Diminished Outlandish Claims

[Grumpter]

I don't think most people intentionally lie about distance. Rather I think they are just misinformed.

1) Courses usually measure from the back of the tee box to the back of the green for scorecard yardages. Guy plays a straight hole with scorecard yardage of 300 yards and is 20 yards from the center of the green. He walks away thinking he hit the ball 280 yards when it was probably more like 255-265 yards (or maybe even less).

2) Courses can be a bit optimistic in their posted yardages.

3) People don't take into account cutting the corner on a dogleg reduces the yardage needed to reach the green. The course is measured straight out the fairway then to the green, not straight from tee to green.

4) Some crappier courses have no fairway water. I have seen balls that land 220 yards out end up stopping around 280-290 yards. I once played with a guy who couldn't hit the ball longer than 230 in the air with a driver but he out drove me all day because he hit line drives that ran out for 60+ yards (takes the right course, conditions and someone who has good aim that day).

[Spyder]

Maybe I should lie really quick to spark up some juicy debate!

On a funny and off-topic note though, it reminds me of my buddy saying he's a 300 average bowler (or) on his way to a 300. That is, until he throws his first shot and it slowly degrades to a 290 or 279, and so on until he's counting what he needs in the 10th to finish 180 and pay me!

I'm a Par golfer every single time I go out. Then I swing the club off of the first tee and all hell breaks loose!

[newtogolf]

I think it's nice you want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I think most exaggerate their driving distances intentionally.  Driving distance is right there with penis size, # of girls slept with, and bench press poundages - guys tend to lie about all of them.

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I don't think most people intentionally lie about distance. Rather I think they are just misinformed.

[johnclayton1982]

Quote:

I would say that anyone who claims to "feast" on par 5s may be "exaggerating" a little.

Fair enough.  At my local, I usually play the four par 5s -1 to -2.  Birdies on other holes are rare for me, so relatively speaking those are the holes I make my money.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I don't think most people intentionally lie about distance. Rather I think they are just misinformed.

1) Courses usually measure from the back of the tee box to the back of the green for scorecard yardages. Guy plays a straight hole with scorecard yardage of 300 yards and is 20 yards from the center of the green. He walks away thinking he hit the ball 280 yards when it was probably more like 255-265 yards (or maybe even less).

2) Courses can be a bit optimistic in their posted yardages.

3) People don't take into account cutting the corner on a dogleg reduces the yardage needed to reach the green. The course is measured straight out the fairway then to the green, not straight from tee to green.

4) Some crappier courses have no fairway water. I have seen balls that land 220 yards out end up stopping around 280-290 yards. I once played with a guy who couldn't hit the ball longer than 230 in the air with a driver but he out drove me all day because he hit line drives that ran out for 60+ yards (takes the right course, conditions and someone who has good aim that day).

Are there courses that really give yardages to the back of the green?  That seems weird, and like it would make the yardage markers useless off the tee.  Like, if I'm at a tee box right on the yardage stone at the tee box that says 360 yards and the green's tight with a couple long fairway bunkers starting at the 150 yard marker.  Then that would mean the bunkers really start at ~195 from my spot on the tee box, not 210, given I'm pretty certain about my iron distances and none of the courses I play have 150 markers into a long green where I really need to hit an easy PW instead of a full 9i to a mid flag, meaning none of the course I play measure the on-fairway distance markers that way.

(4) definitely makes it tricky to know your carry distance off the tee.  I hit my driver with a medium ball flight, but I play many courses with hard fairways and I usually still get decent to lots of roll on my drives, which makes it hard to know my true average carry distance.

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by mdl

Are there courses that really give yardages to the back of the green?

I suppose it could be something to do with the area I live in and the courses I play. I used Google Earth to measure some holes on 5 courses I play somewhat regularly. 4 out of the 5 appear to measure back of the tee box to back of the green for scorecard yardage. The one that did not is a newer course.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by mdl

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I don't think most people intentionally lie about distance. Rather I think they are just misinformed.

