Skeptical of reported distances

[n8ron]

I [U]can[U]belive this, but also think most people exagerate.

Back before my 3 year hiatus I developed a swing that would take me out of my shoes. I could do it the same way every time though. I was ranging between 275-290 yard drives with roll in average conditions (neither wet nor dry). I topped out on one drive (after many beers) at 310.

The really cool thing was that during my improvement, the longer I hit the ball the straighter it went. I looked at my driver after a round and it looked like there was only one ball mark on it. That's how consistent I was.

I was playing bogey golf during this time period because I would commonly 3 putt. Putting is a game within a game, that's how I don't automatically doubt reported distances.

[lumpuckeroo]

I thought it was 100 up + 100 out + 100 down = 300......

[TheNatural]

i bombed one in a scramble on monday into a headwind of 1-2clubs up hill by 20 feet and the gps dude said it was 275. Im happy with that. he was able to press a button then go to the ball and measure from the last location. neat. the 3some were strangers, but they were all so impressed they stopped to try to gauge the drive..LOL they all have me by 8 HI points! Im just a beast, but i also topped 3 drives for an average of 50 yards! damn shoulder wont stay down!

[Eeryck]

  n8ron said:

I topped out on one drive (after many beers) at 310.

I know what you mean I make simple math errors when drinking all the time.

-E

[n8ron]

  None said:

I know what you mean I make simple math errors when drinking all the time.

LOL! Seriously! It was the John Daly style drive where you would usually top it, or hit a huge bannana ball. Somehow the planets aligned. Keep in mind I was including roll.

Now that I'm playing again, I'm reconstructing my swing into something more proper. I'm getting more accurate but my distances have shrunk though. My drives are stopping at 220-250 now. My 150 yard club is a 6-iron instead of my previous 8 iron. I still have no idea how I was doing that a few years ago.

[mdl]

I feel like guys on this board are weirdly pissy about this. Sure some people inflate their numbers a bit, often report what they think is their full, with roll distance, rather than carry, and there's the not as rare as you'd like, hasn't matured since he pledged his frat, I'm so manly if I claim 80 yards more than I really hit guy.

But really y'all are exaggerating how hard it is to average a carray of 260-280. Maybe y'all are just old and out of shape, or just aren't very good athletes, but it's just not that hard to hit the ball 275. It has nothing to do with how good a golfer you are overall. It's ****ing really hard to average 275 WHERE YOU WANT IT, but it's hard to average 220 exactly where you want it too.

I'm a low-mid teens handicap, so I don't have the consistency to claim a true average near that, but I know for a fact that if you take the average of my drives that finish in the fairway or light rough, I'm averaging over 250-255 in carry and maybe 260-265 in total. And I've absolutely had days where my average carry was more in the 265-270 range. And my couple best golf buddies all easily average 250 carry in fairway/light rough drives. I play single a fair amount, so I realize it's true that I'm on the upper end even just carrying it 250+, but I've played with LOTS of guys in their 20s and 30s, ranging from near scratch to around my handicap, who hit the ball as far or farther than I do.

Does the venom just come from annoyance at being old and fat and only hitting it 220? How mad can you really be at a cheesy mofo who likes to brag about his 300+ drives when you can take it out on the course, carry it 220-240, and beat him by 15 strokes?

[n8ron]

+1 mdl

I was a terrible putter and would continually be creamed by the older guys who would only drive 200-220. To be perfectly honest, I'm far happier with my shorter driving now since they are absolutely down the middle.

BTW there was no math error. 10 yards past a 300 yard par 4 = 310 yards

I also don't know how one can determine carry distance accurately unless one has a spotter out in the middle of the fairway. Depth perception is tricky to figure out exactly where the tiny ball lands across 200+ yards of green grass.

So if anyone else is going to call me a liar or braggart I'm calling it quits on this thread. Good way to welcome a new member guys.

[chspeed]

I play with a scratch golfer who can hit it pretty long with seemingly very little effort - these are not "great" drives for him - just "good" drives. I don't know what his distances are, but when I hit a "great" drive, I am next to, or even past him. BUT (a very big but), he'll hit his "good" drive 12 out of 14 tries, and I'll hit my "great" drive 3 out of 14 tries. Our long drives are similar, but our averages, I am sure, are vastly different.

My initial point is that to AVERAGE 290 - and be able to keep the ball in play, you must be able to do hit it with a controlled swing, swinging less than 100%, and be a very good athelete to have the hand-eye coordination to hit the ball flush at 110+ swing speeds. You also have to practice a lot I imagine.

