Driving Distance

[treebound]

I got lost in this thread so I wandered off to youtube and found some Mike Austin videos which were interesting.

When my driver swing works I usually put it out there probably 225-250, when it works.

Waiting for the video challenge/request to be posted ....

[sean_miller]

I want to see a video of your swing then. That's proof enough. Tee up and hit 10 balls on the range, no cuts or edits.

Based on the incorrect yardages at your driving range, they probably have limited flight balls. You're probably actually hitting farther than you think. Post a video of your 10 swings - I'd be very surprised if your average is less than 270 out on the course.

[saevel25]

Well i have never measured my distances at the driving range, i don't care about yardages on the driving range. I only care about ball flight and swing mechanics. All my yardages for my clubs come from when i play a round, i keep tabs on what club i used, the carry distance, ect, the wind, the lie. I try to remember as much information as possibel and feel of the shot. This lets me recreate conditions later on. I also never measure my drives on doglegs, its always straight away par 4's or 5's. I have been confirming the yardage with GPS this year.

[Shanks A Million]

Based on the incorrect yardages at your driving range, they probably have limited flight balls. You're probably actually hitting farther than you think. Post a video of your 10 swings - I'd be very surprised if your average is less than 270 out on the course.

Who me? Haha, you are kidding, right? My range has proper golf balls, not limited flight. They fly, if anything, a few yards shorter than new balls, but it's not that noticeable. The distances are known by me, and I can calculate very accurately how far I hit each ball. Not only that, but I've used GPS and Lasers to measure drives, as well as simulators to determine my average distances.

I am not dumb enough to think I can consistently outdrive guys like Brian Gay and Brad Faxon. Yes, they're not big guys, and they don't swing that fast, but they have much more consistent swings than I do. I may be able to hit it longer than they do, sure, but not consistently .

[sean_miller]

I am not dumb enough to think I can consistently outdrive guys like Brian Gay and Brad Faxon. Yes, they're not big guys, and they don't swing that fast, but they have much more consistent swings than I do. I may be able to hit it longer than they do, sure, but not

Really? I'm pretty sure I could hit my new driver pretty consistently within 10 yards of my average - you can't miss the sweet spot with that thing. Gay and Faxon are notoriously short off the tee, but I'm not sure how long they'd hit the ball in a casual round at one of the courses I play (where missing the fairway is not so penal). As a 6.7, whatever your average driver is, you could likely hit that almost every time. I really think there's something hinky with those range balls.

I play with a lot of guys who can put it out past 280 with the driver - rangerfinder confirmed - of course, in Alberta, drives do tend to fly farther. We're not comparing our average drives to the PGA tour averages and patting ourselves on the back - but we're not going to say they fly shorter in order to seem more honest either. It is what it is.

[jonnythan]

I hit my 5-wood to about 185-190 consistently. Haven't been able to hit my driver to anything consistently yet. So... yeah.

[Shanks A Million]

Really? I'm pretty sure I could hit my new driver pretty consistently within 10 yards of my average - you can't miss the sweet spot with that thing. Gay and Faxon are notoriously short off the tee, but I'm not sure how long they'd hit the ball in a casual round at one of the courses I play (where missing the fairway is not so penal). As a 6.7, whatever your average driver is, you could likely hit that almost every time. I really think there's something hinky with those range balls.

Nah, Gay and Faxon are short for the tour, sure, but short? You need to re-assess your idea of "average" distance to answer that. I am just smart enough to know that I can't hit the sweetspot on my driver every time; not many people can. I can't hit my 3 iron pure every time, and it's easier to hit the sweetspot on the 3 iron.

The problem is, most people don't realize what the sweetspot is anymore. Modern drivers still have an absolute center, but they forgive you greatly when you miss them. I can hit driver all day and miss the sweetspot every time, and still drive the ball well. I can't, however, blow one out there 300+ without catching the sweetspot. The problem is, most people never hit their driver on the sweet spot, so they really don't know what it is. Put some impact tape on your driver, and hit 20 balls, and see how many caught the absolute center. Odds are, not many. You need to hit the absolute center of the driver with a swing of about 110 mph to get a 300 yard drive at sea level, and even that relies on a lot of roll. I've hit the modern TaylorMade, Ping, Nike, and other such drivers, and they are just way too high launch/high spin for me. I don't see how people with a swing speed like mine (which is 110, slow for the internet) could hit one 300 yards.

[sean_miller]

Nah, Gay and Faxon are short for the tour, sure, but short? You need to re-assess your idea of "average" distance to answer that. I am just smart enough to know that I can't hit the sweetspot on my driver every time; not many people can. I can't hit my 3 iron pure every time, and it's easier to hit the sweetspot on the 3 iron.

You're right, they're only notoriously short hitters - compared to other professional golfers. Compared to single digit amateurs, they're probably well above average.

I know you're not confusing the sweet spot with the centre of gravity because you generally know your stuff, but like you said, technology plays a huge role. We both know that hitting a persimmon driver and a wound ball can produce drastically different results with slightly off-centre strikes, but come on, you're hitting a new driver. If you hit 20 balls there might be a centimetre range, and there might even be the one slightly off the toe or the heel, but that baby's still going a long way - especially with today's low torque shafts. If you had 2 dozen Pinnacles and I had two dozen Top Flites and we were on a flat fairway, I think there wouldn't be too many shots less than 250 - maybe not too many at 300 - maybe even zero - but still, there be some bombs!

[deronsizemore]

You need to hit the absolute center of the driver with a swing of about 110 mph to get a 300 yard drive at sea level, and even that relies on a lot of roll. I've hit the modern TaylorMade, Ping, Nike, and other such drivers, and they are just way too high launch/high spin for me. I don't see how people with a swing speed like mine (which is 110, slow for the internet) could hit one 300 yards.

