250 yards is a respectable carry distance

[Dresilved]

On February 10, 2017 at 2:41 PM, Jeremie Boop said:

It's easy to get a wrong number if you just go by the course markings and don't take into account cutting doglegs or curves in the hole. I remember when I'd cut a dogleg and have a short distance in to the green I'd think I hit it further than I did because I'd just subtract the distance left from the card distance. Or just having the yardages not correct in general too. That's part of the reason I took the extra step to start using something to give me more accurate measurements, and it took being on this forum for me to be corrected on how I came up with the distance I drove the ball. 

Ironically, Ive hit my 3 longest drives ever in the last 2 days, since I posted these comments - playing with someone who had a laser. Anyway, I had a 280 and 2 in the 270s... However, the ground is almost frozen solid, Ive been having huge bounce and roll 30-50 yards, but it was very nice to feel how it is to be pulling out a wedge or a 9iron for the second shot instead of a 7 iron 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Dresilved

[Dresilved]

On February 8, 2017 at 11:45 AM, p1n9183 said:

I play a 0 handicap and this are (+- 2,3 yards) my average carry for each club. On scratch tournaments some hit it farther than me, and some shorter. 

 

This is funny, that´s exactly my dispersion (40Left + 40Rigth)... for 90% of my golf shorts !! The others can go from 40 to 60 yards off target. im´working to reduce it.   
 

If you don't mind me asking - as a scratch golfer, what are your indexes (or is it indices?) for

GIRs

Putts

Scrambles

 

 

[Lihu]

18 hours ago, Dresilved said:

If you don't mind me asking - as a scratch golfer, what are your indexes (or is it indices?) for

GIRs

Putts

Scrambles

I think you mean "stats" or short for statistics.

https://thesandtrap.com/b/the_numbers_game/can_keeping_stats_help_your_game

Try this link. GIR is about 12, Putts is about 29. Guessing they make about 50% of their sand saves and more than that for scrambles?

	AVERAGE SCORE									Relationship
CATEGORY	71	75	79	81	85	89	91	95	99
GIR	12	10	8	7	5	3	2	0	0	Strong
% Fairways	81	71	61	56	46	36	31	21	11	Weak
Iron Accuracy	80	68	53	47	33	20	13	0	0	Good
Putts per Round	29.0	30.3	31.7	32.3	33.7	35.0	35.7	37.0	38.3	Weak
Pitch/Chip/Sand	5.1	7.4	9.8	10.9	13.3	15.6	16.8	19.2	21.5	Strong
Birdies	3.2	2.4	1.8	1.5	0.8	0.1	0	0	0	Strong
Pars	11.8	10.3	8.8	8.1	6.6	5.1	4.3	2.8	1.3	Strong

[tigerrag]

I hit the ball 260-270 off the tee with my driver, with the occasional 290-ish drive (use GPS to tell distance). 

However, that doesn't mean jack squat when you can't be consistent with your approach shots and wedges. Distance helps, but I'd much rather be someone that drives the ball 240 but is money from 100-in.

[Hard Learner]

Been having a hard time with my game lately, finally figured out my swing and I can hit the ball very well but my short game has been lacking. Off the tee I usually do not hit driver because it is a 50/50 chance of hitting it straight, when I do hit it well its about a 300 yard drive longest drive I ever hit was about 320 the other day (playing in Virginia). Typically I hit my 4 iron off the tee about 250-260 yards, my problem though is after that I cannot dial in my short game clubs. If I pull out my pitching wedge I hit it about 130-140 yards and my gap wedge is about 115 yards. So I guess that leaves me to my lob wedge is the only hope for anything under 100 yards or go down to a half swing. Any advice on something other than lob wedge there is nothing lower that I know of?

[DaveP043]

First, welcome to TheSandTrap!  Please look around and share your questions, opinions, and experiences.

Second, take a look at this thread to help with some of those shorter shots.  Unfortunately, this isn't something you can spend your way through by getting another club, you'll need to work your way through it.

While you're looking around, you might want to post a video of your swing in the Member Swing forum.  You might get a tip or two that will allow you to hit your driver all the time, instead of teeing off with your 4-iron.

[p1n9183]

51 minutes ago, Hard Learner said:

Been having a hard time with my game lately, finally figured out my swing and I can hit the ball very well but my short game has been lacking. Off the tee I usually do not hit driver because it is a 50/50 chance of hitting it straight, when I do hit it well its about a 300 yard drive longest drive I ever hit was about 320 the other day (playing in Virginia). Typically I hit my 4 iron off the tee about 250-260 yards, my problem though is after that I cannot dial in my short game clubs. If I pull out my pitching wedge I hit it about 130-140 yards and my gap wedge is about 115 yards. So I guess that leaves me to my lob wedge is the only hope for anything under 100 yards or go down to a half swing. Any advice on something other than lob wedge there is nothing lower that I know of?

