There is hope to becoming a 300 yard hitter

[Saint]

I've said this before, and I think I should say it here too...

very well said tim. i used to be a cart boy, and thats when i got good at golf. i got to play free golf at a championship course, and i played more golf than i was ever payed in my check. it was a win-win situation. I mean, if i worked in the morning, i'd usually spend 2 hourrs on the range, including my chipping on the chipping green, then i'd go play 18. of course it was always free, and i rode because it didnt cost anything, and it was usually 100 degrees. I always got tips from a guy who used to play oon the baylor golf team, and i got tips from a guy who worked there, who had his card. And they both shot 62's to tie the course record 2 days apart.

What i'm trying to say is that 300 is very possible for anyone. I would occasionally bomb one out to 360, and that was once about every 3 rounds. Shoot, my dad is one legged, has half of his righ thigh, and he was hitting 280 every other hole yesterday, and thats pretty good since he cant put much lower body strength into it. it is possible and will be done by lots of players.

[Elsfan]

I've said this before, and I think I should say it here too...

Oh I will hit it three hundred in a heartbeat. Just don't see guys who are as long as me. In fact just the other night I was playing a 550 yard par 5 and left my drive 220 out. The group ahead of me came up to me and told me in all their time playing the course they had never even seen someone within 15 yards of where my ball ended up. Everyone talks about distance but I rarely see it.

[timwalsh300]

Oh I will hit it three hundred in a heartbeat. Just don't see guys who are as long as me.

Again, selection bias. The members here at The Sand Trap are not representative of the "average" as seen on any course. Ask around and find out if anyone else at your course reads this site - they probably don't. If one person from every golf club is a member here, it is more than likely someone who is (1) younger than average, (2) better than average.

I too don't see many people at my club hitting it as long as me... usually people are impressed just by seeing a legitimate 250 yard drive straight down the middle, immediately prompting excited questions like, "How far do you usually hit it!?..." But in just the last few months I've played with 4 or 5 other guys who fit my description exactly - young, athletic, a couple of them were serious high school golfers (including the cart boy), one played college baseball - and we knocked our drives 280-290, and hit 7-irons into the greens from 170, without much fanfare. Tim

[DavidFehertysBike]

Unless you guys are playing from 6800-7000 yards all the time,(which you most likley dont) then you dont need to drive the ball 300 yards. The courses most of us play are around 65 or 66 from the tips, and ive overpowered a course that long only driving it about 260-270. You just dont need to hit the ball that far. 250 is about most of us will ever need.

[Leftygolfer]

If you fly the ball 250 you are a long hitter. In the summer your drives will be up in the 270 280 range.

[timwalsh300]

Unless you guys are playing from 6800-7000 yards all the time,(which you most likley dont) then you dont need to drive the ball 300 yards. The courses most of us play are around 65 or 66 from the tips, and ive overpowered a course that long only driving it about 260-270. You just dont need to hit the ball that far. 250 is about most of us will ever need.

My home course (three 9-hole tracks) plays 6858, 6863, and 6919 from the tips and I don't "need" to drive the ball 300 yards. Of the 27 holes, I only really "need" to hit my driver on two of them... a 586-yard uphill par 5 and a 455-yard par 4. Even then, driving 250-260 is OK as long as you can follow it up with a solid fairway wood or long iron. I can get through the rest of the course with a 3-wood (~230 yards).

The real advantage to having power on my course is being able to more comfortably hit approach shots from 170-200 yards. The par 3's are long and some of the par 4's and 5's don't allow you to just bomb it off the tee. Tim

[plugged]

Congrats. May you have many more, as I am sure you will.

I typically hit one 300+ yd drive once every 36 holes. One year ago, I was hitting one per 18 holes. With today's club technology, if one has pretty good flexibility and a decent swing, then it is not that hard to do. Strength is not that important, flexibility is much more of a factor.

[clubchamp]

Glad to hear that from you. I usually average 280 here in the Texas panhandle, and i told my dad today on the last hole, "You wanna see what happens when i really crank on one." It was an ok shot, it was a fade that went pretty close to 330, but i was in the rough. I'd rather swing smooth and get 270-280 everytime. There was also this one freak round i had back two years ago when i was eighteen. My mom was with me, and on the first tee, i hit one 330. I told her that i hit that a long ways, but didnt think much of it. I ended up averaging 320 yards for my drives that day. idk why or how, but i did, and shot a 75 that day.

If you are driving it that far with a 10 handicap is your short just not there? I'm just asking because 280 to 330 you can't be playing more than wedge into many greens?

[timwalsh300]

If you are driving it that far with a 10 handicap is your short just not there? I'm just asking because 280 to 330 you can't be playing more than wedge into many greens?

I'm not going to answer for Saint, but I would like to point out the fallacy in this question...

