Average Distances - How Far Do You Hit Each Club? (And Don't Lie!)

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by Lihu

I agree that it feels worse to setup for 145 an hit only 125, but on the course hitting too far might mean adding 2 strokes for a badly placed ball or even a potential OB. I tend to layup more at this point in my game, maybe more than I need. Just not that confident with hitting yet.

Off the tee, I can see how I might get 10 yards on each club.

Also, I am just learning to avoid coming over the top. Takes some getting used to.

I find myself saying this all the time when playing "I'd rather be short than long here" because, as you say, a lot of times there are severe penalties if you go passed the green.

[Lash]

Yeah I get that there are different factors. But it's easy to state your actual distances and your age or whatever you think makes you unique.

I'm just curious if most people are hitting it farther than me by a lot, when they are being honest.

I've been thinking I might need to focus on hitting it longer rather than just being accurate, because I think most people hit their clubs longer than I do.

[fishbig36]

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I find myself saying this all the time when playing "I'd rather be short than long here" because, as you say, a lot of times there are severe penalties if you go passed the green.

it depends on the hole.  Yesterday, short was BAD.  Tomorrow, long might be.  I used play a club less and allow for a potential miss hit.  Now, as I get to hitting a bit better, i will occasionally 'flush' one, and the result is often quite a bit long.  My bad habit is a scoop, and i still do it sometimes.  But, the difference between a scoop and a flush can easily be 25 yards.  Truth be told, I get satisfaction out of those shots, though they are errant, because I at least hit the ball well.

[Slice of Life]

Was golfing with a buddy of mine the other day, and it was 220 to the little creek, and 240 to clear. We both pushed our drives right and landed in the rough well past. GPS showed his drive at 273, and mine at 274. They were about 5 feet apart. Haha.

That was all carry too, so if we would have hit the fairway, who knows. That's not the norm, but it seems like every round I hit at least 1 drive about 300. Has to hit the fairway though...rare...:X

[Bogeysaurus]

My distances (approx):

Driver 200-220

Woods 180-200

6i    160

7i    145

8i    135

9     120

PW  105

This isn't very long, maybe even a bit less than average.

However, my distances aren't the reason for my 48+ 9 hole scores.

The "extra" strokes are almost always because of mishits and inconsistency.  Just guessing here because I'm not a low handicapper, but until you approach 10-12 hc consistency is probably the weakest link, not distance.

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by fishbig36

it depends on the hole.  Yesterday, short was BAD.  Tomorrow, long might be.  I used play a club less and allow for a potential miss hit.  Now, as I get to hitting a bit better, i will occasionally 'flush' one, and the result is often quite a bit long.  My bad habit is a scoop, and i still do it sometimes.  But, the difference between a scoop and a flush can easily be 25 yards.  Truth be told, I get satisfaction out of those shots, though they are errant, because I at least hit the ball well.

Definitely different depending on the course. There is only one hole on the course I play in league where short is bad, but that's only if you are trying to clear the water and not lay up before it. All others have danger passed the green. I have played some courses that had hazards short of the green or par 3's with water around them, but not many "tough" courses near me to worry about.

[Lihu]

Originally Posted by Lash

Yeah I get that there are different factors. But it's easy to state your actual distances and your age or whatever you think makes you unique.

I'm just curious if most people are hitting it farther than me by a lot, when they are being honest.

I've been thinking I might need to focus on hitting it longer rather than just being accurate, because I think most people hit their clubs longer than I do.

I think you mentioned you hit 200 yards, that seems like it is far enough. When I am very tired that's farther than I hit. My score was 26 over last Sunday, but it was not due to my shorter drives. It was around the green that I lost many strokes, just stupid judgement mistakes. However, we had a great fun round and certainly did not hold anyone up.

[skip0ls]

Course distances and range distances are much different. My course numbers are around. Dr - 265-320 "depending on the shot" 3w - 225-255 "" 2h - 210-230 "" 3i - 200-230 "" 4i - 190-215"" 5i - 180-195"" 6i - 170-185 7i - 155-175" 8i - 140-160 "" 9i - 120- 150 "" Pw 90-135 "" 52 - 0-120"" 56 - 0-100 ""

[MikeBravoAlpha]

Driver: 250 3W: 225 5W: 210 Hybrid: 190 4I: 170 5I: 160 6I: 150 7I: 140 8I: 130 9I: 120 PW: 100 AW: 90 SW 56*: 80

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Dev 0

I drive the ball 300+ yards when I hit it straight with a decent ball on the course. We are usually pretty even but I am hitting further than him more often than not. I don't swing as hard and more use my long arms to do all the work.

