Driving Distance

[Fairway_CY]

  clearwaterms said:

My 7 iron is about 145-150 carry and my driver probably carries about 235-240 (on a well hit shot) with the full distance being about 255. I would say on average I am closer (and expect my driver to go) about 230ish.

Pretty much spot on with what I hit.

CY

[WackyWormer]

I hit my driver about 230-250 on average, but my irons fall pretty short. My 7 is right at 150

[doctork]

  WackyWormer said:

I hit my driver about 230-250 on average, but my irons fall pretty short. My 7 is right at 150

I'd say those yardages match up about as expected, Wacky. Driver and 7-iron yardage are in sync there.

DoctorK

[jamo]

Last summer I was hitting my driver about 260 on average, then in the fall I dropped to about 240, which was likely due to the cold and the deterioration of my swing. This year I have been averaging 270-280, and I have cranked a couple over 300. On occasion I will make a very strong and abnormally efficient swing, which will get me the extra distance. it is something I do on purpose and only when the hole is wide open. It is not about swinging harder, it is about swinging smarter.

I guess I don't have quite the downer attitude on high handicappers hitting it a long way, but they do seem to say they hit it abnormally far, and from what I hear on sites like this, most high handicappers hit it a long way and have terrible short games. I have not doubt that sometimes this is really the case, but not as much as some people seem to make it.

I think one problem withe exaggerating distance is that on doglegs, no matter how slight the angle, you can't just do the total distance of the hole minus how far you have left. The hole distance is no measured straight from the tee to the hole, it is measured in segments. Say, from the tee to the 150 marker and then to the hole. If you cut the corner of a dogleg it can make it seem like you hit it much farther than you actually did.

[Woters]

I hit driver 240 - 250 average & a 7 around 150 depending of course on weather, ball played etc.

[WackyWormer]

  doctork said:

I'd say those yardages match up about as expected, Wacky. Driver and 7-iron yardage are in sync there.

Really? I feel like I could hit my irons a lot further if I could cut down on some of the loft. My 7-iron looks like my friends PW. I just feel like I pop everything straight up. The only reason I feel like my driver is decent is because I bought an 8* to help with the loft

[mspunk13]

I think I have a problem with my shots being too long.

My handicap is so high because I very rarely play on a real golf course (nearest golf course... 100 miles away + no free time), but I visit my local driving range fairly often.

Believe me or not, call me a liar, whatever, I don't care, but when I take my 10.5* driver out of the bag, the ball usually hits the back net (275 yards). I sometimes hit my 9 iron at 155 yards (140-145 on average).

I'm starting to suspect that the someone must have gotten the yardage wrong on the driving range.

[Zeph]

Haven't you seen or confirmed it at the course? Surely, if you are 145 yards from the hole and pick a 9 iron, you will see how far that gets you. And on a 400 yard par 4, you should have about 125 yards left after the drive. The ranges markers are often wrong, and the balls may not be representative to what you play on the course. Some courses also have wrong distance markers.

[sean_miller]

  Zeph said:

Some courses also have wrong distance markers.

I've played a few old courses with sketchy yardage markers - it's not so commonplace these days though. From the proper angle, yardages to the centre of a medium sized, round or square(ish) green are usually fairly accurate. But, there are inexperienced golfers who don't take into account doglegs, tee markers that are ahead of the survey plate, and front pins, while estimating their distances. It happens.

What I "can hit" my 9-iron isn't really important, as long as it's consistent. I can drive the ball farther than most of my regular playing partners, but that means nothing once on the green. Putting is the great equalizer.

[jamo]

  Zeph said:

Haven't you seen or confirmed it at the course? Surely, if you are 145 yards from the hole and pick a 9 iron, you will see how far that gets you. And on a 400 yard par 4, you should have about 125 yards left after the drive. The ranges markers are often wrong, and the balls may not be representative to what you play on the course. Some courses also have wrong distance markers.

Not to mention what I said about doglegs. I really think this adds a lot of distance to what people think their drives carry.

[Fatphil]

Carry distance is basically a mathematical calculation...if u have a better than average swing,, in the high 90's low 100's mph you can probably carry a ball close to 250 (sea level, no wind, flat ground)...Once the ball hits the ground however, u can explain some of the extra yards via technology (either club or ball or both)...The pros swing @ 110-115 & play on rolled fairways and many get a 20 -30 yard rollout thus giving them the 290-310 we see on TV. Their equipment minimizes spin and maximizes trajectory combined with the hard fairways you get the distance.

I play with one young guy who can't play a lick but somehow when his ball hits the ground (about 210 out) the freakin thing runs like a jackrabbit 50 more yards. No clue how the hell he does it but I suspect he lucked out and got a driver that fits him perfectly (and doesn't even know it). While I think a lot of club fitting for mid to high hdcpers is hocus pocus, the spin issue on drivers seems to be for real.

[mspunk13]

By very rarely I meant I'm on a real golf course 4-5 times a year, although I go to the driving range at least twice a week.

