250 yards is a respectable carry distance

[Doctorfro]

Carrying 240-250 is good. If it's dry and you're not hitting a moon ball you should get decent roll and should be hitting past most of your playing partners.

[saevel25]

Yep 250 is plenty... Most par 4's run from 350 to 450, so you are looking at 100 yards to 200 yards. Definetly with in reaching distance with any club in the bag for a 2nd shot. Though i have been beet plenty of times by others who hit it 200-220, get up near the green and get up and down 80% of the time. gets really annoying, but i am lazy about practicing my short game. Thats the beauty about golf. you don't need to bomb it to play.

[sean_miller]

sorry, i'm not buyin it. range balls? over 350? i'm callin bs. unless a verified yardage...and not bouncin off that old road you mentioned, i'm sorry, i'm callin bs.

Did you think I meant they carry it that far? Did you think I meant they hit

most balls that far?

[chilly]

Yep 250 is plenty... Most par 4's run from 350 to 450, so you are looking at 100 yards to 200 yards. Definetly with in reaching distance with any club in the bag for a 2nd shot. Though i have been beet plenty of times by others who hit it 200-220, get up near the green and

So, you are 20yds longer then tour average driver as a 10hcp...and you are beaten by a bunch of shortknockers that scramble better then PGA average?

http://www.pgatour.com/2009/fedexcup...ge3/index.html Hate to see what a scratch player from Ohio would do to them poor PGA boys...

[sean_miller]

So, you are 20yds longer then tour average driver as a 10hcp...and you are beaten by a bunch of shortknockers that scramble better then PGA average?

Ohio golfers are overrated.

[saevel25]

Look at this, Yesterday, i shot even par. First time in about 2 years. Even par for 9 holes, i would play more but sunlight ran out and Ohio weather came through. But, i hit 7 out of 9 greens. What do you think Pro's score if they hit 78% of there greens, better than what i did on the coarse i played. So i can tell you straight up, i can shoot from couple over par to 12 or so over par with hitting the ball 300 yards. One reason, i do not one putt often, and i do not practice my short game. Want to know when i last practice chipping, at a chipping green, over 8 years ago. I took a 5 years hiadus from golf for college, got back into it about a year and a half ago. Most of my short game improvements just from playing 9 holes a week and maybe 18 on the weekends.

If i decided, and i am strongly leaning towards it, practicing my short game. So i will let you know how it goes... Hopefully i can play scratch golf all year.

But i tell you, i am horrible from 100 yards and in.

[Fairway_CY]

I'm honestly beginning to believe that either a lot of range balls out here are juiced... or 250+ carry ISN'T as difficult as I'd imagined a few years back. I was at a range with my son last night. Fairly new Srixon range balls (probably a year old or so). There were about six of us on the grass tee area. The range is marked at 150, 200 and 265 (back of range, no fence, just woods). We were probably 25 yards ahead of the range stalls (where the markers are measured from)... so to carry into the woods, about 245 or so. There was a fair tail wind (about 7-10 MPH) helping... but there was a guy to the right of me who was bombing balls into the woods on a fly. Over and over. I was landing them between 5 and 10 yards short and many of them would hop into the woods. I would say that my average, when I don't top or slice from the tee, has increased a fair amount since I got my HiBORE XLS. I'm fairly confident that I can carry my drives 225-235 and with roll (with range balls)... they are ending in the 240-255 range.

I'm NOT a bomber and there are plenty of others I've played with or seen on the range who hit the ball much further than I do... so, I'm really beginning to believe 250+ isn't that big a feat anymore. Up until the last few weeks... I was of the belief that anybody who claimed to carry it over 250 consistently was full of it... now, I'm not so sure.

CY

[putput]

I am also by no means a great driver... but as a beginner if I hit it 200 yard strait I am thrilled. I would rather hit it 200 yards strait then 200+ and it be in someone else’s fair way or in those pesky hazards they seem to like to sneak up on a par 4.

[saevel25]

As a side note to my golf ball fitting from golf galaxy,

Club head speed: 117
Ball Speed: 168
Smash Factor: 1.436
Carry Distance: 297
Total Distance: 312
Launch Angle: 10 degrees off a 10.5 degree driver

Like i said, my short game is mediocre at best, but one thing i am certain of, i can out drive a lot of people.

[sean_miller]

As a side note to my golf ball fitting from golf galaxy,

Are you using retail outlet data to confirm your 295 carry? That's risky. Then again my yardages are at elevation (Southwestern Alberta) so I always bite my tongue when people claim to have trouble getting past 250 yards - maybe at sea level I would too.

