300 yards - fact or fiction: Post your experience

[Shanks A Million]

Is there really 20 yards?

They are, but the laws of both physics, and the rules set fourth by the USGA limit drivers very carefully. The maximum MOI is limited to 5900 g-cm². With this limit in place, you can't really get much more forgiving.

[jamo]

I swing hard (average SS about 111) and even when I go all out (SS about 117) I don't average 300. I do bust a few out there (and I did hit one over 300 today) but it is not my average.

[hipcheck4u]

I started tracking my driving distances with my GPS a couple of months ago so that I could satisfy my curiosity about this ever-so-controversial stat on this forum. My handicap service (at least so far) only gives me my average for each round, which has ranged from 200 yards to 220 yards. My long drive is 271- a pull that ended up on downsloped hardpan and ran. I had a 265 yard drive last week which stayed on the left edge of the fairway, but was heavily influenced by a tailwind. I don't care if I ever hit a drive 300 yards. I'm more concerned with getting my putting under 2 strokes a hole and finding more greens in regulation.

My one request to golfers everywhere: please don't tell me what you average off the tee unless you have used a reliable, tested method of measuring an honest sample of your drives. (I have included all of those horrible misses that went less than 170 in my average- which is what makes it an average .)

[kpaulhus]

so far, 2 out of 65 think the drive it over 300 on average.

[CG031]

very few people drive it 300 yards. on average i hit it about 250 off the tee. but i can tell you i have had numerous 300 yard drives in my life. There's a hole at the local municipal course i played at, that was slightly downhill and had a very very dry fairway in the summer. it was about 298 I think to the pin and I drove it just over the green, so I drove it probably 305 or so. I mean, I've done that probably 10 times in my life there.

VERY VERY few people AVERAGE 300. Maybe they've DONE it before, but not on AVERAGE.

[cowens677]

Most tour pro can hit it 300 if they want to, I have a friend on tour and he can hit 300 anytime he wants. But to hit a fairway that is 15 yards wide and hit it 300yds is a whole different story.

[cody west]

i play 2 courses frequently. iv only played 4 rounds this year iv hit almost all my drives over 300 yards except for 4 or 5 of them, i hit one 340 yards yesterday and a few about 320 and a good amount just over or just under 300. last year my playing partner who i played with had a gps and we kept our averages, my average was 308 but that was last year. i frequently get other members at my course coming up to me and asking me if im the kid who hits it 320, im always like no not that far but in reality i hit about 2 every round about 320 or more. if you dont believe me, my swing speed an average of 121 mph on normal swings and when i tried to swing hard for the second set of 10 my average was 127 mph. i keep that extra power in reserve for when i need to make a quick birdie or something to get back into a match

[max power]

i keep that extra power in reserve for when i need to make a quick birdie or something to get back into a match

So you only get birdies when you need 'em? ;)

[cody west]

So you only get birdies when you need 'em? ;)

i generally aim for the center of the green and if i make the first but thats great but i dont go pin hunting unless i need a birdie and im decently close to the green and have a wedge or short iron in my hand. so i dont try for them unless i need them because im perfectly happy making pars until i make a putt good putt. imo pin hunting is dumb because thats how you end up in a bunker trying to get up and down when your better off going for the center and taking a two putt of a good 1 putt

[Jell0b0y]

You're using an 8.5° driver. You could use more loft, say, 10.5°, and your misses would be less offline. That's always a tip I would give people. Less loft = more sidespin, and more sidespin = OB. That could save you maybe 4 strokes per round if you were able to keep it in play. Also, if your driver shaft is more than 44", have it cut down to 44". That will also help give more control.

I have tried a 11° and a 10.5° and loose huge distance. I get only about 210 with a driver due to an extremely high flight path. my brother has a 10.5° R7 and I used it at the driving range and lost 20 plus yards and his flight path with his R7 was the same or close as mine with the 8.5° My main issue is lack of a constant good swing path I have a really bad habit of tucking my right elbow on the down swing and causing my face to open at impact. when i hit it good and really focus on not doing that i have a slight draw on driver. I can play 7-8 holes pretty good (due to that i play a lot of 9 hole because of time) Couple weeks ago i was setting on the 9th tea box and needed a par to shoot 41. i wound up with a 9 due to not focusing and hit O.B twice on the tee box and it took me 8 days to figure out what i was doing. My flight path will go so high that when my ball hits the green it will basically leave a crater with the ball inches away.

