Why is it unbelievable I can drive 300+ ?

[Paradox]

I hit it far enough to use clubs I should hit the green with consistently.  I don't know why people care about how far the ball goes.  Its more important to care about WHERE the ball goes and HOW to get it there.

[ApocG10]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Its not a joke. Its the reason MS has taken over the market, and Sony is floundering and restructuring to avoid bankruptcy.

Xbox live is much, much better than PSN and PSN+. Cross game chat (chat period), graphics on most games are better for 360 because they are developed for it, then ported. Starting games with friends is as simple as an invite. PS3's OS is a mess that doesn't do anything well, and does 1/2 of what Live does, period.

And the 360 controller is light years betters.

[Kapanda]

If Sony sold the rights - or whatever - of Gran Turismo to Microsoft, there would no longer be a debate about PS3 and XBox

[Jwat381]

Any athlete could do it, I guess I'm just not one. I should just give it up - can't drive it 300, no shot.

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Too bad you didn't play baseball.  In a month you'd be striping it 300+.

[LovinItAll]

Too bad you didn't play baseball.  In a month you'd be striping it 300+.

This was a tongue in cheek comment, right? I was the starting SS on our 5a high school baseball team in Fla., but I certainly can't hit the ball 300 yards. I wasn't very effective with the bat, though (a miserable .234 in my senior year). Having a 2 error season - both throwing - kept coach off my back re: batting. I was taking BP once with the machine tossing it ~90 and he said, "Son, get out of there before you hurt yourself. We need you in the field." It was embarrassing - I got ragged for that for the rest of the season. This was in the 70's....HS baseball players seem like they've gotten so much better since then. Playing softball as an adult, I've jacked a few over the fence, but as a golfer, no one is ever going to confuse me with a long hitter.

[Jwat381]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he was just making fun of this entire masquerade.

Originally Posted by LovinItAll

This was a tongue in cheek comment, right? I was the starting SS on our 5a high school baseball team in Fla., but I certainly can't hit the ball 300 yards. I wasn't very effective with the bat, though (a miserable .234 in my senior year). Having a 2 error season - both throwing - kept coach off my back re: batting. I was taking BP once with the machine tossing it ~90 and he said, "Son, get out of there before you hurt yourself. We need you in the field." It was embarrassing - I got ragged for that for the rest of the season. This was in the 70's....HS baseball players seem like they've gotten so much better since then.

Playing softball as an adult, I've jacked a few over the fence, but as a golfer, no one is ever going to confuse me with a long hitter.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by LovinItAll

This was a tongue in cheek comment, right? I was the starting SS on our 5a high school baseball team in Fla., but I certainly can't hit the ball 300 yards. I wasn't very effective with the bat, though (a miserable .234 in my senior year). Having a 2 error season - both throwing - kept coach off my back re: batting. I was taking BP once with the machine tossing it ~90 and he said, "Son, get out of there before you hurt yourself. We need you in the field." It was embarrassing - I got ragged for that for the rest of the season. This was in the 70's....HS baseball players seem like they've gotten so much better since then.

Playing softball as an adult, I've jacked a few over the fence, but as a golfer, no one is ever going to confuse me with a long hitter.

And yet you have a handicap that most players can only dream of.  You have your head screwed on right, unlike the far too many John Daly wannabe's that populate web forums.  I was considered long back in the day when I was playing the original TaylorMade Tour Driver and Titleist Tour Balata 100's.  For whatever reason, as equipment changes made other players longer, my game didn't change.  Add that to now being over 65 and I'm probably average or a bit below for the guys I play with in my age group.  I used to play the middle and back tees interchangeably on my home course, now the back tees just turn the game into a chore.

All I can say is thank goodness long drives aren't the decisive road to victory.  If I didn't have my short game, I'd have probably given up on golf long ago.