[saevel25]

Yeah its a retail store, but i was using the Prolaunch to get club head speed and ball speed. They got a virtual driving range, that gave me the distances. I don't know if there carry is on or not. Alot more factors that go into a shot. Temperature of the day, wind, humidity, ect... But, i doubt club head speed and ball speed can not be off by more than 5%... I could disregard the carry distance, but if you look at ball launch statistcs for Pro's, the longer Pro's have club head speeds of 115+ and ball speeds of 160+.. Not to mention i was using a bridgestone e7 golf ball, not the hardest ball out there. If i got a pinnacle golf ball or a top rock, i bet i could increase those a bit.

[deronsizemore]

Oh i know what 300 is. When i get up to a 400 yard hole and my golf ball is with in 2 yards of the red 100 marker, yep its 300, give or take 5 yards. Yeah most people don't know there yardage of there drive. I know my straight ball (2 yard draw) goes 300 (with roll), carries about 290 or so. My drives don't get much roll, unless 10 yard is alot of roll. That and its still spring so the courses are still a bit damp. My duck hook goes 265-270 yards. My push cut goes about 280 yards.

That's not exactly the best way; probably one of the worst ways. Not sure about the courses that you play, but every course I play around here, moves their tees around to any number of different boxes, yet the hole yardage stays the same. For example, hole 8 at one regular course we play reads 340 yards to the center of the green; I have flown it on the green numerous times. This isn't at the local goat ranch or anything either, it's recognized as one of the better courses in the state. The only way to get a distance is to hit the ball and then take a GPS or Rangefinder and measure it. Any other way is inaccurate.

As a side note to my golf ball fitting from golf galaxy,

Retail stores' "launch monitors" typically are crap. I've seen some that can be adjusted to sell clubs. People get in there and think they're hitting it a mile and fall for it and spend $300 on a nice new driver that still hits it 210 like their last one.

Anyway, I'm not trying to contradict every one of your posts or start an argument. You very well could swing that fast and hit it that far as their are many people that can. Just stating what I've learned over my 23 years playing this game. I thought I hit the ball pretty far until I stood behind Bubba Watson and JB Holmes and watched them hit some 300 yarders that fade into the distance. :) Would love to see your swing though if you got a vid of it.

[Shanks A Million]

So you measured it with some sort of GPS or rangefinder, then?

People who do measure their drives with a GPS or rangefinder know they don't hit it 300. And I get those people claiming I must have hit it 300 yards too, even though I might have hit one 255.

Oh i know what 300 is. When i get up to a 400 yard hole and my golf ball is with in 2 yards of the red 100 marker, yep its 300, give or take 5 yards. Yeah most people don't know there yardage of there drive. I know my straight ball (2 yard draw) goes 300 (with roll), carries about 290 or so. My drives don't get much roll, unless 10 yard is alot of roll. That and its still spring so the courses are still a bit damp. My duck hook goes 265-270 yards. My push cut goes about 280 yards.

Wrong . Course markers are never right, see below.

The reason i am not a scratch golfer, i usually have 35+ putts a round. I am a two putt machine. My scrambling ability is horrible.

So, you have the athletic ability to hit the center of the driver face time after time at 117 mph, but can't hit a putter even close enough to tap in? I'm not buying it.

Honestly, i can count on my hand how many others i found who were able to seriously outdrive me, besides going to see the Pro's Play. One was on my highschool golf team, a few inches taller than me, but could fly the green on the first hole at Tam O'Shantern golf course in Canton, ohio.

Measured. From 20 yards forward of the very back of the back teebox to the front of the green is 289.3, and to the front bunker is 284.4 yards. From this it seems you're not carrying it quite as far as you think you are. First of all, you're 800 feet above sea level. Second, you're downhill. Third, the prevailing winds are helping you. If you hit it as far as you claimed to, you'd be landing on the green and bouncing off the back. So, in reality, at sea level, you'd be hitting your good drives about 260-270 yards total, not bad, but not what you claim.

Thanks for playing, better luck next time.

[Lefty-Golfer]

Shanks i pretty much agree with you on most of what you have posted on drive length. However there are exceptions to every rule, I play with 2 guys who hit 280 to 310 on a given hole several times around. Unfortunatly for me i am not one of them!!

I think you underestimate the ease of ball striking vs the touch of putter or short game. Most of the guys I play with are ex baseball players. Length and hitting the center of club in full swing is not a problem...they have been doing it most of thier lives and this bal is not moving! It is actually quite easy. Now keep in mind alinment, squaring the club face and swing plane are all tougher issues to fix. Hitting the center...no problem for an athlete

[saevel25]

"Measured. From 20 yards forward of the very back of the back teebox to the front of the green is 289.3, and to the front bunker is 284.4 yards. From this it seems you're not carrying it quite as far as you think you are. First of all, you're 800 feet above sea level. Second, you're downhill. Third, the prevailing winds are helping you. If you hit it as far as you claimed to, you'd be landing on the green and bouncing off the back. So, in reality, at sea level, you'd be hitting your good drives about 260-270 yards total, not bad, but not what you claim.

Thanks for playing, better luck next time."

