Skeptical of reported distances

[right handed phil mickelson]

I watched the video and the first thing that comes to mind....

Ha thanks mate. RocketSauce is being a good sport about it too.

[Kcas77]

I watched the video and the first thing that comes to mind....

What is the video called?

[right handed phil mickelson]

I'll put the link up on here if ya'll are too lazy to go to the thread


http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...deoID=58011633

[RichF]

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.

Fair post.

I can see how 230-240 yards carry would be fairly attainable by anyone with a swing-speed in the 90-100mph bracket and maybe some who carry it 250-260. But those who claim a carry of anything above, i.e. 285 yard carry, which is that of golf-pros who have been playing and swing clubs every day since they were 5-10 years old, is just complete and utter bollocks. Basically, anyone claiming 300+ yard drives are saying, "Quieros? Watson? Holmes? Oh yeah, I drive the ball about 20 yards less than thoe guys".

[ZaPPPa]

Basically, anyone claiming 300+ yard drives are saying,

Wacking a ball 300 yards is hard, but hardly impossible. I'm sure there's plenty of people who could punch as hard as Tyson, but would still get killed in the ring with him, because punching hard is only

part of the total skillset needed to compete. Now, averaging 300+ yards is a whole different story. The word average implies some amount of consistency, which requires a whole other level of skill. This is where claims quickly fall apart. Whenever I hear someone claim they average 300 yards "but I have a wicked slice" I know they're full of crap. A slice takes a tremendous amount of distance off the shot and implies that if the ball would have been hit straight, it would have carried 350 yards. Unless your fairways hit percentage is above 50%, you are not averaging 300 yards carry, period.

[HSip]

Being long and in the middle is great, if not unique. Being long and playable can be great with a good/great short game. Being long and wrong is pointless. From his video I would say that RHPM is not in the long and wrong category. Good goin'

[Chas]

. Whenever I hear someone claim they average 300 yards "but I have a wicked slice" I know they're full of crap. A slice takes a tremendous amount of distance off the shot and implies that if the ball would have been hit straight, it would have carried 350 yards. Unless your fairways hit percentage is above 50%, you are not averaging 300 yards carry, period.

I don't wish to seem argumentative, and I basically agree with your whole post, but I do think there are probably some strong hitters with consistent slices who might actually hit the ball about 300 yards fairly often if you measured

the distance that the ball travelled through the air , in an arc, rather than the straight-line distance from golfer to final lie - on the adjacent fairway most likely. This would be a pretty sorry state to be in because you'd spend a lot of your time NOT in the close company of your fellow players in the group but rather waiting for other groups to play through so that you could get your ball off of some other fairway - if you're lucky enough that is. If these people don't start straightening things out a bit, they are surely going to give up the game of golf in disgust sooner rather than later. Just a thought, but basically I agree. If you're consistently long, you're almost certainly consistently reasonably straight.

[RichF]

I think a lot of posters get confused between 300 yards carry and 300 yards carry & roll.
However, If we suggest that posters are hitting downwind from an elevated tee, and carry 260-270 and land it on a pretty hard-running fairway, then yeah, I'd say they can get to 300 yards or more, no problem..

This is a swing that produces a 300+ yard drive:


I haven't seen any evidence from the swings in videos being posted on this site to suggest any of them are even close to this or can carry a golf ball more than 260.

[RocketSauce]

I think a lot of posters get confused between 300 yards carry and 300 yards carry & roll.

you are absolutely correct and i agree 100%

[TheNatural]

pshaw...I'd be 4 clubs ahead of that guy!



























After 2 strokes

[bunkerputt]

I have a really funny and shocking and sad story. I was hitting a driver at golf galaxy on the launch monitor today and this guy came up to try out some musclebacks, so I thought I would step aside. I told him I'd never hit a particular shaft in X-flex, so I wanted to try it out. He asked me what loft I use and I told him 9.5. He said he likes his 10.5 degree because it's 300 yards every time. Immediately my BS engine started rumbling. I don't know any guys in that range who hit a 10.5 driver. Also, in spite of the fact that I have a foot, 50 pounds, and probably 10 years on him and even I don't hit 300 yards every time, I wanted to gather more info before determining whether I believed him or not. So I sneakily hung around and watched him go for it with a 6-iron. I could tell immediately from his address position that the only way he was hitting 300 would be if a grenade went off behind the ball on his downswing. BLAM, 30 degree pull that carried 85 yards. Maybe it was a fluke. BLAM, 25 degree pull that carried 92 yards. Maybe he's just warming up? BLAM, 30 degree pull that carried 80 yards. Maybe he should try the Taylormade RAC demo he grabbed, instead of the Callaway X-Forged?

