250 yards is a respectable carry distance

[bunkerputt]

1100 drives since last August!? That's what I call data. I wish most people had 1% of that averaged for themselves instead of the usual point 1% ;)

[bunkerputt]

Here's the average shotlink data from the tour for 2008. These are carry distances. So if you carry your 6-iron 169 yards, you're better than half the guys on tour (not exactly, but you get my point). I think a great goal for an amateur would be to carry the ball 250 with driver (SS ~105 or so, allowing for non-optimal contact, trajectory, and spin) and carry the 6-iron around 160. Why in the name of all that is holy do we laugh at people on the internet who say they carry the 6-iron 160 when it's only 9 yards off of the tour average? Don't ask me... Those are probably the same guys we're in awe of at the range... Go figure.

Driver 260 yards / 238 meters (Total Driving Distance - about 287.3 yards)
3-Wood 238 yards / 218 meters
5-Wood 223 yards / 204 meters
15-18* Rescue 218 yards / 199 meters
3-Iron 203 yards / 186 meters
4-Iron 189 yards / 173 meters
5-Iron 181 yards / 166 meters
6-Iron 169 yards / 155 meters
7-Iron 160 yards / 146 meters
8-Iron 149 yards / 136 meters
9-Iron 136 yards / 124 meters
PW 122 yards / 112 meters

[sean_miller]

Why in the name of all that is holy do we laugh at people on the internet who say they carry the 6-iron 160 when it's only 9 yards off of the tour average?

Who does that? I may snicker when someone lists their stock LW as 115, but 160 with a 6 iron seems pretty standard.

[Shanks A Million]

Who does that? I may snicker when someone lists their stock LW as 115, but 160 with a 6 iron seems pretty standard.

I can hit a lob wedge 115, if I skull it. Stock 6 for me is about 175. Stock 60° is about 80 yards. I used to hit my 6 nearly 195, but it turned out I was hitting it far too low, so it ran a long way after it landed. Now I hit 175, and it's much better.

I think people really do overestimate their distances though. Like I've said before, the driving range I practice at has two holes running next to it, a tee, and a green. From back tees, it's 218 yards to the 150 marker in the middle of the fairway. There is a cart path exactly 300 yards from the back tees. Now, I have watched hundreds, if not thousands of people tee off from these tees. Most of them played from the white tees, some from the blue, and women from the red. There have been a handful who played from the tips. Of all of the people who play, from every tee, maybe 25% have even reached the 150 marker. That's a drive of 180 yards from the white tees, and 192 from the blues. I have seen maybe 3 or 4 people get it anywhere near the cart path, and never from the tips. From the blue tees, the cart path is 280 yards. I've seen a few guys get it close. All of these guys were huge, and hit the ball with a resounding smash. So, that's less than 1/4 who hit it 180 or more. On the card, that plays as maybe a 220 yard drive. In reality, it's just 180. That 1/4 who do hit it past the 150 marker almost never go much more than 20-30 yards by. Now, at the green on the other side, I see the other side of the coin. I've almost never seen anyone go long, but I've seen hundreds, if not thousands, end up short. No one ever takes enough club. It's really kind of sad. Everyone really wants to believe they hit it a long way, but the scorecard doesn't care. I don't care how far I hit my driver, as long as it goes straight. I don't for a second, however, believe I can hit my driver 286 yards on average, and I swing my driver about 110 mph. So, please, don't fool yourself. You won't ever get sick eating humble pie, trust me. When you admit to yourself how far you hit the ball, you begin to play better.

[ssrs8]

After I got a GPS, it was very sobering. Everything is actually 30 yards shorter than what it feels like. At least I don't have to worry about dispersion like the long hitters do.