[Limpinswinger]

Hahaha!  I find it amazing that in a little over a week this thread is 23 pages, and over 400 posts, long.  Even the main S&T; thread only has 76 pages and 1360 posts after about 3 years.  Maybe this just goes to show where golfer's genuine interests lie.

[newtogolf]

Taylor Made banked a lot of money this year selling longer drives so I'd say this thread is indicative of the obsession with hitting it longer most golfers have.   Seems if people aren't single digit handicaps, driving the ball 300 yards is a good consolation prize.  Sadly I can't claim either....

Originally Posted by Limpinswinger

Hahaha!  I find it amazing that in a little over a week this thread is 23 pages, and over 400 posts, long.  Even the main S&T; thread only has 76 pages and 1360 posts after about 3 years.  Maybe this just goes to show where golfer's genuine interests lie.

[bplewis24]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LovinItAll

This was a tongue in cheek comment, right?

Yes, it was.  Just making light of a post that suggested that any golfer that played baseball at the level of junior-college or above would only need 1 month to be able to "stripe drives 300+."  That's one month from never having touched a club, to presumably hitting a significant amount of drives (40%+?) over 300.

[ApocG10]

Originally Posted by bplewis24

Yes, it was.  Just making light of a post that suggested that any golfer that played baseball at the level of junior-college or above would only need 1 month to be able to "stripe drives 300+."  That's one month from never having touched a club, to presumably hitting a significant amount of drives (40%+?) over 300.

Ya, people here are ridiculous. Fitness and nutrition are my career. I played bantam AAA baseball, and University and Major Junior hockey. I'm 6'4", 245 lbs. I train athletes, and create nutritional programs for them. I run and hit the gym daily. I have never, ever, ever carried a drive 300 yards, and im a single digit HC with a swing coach on salary. Of the probably 200 random people I have played with over the last 4 years, I have met 4 people who actually could carry a ball 300 yards. Then these people wonder why they get called a liar. Its because 300 yards is a long ****ing drive, period. Its not something hackers do without a couple of sprinkler heads to send the ball bouncing for them.

Its that people claim they do it, its that SO MANY people claim they do it, yet most of us single digit handicaps rarely meet anyone who can do it consistently. Very rarely. Even among equal playing partners.

[LovinItAll]

Of the probably [s]200[/s] [b]THOUSAND OR MORE [/b]random people I have played with over [s]the last 4 years[/s] [b]MY ENTIRE GOLFING LIFE (that weren't pros, and even then...),[/b] I have met [b]MAYBE[/b] 4 people who actually could carry a ball 300 yards.

I was looking at the long drive guys that whack it 450. If they can hit it 50% further than 300 yards, you'd think more people would be able to crank it out there 300+ (I know they use longer shafts, etc.). Yet they can't. My 'playing' driver is 43.5". The dispersion of shots on the face is much tighter than my 45" driver. Don't know how much distance I'm actually giving up for accuracy/solid hits, but I'm in the short stuff a lot. Hitting against the grain in our rough feels like the club is being dragged over heavy duty Scotch tape or something. Nasty stuff - i'd rather be in the desert, but that's presuming I can find my ball there. :-O

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by Jwat381

I stand corrected, I went back after reading this and hit a few to get numbers. Average club head speed was about 99 and smash factor was averaging about 1.45-1.48. There were some highs and lows, but that was usually what came up. I don't think it's my frame, but I don't know what it is, I'm just not a natural generator of club head speed.