Yeah and the Pro's constantly don't play at Sea Level as well, and they play on golf courses were the fairways are cut short, in perfect condition. I play on a golf course were the fairways are not cut like that and get less roll. We were not talking about 300 yards at sea level, no one stipulated any conditions pertaining to how i get 300 yards. 800 feet above sea level isn't that much. I wouldn't go on google earth and trust them as well if you were taking measurements.


"So, you have the athletic ability to hit the center of the driver face time after time at 117 mph, but can't hit a putter even close enough to tap in? I'm not buying it."

Pretty much... There was a great article by Ralph Maltby. Google search, Horizontal and Vertical Ball Impact by Handicap. This will show you the measured range in which pro's, low handicap, and high handicap people hit there puts. Even though a normal person might not notice it, but everyone hits it relatively center in the putter, but the pro's dispursion on this is insane. Its the difference between Accuracy and Precision. High handicapers are Accurate, they can get it close to the center, but Pro's are precise, they can hit that same area over and over again. Thats the difference between Pro Putting and Our putting. I know my stats right now, average putts per nine holes, 16-18. Thats a fact.

Measured with ArcMap and accurated GIS information, Distance from back of tee box to front of green 315 Yards, -20, thats 295. Bring it on..

But we can nit pick on 5 yards, GPS is +/- 2 yards, i had two GPS units be off by 4 yards, split the difference. But who says i was hitting the front of the green. I was flying it onto the green, add in another 10 yards to the center of the green.

[The Hacker]

Why do people that can't hit very far need it to be impossible for other amateurs to be able to hit long drives? LOL

[Shanks A Million]

Why do people that can't hit very far need it to be impossible for other amateurs to be able to hit long drives? LOL

That's not the question here, I can hit it very long, I've hit drives that went over 340 yards, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to say that's my average, or even a stock distance. The question here is reality vs. fantasy. Like I said, making consistent contact with the ball at the end of a 45" shaft at 115 mph is not easy. Most people who have the athletic ability to do it, also have the ability to play golf at a very high level. Many of the competition long drivers are scratch, and some are better. What we're trying to say, is that most people overestimate distance.

Let me give you an example. I was at the range one day, and there was this young guy blasting balls. My friend was looking over at him, and admiring these incredible drives. He looked at me and said, "He's got to be hitting those 280, minimum!" I laughed, and said, "More like 220." He thought I was joking. The ball was landing barely past the 200 marker, which on that day was only 180 yards. My friend kept rationalizing this, saying the ball was rolling, or that I wasn't seeing right, or this, or that, or anything to disprove me. He really did think he was hitting it that far, and even though it was obvious the ball was landing on ground about 180 yards away, he insisted , that this guy must be hitting it 280. After all, he was swinging out of his shoes, and the noise was incredible. Now, before you say this is an isolated incident, it happens all the time. The markers at the range I go to are nearly always 20-40 yards short. Yet people, day after day, fail to realize it. They marvel at their 180 yard 8 iron, and start telling their friends about how some new technique with the left wrist, or maybe a change in weight shift is doing it. People also conveniently forget the wind. Some days, the wind is howling from behind, and people are just thrilled they're hitting it so much farther. Now here's the best part. When the range is moved back so the markers are 15 yards too long, everyone says that the markers must be off, it never fails. Only on these days do they realize that the range gets moved every day. Same into the wind. People always notice when they're into the wind. So, what it shows to me is, we all want to hit the long ball. Sure, it's fun, but it's a fantasy for most. To this day, I've never met an amateur golfer who could get a consistent 300, and I've met a lot of golfers, young and old. The longest driver I ever met hit the ball about 270-280 on an average good swing, and he could also hit his driver off the ground just as well as off the tee. He could hit nearly any club you gave to him. Of the 2 guys I know who could regularly hit it more than 250, both could hit a 1 iron easily.

[Titleist_ProV1x]

I was at the range today getting back into golf shape for the spring, and took some googleearth measurements prior to heading out. The back fence was at 260 and I think, though can't confirm empirically, that it was playing uphill a bit, though I don't think it would make it play more than 265. I sat there and watched a whole bunch of people for a couple of hours and not one of them even came anywhere near the back fence. It's crazy how short people actually hit the ball in reality. If you can really (not on the internet) carry 250+ (don't post and tell me, I don't care), that's pretty damn respectable. Distance is obviously not holding you back. What's really funny is that I heard a group behind me talking about how they were hitting a flag at 165 (actually 125) with a 5-iron when one guy said you should be using a 9-iron from 165. My buddy told me that on the Ray Romano version of the Haney project, Ray was hitting his driver about 220 and Hank Haney said he's got the distance to shoot in the 70s. I tend to think he was right.

250+ is very respectable my very best drive was at the 278y par 4, 16th, my ball ended up in the center of the green 7 feet from the hole, needless to say I was very shocked that it rolled that far, since my avg drive is 230 to 250 on a good day LOL , I missed the eagle putt but got the bird