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

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

This thread never ceases to amaze me, either 80% of people here play every hole downhill, on the moon, can't hit a wedge or 3 putt every hole . Either that or they're lying about distances or their handicap. I've NEVER seen anyone playing off 12 or higher carry a driver 250 (ever, not talking about average) or a 7I 170 (unless de-lofting).

I agree. I play off 12 and I drive the ball (carry) about 220 and hit my 7i about 155.

[Nytar]

just cause someone is long or short hitters don't mean a thing for their scores. if a short hitter still makes GIR he can one put every green and be 18 under par. and a Long drive contender may not have a short game at all or be able to hit a thin fairway (in some cases a wide one either). there is more to this game then distance and how quickly you can cover acreage. also why they add in sand traps, lateral OB, water, hills, and greens that circle back on themselves for breaks. and shots when you really need them to happen may not work out cause of mental game, strategy you name it.

My friend that I used to play with boomed his drives way past mine. his scores were very similar to mine. he couldn't chip, barely could put, even tho he spent most his time in the rough doesn't mean he ever learned how to hit from it. he would often over hit and run off the back side of a green if it landed on the green at all.

by some theories the long drive guys should go join tour and win every thing cause no one can touch their distance means easy money.

all those "average" stats does not mean that everyone has to fit into those categories. just cause the USGA did a sample test bed of so many golfers and people with an average score of 90 only average 220 yards, does not mean their is a wall there saying "score XX to pass". I am not saying everyone is telling the truth, nor am I saying that their clubs may not be messed up.

come on out this way. we can hit the range I will show you my drives and all the way through the others. then we will go play a round and you can watch my score. (I have mental melt downs when over the ball when trying to make it go somewhere other then "down range" and am all over the map with shots then)

[32quattro]

Winter time,15 deg,  sea level, no breeze, Pro V1, kikuyu grass

Total distance meters (not measured with radar)

Driver-230

3/15- 200  (deck)

H/19-180

4/24-170

5/27-160

6/31-150

7/35-135

8/39-125

9/43-115

P/47-105

50-95

54-80

60-70

[ChrisWev]

I can carry my 9 iron 160, i use a my 7 iron from about 175. And thats pretty much all carry. I have a horrible. Hook or slice with my driver, but it still carries 220 with the slice. If i hit it right its carrying over 270. I dont have an official handicap but score low 90s no high 80s.

Sorry, but I just don't believe that. A 20 capper is just not that efficient with his swing, impact position and loft/ lie etc, so smash factor will be low (otherwise HCP would be better, it's practically impossible not to be). With this in mind, to carry 270 in normal conditions I would expect a 20 capper would have to swing about 120mph (smash factor isn't going to be above 1.4), 113mph for a tour pro with good numbers.

I would love to see a 20 capper carry a 9I 160, that's not de-lofted, a flier or the club isn't 2" longer than it probably should be.

http://blog.trackmangolf.com/performance-of-the-average-male-amateur/

The AMA has a reported handicap of 14 or 15. There is no age or nationality restriction for the AMA. The TrackMan Combine data collected from over 10,000 golfers of all levels from around the world will be used to analyze his performance in hopes of better understanding where improvement(s) can be made.

For 14-15 cappers, 1% have a swing speed of over 110mph, and even with a decent smash factor that's probably 260 carry. Average smash factor drops that below 240 carry easily. 0% out of 10,000 swing over 115mph.

I'm a very typical 18 capper(although realistically I'm probably about a 15 now if I bothered warming up). I've been told I apparently drive very well for my HCP at my club (I don't think so personally) but from the middle 5 shots of my last numbers I've got a record of (not very recent), my swing speed is 102mph, smash factor around 1.3, 1 deg down, with 11 launch angle (10.5 driver). Av carry is 210. These are not good numbers, but I get accused of sandbagging driving like this. Sure I might get one out to 260 with lots(and lots) of roll (as I launch low), but there's some at 160 too.

Basically if you're 15+ HCP you're in the (0%) bracket chance of getting 250 carry. Where as on here it's about 30%?

[bankquant]

I don't find it hard to believe at all.  I've been driving it over 300 from almost day 1 when I started playing about 4 years ago. I love disproving people who don't believe me when I tell them how far I hit. Yet my handicap is about a 22

Last two times I've played have been with people that have low single digit handicaps and they both had the same opinion . Even after seeing me match that their drives with a 3wood on multiple occasions. I hardly ever hit driver because I'm so inconsistent with it.

