300 yards - fact or fiction: Post your experience

[lhshurdl3r]

Only 6 PGA professionals are averaging over 300 this year.

Yeah well.. The Sandtrap's forum members have 8!! lol

[pedarius]

I usually have one 300+ drive per round, occasionally two, seldom three and never more than that. Most reasonably good drives for me are between 260-290, but there are plenty of disastrous hooks where I get too quick on it to pull my true average well below that (though I've no idea what it is).

At the other end of the spectrum, shots I hit from, say, 70-150 yards out that land pretty much where I'm aiming (or where I THINK I'm aiming) are a mirror image: one or maybe two per round. Curiously, nobody seems to start a weekly 20-page thread about that, but I know which stat of the two I'd rather improve. My dad is 78 and can only hit his drives 200 yards or so, but he always beats me by at least five strokes.

[etlreams]

I average 230 or so. My longests is about 275, and that was because I had a hard, down hill fairway that gave me a good 30+ yards of role.

I've golfed with a lot of different people, and (aside from attending a few PGA events) I don't think I've ever witnessed a 300 yard drive.

[ghalfaire]

To be completely honest, I don't believe your driving average either. How can a 20 handicapper who's never driven the ball past 290, have a 250 average.

I guess I find it strange that you would believe all the post that claim to consistently hit over 300 yards and only 11 of over 190 tour professionals average over 300 yards off the tee and you don't believe me. Want to buy a bridge?

[sean_miller]

I guess I find it strange that you would believe all the post that claim to consistently hit over 300 yards and only 11 of over 190 tour professionals average over 300 yards off the tee and you don't believe me. Want to buy a bridge?

Of course I doubt the 30 index guy who claims to be >300. I've hit more than enough 320 yard drives and 240 yard drives to know "averaging" 300 would pretty unlikely for someone at my level. Is it possible? Let's say I'm undecided.

My calling BS, is more like "I think you're mistaken". If your driving average is only 34 yards less than your longest ever measured drive, you're a.) omitting outliers, b.) very very consistent for a 20 handicap, or c.) rounding up - quite a bit.

[O.B. Right]

Over the last 3 weeks (valid time frame since I'm a beginner taking lessons) my best drives are about 170 yards. I've never even seen a 300 yard drive . .not in my group or the group behind or in front. I have seen some 275+ yard drives at the driving range from the high school golfers my golf teacher works with but even the best golfers on the high school team are not hitting it 300 (not that I see, anyway - if you ask them it might be a different story :) ).

[James_Black]

Who cares about a true average?
that has nothing to do with your actual distances.
A "good drive" is what most people call there average.

The pro´s have averages under 300 yards but most of them can hit it quite a bit longer than that.

[sean_miller]

Who cares about a true average?

That was sort of the point I was trying to make, but you've said it more directly.

[Fourputt]

Does it ever end??? I've hit 300 yard drives many times over the last 20 years. I've even hit a 280 yard 5W a couple of times by accident. (not recently, since I haven't even carried a 5W for 6 or 7 years now)

My most recent 300 yard drive ( measured by GPS at 320) was last fall, with a 40 MPH tailwind and a firm (not rock hard) fairway. My average drive is still no more than 230-240, even though I play 95% of my golf in Colorado. I'm heading out to play in about an hour, so I'll try to remember to measure on the holes where I hit driver and see where I end up. I'll post the results later.

[ghalfaire]

Of course I doubt the 30 index guy who claims to be >300. I've hit more than enough 320 yard drives and 240 yard drives to know "averaging" 300 would pretty unlikely for someone at my level. Is it possible? Let's say I'm undecided.

you could be right as I said in the post I don't measure all my drives and I don't even carry the GPS in the summers when I am up in the woods playing golf (because I have found it to be inaccurate in the Pine tree canyons that you play in on my home course here). So it is a pretty small sample on diver distance and could be inaccurate. But I will say, and you can believe or not, that the reason I am a high handicap has not much to do with my drives. I do consistently out drive my peer group by 25-30 yards using a 3 wood and even shortened my driver (44 1/2 in.) to me help hit more fairways. I did that because distance isn't my problem, consistency is. I do keep pretty good statistics on my game but not driving distance as I don't see it as part of my problem. My problems, like most of the golfers I play with, is short game stuff. Number of putt/round, number of sand and missed green saves, stupid shots from the rough or woods, etc. I guess I should update my index also as I am about a shot and half better these days since have been working on the short game this last month and plan to continue doing that. Anyway I intended no offence nor would I call anyone on this forum a liar. So if it sounded that way I apologize. But I do read the PGA and USGA stats and find some of the statements made here and on other thread related to distance to be improbable. Not necessarily by any one individual but by the number of claims. Just doesn't correlate to the stats very well.

[MUDFISH]

I'd say my actual average is somewhere around 175-200 yards, but my average of balls that stay in play is about 240-260.. To my recollection, I've only had 2 300 yard drives...

one was into a stream that was marked on the tee as "304 yards to carry the stream", I didn't carry...
the other was a provisional ball that I had to pick up bacause I found my original... actually according to my partners GPS it was 299 yards, but I'm calling it 300...