99 is a very good average, and well above average speed.  With good launch conditions, it's probably good for around 250 carry, 260 max, rolling out to 270+.  Hardly lacking distance, so forget feeling bad about that because it's just not bad at all.  To hit it 300, you really need a clubhead speed over 110, high launch and low spin.  This means lots of secondary axis tilt, head back and pressure left at impact.  Not something most amateurs do well at naturally, but it can be worked on.  You can lower your spin with a less lofted driver, but they're a little less forgiving and will require even more axis tilt to launch high.  I'm no long driver, but I can pound it for sure.  Other than fixing mechanics, I would say the second biggest thing for distance is to stay extremely relaxed, not loose, but relaxed and don't smash it hard until you get to P6.  That's here:

Again, mechanics are the biggest key for speed a number of reasons.  Contact quality aside, you will slow down and manipulate to control shots if your mechanics aren't good.  You can't really develop confident speed until you can trust your mechanics.  Once you get to P6, it's a lot of full body release with legs, arms, abs, and shoulders working together.  I feel like my right hand really hits hard from here, pretty much as hard as I can because it doesn't improve my accuracy any to back off if I'm good at this point in the swing.  May as well hit it hard.

[DocWu1948]

Originally Posted by Fourputt

All I can say is thank goodness long drives aren't the decisive road to victory.  If I didn't have my short game, I'd have probably given up on golf long ago.

Seem to remember your plans to build a house on an island and the only way to play golf was to take a boat to the resort course. So are you etting a few rounds in these days?

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jwat381

I stand corrected, I went back after reading this and hit a few to get numbers. Average club head speed was about 99 and smash factor was averaging about 1.45-1.48. There were some highs and lows, but that was usually what came up. I don't think it's my frame, but I don't know what it is, I'm just not a natural generator of club head speed.

99 is a very good average, and well above average speed.  With good launch conditions, it's probably good for around 250 carry, 260 max, rolling out to 270+.  Hardly lacking distance, so forget feeling bad about that because it's just not bad at all.  To hit it 300, you really need a clubhead speed over 110, high launch and low spin.  This means lots of secondary axis tilt, head back and pressure left at impact.  Not something most amateurs do well at naturally, but it can be worked on.  You can lower your spin with a less lofted driver, but they're a little less forgiving and will require even more axis tilt to launch high.  I'm no long driver, but I can pound it for sure.  Other than fixing mechanics, I would say the second biggest thing for distance is to stay extremely relaxed, not loose, but relaxed and don't smash it hard until you get to P6.  That's here:

Again, mechanics are the biggest key for speed a number of reasons.  Contact quality aside, you will slow down and manipulate to control shots if your mechanics aren't good.  You can't really develop confident speed until you can trust your mechanics.  Once you get to P6, it's a lot of full body release with legs, arms, abs, and shoulders working together.  I feel like my right hand really hits hard from here, pretty much as hard as I can because it doesn't improve my accuracy any to back off if I'm good at this point in the swing.  May as well hit it hard.

Ironic that the late professional you chose to illustrate power was notoriously short off the tee (relative to his peers). And the cherry on thesandtrap irony sundae is . . . he was also a very balky putter!! LOLZ

[Spyder]

I can't believe this is still going lol.

Personally, I pride myself on my chipping game. I don't care to talk about my drives or iron distances unless I'm asked because there's no reason to talk about them.

My chipping game has drawn many compliments and I worked my ass off for 2 straight years working on chipping and putting, which has dropped my handicap significantly. When I still had a back yard, I would literally spend hours on end chipping during the course of a week.. say while I was grilling dinner or something.

For people that get a few years of actual "golf" under their belts, nothing is more rewarding than dropping your scores on your card. I prefer to shoot in the low 80s and look back and see that I'm 1 and 2 putting, with the occasional "0" putt from a chip-in. That is much more memorable to me than going back and talking about my club distances.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Ironic that the late professional you chose to illustrate power was notoriously short off the tee (relative to his peers). And the cherry on thesandtrap irony sundae is . . . he was also a very balky putter!! LOLZ

If he hit the ball 500 yards, how would it demonstrate P6 better in your opinion?

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

Quote:

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Ironic that the late professional you chose to illustrate power was notoriously short off the tee (relative to his peers). And the cherry on thesandtrap irony sundae is . . . he was also a very balky putter!! LOLZ

If he hit the ball 500 yards, how would it demonstrate P6 better in your opinion?

So, you're not seeing the irony then?