Honestly, I hit it long

[skierbri10]

I average ~285 on flat windless drives. I am thinking of shortening my driver shaft to get a bit more. I can hit 300+ when I hit the ball one the sweetspot, but that is probably 1 of 5 shots.

[skierbri10]

Oh also I am starting p90x this week hopefully I can add 10+ yards to my drives.

[skierbri10]

I think most people simply don't know just how far 300 yards is. Couple that with the fact that you can't measure drives using the course's yardage markers, and you get a lot of people overestimating their distance, even without knowing it.

I measure mine with my skycaddie. It has a nice mark a shot feature.

[Kieran123]

Originally Posted by skierbri10

I average ~285 on flat windless drives. I am thinking of shortening my driver shaft to get a bit more. I can hit 300+ when I hit the ball one the sweetspot, but that is probably 1 of 5 shots.

Don't know if that will help.

It may help with hitting fairways, maybe not so much with distance.

[B of H]

the end result of distance is not as important as how far you fly the ball, swing speed, ball speed, spin etc...

if you are only hitting it solid 1 out of 5 shots then you must have ideal launch conditions and a swing speed upwards of 115mph to carry it that far.  In that case you'd be better off getting heavy weight x flex shafts.  That will help straighten out your shots a bunch.  The shorter shaft might help you hit it more solid as well but i'd get fitted for a proper flex and weight/torque shaft first.

[saevel25]

Take a bit off your swing and shorten it a bit, you be surprised how far you still hit it. I use to swing out my shoes for 300, now i swing in balance and compactly i only lost about 5-10 yards. I would say 4-5 drives for me are near the center fo the clubface each time. After years of hitting them off the heel of the club, you definetly know the difference when you hit them in the center, its a nice feel.

[bplewis24]

As is usually the case, a few things come to mind in these distance discussions:

1) Some people talk averages while others are talking best-case-scenario.

2) Some folks use driving range distance markers or tee-box markers to measure their shots.

3) Course conditions have an impact.

4) A few of the guys actually do hit it that far, but we're conditioned to doubt them because of all of the exaggerators we've come across.

I use a very reliable rangefinder during every round and I believe I keep pretty accurate distances on my drives.  While I believe the occasional guy with length hits it 300 every now and again, saying they average that is incredible.  If they do, they do...it's not a big deal.  But it's simply not likely on average.

Lately I've been crushing my driver.  I received some lessons and I've really been roping the thing down the fairway.  I still haven't hit one over 280.  Granted, it's just this week started to heat up here, and I've been playing courses with poor fairways, but I still find it interesting.  Case in point: last week there was a dog-leg-left fairway with a tree dead center that you either had to hook around or hit a 15-yard wide gap between the tree and the OB line.  I aimed for the gap and hit a low draw that was crushed.  The random playing partners I was paired with marveled at how far up along the fairway it was all the way 'til I got to my ball.  It was still only a 277 yard drive based on my rangefinder.  The hole was 411 yards and I was about 140 out, so the yardages seemed about right.

So my conclusion is that either I just lack the ability to hit it 300 yards (lacking in swing speed or something) or firm fairways contribute to yardages in some cases.  Do drivers lose their pop over time?  I'm using a used driver I bought on ebay last year.  To this day I've only hit it over 300 three times in my life: once on a 50-yard downhill par 5, once when I got some incredible bounce off a cart path, and another time when I just hit it on the screws i guess.

When I'm driving it well (like right now), I tend to average about 260 off the tee and I'm typically the longest person in the group.  Last year I hit probably 10-15 drives in the 275-290 range.  I've played with one person longer than me, and I measured most of his drives at around 280, never 300.  I look forward to playing with these guys that hit it that far consistently.

Brandon

[JoelCochran]

For me, an off center hit goes about 250 and solid contact goes about 270, so I'm usually somewhere in the middle.  Maybe 1 a round will go over that, but my longest this season is about 285.  I hit my strong 3 wood between 230 and 250 and I can out distance most of the guys at our course with that.  I've had people tell me I'm long but I've never bought into it, I've played with too many guys in my life who truly bomb the ball and I know the difference.