[etlreams]

Who really gives a crap about 300 yard drives.? Well...obviously....too many people do. I'll stick by my statement of not witnessing any playing partners hitting the ball 300. But here's an interesting fact I do know for sure, IN MY EXPERIENCE, anyways. Every time I've played with a "long hitter" (for argument sake let's say that's 270+ yards) either:

a) they are the most erratic with hooking, slicing, etc off the tee box I've seen. Most of those long bombs they hit they have to go hunting for them in the woods
b) their mid iron game is ugly, or their short game is painful to watch, or they 3-putt every hole. Sometimes all three apply.

On a Par 5.....I'll take my 235 yard fairway drive, being safely on in three for a short birdie putt, ---- than watching my friends have to punch out their 270 yard drive from the trees, then leaving their approach shot short and then having to 2-putt out for bogey any day.

[O.B. Right]

Who really gives a crap about 300 yard drives.? Well...obviously....too many people do. I'll stick by my statement of not witnessing any playing partners hitting the ball 300. But here's an interesting fact I do know for sure, IN MY EXPERIENCE, anyways. Every time I've played with a "long hitter" (for argument sake let's say that's 270+ yards) either:

My experience (while perhaps only about 100 lifetime rounds so far) has been the opposite. Every long hitter I've ever played with (I'll call 250+ long) has been at least decent in every area (chipping, putting, irons, etc). I will also add that I have played with LOTS of guys that swing hard and drive erratically and I've never seen any of them hit a drive 300 yards. In my experience, when those guys get lucky and "catch one just right" it's more like 250 yards. Some people are clearly using the metric system or something. Last week I played with a guy who hit a bunch of "200 yard 6 irons" that were actually about 170 yards. He was using a Golf Logix cell phone thing so I think he must've had it set to something other than the standard English Units. Maybe there is something called an "Internet Yard" which is a bit shorter than a regular Yard?

[bwdial]

My experience (while perhaps only about 100 lifetime rounds so far) has been the opposite. Every long hitter I've ever played with (I'll call 250+ long) has been at least decent in every area (chipping, putting, irons, etc). I will also add that I have played with LOTS of guys that swing hard and drive erratically and I've never seen any of them hit a drive 300 yards. In my experience, when those guys get lucky and "catch one just right" it's more like 250 yards.

Yes. An internet yard is 36 peninches.

[soloredd]

My experience (while perhaps only about 100 lifetime rounds so far) has been the opposite. Every long hitter I've ever played with (I'll call 250+ long) has been at least decent in every area (chipping, putting, irons, etc). I will also add that I have played with LOTS of guys that swing hard and drive erratically and I've never seen any of them hit a drive 300 yards. In my experience, when those guys get lucky and "catch one just right" it's more like 250 yards.

Another thing to factor in: using the posted yardages on a course isn't the way to go, either. Using my GPS, I've noted some tees to be as much as 25 yards shorter than the distance posted on the hole marker.

[chilly]

I guess I'll address a few things here.

1) These discussions come up because everyone loves the long ball. Plain and simple, it's big stupid fun to hammer the ball. Also, I'll say it, I'd be envious of anyone that hits a legit 300yd average because the game is definitely easier with that kind of distance (assuming some kind of accuracy). The "envy" is why these turn into pissing matches. If I don't particularly believe a guy that's claiming some distance average, I sort of have to figure out if I really don't believe him, or it's that I don't WANT to believe him because I'm really just jealous of anyone that hits the ball a long way.

2) It's idiotic when anyone says they average some gawdy number over 275yds but then later throw in the caveat that "I rarely find the fairway". In that case, who cares? Anyone can swing like a gorilla and hammer the ball. It's the same old pattern, I did it, new golfer swings out of his shoes and hits it a long way with all clubs but shoots 110. He learns to control the swing, and miraculously his distances decrease but so do his scores. Nobody cares about a 30hcp'er that hits it 280 but finds three fairways a round...no offense intended but that's the way it is.

3) I've never played with anyone that I've seen hit a "legit" 300yd drive. I've seen some wind aided, or downhill 300yd shots. I have played with two guys that banged it out there 290, in the fairway, with regularity and it was an amazing sight...one was a scratch and the other a 6hcp that plays very infrequently and would easily be a 2hcp if he played with any frequency. They definitely weren't the mythical "I hit it 290 but somehow can't hit a wedge" type. This experience is why I, and many others, plain don't believe high handicappers that make such claims. I guess there are exceptions to the rule, but I haven't seen anyone that even vaguely fits that description so far.

4) Distance DOES matter, assuming some semblance of accuracy. I think sometimes guys try to play it off like it doesn't matter, but it's sort of a defense mechanism if they're not particularly long off the tee. Sure, accuracy trumps distance, but distance is definitely a factor. I don't make many birdies but the other week we had a very nice tailwind and I hit one 320yd drive (WIND AIDED) on a 477yd par 5, and had an easy 9iron in, for the easiest birdie of my life. On the back I hit a solid drive through the dogleg on our #2hcp 435yd par 4, and had a PW to green for another birdie. I'll gladly keep working on hitting it long based on this experience.

5) I just realized I own 6 drivers, and one putter, my priorities are screwed up but I can't help myself.

[Grndslmhttr3]

Just got back from a round of golf today. Average drive was only like 330 but I was hitting uphill into the wind.

[bwdial]

Just got back from a round of golf today. Average drive was only like 330 but I was hitting uphill into the wind.

3 wood off the tee?