Where Are Those 300 Yard Videos?

[delav]

if you are in the mid west with a 20 MPH breeze and burned out fairways a bit down hill

Thanks. Our fairways are still pretty nice and soft, although we do get a ton of swirling wind. Somehow, it manages to get behind you for the delicate pitch shots, yet in your face on the longer par 4s

[shaun]

sean,

Yeah, I agree. I've actually never seen anyone that could accurately drive the ball anywhere near 300 yards consistently that wasn't close to playing off scratch. It's pretty obvious why that should be the case. Despite what guys might say on the internet, few golfers consistently hit the fairway, let alone consistently hit the fairway 300 yards from the tee; and it's a fairly safe bet that the overall game of a golfer that's able to do so would be such that he or she could expect to make par or better from that point.

[golfro]

at the range today. DTL FW 3 Wood, then Driver. Recovering hooker...still taking my backswing a bit too shallow from the looks of it.

[kennay92]

at the range today. DTL FW 3 Wood, then Driver. Recovering hooker...still taking my backswing a bit too shallow from the looks of it.

you have some mad wrist movement at the beginning of your swing, almost seems like it would cause an ott move, but you say your a recovering hooker so idono?

[golfro]

you have some mad wrist movement at the beginning of your swing, almost seems like it would cause an ott move, but you say your a recovering hooker so idono?

yeah i noticed that today too. in order to fix my shallow swing, i think what i'm doing is taking my hands out too much and adding wrist movement to compensate for it. Defintely not ideal... luckily, it looks like my downswing is back on plane and not having too much OTT problems. I'm actually hitting draws with that swing.

*jesus, if you watch the slomo of the driver swing, my wrist movement is REALLY off. club is almost parallel to the ground with head pointing back mid back swing. back to the drawing board!

[majorchamp]

I will bite.

Here are a series of clips. Some feature me playing in an outing where I am trying to drive a few par 4's..each are in the 320-340 range. I reached them or were very close. Granted, we are talking good weather and plenty of roll.

In this clip, there are 2 views...the driver is at the end of the 1st view (behind view)..you can tell from the ball flight it is his pretty hard and straight. Granted its a range, I am willing to bet a few of my drives that night breached the 300 yard mark



Here I am trying to drive a par 4, it was about 10 yards short



Here is a big drive on a par 5



Another par 5, caddie view



Another par 4 opportunity



Do I average 300. no. But when I am hitting it well, and the conditions are good, my ball surpasses the 300 yard mark consistently.

[sean_miller]

Yeah, I agree. I've actually never seen anyone that could accurately drive the ball anywhere near 300 yards consistently that wasn't close to playing off scratch. It's pretty obvious why that should be the case. Despite what guys might say on the internet, few golfers consistently hit the fairway, let alone consistently hit the fairway 300 yards from the tee; and it's a fairly safe bet that the overall game of a golfer that's able to do so would be such that he or she could expect to make par or better from that point.

You need to add some defintions. How close is "close" and how consistent is "consistent". Is a 4.0 close to scratch? Is it 2.0? 8.1? Is once or twice a round consistent? What if the player only uses their driver 3 or 4 times per round? Are they in an official long drive contest and can only count the ones that finish on the fairway? Keep adding qualifiers if it makes you feel better about your driving distance, but in the end it's just a hobby, so who cares?

[motteler621]

I will bite.

majorchamp, you have one of the best swings Ive seen on the forum, seems like all your shots are always straight as an arrow

[Shanks A Million]

One thing I don't get, so many of these so called 300 yard drivers are using stock stiff and even regular shafts. I swing 110, hit it 285 on a good blast, and I can't even hope to control an S flex. All my long clubs are X flex, heavy, and low torque. My swing speed is nowhere near enough to regularly drive the ball 300 yards. My best average driving distance could be around 275-280. I hit it about 245 on average.

Now, if I need an X flex, how could any of you play with an S? I have a friend who is going to attend the Q school. He uses tour X flex shafts straight from the tour van, and Project X 7.0 in his irons (blades). His shafts are like telephone poles. He can't even keep an S shaft on this planet. He hits his 5 iron 195 yards, but his driver... nowhere near 300. To think that would be crazy. He hits drive after drive off the back of the range (240 yards), yet his average is nowhere near 300, more like 270.