Oh, and I completely forgot, I had the distance professionally measured last year on a longest-shot contest. I wasn't very comfortable with drivers back then, so I decided to use my $20 *5 wood. I won with a score of 234.6 yards as far as I remember.

[USA 79S]

My thought regarding high h'caps hitting respectable distances with a driver:

1. Its easy to hit 250 yards towards a 400 yd target
2. Its hard to hit 150 yards towards a 150 yard target
3. Its even harder to learn to hit 50 yards with that same club you just hit 130 with
4. Those 18 holes we aim for make up approximately 13 sq ft of a 7000 yd long golf course
5. Putting is a bitch

Lastly - As someone posted pages ago... Most people who claim an average distance may be subconsciously counting their good or better drives and dismissing those bad ones. So if I go today and hit 3 fairways and they are all about 275 then I may say I drive 275, whereas the other 6 shots were 200 in the woods, the pond and the other fairway they might not be included.

Ever tell a buddy you bowl a 200? If so you ever bowl a 75 on some dry or oily lane or on a bad day? Did you count that game in your "average"?

[Randy4h]

Here's an example of why driving distance discussions are so "interesting":

The other day I was playing in about a 20 mph wind. One hole had exactly 227 yards to carry a fairway bunker, directly into the wind. I tried to carry it, didn't quite get all of it, but hit it OK, I thought. Unfortunately, the ball hit right into the face of the bunker. So I hit that drive 226. The next hole was directly downwind, a 535 yard straightaway par 5, with a fairly firm fairway. I hit my drive pretty good and, when I got to the ball, my GPS said I had 238 to the center of the green. So I hit that drive around 300. Same swing, same ball, same person.

So I could say I hit my drives 300, or I could say I hit my drives 226. In actuality, the important distance is carry distance, and I know that routinely I hit it 245-250 in the air, the rest is determined by wind, bounce, roll.

[Rexx]

  USA 79S said:

Ever tell a buddy you bowl a 200? If so you ever bowl a 75 on some dry or oily lane or on a bad day? Did you count that game in your "average"?

Hey! I average over 200 in bowling... well... I used to until I bet someone I could switch to two-handed with a house ball and still beat him. It looks like I'm gonna lose that one by a couple ~195-193. Too bad, I'm actually averaging >200 over the second half with one week left. But no... if I ever bowl below 100 ever in my life, I will be quitting.

Anyways, the only high handicappers that I've seen that could drive it over 250 were 2 friends that used to play baseball... when they connected. Even then, it wasn't by much... maybe 250-260, and it was obvious that the hitting technqiue they used in baseball translated somewhat to golf. And not that I spend a whole lot of time at the range, but I've yet to see someone who is there for fun with their buddies swinging away ever hit it past 250. They think they crushed it... even saying that they hit it 300 yards... but I know it was only 230ish at best. The only ones I ever see hit it anywhere near 250 at least half the time are golfers I am sure are not high handicappers (and I doubt even mid-cappers). I'm not saying they aren't out there, but there seems to be an inordinate number here on Sand Trap.

[-BAMA-]

i average 230-235 with the occasional 270 yard drive, but those are few and far between..

i'm quite happy with my driver distances, i almost always have a decent shot at the green if i get it in the fairway...

[USA 79S]

This Executive course in my town has 2 par 4's. The first par 4 is elevated tee 320yds over trees or 265 from down in front of trees. I have played here 3 times and once my ball was against a chain link fence roughly 20-30 yds behind and down a big slope. Once I was left on a tee box past parallel to the green. The last was pretty short and right in the adjacent par 4 fairway. I'd guess 200 yds max. I use the front tee because hitting over trees, water, or any other hazard usually means disaster for me, just not confident and bad thought make bad shots.

The second has a creek bed splitting the fairway roughly 75 yards in front of the green. Taking the pro shop advice, I lay up with a 7i, and have gotten pretty close to the creek. This one has 10 yards if not less before the property fence if you go long making a driver a bad choice. My buddy hits driver every time he can and he hit over the fence the one time he joined me, this is coincidentally the time I approached so well my my 7i.

http://www.worldgolfsandcreek.com/go...rse/course.htm

[popeyegolfer]

My Swing Speed is between 110-115. At the range I go to there is a 250 marker and a net that is 275 away. I carry my drive somewhere past the 250 marker (cant see exactly) and sometimes hit the net in the air. When I am on the course it may be a little longer and depending on the course by the time the ball stops I have occasional 300yd drives. To be honest I am happy with about 260 carry in the fairway every time but I also have bad shots that don't go that far. The only time I have a problem with distance being a factor is if I am driving into the wind, In which case I usually use a 2-iron because it stays low and will roll a long way. There have been several times where in wind I out drive my playing partners with my 2-iron and them using driver. So in essence I dont worry about driving distance too much because I have other clubs I can go to to get the ball out far enough.