I was completely and utterly shocked by the level of his delusion. What makes it completely incredible is he'd just watched me pipe 3 drives 270. And in spite of this, and the fact that the moment of truth was now about to be shown, he didn't think twice about the lie. Now, just like every golfer, I struggle to be honest with myself and my abilities at times. But this guy reminded me of the time my buddy Arnie in the 2nd grade tried to convince me he went to a Toy's R Us parade downtown where they were throwing out every toy imaginable. Or the time I loaned out a video game to someone, and when I asked for it back, he said, "Aw man, I left it in my Uncle's Lamborghini". Just come clean, bro. It feels much, much better

[hawkeye]

I have a really funny and shocking and sad story. I was hitting a driver at golf galaxy on the launch monitor today and this guy came up to try out some musclebacks, so I thought I would step aside. I told him I'd never hit a particular shaft in X-flex, so I wanted to try it out. He asked me what loft I use and I told him 9.5. He said he likes his 10.5 degree because it's 300 yards every time. Immediately my BS engine started rumbling. I don't know any guys in that range who hit a 10.5 driver.

It's about optimum launch angle, not angle on the club. That'll determine how far it goes (along with swing speed, ball speed, side spin, rpm etc) - I hit a 10.5 (it's probably more - have it set to a closed face which adds loft to it) - the premium is on accuracy but I can still hit it as far as my old 9.5.

good story though - there's loads of those wannabe's out there!

[Chipper]

it's funny you run into this kind of thing all of the time. the driving range i go to seems to have something quirky about it and i can't seem to hit it far at all (given it's always windy and the wind is against me). i find the best way to kind of measure how far i hit the ball is estimate how far i am from the 150 yard marker after a drive when i'm at the course.

[wedge player]

I think a lot of posters get confused between 300 yards carry and 300 yards carry & roll.

260 carry is easy for me.but i fall into a low percentage of golfers that can bomb a ball,why does everyone on this forum call b.s when someone claims tour-like distance?

[RocketSauce]

260 carry is easy for me.but i fall into a low percentage of golfers that can bomb a ball,why does everyone on this forum call b.s when someone claims tour-like distance?

because of the examples like

Bunkerputts above. MOST people cant hit it that far, but THINK they do. the guys who can hit a 300 yard drive ON AVERAGE are few and far between (like you said, you are in that low percentile that can). but on the internet forums they are everywhere. im not delusional, i know some do. hell, i played with one on Monday (he drove a 314 yard par 4 to within 5 feet of the hole).

[wedge player]

because of the examples like

yea alot of people are delusional,but everytime someone claims people call b.s

[BigBoy]

Immediately my BS engine started rumbling. I don't know any guys in that range who hit a 10.5 driver.

That was a great story, but just want to point out the Geoff Ogilvy currently uses a 10.5* driver and hits the ball pretty damn well

sorry for being nitpicky, but I carry a 11* driver and I put it out there pretty well for a guy with my handicap, and just am a little tired of people seeing my driver in my bag and saying things like "11 degrees eh... I think my dad just had to switch to one of those when he had trouble keeping his distance respectable"...and thinking I must be the wussiest 6'5" 265lb golfer out there - as another poster pointed out, its all about the launch angle, which comes from the degree of the club, the shaft, and the move thru the impact zone

[RocketSauce]

That was a great story, but just want to point out the Geoff Ogilvy currently uses a 10.5* driver and hits the ball pretty damn well

yeah, i dont know why some people think so poorly of higher lofted drivers. i read somewhere that the ideal driver loft for the typical amateur should be around 12º. i am not one to judge anyone when it comes to what loft driver they are using. but like you said, ive seen many people make comments about that