Why is it unbelievable I can drive 300+ ?

[Joshua Holmes]

It doesn't take great mechanics.  I am a 10 Handicap and can regularly hit about 290, but my good buddy whom usually scores 30 over par when we golf has had several drives we measures using GPS and were around 315.  He's not a great golfer because he's a poor chipper and struggles with his irons sometimes - but he was a driving range enthusiast and a hardcore software player and can crank it out of the park.

He has figured out over the years (at least with his driver) how to get the double pendulum timed up correctly... Even if that means his hips are all over the place, and everything is incorrect, he has learned how to create speed.

If he did learn proper mechanics  and took some lessons he would be deadly.

[ApocG10]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

Lastly, Bubba Watson can hit a ball further than mid-low 300s. He just doesn't do it every hole.  And hes not using a LD driver.  My reg driver only touches 330 MAX on a great hit under normal conditions, LD drive can put +30 Yds if hit correctly. Ill put money on if you gave Bubba a custom fit 1000$ long drive drive (like the Geek in my bag) that he would put a few out close to 400 for you.

Bubba has hit drives over 400 in competition with a legal driver. You are not Bubba Watson.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

I said 2 balls MAX was lost... I take one stroke for the drop.  We never hit provisionals unless we know we are doomed.  And as far as I hit it, its a game of hide and seek even in the fairway bunkers and such lol.   I probably average 1 of those "drops a round" so i agree with you mostly.  My handicap may be 1 stroke too low on average, because there are rounds I play the same ball all round.

Thats the worst of it though. We even make each other put out 6 inchers.  And ive missed a few 2 footers the last few months... really sucks, but we play right.  We even give strokes for grounded clubs in hazards and bunkers.  We try our best to play right.

At an absolute minimum you should be taking 2 strokes when you make your improper drop to make up for the stroke and distance penalty you are ignoring.  As Sacm3bill says, you are still getting the benefit of the doubt.  I've literally taken 3 drives on a bad day to get one ball in play.  That means I'm lying 5, hitting 6.  One time I yanked 2 balls into 4 foot deep native grass and made a birdie 3 on the 3rd ball, for a smooth snowman on a par 4.  Still shot 80 for the round.  Putting every ball out out from 6 inches doesn't make up for ignoring a rule and giving yourself strokes.

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Joshua Holmes

It doesn't take great mechanics.  I am a 10 Handicap and can regularly hit about 290, but my good buddy whom usually scores 30 over par when we golf has had several drives we measures using GPS and were around 315.  He's not a great golfer because he's a poor chipper and struggles with his irons sometimes - but he was a driving range enthusiast and a hardcore software player and can crank it out of the park.

He has figured out over the years (at least with his driver) how to get the double pendulum timed up correctly... Even if that means his hips are all over the place, and everything is incorrect, he has learned how to create speed.

If he did learn proper mechanics  and took some lessons he would be deadly.

You are right.  If he can hit several at 315 without proper mechanics, he would be deadly.  Probably 400+.

[onesome]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

At an absolute minimum you should be taking 2 strokes when you make your improper drop to make up for the stroke and distance penalty you are ignoring.  As Sacm3bill says, you are still getting the benefit of the doubt.  I've literally taken 3 drives on a bad day to get one ball in play.  That means I'm lying 5, hitting 6.  One time I yanked 2 balls into 4 foot deep native grass and made a birdie 3 on the 3rd ball, for a smooth snowman on a par 4.  Still shot 80 for the round.  Putting every ball out out from 6 inches doesn't make up for ignoring a rule and giving yourself strokes.

Not trying to advocate not playing by the rules but at his current index and even a couple more would have his ESC at 7 so he may be fairly close.

[onesome]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

At an absolute minimum you should be taking 2 strokes when you make your improper drop to make up for the stroke and distance penalty you are ignoring.  As Sacm3bill says, you are still getting the benefit of the doubt.  I've literally taken 3 drives on a bad day to get one ball in play.  That means I'm lying 5, hitting 6.  One time I yanked 2 balls into 4 foot deep native grass and made a birdie 3 on the 3rd ball, for a smooth snowman on a par 4.  Still shot 80 for the round.  Putting every ball out out from 6 inches doesn't make up for ignoring a rule and giving yourself strokes.