You said it, but yes, 110 only gets you near 300 with a lot of roll. My average swing speed is around 107 and hitting one out there near 300 never enters my mind. I know without a doubt that I carry the ball around 260-265 on average. Most of the modern drivers have stock shafts that are made for much slower swings than yours (or mine even). Once I upgraded the shaft on my 909D3, I saw a huge improvement on my ball flight (I have the UST AxivCore Tour Red).

[Shanks A Million]

You're right, they're only notoriously short hitters - compared to other professional golfers. Compared to single digit amateurs, they're probably well above average.

The sweet spot is the center of gravity, or at least somewhat so. It's the point at which the ball contacts the clubhead that will drive it straight back with no twisting. The sweetspot is always the same size, it's one molecule. The only thing they've done in recent years is made the club perform better when you miss that spot.

But, in reality, the spot is the size of quarter. Here's the deal though, very few people hit that spot every time. In fact, almost no one does. Amateurs hit their drivers all over the place. The ballstriking ability it takes to hit the ball right in the center of the face with a 45" shaft is phenomenal. All of my iron heads have a quarter sized brown spot in the center of the face, but the spot gets larger on the longer clubs. I almost never see these ballmarks when I look in most people's bags, except of course, low handicaps. Higher handicaps never wear a spot in the faces of their clubs, yet they expect me to believe they can hit the driver 300 yards on average. If you miss that quarter sized spot, forget it, the ball isn't going to go 300. It's not even going 250 for most.

You said it, but yes, 110 only gets you near 300 with a lot of roll. My average swing speed is around 107 and hitting one out there near 300 never enters my mind. I know without a doubt that I carry the ball around 260-265 on average. Most of the modern drivers have stock shafts that are made for much slower swings than yours (or mine even). Once I upgraded the shaft on my 909D3, I saw a huge improvement on my ball flight (I have the UST AxivCore Tour Red).

And you and me are both playing extremely low spin drivers with custom shafts. I would be willing to bet you could outdrive me any day of the week, despite my higher swing speed. 3 mph won't make up for my inability to strike the center as often as you (my average carry is more around 245, as I said before).

[Arrogant_Kid]

The sweet spot is the center of gravity, or at least somewhat so. It's the point at which the ball contacts the clubhead that will drive it straight back with no twisting. The sweetspot is always the same size, it's one molecule. The only thing they've done in recent years is made the club perform better when you miss that spot.

You sir, know your stuff. I'm impressed

[gir]

Recently I've only been driving it around 200-220. But my swing is all out of funk, and it left me a few months ago, and I've been rebuilding it here for a few weeks. When I was swinging well, I was in the 250-270 range.

They say the average male drive is 200 yards and the average male 7 iron is 150.

The driver seems about right, a tad high maybe. The 7 iron 150 figure seems very high. Based on what I see out and about, I'd say the average drive is around 180 and the average 7 iron is 100-120.

[Arrogant_Kid]

Recently I've only been driving it around 200-220. But my swing is all out of funk, and it left me a few months ago, and I've been rebuilding it here for a few weeks. When I was swinging well, I was in the 250-270 range.

That's... Astounding.... I've never seen a drive below 240 before..... Maybe I'm just not paying attention on the range to the people around me. I know the people who say it's 240 are hitting it 240. They use the same methods of measuring that I do....

[jonnythan]

Uh what? I don't know many golfers, and we're all 20+ handicaps, but none of us hit a 7 iron under 130 on average unless you count topped balls.

And I hit my 5w 185 on average. And I'm a below average golfer. I think your numbers are way off.

[Shanks A Million]

Recently I've only been driving it around 200-220. But my swing is all out of funk, and it left me a few months ago, and I've been rebuilding it here for a few weeks. When I was swinging well, I was in the 250-270 range.

The average male hits a driver 208 yards. I don't know about 7 iron, because they are all different lofts and lies, where as drivers are all designed for maximum distance length and loft. I hit my stock 7 right around 165-170, stock PW is around 130-135 (both numbers are carry only, roll could make it anywhere from 130-140 with a PW). My lofts are more standard to what you find, 47° PW and 35° 7 iron.

A a really solid, well struck drive (a few per round at most) for me goes about 265 in the air, and 285-290 total. I can hammer one out to 300+ on occasion, but I don't really think that's "average". To that, my driving average is about 260 yards or so on good day. I am a pretty long driver, even on mishits I can outdrive most people I'm paired with. I've never seen a 15 handicap who could even come close to a 300 yard average drive, and I've been playing since I was 5. I had a friend who was about a 12 that could just bomb it, but his average was like 260. He also could hit his driver off the deck like 250 with ease.

[GolferQc]

I totally agree with this last post. What's 20 or 50 more yards off the tee if you can't put your second shot on the green? Don't forget your putter, you use it for about half your shots...
At the range, I think we should take the driver for less than 20% of the shots and focus on distance control with all the other clubs.

[sean_miller]

The sweet spot is the center of gravity, or at least somewhat so. It's the point at which the ball contacts the clubhead that will drive it straight back with no twisting. The sweetspot is always the same size, it's one molecule. The only thing they've done in recent years is made the club perform better when you miss that spot.

You're right - it looks like I've been missing the sweet spot - a "spot" much larger than the centre of gravity, but I digress.

I can see also the marks from the artificial grass from the indoor simulator - I new that sh** was hard my irons, but I didn't think it would do that to my woods?!?!? Boo!!

[James_Black]

You're right - it looks like I've been missing the sweet spot - a "spot" much larger than the centre of gravity, but I digress.

were you trying to hit it off the ground or something?