Something is not rigth with your yardages, they are far from been consistent or real. Maybe you need to re-check them.

Club............You..........Me.........Difference
Driver..........300.........260.............+40.......
4 Iron..........255.........200.............+55.......
Pitch...........135.........130..............+5........
Gap............115.........120..............-5.........
Lob.............100..........90...............+10......

To answer your question, a loft wedge it´s a 60° club. Like mickelson you can put into your bag another loft wedge but with 64° for 80 or 90 yards shots. Heck with 255 yards 4 iron you don´t need a driver or 3 wood in your bag. You can even add another loft wedge of 68° for even shorter shots !!  

Edited July 5, 2017 by p1n9183

[Hard Learner]

13 minutes ago, p1n9183 said:

Something is not rigth with your yardages, they are far from been consistent or real. Maybe you need to re-check them.

Club............You..........Me.........Difference
Driver..........300.........260.............+40.......
4 Iron..........255.........200.............+55.......
Pitch...........135.........130..............+5........
Gap............115.........120..............-5.........
Lob.............100..........90...............+10......

To answer your question, a loft wedge it´s a 60° club. Like mickelson you can put into your bag another loft wedge but with 64° for 80 or 90 yards shots. Heck with 255 yards 4 iron you don´t need a driver or 3 wood in your bag. You can even add another loft wedge of 68° for even shorter shots !!  

Distances might not be 100% accurate, but 4 iron is definitely 255+ I typically out drive most people I play with with just my 4 iron and their average drive is around 250-260 and driver is around 300 on a good drive. Just started using an app on my phone (swing by swing) that gives yardages on the course while you play which seem pretty accurate if standing at the 100 yard marker it is within a yard of two of it. Trying to get all my clubs distances down finally so we will see.

Dave thank you for your help, I might have to post a video of my swing and will check out that other post on short game. 

[Golfingdad]

1 hour ago, Hard Learner said:

If I pull out my pitching wedge I hit it about 130-140 yards and my gap wedge is about 115 yards. So I guess that leaves me to my lob wedge is the only hope for anything under 100 yards or go down to a half swing. Any advice on something other than lob wedge there is nothing lower that I know of?

Don't you also have a sand wedge?  These are very close to the same distances I hit my PW and GW too.  Shorter shots will be a varying distance swings with my sand wedge (which is a 54 degree)  I have a 58 degree lob wedge, but pretty much only use it from around the green.  For "full swing" wedge shots, check out the thread Dave already linked or this one:

The information in those threads is basically what I use to hit anything from 140 all the way down to about 60 yards.  Once I get below 60, or maybe 55, I use this:

 

[Killa]

On 15. februar 2017 at 5:46 PM, Lihu said:

I think you mean "stats" or short for statistics.

https://thesandtrap.com/b/the_numbers_game/can_keeping_stats_help_your_game

Try this link. GIR is about 12, Putts is about 29. Guessing they make about 50% of their sand saves and more than that for scrambles?

	AVERAGE SCORE									Relationship
CATEGORY	71	75	79	81	85	89	91	95	99
GIR	12	10	8	7	5	3	2	0	0	Strong
% Fairways	81	71	61	56	46	36	31	21	11	Weak
Iron Accuracy	80	68	53	47	33	20	13	0	0	Good
Putts per Round	29.0	30.3	31.7	32.3	33.7	35.0	35.7	37.0	38.3	Weak
Pitch/Chip/Sand	5.1	7.4	9.8	10.9	13.3	15.6	16.8	19.2	21.5	Strong
Birdies	3.2	2.4	1.8	1.5	0.8	0.1	0	0	0	Strong
Pars	11.8	10.3	8.8	8.1	6.6	5.1	4.3	2.8	1.3	Strong

 

Well this doesn't seem to work for me :) The second to last tournament I hit 5 or 6 GIR and didn't break 100. :) I know it's supposed to be average, but I seem to hit about 3-5 GIR every time I play because I don't often get up and down for par. (because the other 13-15 holes are not nGIR but ffGIR (far from GIR ;) )

[Moppy]

It's like the lumber at Home Depot. Now they have signs that say that while the label says "six inches" if you take out a ruler, its five and a half.

I just got to where I sometimes exceed 200 yards, 180 carry, and maybe, once a summer, on a dry fairway with a lot of roll, I can hit it 250. But you feel funny admitting it when everybody hits it "240" minimum. But at the driving range, maybe there are five or six balls at that distance laying in the grass. 

 

My nephew played college hockey, and I have seen him put it on the apron from the tee on a 300 yd short par four. He played the short tees to accommodate me. He can't putt to save his life though.

