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

[Hammer 4]

Generally yes. Taller guys just have an advantage because they swing on a bigger arc.

Velocity = Radius x Angular Velocity

So as radius increases the velocity at the end of the circle increases. Taller players have longer arms so they can swing the club faster with less angular velocity. This is why Rory has to have some of the fastest hips on tour, he's only 5'8" tall compared to Dustin Johnson's 6'3" tall.

Re: Dustin, another thing that allows him to hit far, is his extension at the top, it's like he's pushing the club as high as he can. look at pic's of him at the top vs some other players, his club is way up there, and he does other things well too. I agree, a bigger arc is going to have more velocity, but it's not always a given for players to hit it far.

[warrior808]

If you use the same reasoning of shorter clubs being more accurate, wouldn't the guy over 6 and using the same length driver of a guy 5'6" seem to think the club was short relative to his height and therefore, the taller players shouldn't be hitting their driver all over the place? Same length of club, longer arms and then add upper body length and you have more advantage (physically) of a faster swing speed than a shorter person.

Those shorter guys driving the ball just as far have an advantage that average golfers don't have and that a driver's shaft can be fined tuned to make up for some of the physical shortcomings of vertically challenged golfers.

[late347]

If you use the same reasoning of shorter clubs being more accurate, wouldn't the guy over 6 and using the same length driver of a guy 5'6" seem to think the club was short relative to his height and therefore, the taller players shouldn't be hitting their driver all over the place? Same length of club, longer arms and then add upper body length and you have more advantage (physically) of a faster swing speed than a shorter person.

Those shorter guys driving the ball just as far have an advantage that average golfers don't have and that a driver's shaft can be fined tuned to make up for some of the physical shortcomings of vertically challenged golfers.

Ehh, I'm pretty sure that shorter clubs more accurate = more loft clubs more accurate...

Nothing to do with accuracy coming together with shaft length, at least not neccessarily, not certainly?

If a huge dude is using too short shaft in his golf club - I bet his swing will be awkward. (he's crouching over too much over the ball, too close to the ball, flexing too much knees to reach the ball with the club...)

I dunno, I'm not a tall person, but that's what I would guess. Unless the player is also extremely skilled (Bubba Watson has good skills in golf too! Good ballstriking and hand-eye coordination, then again most pro golfers can attest to these things)

[Lihu]

The guy on the left is 6'8" and was driving 360 forced carries all day. Good team mate I would say.

[Mulligan Jeff]

Never been one to hit a long ball. Recently played Moose Ridge in South Lyon, MI wow what a course. My playing partner told me to turn my lead shoulder behind the ball - that made a huge difference. Reached a bunker on the fly off the tee box at 250 yards. Feel like a new man!!

[Lihu]

The guy on the left is 6'8" and was driving 360 forced carries all day. Good team mate I would say.

Surprised no one recognized Mike Dobbin, long drive champion :-O BTW, he's better than scratch player.

[Abu3baid]

Surprised no one recognized Mike Dobbin, long drive champion :-O BTW, he's better than scratch player.

That's surprising to me, I picture long drivers as only able to keep 1 or 2 out of six in play.. If they can keep it straight though everything is drive SW on the green.. Oh well not me.

[Lihu]

That's surprising to me, I picture long drivers as only able to keep 1 or 2 out of six in play.. If they can keep it straight though everything is drive SW on the green.. Oh well not me.

He doesn't really need to use the driver for any of the par 4. ;-) He was using a standard driver for his 360 yard drives and they were within +/- 20 yards at that distance. Dan Boever was discussing this with the rest of us, and it turns out that many of them play pretty well, especially Mike. Plus 2 handicap doesn't get you very far in the field, and also distance does not seem to help. In any case, the pros drive pretty far. If they drove further, then many of the balls would end up in very undesirable places even on the 528 yard par 4.

[14ledo81]

@Lihu , did you play a full round with him? More details please...

[Lihu]

@Lihu , did you play a full round with him? More details please...

You caught me. ;-) No, he hit over that 360 yard forced carry against the wind with 20mph gusts all day for all the different blue team members. We had a team birdie on that one from 30 yards plus a 6 foot putt. My pitch and another team members putt.

[late347]

TRUE STORY

I hit driver yesterday at the range... 260 yard carry...

First bounce of the ball hit the backwall of the driving range... stopping any rolls

Estimated total distance 270 yards...

[Lihu]

TRUE STORY

I hit driver yesterday at the range... 260 yard carry...

First bounce of the ball hit the backwall of the driving range... stopping any rolls

Estimated total distance 270 yards...

Sure, why not?

The only problem (or a good thing for training) with a driving range is that you get to practice the motion over and over again. It's a little different than on the course.