My problem is, people just can't fathom what an average is. I decided to take an example to let you guys see just how extreme 300 yards is. Here's the last round of drives from Bubba Watson.

348
290
303
321
289
298
280
300
295
306
296

That's an average of 302 yards. Bubba is around a +6.5 handicap. Notice the blasts out to 348 and 321? Those are the ones they mention on TV. The fact of the matter is, at sea level, on flat fairways, these guys drives are not as impressive as they sound at 2,000 feet above sea level, on downhill holes, out of the wind. But they hit bombs. 300 yards is a long, long way. It requires a clubhead speed nearly 120 mph to contact an area the size of a dime.

Unlike the tour pros, however, we don't stop and count every drive, even the one that we maybe only hit 240. We tend to remember the good ones, but those who really drive the ball 300 yards on average will rarely, if ever , hit one less than 270. If you average 300, you will hit one or two around 350 each round. That is very rare.

[golfro]

I recently changed drivers to the FT Tour with X Stiff shaft and I was actually able to increase my distance overall. My smash factor was anywhere from 1.38 to 1.43 with my old stiff shaft, now with the X shaft, I'm hitting closer to 1.43 with less in the 1.3x range.

It would be far fetched to say I drive 300 yards on average but I've foudn that my average is roughly 280 with frequent 300 yard drives during a round.

[Jay-Bird]

Here's a little montage I made of the LAST TIME I played before my broken foot...
Yes, I have time on my hands ... (broken foot)

Warning : This video contains a 300 yard drive and a super-spinnig 56˚ wedge from just through the edge of the fairway.

click here to watch the stupidity unfold

[trickymicky69]

I will bite.

I am seriously loving your tempo in the first video.

Balanced, poised, straight and fluid. In my dreams, thats what my golf swing looks like. In the following videos, you go after it a little and lose the fluidity, but you are trying to smash the sh1t out of it. Lovely, lovely swing, well done.

[trickymicky69]

I am a very athletic person, that plays golf at a very difficult course. Apparently my pro reckons I carry the ball further than most and its only around 250-255 average (confirmed via gps). I might hit one at 270 but it will be one in 20.
After speaking to the pro and having lessons with him, he reckons only around 1-2% of the golfers at my course are hitting the ball further than that with any regularity, although nearly every person he teaches thinks they hit it 280 at least

And thats at a very long (over 7,200 yds) course, so please dont tell me that Average Joe at the dog track will be smashing them out there at 300, because I am yet to see it.

Even though nearly everyone on this forum averages around 320.

We are measuring carry? Not roll?

[trickymicky69]

Here's a little montage I made of the LAST TIME I played before my broken foot...

Nice divot on the wedge!

I have similar with my grips... Red on my driver and wedges Yellow on my fairway woods Light blue on the irons Looks amazing

[sean_miller]

I . . . please dont tell me that Average Joe at the dog track will be smashing them out there at 300, because I am yet to see it.

Stop making sh** up.

[trickymicky69]

Stop making sh** up.

Verbal and situational irony are often used for emphasis in the assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, irony used in sarcasm, and some forms of litotes emphasize one's meaning by the deliberate use of language which states the opposite of the truth — or drastically and obviously understates a factual connection.

Stop making sh** up.

Why?

You prove me wrong and I will apologise.

[Shanks A Million]

I am a very athletic person, that plays golf at a very difficult course. Apparently my pro reckons I carry the ball further than most and its only around 250-255 average (confirmed via gps). I might hit one at 270 but it will be one in 20.

Both carry and roll, total distance. Even so, 300 yards is a long shot. A good carry of about 280 yards would be required to hope to average 300 yards. In my experience, the average male golfer around 30 hits their driver maybe 225-230 on a good swing, and about 210 on average. I've seen a few 10-15 handicaps who could really kill the driver, and they averaged around 250. The swing speed is usually there with these guys, but the ability to hit the center of the face is not.

[Krillea]

Have never been in here bragging about that distace though. Since id love to trade it off for better accuracy. Im not sure of the exact yardage since we're using the metric system here.
However my clubhead speed is 117mph, on a normal drive and in the 120s if i push it, witch i seldom do. I know my head is way off in that clip. Other feedback would be wicked. Anything that can help me get a decent swing! :)

Cheers. Chris!