Let's lose the distance obsession. It implies ignorance about the game.

[Shorty]

I'll keep this brief.
There are dozens of threads here which focus on distance. "How long do you hit your 3 wood, driver etc."
My point is that it is almost pointless to discuss it because the comparisons are generally meaningless.
The 18th hole at my club is a long par 4. In summer, with roll, I have it it with a driver and a 9 iron. In winter I can't reach it with a driver and a 3 hybrid.
Other shortish par 4s holes on my course are a drive and a 9 iron some times and a drive and a pitch on other days.
Lately I have been playing with a couple of big hitters who outdrive me by 50 metres. I outdrive my usual partners by 50 yards. Am I a long hitter? Am I a short hitter? Depends. Your 300 yard drive on my course might be 225 yards on my soft fairways. My 240 metre drive might be 290 on your course with the hard fairways and slight downhill.
Another thread had a guy looking at a course he's never played before on Google Earth and asking on this forum if he should try to cut the dogleg on what he thought looked like a driveable par 4. Give me strength.
This game is about ball contact and hitting the ball the correct distance. YOUR correct distance. If you hit a 7 iron 150 metres and that's how far you have to the pin, hit a 7 iron. Who cares what someone who plays in a different country does, possibly on greens and fairways where he would have to land his 7 iron 20 metres short of the green for it to have any chance of staying on the green.
And then, we have 25 handicappers who lament the fact that they have to lay up on "some" par 5s. For heavens' sake........
And,last but not least, we have the ridiculous "You are x yards from the green in the rough. What do you hit?" questions.
How long is a piece of string?

Comparisons are odious.

[Mr. M]

Hang on a second; I need to go grab my conventional-to-metric conversion chart.

[CG031]

I actually agree with the O.P. I remeber seeing a thread that "If you are 200 yards to the pin, what do you hit?"...

Well, A LOT depends on that (wind, trouble near the green, lie, condititons in general soft, hard, etc.) so I don't really know HOW people can all of a sudden just pop on and say 5-iron when they don't even know the conditions.

Yeah, my 3 iron 19 degree hybrid is my 200 yard club, but if the wind is behind me, and the conditions are hard near the green, I may hit 4 iron or 5 iron and let it run up. If it's soft, and the wind is in my face, I may hit my 3 wood.

So, I agree with the O.P. that some of the threads get a little ridiculous with the distance based questions.

[Mr. M]

Can you really blame a 47-handicapper for feeling he has accomplished something if he can hit the ball a long way? I agree, as well, that the obsession with length is misguided and silly. But I certainly don't blame a high handicapper (maybe I'm one of them) for rejoicing in hanging his hat on something.

[wannabe]

ehh, figures, coming from a guy with username 'shorty'.

Kidding! Just loved the irony and comedy of it.

I actually like your point.

Carry on...

[DriverTees]

It's not just the forum. Take a Golf Digest, half of the front page will be covered with something like "Simple distance: With Rory McIllroy"

[enis750]

ehh, figures, coming from a guy with username 'shorty'.

hhah! ...shorty....hahaha!!!

[TMO]

hhah! ...shorty....hahaha!!!

Made me laugh too.

Ok, my mild retort. Distance is something that I do feel that too many golfers focus on but let's be honest, it still is fun. When Tiger came on tour he was a game changer because he was a long ball hitter that was accurate (at least more accurate than John Daly). Hold on, who isn't more accurate than John Daly. Anyhow, a random person can walk onto a green and make a putt. Even hackers can knock a 7 iron onto the green every now and then. But hitting the ball 300 yards down the middle of the fairway is something that just isn't done by that many people, even with all the golf technology. So while I agree that perhaps the focus should be a little more on a combination of distance and accuracy, long drivers are still really darn fun.

[DriverTees]

All I know as that I turn some bored female heads when I smoke a drive, which makes me happier than sinking a nice putt with nobody to watch.

[Shorty]

So while I agree that perhaps the focus should be a little more on a combination of distance and accuracy, long drivers are still really darn fun.

I totally agree with this.

Love to see it, love to do it! My point though, really, is about people trying to compare their own distance with of someone they have never met. More along the lines of: "Oh - your 10th hole is 305 metres eh? Well - I hit my drive 300, so I could probably reach that" When in fact, their 300 is actually 250 with 50 roll. Unless two players are side by side playing the same course on the same day, distance comparisons would be inaccurate by a factor of as much as 50%, I'd say. That person who says they'd hit their 5 iron from 200 yards might, on a given day need a 3 wood and then a wedge.

[enduro]

ehh, figures, coming from a guy with username 'shorty'.

It isn't ironic at all. In fact, it would be ironic if his name was "longball mcghee" or something. But you fully expect someone with a name like shorty to not like long things, thus there is no irony.

[enduro]

What's wrong with stroking the epenis sometimes? It's sometimes fun to get into an Internet pissing contest where everyone is surely exaggerating or flat out lying. But its the precision that you can do it in where it still very believable but still greater than the others.

Don't taze my pissing contest, bro!

[Shorty]

It isn't ironic at all. In fact, it would be ironic if his name was "longball mcghee" or something. But you fully expect someone with a name like shorty to not like long things, thus there is no irony.

No one loves to see the long ball more than me.

Again, my point is that if someone looks at Google Earth and thinks that they might be able to carry a dogleg on a course they've never seen, without knowing the wind or elevation or the tee position, it would seem an absurd thing to do. Even more absurd to ask people here if they think he can do it. I am not talking about distance I am talking about distance comparison.

[whetstone]

It's like discussing whether a raccoon or a possum would win in a fair fight... fun to talk about, but pointless. I don't think discussing distance implies ignorance about the game, but trying to tell others what to discuss on a public forum... well, that's another story.

[zeg]

I think it can be useful to compare. If you're trying to figure out how to improve, knowing whether you are hitting clubs shorter than "typical" distances is a useful piece of information. If you're hitting similar distances to people who are playing to lower handicaps, that may tell you that you really need to focus on the other aspects of your game. If you're a lot shorter, there may be more to gain from simply working on distance a bit.

[bogeyhitter25]

If distance was so important, Brian Gay wouldn't have won the Heritage by 10 strokes.

[Knockglock]

I agree wholeheartedly.

[anthonykim3]

If distance was so important, Brian Gay wouldn't have won the Heritage by 10 strokes.

i agree but i don't him hitting only 275 or so and winning isn't a great example most people on here wouldn't mind a 275 average at all