Driving Distance

[gir]

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....

never seen a drive below 240 - where do you play - on the tour? Come play with me, I'll show you a bunch below 240. lol.

[gir]

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.

Not really. For every so called "average" golfer who hits their 7 iron 140-160 there are 10 hackers/beginners/non golfers out there just because it's a nice day or are tagging along with a golfing friend who are lucky to get their 7 irons airborne let alone 150 yards. You ever play a cheap muni on the weekend?

[sean_miller]

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

No way - not with a thin walled driver. A Titanium Callaway sure, but not a G10.

I assume it's from the carpet at the simulator - indoor golf league related. I didn't notice it until taking the picture. The angle of the light, relative to the angle of the camera, might make it look worse. Either way, I'm not impressed!

[jonnythan]

Wouldn't it make more sense for the marks to be from the tee? ;)

[sean_miller]

Wouldn't it make more sense for the marks to be from the tee? ;)

Sure it would, if there were at least 9000 ball marks on the face and if those marks in the striking area corresponded to the majority of the marks on the bottom - which there aren't so obviously they don't.

[Arrogant_Kid]

never seen a drive below 240 - where do you play - on the tour? Come play with me, I'll show you a bunch below 240. lol.

No... In Middle Tennessee... But I don't play with people over a 7 handicap

[Zeph]

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

The bottom of my driver is full of green mat crap from hitting the mat behind the ball all the time.

At the topic, Phil just hit a 303 carry drive with 123 mph club head speed.

[Shanks A Million]

The bottom of my driver is full of green mat crap from hitting the mat behind the ball all the time.

And that

is quite a bit more possible. Phil averages 288.5 yards of carry, 297.3 total (for all drivers measured by laser, not driving distance). His average clubhead speed is 118.48, ballspeed is 175.29 for a smash factor that is fairly low, 1.479. His average spin rate is 2547.8 rpm. When you add an extra 5 mph to his average, you can see it wouldn't be hard to add 15 yards extra from that. Phil actually ranks fairly low (109th) in driving efficiency, because his drives are nearly all carry, and no roll. His launch angle is 12.47°. You can see from all this, he has a very high clubhead speed, and has been known to bring it up into the low 130s. The PGA tour has great records they keep. http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/filter/?4 There is no player on tour who averages 300 yards or more for all measured drives. Dustin Johnson is the longest driver on tour for all measured drives at 299.1 yards with 296.5 yards of carry. His clubspeed is 121.77, ballspeed 180.48 for a smash factor of 1.482. Launch is 10.71°, spin is 2556.2. A 300 yard drive has a hang time of just around 7.5-8 seconds. My drives hang in the air for about 5-6 seconds, but I have more carry than roll. If you're hitting it 300 yards, you'll have a hang time around 7 seconds or more.

[saevel25]

Unless you can get the ball to travel like a rocket about 10 feet off the ground, and get 50-70 yards of roll ;b

But no arguing any more, i know my distance, thats all that matters... right now i am more concerned about my disintegrating ability to hit anything but my driver.

[USA 79S]

Oh come on man, don't even give me that. You play an R flex shaft in a 10° head, and feel you "need a stiff." Let me tell you, if you're hitting it 278.9, you need an X shaft and a 8.5°-9.5° head.

Ever shoot a rifle with iron sights? I can shoot a half torso silhouette at 300 yards on my M-4 with no scope but you think someone can't see if a ball exceeded a giant sign on the ground at 250? I think that your logic is way off man.

[Shanks A Million]

Ever shoot a rifle with iron sights? I can shoot a half torso silhouette at 300 yards on my M-4 with no scope but you think someone can't see if a ball exceeded a giant sign on the ground at 250? I think that your logic is way off man.

Yes, I'm a very good shot. I can put .22s through the head with a Ruger Mark 4 pistol at 75 feet. I am not saying people can't see it, it's what they

want to see that's important. If you're close to the sign, then it's no issue, but most of the time these people are 20 yards left or right of it, and they really want to see the ball go past it.

[USA 79S]

If they are in fact to the left or right, then the straight line distance to target is increased. Assuming they are aiming cross range at the target which the club in hand is expected to reach, if the ball is determined to fly the target then it has exceeded that distance.

On a side note, one range in town (World Golf Sand Creek) has a forward and rear tee area. I assume they rotate for maintenance. There is a sign posted behind the front but more forward than halfway that states "all yardage measured from this point". I'd be willing to bet the yardage is within 5 yards per marker and I have seen balls carry the range from the back. We have found range balls behind the range on hole # 3 which runs perpendicular to the tees, and well beyond the markers and tree line backstop. This course is not very nice, but it's cheap - and I doubt there are a ton of tour players visiting the Springs to hit those long balls.

[804golfer]

290 avg here. have hit it 350 downhill downwind (yes srs carts had gps)

[Meddle]

Shanks, there is no point in even trying. Valiant effort. I guess guys like us will always be girls out on the golf course, with our 240 yard drives, huh? ;)

[sean_miller]

Yes, I'm a very good shot. I can put .22s through the head with a Ruger Mark 4 pistol at 75 feet. I am not saying people can't see it, it's what they

Yeah, I'm gonna have to call "Bulls**t" on that one.

Don't bother doing it 10 consecutive times on video. Do it once - no cuts - confirmed by a credible witness.

[James_Black]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to call "Bulls**t" on that one.

and use GPS/Rangefinder to confirm distance!

[Arrogant_Kid]

Honestly, a swing is enough. Just a swing. Any low handicap here is more than capable of disecting the power factors in someone's swing and telling us all if their alledged distance is possible or not. Just do four videos. Two from the front, one in slowmo. Two down the line. One in slow mo.

[Shanks A Million]

Honestly, a swing is enough. Just a swing. Any low handicap here is more than capable of disecting the power factors in someone's swing and telling us all if their alledged distance is possible or not. Just do four videos. Two from the front, one in slowmo. Two down the line. One in slow mo.

That's quite true. Swings don't lie. I would challenge anyone who says they hit it 300 to show us the swing. You can also calculate swing speed by ground covered by the club in each frame. I just tried it, and my 3 wood was going about 102 mph at its highest speed, ballspeed was like... 142? That seems too high though. My driver is like 108-112 mph. I don't feel as confident to swing a 3, so I lay back a lot more. I assume my actual 3 wood club speed is probably around 95 to the low 100s at most, so the ballspeed I think may be lower, cause I only hit the 3 like 240-250 on a good hit, and maybe 265 on a phenomenal smash.