That would actually be a 7 since you were hitting "5" on your third tee ball, congrats u broke "80".

[Clint75]

Its not about hitting it 300yards, its about consitently hitting it straight onto the fairway. Thats an achievement. 300yrds = 274m. Good on you for hitting it that distance but i would say if you hit it that distance and have an average of 60-75% onto the fairway then comeback with a video clip and people can take tips from that.

[Darksun22]

Originally Posted by ApocG10

Bubba has hit drives over 400 in competition with a legal driver. You are not Bubba Watson.

I think that is exactly what i said.

Someone said no way I could do what i was claiming because thats how far Bubba hits.  I said no, Bubba hits it way further when he tries to hit a long ball.

So yea, we agree.

Bubba can hit 400 with a LD driver, I can hit 360 with a LD driver,  He has a good 40-60 yards on me and that is a TON in the LD world where if you can improve 5 yds you did a good month of work getting it there.  (Mind your, some of the LD pros have ANOTHER 50yds on Bubba, so I need to improve by 100yds and double my accuracy to be at a high level LD player.)

Not even considering that Bubba is 10x more accurate than me.

No one has heard me say i'm accurate, Im just long.  I hit either a slight draw, dead straight, or a super low super big draw.  I usually aim right edge of fairway when i hit driver, it works out pretty good on some holes, and terrible on dogleg right holes. So on dogleg right holes im usually hitting my 18* hybrid, or a 4i.

I don't know if everyone understands that LD players have 2 very different driver swings. One is for LD comps and one for regular courses.  I have 2 swings, same as mentioned before. Small tweaks, ball position, tee heights, launch angles, and minimizing spin.

On easier, wide open courses, ill play driver 7-8 holes, on tighter, trouble courses, I may not even pull it out.

QUOTED

""""Its not about hitting it 300yards, its about consitently hitting it straight onto the fairway. Thats an achievement. 300yrds = 274m. Good on you for hitting it that distance but i would say if you hit it that distance and have an average of 60-75% onto the fairway then comeback with a video clip and people can take tips from that.""""

That is an opinion. To me it is about hitting it a mile since i do LD comps,  I don't have a fairway %, but its not that high.  Maybe 50% with driver.  4i is a different story.  I'll never be a competitive  golfer and probably never a competitive LDer, but I have a lot better chance at the latter.

Sidenote****

2 Strokes on a OB drop is a good idea. Ill run it past my playing partners and see what they think. Only problem is most of these "drops" didn't really go OB, they are just lost,  Pros don't have that problem because of the spectators and cameras, i do.  So what do you do there?  Counting as OB is just killing my score for no reason and Drop is a little advantage i guess (even though my ball is probably findable with 5 mins of looking) im not going to hold people up.  GPS balls?   And if the people im playing with are doing it, im losing money by not playing the same rules?  Hopefully you see this delima?

[SandersLongdriv]

Amazing Whacker,

There are a large number of golfers in the world, and some of them extremely odd characters so it's dangerous to rule out such things.

I'm afraid that I broke your 'no way' declaration of truth in 2007 / 2008. I then returned to golf (age 57 years) after a 41 year break during which time I didn't pick up a golf club. An out of shape, overweight, 5ft. 9 ins. individual who consistently failed to break 95 on the local  municipal golf course.

However within eight months I took the Senior  England, Sweden, and Italy longdrive titles - hitting 345 yards in Sweden in neutral conditions. Next year I came second in the European Seniors' Longdrive Championship  and hit 358 yards in the U.S.A., again without any assisting wind.

It's all well documented in results lists so anyone can doubt as much as they like.

Admittedly a third party had dragged me onto the longdrive circuit screaming, and I consequently neglected to re-learn irons golf. The fact is however my average drive was around 330 yards and yet I doubt that I could have played to a 20 handicap.

I'm still as long at 61 years and am now putting a lot of work into my short game. It saddens me that I had to give at age 16 years on leaving school as it was then far too expensive for me to continue. Senior rates kicked in which exceeded my then annual salary!