1) Courses usually measure from the back of the tee box to the back of the green for scorecard yardages. Guy plays a straight hole with scorecard yardage of 300 yards and is 20 yards from the center of the green. He walks away thinking he hit the ball 280 yards when it was probably more like 255-265 yards (or maybe even less).

2) Courses can be a bit optimistic in their posted yardages.

3) People don't take into account cutting the corner on a dogleg reduces the yardage needed to reach the green. The course is measured straight out the fairway then to the green, not straight from tee to green.

4) Some crappier courses have no fairway water. I have seen balls that land 220 yards out end up stopping around 280-290 yards. I once played with a guy who couldn't hit the ball longer than 230 in the air with a driver but he out drove me all day because he hit line drives that ran out for 60+ yards (takes the right course, conditions and someone who has good aim that day).

Are there courses that really give yardages to the back of the green?  That seems weird, and like it would make the yardage markers useless off the tee.  Like, if I'm at a tee box right on the yardage stone at the tee box that says 360 yards and the green's tight with a couple long fairway bunkers starting at the 150 yard marker.  Then that would mean the bunkers really start at ~195 from my spot on the tee box, not 210, given I'm pretty certain about my iron distances and none of the courses I play have 150 markers into a long green where I really need to hit an easy PW instead of a full 9i to a mid flag, meaning none of the course I play measure the on-fairway distance markers that way.

(4) definitely makes it tricky to know your carry distance off the tee.  I hit my driver with a medium ball flight, but I play many courses with hard fairways and I usually still get decent to lots of roll on my drives, which makes it hard to know my true average carry distance.

Yeah that back of the box to back of the green thing is not true on any course I've every played. A laser rangefinder confirms that pretty quickly.

I think most people are honest, but there are a few exceptions. In general I'd say not too many people ON THIS FORUM exaggerate their individual stats. Now, their handicap index values and overall skill levels on the other hand . . . oh yeah!!

[mdl]

Quote:

I think most people are honest, but there are a few exceptions. In general I'd say not too many people ON THIS FORUM exaggerate their individual stats. Now, their handicap index values and overall skill levels on the other hand . . . oh yeah!!

For handicap index, for sure.  I consider myself very honest about my ability level, but I know I'm much quicker to update my index here when I'm playing well and my index is dropping than when I'm in the middle of making changes or playing poorly and it's creeping up!

Funny about overall skill level.  When I started I thought of someone who had the index I have now as a good golfer, bordering on very good.  But now, I still feel like a VERY mediocre golfer!  Given the amount of work it's taken to get where I am, I can't imagine I'll be representing myself as a high skilled golfer any time in the near future.

[TourSpoon]

I am always even par going into the first hole.

While I don't think that I feast on par 5 s, I do tend to score pretty well on them as do most single caps.  Essentially, they should be 100 yard par 3s for someone who can scrape 2 reasonable shots together or if two great shots are struck then you are looking at an up and down for birdie.

[JetFan1983]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

While I don't think that I feast on par 5 s, I do tend to score pretty well on them as do most single caps.  Essentially, they should be 100 yard par 3s for someone who can scrape 2 reasonable shots together

Over the past few months, I've started to view par 5s this way and it's helped.

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by Grumpter

I suppose it could be something to do with the area I live in and the courses I play. I used Google Earth to measure some holes on 5 courses I play somewhat regularly. 4 out of the 5 appear to measure back of the tee box to back of the green for scorecard yardage.

Every course I've played measures from somewhere near the center of the tee box (usually a colored marker) to the center of the green to get the scorecard yardage.

You have to remember that scorecard yardages usually measure along the center of the fairway, following any deviations it makes from straight. GE is going to give you a straight line, therefore GE yardages are going to appear to be shorter, which would explain why you might have to measure from the back of the tee to the back of the green to get the numbers to match the scorecard.