In my youth I was a bit longer but sprayed it all over the place.  Now I play an XS shaft which decreases distance a little but improves control a lot (for me).  I'll take my controlled "short" 260+ in the fairway any day over the alternatives.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by colin007

most people have no idea how long 300 yards is.  i hit it longer than just about anyone i play with or get matched up with (which is your typical muni hacker, just like me) and when i get a hold of one, they are always like "OMG THAT MUST BE 330!!!" and i tell them no way, and we go out and measure it and its 270.  they have no clue.

This is precisely what happened when I played with this one gentleman who happens to be a longer driver than me.  I've played with him twice, simply by chance on two different courses, but we both remembered each other.  We got paired up with a father & his 14-year old son.  On a par 5 he hit a drive on the screws.  As we approach the ball the kid goes "wow how far was that?"  Dad replies, "has to be at least 315, maybe 320."  I measured it at around 285 and kept it to myself.  Last year I played with a guy who asked me if I hit a drive over 310 when I measured it at 270-somethin.

Originally Posted by awmgolfer

I have only seen a handful of guys at our course that can hit just about 300 yards or over. Our course manager can on average hit it around 325 yards, if he really gets a hold of it it can go around 350 yards. However, put the short irons and putter in his hands and he falls apart.

I absolutely love those stories.  He averages 325, but can't hit a wedge to within 30 feet and proceeds to 3-putt?  Is it a 18-handicap "fall apart" or a 4-handicap "fall apart"?

Brandon

[Vincent Hofmann]

First, I have to declare that I'm surprised that distance has become so important. Started streaming the Golf channel, and then realized that US marketing appears to put a lot of emphasis on distance and swing planes, rather than say accuracy and or consistency.

Nevertheless, in a bid to add a bit of data to this discussion I took note of the drives at the range today (a bank / public holiday in South Africa).

On average, 20 - 50 year old males,  hit their drivers near the 218 - 250 yard mark (no ball roll).

The guys who did attempt to hit it long were under 30 (like me) and were pushing the balls wildly left or right. Their shots were oft accompanied with laughter, I don't trust golfers with poor etiquette :)

The two guys who were doing drills and one could tell had a practice regime were hitting their drivers consistently near the 250 meter (280 yard) mark with soft draws, so with roll likely to get near the 300 yard mark.

There were two guys (of the 30 or so) consistently clearing the 250 meter range marker, with range balls - they shared a Pro coach, and were around the 6ft mark.

For nearly two hours, only 10% of the golfers at the range at a well supported club in Johannesburg were able to consistently hit it anywhere near the 300 yard mark with any amount of accuracy.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Vincent Hofmann

First, I have to declare that I'm surprised that distance has become so important. Started streaming the Golf channel, and then realized that US marketing appears to put a lot of emphasis on distance and swing planes, rather than say accuracy and or consistency.

Nevertheless, in a bid to add a bit of data to this discussion I took note of the drives at the range today (a bank / public holiday in South Africa).

On average, 20 - 50 year old males,  hit their drivers near the 218 - 250 yard mark (no ball roll).

The guys who did attempt to hit it long were under 30 (like me) and were pushing the balls wildly left or right. Their shots were oft accompanied with laughter, I don't trust golfers with poor etiquette :)

The two guys who were doing drills and one could tell had a practice regime were hitting their drivers consistently near the 250 meter (280 yard) mark with soft draws, so with roll likely to get near the 300 yard mark.

There were two guys (of the 30 or so) consistently clearing the 250 meter range marker, with range balls - they shared a Pro coach, and were around the 6ft mark.

For nearly two hours, only 10% of the golfers at the range at a well supported club in Johannesburg were able to consistently hit it anywhere near the 300 yard mark with any amount of accuracy.

That would be approximately 100x the rate that haters who start threads like this see as reality.

[Topper]

I am a big guy and a short hitter.  250 yards is a bomb for me at the moment and a rare treat when it happens.  I'm happy just to hit relatively straight drives without regard to distance as long as I'm making decent contact.

[newtogolf]

Few observations I've made given my short time playing golf;

1. Most people over-estimate the distance they hit.  When they say 300 yards, it most likely means 250.  I see guys at the range all the time say they hit the ball 300 yards, when the longest marker is 225 yards, and there's a fence at 250.  I'm not sure how they come up with 300 when their ball rolls to the fence but I hear it almost every time I'm there.
2. Most people don't calculate averages properly.  Average for non-pro's means the average of every drive, not just the drives you choose to remember and include.