[late347]

Yeah... my swing still sucks even though I bombed those couple drives. :( Im working on more centered and bqlanced hip rotation. My current swing problem is the left knee bends too much forward and to the right side. Right side rotation (inwards) of the left knee causes too much imbalance for me. Mvmac moderator said this much in my member swing thread. What is required in game of golf is accuracy and power. I would think that more overall accuracy with irons and wedges would help the hcp better. Think about Justin Rose e.g. He rose in GiR stat dozens of rankings into the top10 in GiR. Reason was improved iron play. Most of your clubs are irons afterall LOL :)

[Lihu]

Yeah... my swing still sucks even though I bombed those couple drives. :( Im working on more centered and bqlanced hip rotation. My current swing problem is the left knee bends too much forward and to the right side. Right side rotation (inwards) of the left knee causes too much imbalance for me. Mvmac moderator said this much in my member swing thread. What is required in game of golf is accuracy and power. I would think that more overall accuracy with irons and wedges would help the hcp better. Think about Justin Rose e.g. He rose in GiR stat dozens of rankings into the top10 in GiR. Reason was improved iron play. Most of your clubs are irons afterall LOL :)

This comes from a relaxed swing. The pros don't swing that hard for their physique. In fact, they are completely relaxed as they hit their 300+ yard drives, and the rest of their clubs. They don't just look like they're swinging easy, but they are swinging easy. That's part of the reason why they can hit 600 balls a day when training. The long drive trainer I talked to said this was even the case for them. They all swing well within themselves.

[late347]

Driver is still a weakness club for me especially those straight drives or even straight fade or straight draw. How do you purposely hit fade and draw btw? Sometimes i get these really annoying pull draws or push fade. I qctually water hazarded one drive with pull draw. not really hook in my opinion because wind and draw spin affected the ball, it flew great and far but too much left :( The ball went just about the edge of the duck pond. Oh well at least i advanced the ball... i made triple bogey. Par5. I was thinking about not using driver but I always like to try it out on par5. Go for par from the close tees. I coulda gone for bogey from close trees teeing off with hybrid... too late milk was spilt already so to speak. :)

[Lihu]

Driver is still a weakness club for me especially those straight drives or even straight fade or straight draw.

How do you purposely hit fade and draw btw?

Sometimes i get these really annoying pull draws or push fade.

I qctually water hazarded one drive with pull draw. not really hook in my opinion because wind and draw spin affected the ball, it flew great and far but too much left :(

The ball went just about the edge of the duck pond. Oh well at least i advanced the ball... i made triple bogey. Par5.

I was thinking about not using driver but I always like to try it out on par5. Go for par from the close tees.

I coulda gone for bogey from close trees teeing off with hybrid... too late milk was spilt already so to speak. :)

You can look up hitting a draw and ball flight laws on this site. I'm also still learning how to do it on demand.

As you noted, it might not have been such a good idea to hit driver. Was the second shot a long open shot? I am also still learning better course management skills, too.

[late347]

You can look up hitting a draw and ball flight laws on this site. I'm also still learning how to do it on demand.

As you noted, it might not have been such a good idea to hit driver. Was the second shot a long open shot? I am also still learning better course management skills, too.

Yea I should maybe not use driver so often. Sometimes I try to play the similar strategies as my dad, but I should focus more on my own strategies instead. When hitting solid - I get 200-210 yards total with hybrid, off the mat with range balls. Bag contains:  wedges:60deg, 56deg, 52deg, pitching wedge; irons:4i-9i, putter, driver, 21deg hybrid, 24deg hybrid.

How would you play the 6th hole par5 , at my course from close tees ? (beginner high hcp). From close tees, distance to middle of green is 390 yards . I forget where the flag is. Here on the sixth hole, my drive went into the further pond on the left side.

My score on the 6th hole = 8

3rd hole par5 close tees distance is also 363 yards to middle of green . Here on the third I actually skyballed driver to fairway. Second shot, mid iron, flew into the further pond on the rightside- I was scared of long iron LOL. My score on 3rd hole = 8

[Lihu]

Yea I should maybe not use driver so often. Sometimes I try to play the similar strategies as my dad, [U]but I should focus more on my own strategies instead.[/U] When hitting solid - I get 200-210 yards total with hybrid, off the mat with range balls. Bag contains:  wedges:60deg, 56deg, 52deg, pitching wedge; irons:4i-9i, putter, driver, 21deg hybrid, 24deg hybrid. How would you play the 6th hole par5 , at my course from close tees ? (beginner high hcp). From close tees, distance to middle of green is 390 yards . I forget where the flag is. Here on the sixth hole, my drive went into the further pond on the left side. My score on the 6th hole = 8 3rd hole par5 close tees distance is also 363 yards to middle of green . Here on the third I actually skyballed driver to fairway. Second shot, mid iron, flew into the further pond on the rightside- I was scared of long iron LOL. My score on 3rd hole = 8 [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/98129/] [/URL]

Hole 6 from the closest tees at 390 yards? I would hit your 21 degree hybrid towards the right side bunker 200 yards, then a 4i or the 24 degree hybrid towards the green. The next shot should be a chip on for regulation. 3rd hole use hybrid and 8i or 7i depending upon the distance you get from the hybrid and your 8i. The main thing is to avoid the hazards and green side bunkers. Usually, FW bunkers are easy to play out.