[Amofada]

250 isnt respectable. Unless you're a girl. I can hit the ball 300 yards easily if I put my good swing on. It won't aways be in the fairway or even playig field but at least I'm abe to walk of the course feeing like a man

[CarlSpackler]

250 isnt respectable. Unless you're a girl. I can hit the ball 300 yards easily if I put my good swing on. It won't aways be in the fairway or even playig field but at least I'm abe to walk of the course feeing like a man

That is such a wonderful definition of manliness. I suppose I should just turn in my man card now.

[enis750]

Here's the average shotlink data from the tour for 2008. These are carry distances. So if you carry your 6-iron 169 yards, you're better than half the guys on tour (not exactly, but you get my point). I think a great goal for an amateur would be to carry the ball 250 with driver (SS ~105 or so, allowing for non-optimal contact, trajectory, and spin) and carry the 6-iron around 160. Why in the name of all that is holy do we laugh at people on the internet who say they carry the 6-iron 160 when it's only 9 yards off of the tour average? Don't ask me... Those are probably the same guys we're in awe of at the range... Go figure.

I dont see how carrying your 6i 160 is so inspiring

my 160 club is an 8i - i really have nothing to prove to anyone on here and am certainly not an "internet tough guy" can you also believe i carry a 9i 150?? these are standard, no wind carry distances and yes these are GPS'd (when I had it) and not just one shot and it was GPS'd I took notes of all my irons and their carry distances from multiple rounds now to the 250 carry on a drive..I agreee, its respectable i certainly dont hit it 300, but i DO average 265-275 consistently I may only get about 5yds of roll as well...my launch angle is over 12.5, so i hit a fairly high ball

[Bump-n-MI]

250 isnt respectable. Unless you're a girl. I can hit the ball 300 yards easily if I put my good swing on. It won't aways be in the fairway or even playig field but at least I'm abe to walk of the course feeing like a man

[Deryck Griffith]

250 isnt respectable. Unless you're a girl. I can hit the ball 300 yards easily if I put my good swing on. It won't aways be in the fairway or even playig field but at least I'm abe to walk of the course feeing like a man

I can hit a 300 yard drive to, but just because I can does NOT mean 250 yards isn't respectable. If you actually look at the majority of people that play this game recreationally, you would come off of your island and realize that most amateurs roll their drives to 250 yards rather then carry 250. If you can carry 250 yards, then with roll, and depending on your trajectory, you can be anywhere between a total 260-280 yards drive. How isn't that respectable for an amateur Mr manly man?

[Amofada]

Lighten up! It was a joke, sheesh! haha

[Ping for life]

Drive for show and putt for dough is as true now as it has ever been, sure you may be able to smack a ball somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 yards but if you are taking your second shot from the adjacent fairway and have to pull of some sort of miracle to get it on the green much less close to the hole how much does that help lower scores. I can fly a ball out to 250 until I can get a handle on more short game I will forever be a 11 hdcp, far more than I would like to remember has a 275 yd drive gone to waste because my approach shot bit me in the hinder and I could not get up and down for par much less birdie. My best advice for those of you that always want to be the longest in your group, forget about it don't even watch the other person's drive because more often than not you will over swing trying to out drive the long ball hitter in front of you and you will end up off in the trees or in the drink. Stay loose and relax, have fun, enjoy the scenery and enjoy playing the greatest game we have ever been blessed to participate in. So whether you carry it 200 yds. or 270 yds. as long as you can rip her down the middle and give yourself a shot at the green in two, it sure bits no shot at all.

That's my 10 cents the first 2 where free

[senorchipotle]

250 isnt respectable. Unless you're a girl. I can hit the ball 300 yards easily if I put my good swing on. It won't aways be in the fairway or even playig field but at least I'm abe to walk of the course feeing like a man

i'd love to see this swing of yours. pray, post a video of your swing.

[mdl]

There's so many people all pissy about how no one hits it as far as they think they do, and how SO many people drive it 170 and then talk about how awesome their 260 yard drive was. I mean, these stories sound way more fantastic to me than the claimed driving distances that gather so much derision here. I've never played with a SINGLE person talking up their own distance, much less one who walked up to <200 yd drives talking about how far they hit it. And I play exclusively as a single or with one buddy, and so am always playing with at least two strangers.