[Shanks A Million]

I have tried a 11° and a 10.5° and loose huge distance. I get only about 210 with a driver due to an extremely high flight path. my brother has a 10.5° R7 and I used it at the driving range and lost 20 plus yards and his flight path with his R7 was the same or close as mine with the 8.5° My main issue is lack of a constant good swing path I have a really bad habit of tucking my right elbow on the down swing and causing my face to open at impact. when i hit it good and really focus on not doing that i have a slight draw on driver. I can play 7-8 holes pretty good (due to that i play a lot of 9 hole because of time) Couple weeks ago i was setting on the 9th tea box and needed a par to shoot 41. i wound up with a 9 due to not focusing and hit O.B twice on the tee box and it took me 8 days to figure out what i was doing. My flight path will go so high that when my ball hits the green it will basically leave a crater with the ball inches away.

A TaylorMade driver is not the best thing to compare, their amateur models tend to spin a lot. A good lower spin head like an Adams or Titleist will give better results.

[Jell0b0y]

I my go test run a few and see how they go. i am always willing to give anything a shot.

[bplewis24]

Only 6 PGA professionals are averaging over 300 this year.

Nuff said?

I find this topic very near and dear to my heart. I've only started playing golf over the past 2 years. Over that time I've played about 70 rounds (60 having been tracked with Golfcard). The software only tracks average driving distance over the last 20 rounds. According to that I have a 253.34 average . Now, that average only includes fairways hit. I mistakenly assumed that driving distances on the PGA were calculated that way. I truly think it is still a fair average, as I am still capable of having a 150-yard mis-hit that lands in the fairway, and I do count that in the average. But if it goes 270 in the first cut, I won't count it. Anyway, this is a sensitive topic with me because, having played football for about 12 years I'm used to people embellishing. I'm used to outlandish and exaggerated 40 times, vertical leaps, bench presses, arm strength (i.e., he can throw it 65 yards off one knee) etc. I'm always cynical about the figures I hear a guy brag about. Having played at the highest collegiate level and having performed at combines and seen the actual figures, I know most of what I "hear" is bullcrap. That has carried over into golf quite well as I hear guys talk about how they shot a 75 last week while currently shooting 95 (taking preferred lies? 4 foot gimmes? multiple mulligans?) and when they were 25 they used to hit it 320+ yards regularly (with persimmon woods?). Almost every shred of anecdotal evidence I've compiled thus far suggests that 95% of people who talk about how far they hit it, probably hit it about 50 yards less than that whether it's an average or an outlier. I'm routinely the longest person in a foursome in any given round, an once every 5 rounds or so there is somebody longer. I've cracked 300 about 7 times over the last 60 rounds. 3 of those times were with a tailwind and or a cart path bounce or 3 (longest is 330 with 2 cartpath bounces, from what I could see). I've hit it 295-305 about 3-4 other times on purely good swings hitting it on the screws. And I measure every shot off the tee with a GPS rangefinder. The last time I played with a guy who was longer than me, he crushed a drive with a tailwind. It appeared to go in the 280-300 range from my GPS-accustomed eye. The other guy we played with said WOW that's 330 AT LEAST. I measured it at 295. Some people just don't know the difference. Brandon

[Shanks A Million]

Nuff said?

Exactly. By the way, 253.34 is a great average. I'm right in that neighborhood, maybe moving toward 260. Just take for example some numbers taken from my swing, plugged into a tracking computer, and the optimum numbers calculated:

Clubhead speed: 110.1 Ball speed: 162 Launch angle: 12.7 Baskspin: 2601.4 Total Carry: 272.7 Hang time: 6.92 Height: 35.7 So, with my best swing, with my clubhead speed, I can carry the ball 272.1 yards. That assumes, of course, that all other things were perfect. In reality, nothing is ever perfect, and the carry I get on a good strike is generally more like 265. Now, I also don't strike every one perfectly, so a lot of them go in the 240 range, and the occasional bad mishit goes only about 200 yards.