First round, after seeing my partner hit a huge drive right down the middle of a particularly wide fairway I decided to pull out the driver and have a go at it. I ended up outdriving the end of the fairway and ended up in the rough. After measure distance to the hole and the knowing the length of the hole, his drive was about 280.  Mine was 60 yards further in the rough and almost no roll out. I only had 60 yards left to the pin.  Funny thing is though, he parred the hole and I ended up getting a double bogey.  So driving isnt everything.

Next round on a long dog leg left par 5, there was a huge lake to carry. We lasered the carry at either 230 or 250 depending on how far down you carried the water. My partner said he's never seen anyone try to carry the water. Again, I went after it and not only carried the water but carried the entire fairway on the other side, probably atleast another 50 yards and ended up out of bounds on the other side. I somehow saved par even though I had to take a drop but I only had about 170 yards to the hole on a 500+ yard par 5.

[ChrisWev]

Ok,

To put it into perspective:

10,000 people at 15 HCP (not 20-30 HCP) do a trackman test, 0% swing 115mph+. So say that's actually 0.4% (the maximum it could be not to round up to 1%). That's 40 people out of 10,000.

Of those 40 people playing off 15, how many of those have a constantly good smash factor average (>1.35)? Half? So 20 left.

With that 1.35 you're down to 260 yards carry with a good strike and optimal launch, and that's only getting 10 yards roll on medium ground, so roll out to 270.

So of those 20, how many hit it straight, without a slice (which kills distance), 1/3rd?

That leaves about 6 out of 10,000

Of those 6 who can get 260, how many do they duff, drill low or put into the trees? 1/3 shots?

That leaves about 4 out of 10,000 15 HCP's who can average a 250 carry, a 20 HCP is probably 1/ 10,000

If you're that 1/10,000 then well done, now go work on your short game as it stinks.

Just some other numbers (which I guess I imagine is common):

105 mph swing speed

1.3 smash

136 mph ball speed

11 launch angle

2500 spin

0 spin axis

203 carry

250 total (on hard surface)

[newtogolf]

Ok,

To put it into perspective:

10,000 people at 15 HCP (not 20-30 HCP) do a trackman test, 0% swing 115mph+. So say that's actually 0.4% (the maximum it could be not to round up to 1%). That's 40 people out of 10,000.

Of those 40 people playing off 15, how many of those have a constantly good smash factor average (>1.35)? Half? So 20 left.

With that 1.35 you're down to 260 yards carry with a good strike and optimal launch, and that's only getting 10 yards roll on medium ground, so roll out to 270.

So of those 20, how many hit it straight, without a slice (which kills distance), 1/3rd?

That leaves about 6 out of 10,000

Of those 6 who can get 260, how many do they duff, drill low or put into the trees? 1/3 shots?

That leaves about 4 out of 10,000 15 HCP's who can average a 250 carry, a 20 HCP is probably 1/ 10,000

If you're that 1/10,000 then well done, now go work on your short game as it stinks.

Just some other numbers (which I guess I imagine is common):

105 mph swing speed

1.3 smash

136 mph ball speed

11 launch angle

2500 spin

0 spin axis

203 carry

250 total (on hard surface)

Can you provide a source for these stats or are you just making them up?

[Dapadre]

Driver 265/270 total incl roll (SS 104-110; have maxed at 116) record is 365 (2013)

this year record 297. Should have much better numbers but my spin is too high

3W (don’t always carry, not so reliable) 230/240

3Hy    220

4Hy    210

5HY   200

5i       185

6i       175

7i       165

8i       155

9i       145

P       135

GW    120

SW  < 100

[ChrisWev]

Can you provide a source for these stats or are you just making them up?

Can people provide a source for their stats or are they just making them up? Least I've posted my own data!

See the trackman site link in my previous post, gave the info from 10,000 tested, the average was a 15 HCP.

The further breakdowns are estimates, 40 down to 20, 20 down to 10 down to 6 etc.

Smash factors, ball speeds and launch angles etc taken from flight scope trajectory optimizer.

The bottom set of stats are similar to my own and exceptionally common from what I've seen "day in day out", and what correlates to about 10 articles I've read where people are lying to themselves thinking they're Bubba. Peoples 250 drives are more like 200 carry 250 total, rather than 250 carry 260 total. It doesn't take much for that 200 carry 250 total to be 180 carry (180 total) into the trees on the right (which drastically reduces any "average").

[Lihu]

I don't find it hard to believe at all.  I've been driving it over 300 from almost day 1 when I started playing about 4 years ago. I love disproving people who don't believe me when I tell them how far I hit. Yet my handicap is about a 22

Not impossible, but very rare. . . @billchao and @Jeremie Boop are close to your driving distance and HC, but even they are getting better. They just can't help but get better.