Myself I'm a long hitter, and average maybe 270-280 total distance (carry + roll) with the driver. It's true that I rarely play with anyone other than my main golfing buddy who can outdrive me consistently, but I've played with many players who easily end up within 30 yards of my ball. So you're saying all those 240 hitters I've played with are really only hitting it 170 and too ashamed to admit it, and then their 6 or 7 iron magically goes 220 instead of the normal 150 so it'll get to the green and let them keep lying to themselves about their driving distance?

Or are you saying that I've never really put one to 290, and those short, dead straight, 350 yard par fours I've done that on, I'm just misremembering taking out my sand wedge and hitting it less than 3/4 and still getting pin high? Really I drove it 220 and got lucky to hit my 4 iron 140 yards with a full swing to get up to the green? My whole round is really a psychotic fugue state every single time I play?

[sean_miller]

There's so many people all pissy about how no one hits it as far as they think they do, and how SO many people drive it 170 and then talk about how awesome their 260 yard drive was. I mean, these stories sound way more fantastic to me than the claimed driving distances that gather so much derision here. I've never played with a SINGLE person talking up their own distance, much less one who walked up to <200 yd drives talking about how far they hit it. And I play exclusively as a single or with one buddy, and so am always playing with at least two strangers.

Yes. In fact, I don't believe you've ever set foot on a golf course. Do you remember that drive you had last fall, where you bombed it over the grove of trees on the left, in order to have a mid iron approach on the par 5? Yeah, that never happened.

[Shanks A Million]

There's so many people all pissy about how no one hits it as far as they think they do, and how SO many people drive it 170 and then talk about how awesome their 260 yard drive was. I mean, these stories sound way more fantastic to me than the claimed driving distances that gather so much derision here. I've never played with a SINGLE person talking up their own distance, much less one who walked up to <200 yd drives talking about how far they hit it. And I play exclusively as a single or with one buddy, and so am always playing with at least two strangers.

You're a 15 handicap, there's no way you can drive it as far as the tour pros. You can post a video of your swing, but I can guarantee you the tour pros who are swinging it 120 mph with perfect technique and perfectly fitted drivers are not somehow magically hitting it just as long as you. We can try to believe that somehow it's only short game that separates us, but that's a laugh. Sure, it's fun to believe, but it's just not true.

Yep, get a GPS and you'll see the courses are almost never marked correctly. A dead straight 350 yard par 4 is almost never 350 yards. The courses are marked for their absolute limits, so from the very back location the tee would be, to the very back pin placement, or even through the green. Here's a few measurements from a scorecard, and the actual distance to the center of the green: 1. 539 - 501 2. 401 - 393 3. 416 - 395 4. 427 - 424 5. 283 - 276 6. 168 - 159 7. 404 - 395 8. 208 - 206 9. 506 - 475 This is from the center of the tee, to the center of the green. As you can see, in many cases, the hole is quite a bit shorter than even the card says, but at the same time, the tees are not always in the same spot, nor is the flag, they get moved. Only a laser or GPS can verify yardage. And if you're above sea level, you need to factor that in as well. Many of you who live at higher altitudes are driving it 260, but at sea level, that would be more like 240.

[Lefty-Golfer]

I get the chance to play with a fair amount of golfers through work functions, charity events and tournaments at my club. I can saftly say i am slightly above average in length. At times I can make the perfect swing and carry 250...not every day and certainly not everytime but on occasion. 250 is certainly a respectable number for a carry.

[chilly]

Played in a little informal tournament with 14 guys last weekend, 270 won the long drive hole. I'd say carry was right at 250 on that shot, so it lends weight to the point being made in this topic. Nobody playing was a phenom, but it wasn't a bunch of once a year hackers, just a nice cross section of guys that play somewhat regularly.