[Hairy Feet]

I think yardage books and gps has opened a lot of players eyes to how far the really hit the ball. They've certainly opened my eyes to just how good I'm not and how good the pro's really are. As for other golfer abilities... maybe they're telling the truth. Personally, I find their ramblings entertaining, especially when at the bottom of the post it says "handicap 28".

[Merlin76]

There are always a number of guys who always played better last time out or last week,

and never play well on the day, they always talk a good game.

Most of us have good days and bad days, and no way would I compare myself with pro

golfer.

I let my golf do the talking and let my playing partners decide if they wish to commend

me for hitting a good shot, as I would do the same to them.

[Lofty Lefty]

Wait, wait. Did someone just say they could never be scratch because they can't reach the 250yd requirement ??

What requirement? I don't understand?

If you shoot even par on 8 out of your last 20 rounds, you'll be scratch! Doesn't matter how far you hit it.

[Grumpter]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

You have to remember that scorecard yardages usually measure along the center of the fairway, following any deviations it makes from straight. GE is going to give you a straight line, therefore GE yardages are going to appear to be shorter, which would explain why you might have to measure from the back of the tee to the back of the green to get the numbers to match the scorecard.

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Originally Posted by Grumpter

3) People don't take into account cutting the corner on a dogleg reduces the yardage needed to reach the green. The course is measured straight out the fairway then to the green, not straight from tee to green.

My understanding was they measured by using a number of lines that would be equal to the number of shots it would take to reach a green in regulation (1 for a par 3, 2 for par 4). At this point I'm wondering if there is even a standard way most courses measure holes. IMO it should be center of tee box to center of fairway to center of green using as many lines as needed to reach a green in regulation.

Going back and remeasuring one of the courses I found the Par 3's are measured from back of the tee box to center of green, Par 4 and 5's from back of tee box to back of green.

Example holes:

Hole 1 - Par 5

Scorecard lists 571 from the back tee's

GE 3 Line method:  555 yards from back of tee box to back of green

GE As many lines as needed to follow path of fairway: 564 yards

Hole 2 - Par 4

Scorecard Lists 410 yards from back tee's

GE 2 Line Method: 405 yards from back of tee box to back of green

GE As many lines as needed to follow path of fairway: 411 yards

Hole 3 - Par 3

Scorecard Lists 182 yards from back tee's

GE 1 Line method: 182 yards from back of tee box to center of green

[Spyder]

We have a very nice Par 5 at our local course. The shot most people have to play is to the dog-leg as it is literally shaped like so: ⌐

The hole is a severe dogleg right which leads straight uphill 100 yards and another 150 yards downhill (after the dog-leg). The inner right-hand side is all deep, thick woods and OB. If you drive the ball with a high loft, you can easily carry over the trees and end up 180-200 out. Most people cannot carry the trees though and need to play a 7i out past the dog-leg and play straight up, leading to a birdie or Par. This is usually my Eagle hole though, and the only hole on any course I've ever seen/played where I'd be comfortable betting someone on.

Aside from that , my typical drives are 350, I own a vokey in every degree/bounce combination created, Srixon is going to sponsor me next year, I average 90% FIR and 98.7% GIR and my daily-driver is a Bugatti Veyron. I also once met a man who claimed to have climbed 5 mountains.

You can go ahead and envy me now.

[johnclayton1982]

Wait, wait. Did someone just say they could never be scratch because they can't reach the 250yd requirement??

What requirement? I don't understand?

From USGA: "The male scratch golfer hits his tee shots an average of 250 yards and can reach a 470 yard hole in two shots."

My understanding is that you can have a zero handicap, but to be a scratch amateur you have to fill several other requirements, including averaging 250 off the tee.  Its frustrating, but I'll get to a zero cap before I let it get to me too bad.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by TourSpoon

I am always even par going into the first hole.

You're lucky. I play pretty regularly on a course with a 68 rating, so I'm 4 over on the first box. Focuses the mind!