but I'm sure there could be easily 15 yd differences.

[RayG]

If you are using Trackman's and simulators to arrive at your 300yd average, then it should be taken with a grain of salt. Perfect conditions to ideal landing areas. They GENERALLY aren't truly accurate for people who are slicers or hookers. How do I know this- I have a friend who can't hit a straight ball to save his life, he knows it and plays a strong fade for every hole. We went to a trade show and he took a few swings. Every one straight down the middle... Except we could SEE the ball hitting the screen well to the left of center on his normal trajectory... WELL left. I hit a few and I noticed the same thing, I played for a hard hook and they all went straight and a LOT further than they should have. In the real world, the wind, humidity, slopes grass length all are factors that will mess with those numbers. Along with egos. The numbers are "projections" based on the 1/1000th of a second the ball is in the laser sight. Actual mileage may vary... and probably vary by quite a lot based on real world situations. Unless you have some guy with a Shot tracker and a gps backpack following you around. As for a 300 yard average for a 20 handicapper, try practicing your short game and putting instead. I've played with people like that and it's painful to watch them chili dip 2 or 3 easy chip shots on nearly every hole. And it's boring to wait for them tromping through the trees looking for that 300 yarder that really is about 75 yards further back, that they insist went this far.

[Lihu]

Hmm... Interesting, I always was told yardage was to front of green.

That's another topic. I was told that the color of the flag determines the pin distance relative to the blue(200), white (150) or red (100) marker. I should do a search again, through this site. In any case, I'm not quite good enough that it makes that much difference.

[Motown88]

I was told that the color of the flag determines the pin distance relative to the blue(200), white (150) or red (100) marker. I should do a search again, through this site.

In any case, I'm not quite good enough that it makes that much difference.

Yardage is measured to the center of the green from the fairway stakes or markers.

As far as flag colors are concerned, some courses do in fact do this. Blue meaning back of green, white center, red front. Not all courses do this though and even for those that do since the pin moves every day that is why fairway markers are measured to the center. A small miss short or long will result in a shot still being on the green, whereas if measurements were only to the front a miss could result in the ball coming up short of the dance floor.

[Lihu]

Yardage is measured to the center of the green from the fairway stakes or markers. As far as flag colors are concerned, some courses do in fact do this. Blue meaning back of green, white center, red front. Not all courses do this though and even for those that do since the pin moves every day that is why fairway markers are measured to the center. A small miss short or long will result in a shot still being on the green, whereas if measurements were only to the front a miss could result in the ball coming up short of the dance floor.

Thanks for the information. It will prove useful to me when I can actually get ball distances accurate enough to take advantage of it.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

A trackman session wouldn't be as simple as you put out because there aren't any areas close to me with that available.

We'll have a Flightscope X2 at our outing and demo day the day of the get-together/tournament.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I was also given some information that does change my idea of my drive length which brings it back to 280-290. ... This would be an honest mistake on my part and I would have no trouble admitting it, just as I have already with other information given me.

This is why I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and not jumping down your throat like others.  Not because I believe that you really do drive as far as you claim, but because perhaps, like me, you are simply mistaken.

Like I said before, I was similar in that I always just assumed I was a regular 300 yard driver.  When I came on here and saw sombody like you, then saw somebody telling that guy that he was crazy, I'd think to myself "I doubt he's that crazy ... I'm only a 12-ish handicap and I can drive it 300 regularly."  I never came on and boasted about it, but I definitely thought it.  Then I kept reading and reading, and started thinking, and then really paying attention on the course and on the range, etc., and thinking back to times I remember hitting 300 yard drives, and over a short time, I came to the realization that I can, on a rare occasion, that involves perfect contact, sometimes a helping wind, and usually a downhill hole ... I can hit one out to 300.  If I can throw out the mis-hits, my average on good drives is probably closer to 260-ish.

Anyways, just be honest with yourself and keep an open mind ... also realize that people on here giving you a hard time aren't doing it just to be a jerk - well, maybe some are - but most of them have seen soooooo many people come on here with these claims that it gets old quickly.

Good luck!

[Slice of Life]

Originally Posted by Lihu

Thanks for the information. It will prove useful to me when I can actually get ball distances accurate enough to take advantage of it.

So frustrating. Nothing like being 160 yards from the center of the green and blasting a 7 iron that usually goes 155-160 15 yards past the green. Did that the other night, fortunately it was a 2 man scramble. Although hopefully that's because I'm not scooping and actually hit that one the right way. (Thanks Erik?) lol

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

A trackman session wouldn't be as simple as you put out because there aren't any areas close to me with that available.

Originally Posted by iacas

We'll have a Flightscope X2 at our outing and demo day the day of the get-together/tournament.

Dude ... take advantage of this!!!  Not only will you learn exactly how far you hit it, but you'll probably get some good instruction to help that number increase!

For the record ... super jealous of the whole day ... private country club, free demo, lunch, dinner, Jamo.  You guys thought of everything!!

(However, don't think I've forgotten the "lame" comment in post #1 of that thread Erik!  Just wait until the Newport Cup!!!)

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by Motown88

Yardage is measured to the center of the green from the fairway stakes or markers.

As far as flag colors are concerned, some courses do in fact do this. Blue meaning back of green, white center, red front. Not all courses do this though and even for those that do since the pin moves every day that is why fairway markers are measured to the center. A small miss short or long will result in a shot still being on the green, whereas if measurements were only to the front a miss could result in the ball coming up short of the dance floor.

Actually, the way the courses around here do it they move a small flag on the flag stick up or down relative to how close or far the pin is to the front of the green.