To average 290, that can't be your "great" drive, it has to your "good" drive. I can't image there are that many of us on this board that fall into that category. Maybe a few, but not many.

Finally, there is a BIG difference between averaging 250+ and averaging 290 (which means a good number of your drives would be 300+).

[chspeed]

Sorry to hog this thread (this will be my last post on it), but I just had a funny thought.

Back in college, I took a Social Psych class. We learned about a big study that tested people's views of themselves. Essentially, people rated themselves on various qualities (good looking, smart, etc.) on a scale from 1-10 (think "drive distance"). The study then had the subjects' best friends also rate them on a scale of 1-10 (think "the rest of your foursome").

The only group that actually rated themselves equally to the way their friends rated them scored very high on depression tests and were - essentially - depressed! Most normal people thought they were a lot better than everyone else thought.

My take away from all this. If you're normal and happy, you think you hit it a lot farther than you do. Let the delusion continue!

[RocketSauce]

  chspeed said:

I play with a scratch golfer who can hit it pretty long with seemingly very little effort - these are not "great" drives for him - just "good" drives. I don't know what his distances are, but when I hit a "great" drive, I am next to, or even past him. BUT (a very big but), he'll hit his "good" drive 12 out of 14 tries, and I'll hit my "great" drive 3 out of 14 tries. Our long drives are similar, but our averages, I am sure, are vastly different.

exactly. i think some people in this thread are missing the point. im a little above average off the tee distance-wise, and i can AVERAGE 240-250 on a good day, and i'll even put a couple out there 260-270 on (a rare) occasion. but AVERAGING 290 is something ENTIRELY different. i bet with my mis-hits, etc, i probably AVERAGE 240

[shortstop20]

  hippyboy said:

I'm not convinced that most people deliberately lie about there distances, they geuinely believe they drive that far.

How could they not know? Unless you don't know how to subtract there is no way you could not know. Either that or you're not paying attention to yardage markers and you're making up answers in your head. Although I don't play with many other people and have only played alot of golf for one year, I can count on one hand how many 300 yard drives I have seen. One on the course and one on the range, THAT's it!

I hit one 270 today and almost fainted, the fairways are pretty hard though. LOL

[RocketSauce]

  shortstop20 said:

How could they not know? Unless you don't know how to subtract there is no way you could not know. Either that or you're not paying attention to yardage markers and you're making up answers in your head. Although I don't play with many other people and have only played alot of golf for one year, I can count on one hand how many 300 yard drives I have seen. One on the course and one on the range, THAT's it!

i think what he meant was a lot of the times the tee boxes are not at the exact yardages. they move em up and move em back on a daily basis. so if the tee box is 30 yards ahead of where it is supposed to be, your drive is going to be 30 yards longer after you subtract the yardage from the green to your ball

[Lloyd Braun]

I've often wondered whether there are some golf courses that fudge the length of their holes and make them shorter than what they say on the scorecard so they can attract golfers who are insecure about their distance. Then after they play there, they'll brag about their distance based on a few holes where the yardage was probably a lot shorter that what was said on the scorecard. I certainly have played many courses where the distances on the scorecard just never made sense.

[RocketSauce]

  Lloyd Braun said:

I've often wondered whether there are some golf courses that fudge the length of their holes and make them shorter than what they say on the scorecard so they can attract golfers who are insecure about their distance. Then after they play there, they'll brag about their distance based on a few holes where the yardage was probably a lot shorter that what was said on the scorecard. I certainly have played many courses where the distances on the scorecard just never made sense.

i hope none of my courses do that. then my iron yardages would be all screwed up!

[mposter]

This forum does make me think I need help with my driver distance. I really only hit it about 250. I do have an occasional drive of 270-280 but it is rare.

My distance is ok/average. I hit an 8 iron 150-160. A 5 iron 185-195. But I do not hit my driver as far as the members on this forum :(

[RocketSauce]

  mposter said:

This forum does make me think I need help with my driver distance. I really only hit it about 250. I do have an occasional drive of 270-280 but it is rare.

trust me, your yardages are just fine

[golfbarefoot]

Zach Johnson moves it out there and averages 281. Half the people you talk to out drive one of the best players in the world not to mention Masters champion...

It's comical to me. Seriously, people just don't realize their "300 yard" drive was more like 260.. And there "280 yard" drive is more like 240... Can't tell you how many times I've won a Sam Adams marking a "bomb" 25 yards shorter with my SkyCaddie than the player thought..

[wedge player]

  chspeed said:

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but I couldn't find it.

i measure my distances with a gps unit