[billchao]

Not impossible, but very rare. . . @billchao and @Jeremie Boop are close to your driving distance and HC, but even they are getting better. They just can't help but get better. :-P

I [i]can[/i] hit the driver far, but it's few and far between nowadays. I certainly hope I get better though, because I can't imagine being much worse :-D

[Dapadre]

Driver 265/270 total incl roll (SS 104-110; have maxed at 116) record is 365 (2013)

this year record 297. Should have much better numbers but my spin is too high

3W (don’t always carry, not so reliable) 230/240

3Hy    220

4Hy    210

5HY   200

5i       185

6i       175

7i       165

8i       155

9i       145

P       135

GW    120

SW  < 100

These are my numbers from a FS I did about a week ago. Note thee are metrics so for distance (from meters to yards) you need to x1.1.

Averages for SS is appox 106 but Spin was high ( couldnt get the entire sheet to upload). As for distance was apprx 255, note however I made use of range balls. At my club you can buy special range balls for FS, but choose not to as pro said simply add about 7-10%.

SHOT	CARRY	ROLL	TOTAL	CLUB	BALL	SMASH	ANGLE OF ATTACK	FACE ANGLE
1	223	22	246	173.3	244.4	1.41	-1.8	L 9.6
2	181	51	232	174.3	245	1.41	-0.9	L 10.4
3	215	22	237	170.6	242.2	1.42	-3.2	L 6.5
4	210	15	225	167.7	242.8	1.45	-2.5	L 5.7
5	194	46	240	167.7	247.6	1.48	-3.9	L 10.1
6	203	23	227	171.2	233.2	1.36	-3.5	L 5.2
7	194	41	235	167	235.6	1.41	-4.6	L 11.7
8	190	31	222	174.1	239.6	1.38	-3.3	L 9.1
9	187	45	232	168.4	243.1	1.44	-3.8	L 11.7
10	174	56	230	168.6	243.7	1.44	-5.9	L 12.2
11	192	37	228	170.2	245.8	1.44	-5.2	L 10.2
12	189	39	228	165.6	241.8	1.46	-4.4	L 11.0
13	207	22	229	171.2	240.6	1.41	-2.9	L 8.8
14	220	32	253	171.8	240.8	1.4	-3	L 11.9
15	201	25	226	173	233.1	1.35	-3.3	L 6.6
16	208	24	232	170.1	243.5	1.43	-4.7	L 8.1
17	203	24	227	169.5	234.5	1.38	-4.2	L 4.9

[ryan772]

Well chris i dont know what to tell you. Maybe i do deloft the club just slightly, i dont have a pro swing, but i played baseball for about 15 years. I have no reason to lie. I hit a 3 wood off the deck that carried over 240 yesterday. But for the most part. Im still working on my swing, as i get better im sure my numbers will go up.

[tgynther]

D     160 (+50 to the right :)

6h    120

6i     100

7i     93

8i     85

9i     77

PW  70

52, 56 anything between 30-50

[guywoof]

I believe you. I've just never seen it. I wish I could hit irons that far, but does it mean you have to carry a bunch of high lofted wedges for short shots? I think it would be tough trying to judge a sand or pitching wedge if you were powering irons that far. See why pros are loaded with wedges..........Kuchar carries a bunch and nothing above a five iron.

[guywoof]

I should probably post my real average distances:

D  250

3W 220

11W 170

4i 180

5i 170

6i 160

7i 150

8i 140

9i 120

pw 110

sw 75

Have trouble with distance on my sand wedge

[ryan772]

Well with my 50 degree i avg about 120 full swingn yesterday i was playing a par 3 140 that played like 120 and i dropped it 5 ft past the hole and it rolled about 1 foot. My 56 is about 105 carry and doest roll more then a foot or two, then my 60 i use from about 80 out and that will roll a couple feet. I hit towering wedges so its all carry and little roll. Pretty much the same with my pitching wedge and 9 iron.

[phillyk]

Well chris i dont know what to tell you. Maybe i do deloft the club just slightly, i dont have a pro swing, but i played baseball for about 15 years. I have no reason to lie. I hit a 3 wood off the deck that carried over 240 yesterday. But for the most part. Im still working on my swing, as i get better im sure my numbers will go up.

I'm not saying I don't believe you, but saying that you hit a 3wood over 240 yesterday is great! That's one time though, not an average. You sound like you're still trying to find a good swing, so are these averages based on when you hit it good or based on every single shot you take?  There will be a big difference.