I'm happy to average around 230 right now.  I'm more concerned about getting the ball on the fairway than I am distance.

[x129]

They are pretty different skills. It is easy for an athletic guy to get the ability to hit the ball 290+ yards. It is a lot harder to get those 290 yards to be straight. Or to get the feel to chip the put well.

Distances also tend to a bit bogus and people talk about their best distance ever. I drove a 325 green once. It was downhill (probably about 40-50 feet), with a tailwind, with rock hard fairways. Move that shot with those conditions up to 7000ft and I am guess 350 would have been possible.  It sounds good to say I can drive it 325 while most pros are more like 290. But that 290 is a totally different number than my 325.

Quote:

I absolutely love those stories.  He averages 325, but can't hit a wedge to within 30 feet and proceeds to 3-putt?  Is it a 18-handicap "fall apart" or a 4-handicap "fall apart"?

Brandon

[Tomboys]

I think some posters have selective memory when calculating their "average" drive.  If I calculated the average of all the truly great drives I've ever hit (maybe 20) over the past 16 years, yeah, I would average just under 300--these would include those 50 yard cart path assisted ones, the downhill gale-force wind assisted ones and heck, probably those mis-marked fairway assisted ones.  Now, if I factor in the other 6,000 drives I've hit into my average, I'm probably < 250.

[Travtex]

I'm averaging about 200 yards with my driver... Only including the good ones.  Though, I've been hitting my 3 wood from 225-240.  Suffice to say I -really- suck with my driver.

[SamW]

If somebody had asked me before I got a GPS I would have guessed I was at least 30-40 yards longer but the facts speak and my driving distance average is a poor sounding 237 yards. This is an actual average ignoring some of the holes on my course that really skew it due to downhill landing conditions. Despite this very poor sounding number I actually hit it as far as anybody I regularly play with and quite a bit further than most. When I flush one it goes further, if I flush one in bouncy conditions landing downhill I can get quite far past 300 but its the rare case.

So when people write on here that they have over 300 yard averages I have some doubts, virtually all of the double digit handicappers I play with hit around 220-240 most of the time, even most of the single digit hcaps are only hitting 240-270 most of the time, to be honest even the club pro is really only hitting in that range off the tee and he's pretty good and he can crank one over 300 if he needs to :)

The GPS was a real eye opener for sure :) but what it really tells me is that I'm very rarely getting perfect launch conditions, I know my swing speed with a driver is in the 104-107mph range as I've measured it on a trackman more than once but I'm very rarely converting that swing speed to maximum distance (because I would be averaging much higher if I did)...

So in answer to the thread, I average 237 yards and I hit it long for a mid teen h-capper without a GPS I definitely averaged 260-270 in my head :)

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Mattplusness

I think for everyone saying they hit it long, there are 5 people who don't post. Why would someone post if they are just an average hitter? You're not seeing between the lines here, folks.

Excellent point.  Obvious sampling bias.  It's super annoying that people on this board see 20 or 30 people post on a driving distance thread talking about long averages and say how it's so ridiculous everyone claims to hit it so far, cause they never see anyone average that much.  And I haven't even seen many people on this board who claim to average over 300, just plenty of people who claim they hit their good ones 300 if it's not uphill or into the wind.

Sure, in a truly random sample of all golfers who play at least, say, 6 times a year, a very very low percentage will average 270.  But take all avid golfers, the percentage increases a lot.  Then take avid golfers obsessed enough to frequent these boards, percentage goes up again.  Then take the golfers who frequent this board and take the time to post in the driving distance thread, the percentage goes up again.  Suddenly 1/2 the posts are from people claiming to average 275+, and everyone jumps in feeling holier than thou about how ridiculous everyone is and how 1/2 of golfers think they drive it close to 300 but really it's like 1% and people are retarded and liars.  Think a little bit before getting all snide and condescending.

I always say I'm not going to get sucked into these threads, but I just find the holier than thou, super disdainful sniping so annoying.  There are LOTS and LOTS of amateurs who average carry+roll in the 260-280 range.  If you're not one of them, get over it.  And learn something about sampling before taking out your jealousy as condescension and insult.