Driving Distance

[sacm3bill]

  USA 79S said:

4. Those 18 holes we aim for make up approximately

Actually it's 1.77 sq ft.

(Sorry, math geek here...)

[James_Black]

  jmr said:

My focus for the coming weeks of golf league is to establish a good tempo for my pitch/chips and continue to practice putting, a lot of strokes are lost on and around the greens. Escpecailly for me who is w/ in lob wedge distance or chip distance on the par 5's I play after two strokes. Is it so hard to believe I can drive and hit irons well while being putrid as short game.

short answer, yes.

Come on, you couldn't have worked up a good long game if you can't pitch the ball. You should be playing off 18 if you have a good long game. 2 shots next to the green, chip, two putt on a par 4. par 5. 2 shots next to the green chip two putt, birdie.

[allin]

  Shanks A Million said:

Ha, I know what you mean!

Also better golfers throw out rare events, hitting a hard spot and rolling 40 yards, cutting the corner downwind, also most better golfers have eliminated their max Happy Gilmore swing from their arsenal, you don't get many birdies from OB. If max distance was primary alll those remax guys would be winning majors. Compare it to basketball are the best dunkers or even the best 3 point shooters the ones in the NBA? I promise you there are guys who are slow, can't handle the ball who can shoot as well or better than anyone in the NBA. Same thing goes for guys who can jump out of the gym, but can't guard my 83 year old father. The guys who can hit it longest and still straight win, if they can also hit short irons, chip, and putt. We extoll the part of the game we excel at. But after all the logic I still suffer from 300 yard drive envy, oh well.

[jmr]

  James_Black said:

short answer, yes.

What do you mean playing off 18?

Consider chipping requires more than a good stroke.. I have a poor feeling for swing height and associated distance w/ pitches / chips. What this equates to is flying the green or coming up short. From these locations I get the ball up to the green but often just to fringe because I'm not running it well or able to stop the ball. This leave 2-3 puts to hole out. It is extrememly frustrating but understand most of my range time was spent w/ driver, wood & long irons. What I want to do now is slow down on the range time and spend more time on and around the practice greens at my course. Short game takes a great deal of knowledge and understanding of course managment. Getting familiar with green speeds and associated shots around various contoured greens is taking time to develop, uphill lies, downhill lies, elevated greens. All of these factors add to the complexity of the game, unfortunately it isn't as easy as having a std. chipping stroke. I feel fairly comfortable with distances for sand wedge to 7 iron. The two stroke comment around the green was WASTED shots. So add those to the required shots to hole out. I'm not looking for accolades or pats on the back here, simply suggestions for focusing my game to consistently break 100 on 18, 50 on 9. My goals for this season are modest but reasonable and achievable.

[Randy4h]

  Longhorn High Golfer said:

i am a high school teen(16) and there is a hole, par 4 that you can carry the water and be put right on the front of the green. gps measured, to carry the water is 275. i ALWAYS carry the water and never come short. my average drive, misses and all, is about 290-300. when i grip it and rip it i get 330-340 measured. my best is 364 with about 10 mph of wind behind me, so thats bout the best average 330-340 plus th wind.

Easy there, cowboy. Be aware that there may be people here who might be familiar with the course you are playing (I assume you are a Harmony Longhorn, right?).

[saevel25]

Most people do overestimate, but i have been GPS my distance, thats +/- 2 yards, and i probably overestimated by 5-10 yards at most. Really i carry the ball 280-285. But thats when i was playing in 40-60 degree weather, with wet ground getting 0-5 yards of roll. Which you are looking at -2 to -3 yards per 10 degrees. Believe me, my miss isn't hooks or slices, there pushes or pulls, so the ball goes straight on me, usually a pull is my miss.

[Shanks A Million]

  allin said:

Also better golfers throw out rare events, hitting a hard spot and rolling 40 yards, cutting the corner downwind, also most better golfers have eliminated their max Happy Gilmore swing from their arsenal, you don't get many birdies from OB.

This is utterly insane. The Re-Max long drivers are generally phenomenal golfers. Zubeck is better than scratch, and most of those guys carry low single digit handicaps, some are scratch and better. To be able to hit a ball that squarely and consistently is very hard. But to compare these guys to the tour pros is insane, the tour pros who we might consider to be also rans are +6 handicaps.