[Dave2512]

Many male golfers don't realize how far 250 is, especially if there is any consistency in that range. I average about 240 and that's with a bunch of really poor drives but I am rarely the short guy when I play with other guys. Once in a while I get paired with a guy that hits one or two long drives but they chase balls all over the course trying to kill it all the time.

[TropicalSandTrap]

I played today solo with a 3W off the tee. Hit three balls for every shot as I was trying to learn the course and see what my 3W got me on each hole. 

I hit my 3W 220-240 when hit properly, and my miss (trap draw, low hook) tended to go 190.  I was using a range finder to confirm the distances.  

 

i was a bit surprised because if I'm 200 yd away, I hit a 4H. And from 185 I hit 5I. I thought the 3W would have a bit more pop but I was wrong. 

 

That said aid I was in play all day off the white tees, had no problem hitting second shots from respectable distances. Course from the white tees was just about 6k yards, and I only had more than a 7 iron in for a second shot four times. I also reached a par 5 in two. 

 

Another surprise was was when I pulled out a driver on 18 and hit it after I hit a couple of 3W. I really wasn't that much longer. THe 3W was in prime position (this was the par 5 I reached in 2). I thought for sure the driver would fly past the 3W. 

 

I am just taking up the game again after a few years off so re-learning my distances is something I am working on. 

[dennyjones]

4 hours ago, TropicalSandTrap said:

I played today solo with a 3W off the tee. Hit three balls for every shot as I was trying to learn the course and see what my 3W got me on each hole. 

I hit my 3W 220-240 when hit properly, and my miss (trap draw, low hook) tended to go 190.  I was using a range finder to confirm the distances.  

 

i was a bit surprised because if I'm 200 yd away, I hit a 4H. And from 185 I hit 5I. I thought the 3W would have a bit more pop but I was wrong. 

 

That said aid I was in play all day off the white tees, had no problem hitting second shots from respectable distances. Course from the white tees was just about 6k yards, and I only had more than a 7 iron in for a second shot four times. I also reached a par 5 in two. 

 

Another surprise was was when I pulled out a driver on 18 and hit it after I hit a couple of 3W. I really wasn't that much longer. THe 3W was in prime position (this was the par 5 I reached in 2). I thought for sure the driver would fly past the 3W. 

 

I am just taking up the game again after a few years off so re-learning my distances is something I am working on. 

Welcome to TST.   We're glad you've found the forum.   Post often, we like it!

[TropicalSandTrap]

In looking at the card a bit more and where a 220-240 yard shot placed me off the tee:

18 holes, 10 par 4's and 4 each par 5/3  course played about 6k yards  

all par 5's a 3W off the tee placed me in position to be well within 100 yards after my 2nd shot. 6 par 4's I was within 140 of the pin after a 220-240 tee shot. The other 4 par 4's I was 179-190 yds away. 

So looking at where the placement would have been from the blue tees (6,290 yards):

most of the additional yardage is on the par 5's, where I was already within 100 yards away off a 220-240 tee shot

for the 6 par 4's where I was within 140, I still would have been within 140  some would be 130 instead of 120 type differences l.  But still a scoring iron in  

on the longer par 4's, two of them would  have been in the 200-210 yards away.  So instead of a 5I from 185 it's a 3H from 205.  But in the long run, the result for those shots more often than not is some sort of green side chip, which shouldn't alter the score on the hole too ofte

moral of the story is that 220-240 yards off the tee is plenty distance to have respectable scores on 6000-6300 yard courses  

 

 

 

[Kalnoky]

1 hour ago, TropicalSandTrap said:

moral of the story is that 220-240 yards off the tee is plenty distance to have respectable scores on 6000-6300 yard courses  

I think it is.

Yesterday the starter put me with some retired guys going from the orange tees (one back from my normal green tees). Those men hit every single fairway with drives of about 220-240 yards, and combined with some good long iron play it seemed like they hit almost every green in regulation, or were just off.  

I'm now on a quest to reach that 220-240 distance, I think if you can do that you can play some pretty respectable golf. 

[Groucho Valentine]

250 carry is big boy land.. I don't carry a driver too much further than that and i consider myself to have very good power for an Am player. Though 250 in total is still very good distance. You can comfortably play anything up to 6900 yards with that, IMO. Most of you probably don't drive it that far, though 

[David in FL]

5 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

250 carry is big boy land.. I don't carry a driver too much further than that and i consider myself to have very good power for an Am player. Though 250 in total is still very good distance. You can comfortably play anything up to 6900 yards with that, IMO. Most of you probably don't drive it that far, though 

Yeah, I always get a kick out of these.  230 is a very good carry for me, and I manage to stumble  my way around 6500 yards pretty well...