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Not trying to be a jerk but seasoned short hitters, what is keeping you from hitting it over 250 on your drives?


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Those of you that have been playing for a while and are under forty, what is keeping you from hitting 250+ drives? With all the info on here and other areas about building power, why are you still hitting it short?

I know there is a laundry list of reasons distance is lost but I am not looking for those reasons, I want your reason. Thanks for humoring my curiosity.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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Even though I fit more into the 290+ average field, I can answer this.  Instead of answering with a question back, I'll just say that it's not necessary to hit it 250+ for most courses.  I play a 6700yd course a lot and play with people that hit their drives only 250 if not under and will shoot 4 or 5 strokes worse than me a round, so like averaging 80/round.  Most courses, if you can hit consistently straight 250 yds on your drives and hit a 5wood or something 210 pretty well, then you can play most courses.  With 250 drives, you don't want to worry about distance as much as consistency.  At a younger age, although this does not answer your question for 40+, if you can hit consistent, distance will come with hitting the sweet spot and building muscle.

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Originally Posted by phillyk

Even though I fit more into the 290+ average field, I can answer this.  Instead of answering with a question back, I'll just say that it's not necessary to hit it 250+ for most courses.  I play a 6700yd course a lot and play with people that hit their drives only 250 if not under and will shoot 4 or 5 strokes worse than me a round, so like averaging 80/round.  Most courses, if you can hit consistently straight 250 yds on your drives and hit a 5wood or something 210 pretty well, then you can play most courses.  With 250 drives, you don't want to worry about distance as much as consistency.  At a younger age, although this does not answer your question for 40+, if you can hit consistent, distance will come with hitting the sweet spot and building muscle.

You do not necessarily need and extraordinary amount of muscle to hit long drives. Bubba is an easy example of someone who is not carrying much muscle and Fred Couples is not muscular either. Yet we have long time players that do not gain distance. If you are looking to improve your distance, which many of the shorter hitters are, what is stopping them.

You may not need more than 250 but many players are still looking for extra distance regardless.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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I've read in several places that the average driving distance for all male golfers (everyone from weekend hackers to PGA tour pros) is somewhere in the 200-230yd range.    Internet distances aside, that tends to indicate that most men do not hit drives longer than 250yds on a regular basis.

So I have to wonder why you ask this question in the first place.

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Originally Posted by teamroper60

I've read in several places that the average driving distance for all male golfers (everyone from weekend hackers to PGA tour pros) is somewhere in the 200-230yd range.    Internet distances aside, that tends to indicate that most men do not hit drives longer than 250yds on a regular basis.

So I have to wonder why you ask this question in the first place.

Why not? I don't see hitting long drives or longer shots anything but proper mechanics. Like I said, I am curious what the limiting factor is for guys who have actively tried to improve in this area.

Tour average is 289.3. I suppose the average for joe golfer could be 200-230 but that is a wide range so I am going to take your stats very loosely. There are a lot of golfers over 60 that hit less than 200 drives so the average is thrown off. I am talking about healthy prime of life golfers.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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Not sure of the purpose of the thread either.

What's keeping them from doing it is proper technique and timing.

It's kind of like asking a 20-handicap what's keeping him from shooting even par.

Or asking you why don't put every chip to within a foot.  I'm sure you've tried to actively improve your chipping.  Why are all of your chips not perfect?

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Not sure of the purpose of the thread either. What's keeping them from doing it is proper technique and timing. It's kind of like asking a 20-handicap what's keeping him from shooting even par. Or asking you why don't put every chip to within a foot.  I'm sure you've tried to actively improve your chipping.  Why are all of your chips not perfect?

Yes, your questions are quite to the point. I hit at least 3/4 of my drives onto fairways 260, today was a short 240. Yes, why can't I shoot par more than one or two holes a round? Why do I double bogie more. Why can't I hit my irons better? What's wrong with my shots from 120 to 170 yards? I think most of the better players will look at me on the course, and just shake their heads in disbelief. Why am I so bad?

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For me it's keeping the ball in play. I had a couple over 250 today but 230 is the norm. I can drive it further, have been over 300 a couple of times BUT I don't have good enough repeatable form when I swing that hard and I tend to flip/lift/slice. Slowing it down and working on building the muscle memory of my driver swing has got me to more than 50% fairways which leaves me better approach shots.

I'm 6ft tall, 190 lbs, and make a living in the derrick of a drilling rig working with 94ft stands of 5 inch drill pipe. I have the strength to crush a ball yet I'm too inexperienced to use to properly. Another couple of years I'll have the distance I think.

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Not sure of the purpose of the thread either.

What's keeping them from doing it is proper technique and timing.

It's kind of like asking a 20-handicap what's keeping him from shooting even par.

Or asking you why don't put every chip to within a foot.  I'm sure you've tried to actively improve your chipping.  Why are all of your chips not perfect?

I am not really looking to call out high handicap people. More like the guys that play 10 or lower and are short off the tee but more consistent players.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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If people knew exactly what they were doing wrong to limit their distance, don't you think they would change it as long as it didn't influence the accuracy?

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For most, I'd say it's honesty...... ;-)

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If people knew exactly what they were doing wrong to limit their distance, don't you think they would change it as long as it didn't influence the accuracy?

Maybe they know why but cannot change it. I think that if they have played or studied their swing they might have a good idea. [quote name="hanalei"]What's wrong with being over 40? Only people I personally saw hit it 300+ were over 40 and in shape.[/quote] Yeah but I was not going to discern who is in shape or not just ones who would have the ability to hit longer shots in general.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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It could also be swing speed; you could have perfect timing and technique and if your swing speed does not physically allow for more than 250 carry, it won't happen (barring elevation, wind, etc.)

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Quote:
Yeah but I was not going to discern who is in shape or not just ones who would have the ability to hit longer shots in general.

I'm over 40, not in shape, and I am certainly capable of hitting it 280 or so.

However, the reality is, the majority of my drives are 240-250ish.  It takes a really good swing to get it beyond that, and those don't happen every time.

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straight is more important to me than long (I'm about 240 - 250 yds).     Seems long enough for me - I just like playing from fairways rather than scrambling from the rough ...

John

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I'm 56 and average 230-240 on an average well-struck drive, but will on rare occasions get one out there 270 or so if everything falls into place.  With age comes a lack of flexibility, but I drive the ball in the fairway much more consistently than I did 20 years ago.  I'd rather be where I am today with my driver.

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Originally Posted by vanpooten

It could also be swing speed; you could have perfect timing and technique and if your swing speed does not physically allow for more than 250 carry, it won't happen (barring elevation, wind, etc.)

Given the knowledge from this forum, the timing and technique should be achievable with some practice. Maybe it is not as cut and dry as I am making it. This why I asked the question. I have been teaching myself, learning from watching pro golfers and collecting information from this website and other sources. Although I have never been a short hitter, I still have added more yardage with better quality and accuracy as I improve my mechanics and practice. I was just curious what others limitations were since they would hopefully be fairly introspective of their swing because of the forum.

I get comments from golfers I play with about how they wish they hit my distance, but they are usually older. However I play with a guy that is late 40's that is a 5 cap that cannot hit very far at all, works on his game quite a bit but is hitting fairway woods for his second shot on par 4's. He has plenty of ability to hit longer shots. He just doesn't generate swing speed.

I guess I should have said around 220.

"My ball is on top of a rock in the hazard, do I get some sort of relief?"

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Note: This thread is 3779 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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