Like tuffluck says its a lot to do with age. I can just get more torque on the club easier. If I hit the ball straight with a driver more than 50% of the time the numbers might be pretty impressive but I would rather hit it 270 every time straight down the middle than 300+ and in the rough/trees/another holes fairway half the time.

[golfingkid]

I'm 16, 4th year in golf.... Driver-265 3 wood-230 5 wood-210 7 wood-200 3I-200 4i-190 5i-175 6i-165 7i-160 8i-145 9i-135 Pw-115 Sw-85 Pretty accurate I believe, give or take 5 yards or so on each...

[Bump-n-MI]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

LOL, too funny.  Athleticism, flexibility, and strength ABSOLUTELY contribute to swing speed.  Those attributes coupled with a fundamentally sound swing ultimately decide how far you are going to hit the ball.

Leave out the other variables like wind, elevation, hardness of fairways, etc….

I’ve heard the television adds like 15 lbs…..i think the internet adds about 30 yards

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Bump-n-MI

Athleticism, flexibility, and strength ABSOLUTELY contribute to swing speed.

Well, yeah. But swing speed ain't everything.

More to the point, the characterization that the young, fit guy will outdrive the old, out-of-shape guy every time isn't true.  Daly and Couples will outdrive 99% of us all day, every day, and neither of them would be considered young and athletic.  And while those are extreme examples, it illustrates that a lot more goes into driving distance.

That is not to say that a young, fit, flexible, strong athletic guy can't put 1 out of 10 range balls really far out there.  But this thread is still about some measure of relatively consistent distances.

[Lihu]

it should be "what's your age, how long have you been playing, and how far can you hit it" instead of "how far you can hit it."  gramps will never outdrive the college kid, provided they are at similar levels of skill.  i drive a pretty good distance, 270, but am always humiliated by the junior high school boys team that plays at my local course.  i swear they drive the ball 290+ on every shot.

Don't worry, they are high school students. The junior high students out drive me, but not you until they get to high school ;-)

[butt3r3dt0ast]

Driver: 320+

3i: 250

4i:230

5i:220

6i:210

7i:200

8i:190

9i:175

PW:120-165

52*: 0-140

56*: 0-110

...Could probably whack my putter around 100 yds if I hit it right ;)

[vmsea]

Originally Posted by butt3r3dt0ast

Driver: 320+

3i: 250

4i:230

5i:220

6i:210

7i:200

8i:190

9i:175

PW:120-165

52*: 0-140

56*: 0-110

...Could probably whack my putter around 100 yds if I hit it right ;)

Wow... i wish i had your numbers.. 9 iron 175?

your Driver averages 320.. mannnn so if you miss hit 1 drive to 200.. you'd have to average 350 on 4 other drives.. i can't even count that high!

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by vmsea

Wow... i wish i had your numbers.. 9 iron 175?

your Driver averages 320.. mannnn so if you miss hit 1 drive to 200.. you'd have to average 350 on 4 other drives.. i can't even count that high!

Realistically, if you hit it that far, you would rarely mishit one 200.  But, yeah, to average 320, you'd have to be in the 290-350 range on the bell curve.  That's elite company.

[dbuck]

In the bag below- Driver when I am swinging well 240-260. I have hit the 285+ down the middle and also the 180 pull pop up to left field. Raylor 16*-this is the old original Raylor-about 215-220 plus a little sometimes. Callaway 3H 20* -190-215+/-, Callaway 4H 23*--185 to just under 200, Ram 5 iron-this is supposed to be my 175ish club, but if I don't flush it it ain't happenin' so I am holding auditions for a replacement. PING Zing 5 iron 160ish. Hogan Director 9 iron --147 is optimal, I will hit it from 135-150+ a little. Wilson 9 iron 120 - 135 depending on the lie. I will also choke down and use it down to around 100. My only wedge is a Wilson JP Custom Grind Pitching Wedge. It is ok from everywhere if I do my part, but about 105 is all I can get out of it and I don't like to hit it that hard. All the above are course yardages with good balls.