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

I think that is exactly what i said.

Someone said no way I could do what i was claiming because thats how far Bubba hits.  I said no, Bubba hits it way further when he tries to hit a long ball.

So yea, we agree.

Bubba can hit 400 with a LD driver, I can hit 360 with a LD driver,  He has a good 40-60 yards on me and that is a TON in the LD world where if you can improve 5 yds you did a good month of work getting it there.  (Mind your, some of the LD pros have ANOTHER 50yds on Bubba, so I need to improve by 100yds and double my accuracy to be at a high level LD player.)

Not even considering that Bubba is 10x more accurate than me.

No one has heard me say i'm accurate, Im just long.  I hit either a slight draw, dead straight, or a super low super big draw.  I usually aim right edge of fairway when i hit driver, it works out pretty good on some holes, and terrible on dogleg right holes. So on dogleg right holes im usually hitting my 18* hybrid, or a 4i.

I don't know if everyone understands that LD players have 2 very different driver swings. One is for LD comps and one for regular courses.  I have 2 swings, same as mentioned before. Small tweaks, ball position, tee heights, launch angles, and minimizing spin.

On easier, wide open courses, ill play driver 7-8 holes, on tighter, trouble courses, I may not even pull it out.

QUOTED

""""Its not about hitting it 300yards, its about consitently hitting it straight onto the fairway. Thats an achievement. 300yrds = 274m. Good on you for hitting it that distance but i would say if you hit it that distance and have an average of 60-75% onto the fairway then comeback with a video clip and people can take tips from that.""""

That is an opinion. To me it is about hitting it a mile since i do LD comps,  I don't have a fairway %, but its not that high.  Maybe 50% with driver.  4i is a different story.  I'll never be a competitive  golfer and probably never a competitive LDer, but I have a lot better chance at the latter.

Sidenote****

2 Strokes on a OB drop is a good idea. Ill run it past my playing partners and see what they think. Only problem is most of these "drops" didn't really go OB, they are just lost,  Pros don't have that problem because of the spectators and cameras, i do.  So what do you do there?  Counting as OB is just killing my score for no reason and Drop is a little advantage i guess (even though my ball is probably findable with 5 mins of looking) im not going to hold people up.  GPS balls?   And if the people im playing with are doing it, im losing money by not playing the same rules?  Hopefully you see this delima?

I am not even going to quote your last post, or pick this one apart either.

I'm just going to say it again - You cannot drive the ball 350 yards . Not only do you not average over 300 yards, but I highly doubt you've ever hit one that came close to 350 yards. You really need to start tracking your ball's path and get an accurate reading on it because I definitely get the sense you're one of those guys playing over tree lines on dog-legs on Par 5s and thinking you hit the ball 400 yards because you're 102 out on a 502 yard hole.

In the words of the commentators at The Open this past weekend.... "After seeing that shot from Bubba, now you can tell most people at your club claiming to hit 300 yards.... No you can't ."

[divot dave]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

There are 427 post on this thread.  75% are off topic.  Live with it.

Either way, my point of that post was to say I didn't mean every average joe that swung a bat in highschool could rip a ball 300+.  Just that the finely tuned machines that are pro MLB, NBA, NFL players probably could more often that not because they probably already play a fair amount of golf, and are super athletes.

If you don't like discussions about long balls, stay out of long drive threads?  Sounds simple enough. The OP hasn't posted in like over a week. Thread is open for discussion IMO.

I may just be jumping in here but I've been following this thread for a while, observing.

I gotta agree with this post... people are being a little hyper-sensitive about this guy's posts in this thread, which are every bit as on topic as the majority of everyone else in here... seems a little crony-ish

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

2 Strokes on a OB drop is a good idea. Ill run it past my playing partners and see what they think. Only problem is most of these "drops" didn't really go OB, they are just lost,  Pros don't have that problem because of the spectators and cameras, i do.  So what do you do there?  Counting as OB is just killing my score for no reason and Drop is a little advantage i guess (even though my ball is probably findable with 5 mins of looking) im not going to hold people up.  GPS balls?   And if the people im playing with are doing it, im losing money by not playing the same rules?  Hopefully you see this delima?