Just because someone can hit a driver 280-330 doesn't mean they choose to hit a driver on every hole, always leaving themselves a wedge into the green. As I've said before, I often leave my driver in the bag precisely because my distance is above average: I'd rather hit a fairway wood or long iron and land where someone else might have hit their driver. It's risk management. If I'm hitting a wedge into the green it means that I was acting stupid and used more club than I needed off the tee. I'll happily hit 4-iron/7-iron instead of driver/wedge in order to reduce the risk of a blow-up hole (still a very real possibility), even though it means fewer birdie opportunities. Tim

[Leftygolfer]

I am not sure if I am typical but I think I am a decent driver of the ball, a pretty ok short game, a decent wedge game, and a pretty horrid iron game. I know that attacking holes is my best bet. I don't understand the logic of laying back unless there is a huge tatical advantage. At my home course, I only hit driver 7 times but that is because of the shape of the hole and not because I am more accurate. I can put my 5 wood in the trees just as easy as my driver. So for me there is no reason to lay back unless it the hole goes left. I can't fade it with any distance. But I am just as accurate with my driver as with a 3 iron. I don't really understand laying back to a 7 iron and have no confidence. I know the short answer, get to be a better iron player.

[2bGood]

It been 3 or 4 years since I have hit it 300 yards plus. I have poked the odd one out to 285 and at the range have flew a few into the net at 280. Since I got a gps my drives have gotten shorter, as I get the true distance, not what I may gotten by cutting corner. I have no doubt people can and do hit 300 as I see it all the time. What I never believe is that they average it

[Saint]

If you are driving it that far with a 10 handicap is your short just not there? I'm just asking because 280 to 330 you can't be playing more than wedge into many greens?

I dont have a pitching wedge, and my 52 broke as well. I've got a 60 yard gap that i cant do nothing with. And it seems i'm always putting it in the gap, no matter how hard i try not to. Like the other day, i hit my 5 iron off the tee so i could be 150 out. I hit the stinking thing 210, and put myself 120 out. And recently, I got the dreaded shanks. i know why, but i am having a hard time fixing it.

[BirdIsTheWord]

!MILD RANT!

Ah, this old rant...a sick short game is better than a long ball all day, everyone knows that. But a long ball with a sweet short game is golf. When people expose their weakness as short hitters, it just breeds confidence in the long hitters, they taste blood. You may not see 300+ each and every time from long hitters, but you'll never see a poke around 200 with a driver. That would be called a shank to a long hitter, fairway or not, sorry. While I'm sure it's true some people lie about their distances (or are ignorant to them), one cannot possibly believe everyone is lying or misled. It would be just as easy if not easier to lie about a handicap. Bragging and lying are two very different things. Your #'s look good as far as GIR's, fairways, etc. Where do YOU honestly feel you lack? Your answer is probably distance. Why not ask or learn how to hit farther, instead of pretending noone does? You didn't join here to learn how to hit 14 gir, you already know how to do that. Two similar short games and the longer hitter wins, not factoring luck. From average joe to average pro, we all strive to get better in all aspects of the game. Why would someone NOT want to hit farther if they don't compromise control? **And to the guy who wants to have a long drive challenge, it should be held right after a LDA event. That way everyone will feel stupid.

[Nayfac]

The best chance any of us have in getting a 300 yard drive is getting the Hammer driver.

[higdonp]

Well on many of the courses I play locally hitting a ball 300 really doesn't matter. There are only a few holes without dog legs that make that long drive a moot point unless you can hit it over a 75 ft treeline. I'm just a beginner though and would like to hit it farther. I have finally got to the point where I can hit it up to 250 and in the fairway. However, I feel that I'm not even hitting it hard. If I really just rip it, it goes farther but it goes wherever.

[TheJuice]

I've said this before, and I think I should say it here too...

You hit it on the head. 300 isn't that hard when you are young, in good shape, and have spent the last few years in the gym.

Now, start talking about control and not slicing, and I will quickly change the conversation, if you know what I mean...

[pxc]

This thread is depressing to me. Granted I'm pretty new, but I'm big, strong, and have played sports growing up. But up until yesterday I would struggle to even get past 200. The times that I did, it would be a huge slice that would balloon up and over the right range fence.

I did seem to have something of a breakthrough yesterday which is encouraging, but I must not have a natural feel for this game, and I'm not young or carefree enough anymore to put in the practice time some of you can.

[flopdarock]

so i have 2 brothers and all 3 of us have been playing golf since we were young...
1 is a strong 3 hcp and can bomb 300 like it was nothing... no exaggeration... we verify it with a callaway upro gps... ive seen him drive greens 310 against the wind... he is definately a long baller... hell he hits wedges when i pull mid irons...

the other brother is a 12 hcp and has the potential to be much better but he works way too much and his gf is a biotch... he avg's 250 off the tee...

me... im a short hitter... my avg drive would be pushing 230...
ive hit a 300+ drive in my lifetime... it was wind assisted and downhill... so i cant claim ive ever gotten close to 3bills on a normal day... longest drive for me would be 270 if that... on a wind free flat fw... and that is extremely rare...

so they were both in town last weekend and the 12hcp bro bombed a big one... way past mine and a few yards past the 3hcp bro... granted it was only once that day... so we gps'd it and it was 306 from teebox to landing site...

i know if they can do it... i can do it... ive been gaining distance all season until i pulled something in my left shoulder... dammmmit