[Incognito]

Only 6 PGA professionals are averaging over 300 this year.

It's my understanding that this average is made from a tee shot not on a par 3. This stat would include tee shots with woods and long irons. How many times does a PGA tour pro actually tee off with his driver? I'm sure the actual DRIVER average of most pros would be close to if not over 300 yards.

[Gibby]

I agree that many, many people overestimate their driving distances. I also agree that very, VERY few people can AVERAGE over 300 yards. On that same note however, I believe quite a few of you guys here are taking the opposite side to the extreme.

It is not anything extraordinary to average over 250 yards. On my High School varsity team, I don't think any of us average less than 250 yards. The thing is, with proper contact, it doesn't take much at all to hit it 250 yards in normal conditions. I would argue that a majority of single digit handicappers average over 250 yards. I'm one of the shorter hitters on our team, and I comfortably average over 250 yards. I will admit, I dont usually use a GPS to measure my drives, and I don't keep an average, but I know I've hit my fair share of drives over 300 yards. I also know that even on my not so great drives, I'm hitting around 250.

All my point is, while I agree it is hard to believe all the people who claim to average over 300 yards, I just also think many of you guys are too eager to jump at people's throats who claim to average 260-270. I once played with an elderly man, swing speed couldn't have been more than 85 or so, and he didn't get his swing anywhere near parallel. He was also using very old clubs, his driver was the size of my three wood, and probably about as long too. He consistently hit it almost 250, and even reached a par 5 in two that measures 465, without significant tailwind or anything. He ended up shooting the same score as me that day, an 80. What i'm trying to emphasize is, you do not need 120+ swingspeed to hit it far. Good contact will gaurantee you good distance.

[Kingfisher]

We've touched on this before, but I am convinced that many of the claimed distances some amateurs come up with are erroneous based on the way they arrived at the alleged distance.

For a kick-off, a (supposed) 300 yarder in the woods / water / on another fairway / OOB* (delete where appropriate) is not really a 300 yarder worth talking about. In my book, a nuked drive should finish on the short stuff, or not so far of it, so all these fellas who claim olympian distances but can't hit it straight should put a sock in it. Also, for every drive one of these guys 'duffs' 250yds, it means he has to hit the next one 350yds to bring his average back up to 300yds

Second, the old dog leg chestnut. I ran into a guy the other day bragging how he drove over the back of the green on a par 4...just because the regulation distance was ~350yds he suddenly assumed he'd hit a 350yd missile. This hole happened to be a pretty severe dog leg and the 'tiger line' to the green was only around 250yds, so whilst he undoubtedly hit a nice drive, 350yds it was not. Upon hearing this it took the wind out of his sails a little.

A case in point is the 15th hole of the Celtic Manor 2010 course (Ryder Cup venue). A couple of weeks back the European Tour played there and almost all of the players were easily driving the green of this 377yd hole (real life, not Sandtrap), furthermore some of the longer hitters were using 3 woods to find the green.

The secret was not equipment, swing speed or steroids. It was merely a big old dogleg, which is no doubt something that Joe Amateur tends to forget about when he's chest-thumping in the bar after the game...

[bplewis24]

Exactly. By the way, 253.34 is a great average. I'm right in that neighborhood, maybe moving toward 260. Just take for example some numbers taken from my swing, plugged into a tracking computer, and the optimum numbers calculated:

Thanks. I rarely use Driver these days because I just cannot control it and I struggle hitting fairways even with my 3wood. I'm good with my irons and can take full swings with them. But when I take a full swing with the driver so far, bad things happen about 75% of the time.

On another note, can you just go into any high-tech pro shop and pay some amount of $$$ to get your swing speed, et al, tested? I know it doesn't help at all that my driver is very likely not fit for my swing. Brandon