Under the rules, a lost ball is treated the same as a ball hit out of bounds.  It's still stroke and distance.  And if you haven't found it, how can you possibly know that it's findable, even if you spent 10 minutes looking?

[bplewis24]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I am not even going to quote your last post, or pick this one apart either.

I'm just going to say it again - You cannot drive the ball 350 yards. Not only do you not average over 300 yards, but I highly doubt you've ever hit one that came close to 350 yards. You really need to start tracking your ball's path and get an accurate reading on it because I definitely get the sense you're one of those guys playing over tree lines on dog-legs on Par 5s and thinking you hit the ball 400 yards because you're 102 out on a 502 yard hole.

In the words of the commentators at The Open this past weekend.... "After seeing that shot from Bubba, now you can tell most people at your club claiming to hit 300 yards.... No you can't."

He seems like he generates some good club-head speed and contact in his swing video.  I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility.

[dsc123]

Originally Posted by sacm3bill

Agreed. The only celebrity I can think of that has even tried was Jerry Rice - he used to talk about hoping to someday play in the Champions tour - got sponsor exemptions for a couple Nationwide events - missed the cut in the first one shooting one stroke better than last place - got DQd in the next for his caddy using a rangefinder, but not before setting the record for worst round in the event's 18 year history. Gave it up after that. Not meaning to bag on Rice, just saying he thought he had game and was rudely awakened. I do agree that a lot of pro athletes in other sports are great golfers, notably many in baseball and hockey.

Smoltz too.

Edit:  Sorry, someone already mentioned that in a later post.

[Spyder]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

He seems like he generates some good club-head speed and contact in his swing video.  I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibility.

I am only putting it out of the realm of possibility because he is making it seem as though it is done with relative ease. To continue mentioning the 350 figure and defending it so adamantly, to me, is saying "Listen, I've done it many times in my life".

It's not to accompany the "350 yard drive" with a memorable setting.. such as weather conditions, where it happened, what ball you used, etc. I will drop the topic though and move on from this thread because it is way too fake at this point.

[Archie Bunker]

Personally, I count my score. I don't measure it.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by Darksun22

I don't know if everyone understands that LD players have 2 very different driver swings. One is for LD comps and one for regular courses.  I have 2 swings, same as mentioned before. Small tweaks, ball position, tee heights, launch angles, and minimizing spin.

This is true.  And a good point.

[Darksun22]

Originally Posted by Spyder

I am not even going to quote your last post, or pick this one apart either.

I'm just going to say it again - You cannot drive the ball 350 yards. Not only do you not average over 300 yards, but I highly doubt you've ever hit one that came close to 350 yards. You really need to start tracking your ball's path and get an accurate reading on it because I definitely get the sense you're one of those guys playing over tree lines on dog-legs on Par 5s and thinking you hit the ball 400 yards because you're 102 out on a 502 yard hole.

In the words of the commentators at The Open this past weekend.... "After seeing that shot from Bubba, now you can tell most people at your club claiming to hit 300 yards.... No you can't."

I can and have more than a few times. If you watch my swing ( Which BTW is my regular driver swing, not my long drive swing, with my regular driver, not my LD Driver) You will see that I generate a lot of club speed.  I average 133 with my regular driver and 137-138 with my LD driver.  This is measured accurately multiple times by multiple different machines.

My drive numbers are range numbers, and indoor sim numbers. Which are really close depending on humidity and wind.

I will say 350 is a very well struck ball for me.  More often you will see 330.   I said 360 earlier because that is my longest recorded ball in a charity LD  (358).

Ill post a range video of me with me LD driver when it is done.  I just snapped my Geek in two, and think I may have messed up the head.  I just ordered a new one and the shaft is sitting at my club guys shop.

I have 2 more LD clubs, but they are 370cc and I just can't hit them past 320ish.  So no use making a vid with them.

Let me get this new club put together and ill show you its no lie.   Only problem will be that my range is 320yds, so when I carry the hill in the back you will just have to trust me from there.