There is a huge, huge myth out there about scoring. People on here claim every day that they can hit it as long or as well as a tour pro, but geez, if only they could putt. That's just a fantasy. All the things it takes to chip and putt it takes to make a full swing. Because we so often hear about how the tour pros are defined by short game, we buy into that fantasy. What they don't tell you, however, is that short game is what makes a tour pro better than a +3 handicap, not than a 15 handicap. Guys who can hit the ball 300 yards every time are going to be near scratch. I've never met anyone who had a great swing who was more than a 4 handicap, and I'm talking at about age 70, most of them were scratch when they were younger.

  saevel25 said:

Most people do overestimate, but i have been GPS my distance, thats +/- 2 yards, and i probably overestimated by 5-10 yards at most. Really i carry the ball 280-285. But thats when i was playing in 40-60 degree weather, with wet ground getting 0-5 yards of roll. Which you are looking at -2 to -3 yards per 10 degrees. Believe me, my miss isn't hooks or slices, there pushes or pulls, so the ball goes straight on me, usually a pull is my miss.

Sure... And I make John Holmes look small.

[jamo]

  Shanks A Million said:

All the things it takes to chip and putt it takes to make a full swing.

Well that's just plain out false. Chipping, putting, and the full swing are very different motions. Sure they have some correlation between them, but you should not confuse that with causation.

[sean_miller]

  Shanks A Million said:

I've never met anyone who had a great swing who was more than a 4 handicap

I'm sure that's really your experience. Ever play with a range pro? I have - poetry in motion off the tee - then flames.

[jamo]

  Shanks A Million said:

I've never met anyone who had a great swing who was more than a 4 handicap.

So you've never heard of Jack Hamm?!? Because if he could just 3 putt he would win every tour event out there.

[Shanks A Million]

  sean_miller said:

I'm sure that's really your experience. Ever play with a range pro? I have - poetry in motion off the tee - then flames.

Range pros are not 15 handicaps.

[msd3075]

Yesterday I measured one of my drives with my SkyCaddie; I hit it 324 yards. No joke, I really did hit it that far. Maybe 1/2 club wind behind me at the absolute most to a fairway that was maybe 5-10 feet above the teebox but had a bit of a downhill lie (maybe 5 extra yards of roll).

I think I'll make that my new average driver distance.....

[Fatphil]

  jamo said:

Well that's just plain out false. Chipping, putting, and the full swing are very different motions. Sure they have some correlation between them, but you should not confuse that with causation.

sorry, have to go with my homeboy Shanks,,,the concept behind chipping and putting is remarkably similar to the skills and technique in the full swing. In fact more so..that is why most schmoes can pound a 460cc driver but can't hit a 60* lob wedge. To hit a pitch properly requires far more precision to put the club on plane and hold the release with a proper impact. And don't get me started on putting,,,just hang out on any putting green on a saturday morning and watch the impact postions and swing planes.

[Fat Slice]

I stopped measuring my drives and started focusing on targets and keeping it in the fairway. I outdrive almost everyone at on my club and almost everyone outscores me.

[d1rt]

I have a 2-iron I can hit to about 270-280. I can hit my spot with that and get to many par 5's. Im not as accurate with the driver. Back when I was consistantly hitting my driver I could get to about 185 on my home course #2 (535yd Par 5) pretty regularly. I like hitting long irons though. 185 is a good 7 iron for me. Maybe a smooth 6. I'd rather have a 5 or 4 iron in.

[Shanks A Million]

  d1rt said:

I have a 2-iron I can hit to about 270-280. I can hit my spot with that and get to many par 5's. Im not as accurate with the driver. Back when I was consistantly hitting my driver I could get to about 185 on my home course #2 (535yd Par 5) pretty regularly. I like hitting long irons though. 185 is a good 7 iron for me. Maybe a smooth 6. I'd rather have a 5 or 4 iron in.

Nah, even in Denver that's pushing it. You might want to remeasure your claim that you hit a 2 iron as far as most PGA tour players hit a driver. I can hit a 6 iron 200-210 on fairly easilly (I don't try to do this regularly of course, my 6 iron is a 170-180 club), and I would never be foolish enough to say I could hit a 2 iron 280. Anyone can hit their shorter clubs longer, but the length you hit the long clubs diminishes.

[saevel25]

I tell you what there are some people who can hit irons that long. I know of two people, one is my dad's friend he can hit his longest iron about 230-240, but he doesn't hit his driver that far. Its just his swing, don't know why. I played with this guy in highschool who could out drive me with his 2-iron. He hit it 260-270. He was about 6'3" lefty.

[Shanks A Million]

  saevel25 said:

I tell you what there are some people who can hit irons that long. I know of two people, one is my dad's friend he can hit his longest iron about 230-240, but he doesn't hit his driver that far. Its just his swing, don't know why. I played with this guy in highschool who could out drive me with his 2-iron. He hit it 260-270. He was about 6'3" lefty.

Still not buying it. 240 sure, I hit a 3 iron 235, but 270? That's insane. Even from a tee that's a long way. Aren't you the one who 'averages' just over 300 yards?

I still think people need to wise up and realize just how far 300 yards really is.