True distance vs imaginary distance.

[Meltdwhiskey]

The fascination with driver distance has always been interesting to me. I play with some guys, as we all have, who seem like the only thing on their mind when playing a round is seeing how far they can bomb one of the tee. Every hole the longest hitter will say something along the lines of "I think I got you on that one" whenever we pull up to the ball to take our second shot. One day after hearing it about 10 times too many I said "Oh really? I thought we may finish the hole? Should I pick up now or keep playing?" It didn't matter that the guy was 5 strokes behind me, so long as his drive was longer than mine.

I notice this a lot as well.  I think some would much rather hit a few big drives than to score well.  People really want that big drive and I think (to the OP's original point), perception can be really skewed toward great distance.

I actually use 3-wood or a 17* hybrid for most of my tee shots.  In my occasional measuring, the good ones for these clubs would be about 215 and 230 respectively.  But I often experience a scenario where a 'big hitter' will hit a good looking drive and kind of hoot and holler about his distance and maybe even throw out a few estimates of how far it went.  Then when we get to the fairway, I see that he only out hit me by a little.  It seems these shots that I'd estimate around 250 are pretty often estimated closer to 300.  To me - anything close to 300 is an abnormally long shot.  I'd say I only saw a couple in 2013.

I think it has to do with just wanting it so bad that some see what they want to see.

[Maddog10]

I notice this a lot as well.  I think some would much rather hit a few big drives than to score well.  People really want that big drive and I think (to the OP's original point), perception can be really skewed toward great distance.

I actually use 3-wood or a 17* hybrid for most of my tee shots.  In my occasional measuring, the good ones for these clubs would be about 215 and 230 respectively.  But I often experience a scenario where a 'big hitter' will hit a good looking drive and kind of hoot and holler about his distance and maybe even throw out a few estimates of how far it went.  Then when we get to the fairway, I see that he only out hit me by a little.  It seems these shots that I'd estimate around 250 are pretty often estimated closer to 300.  To me - anything close to 300 is an abnormally long shot.  I'd say I only saw a couple in 2013.

I think it has to do with just wanting it so bad that some see what they want to see.

You know it when you see a 300 yard drive. A great drive is not a 300 yard drive. When someone bombs one 3 hundo, it's one of those "holy sh**" moments.

I'm like you. On my home course I only hit driver on 3 holes on the front nine. The rest are 4 irons or 3 woods. Granted, my home course is pretty short.

[MS256]

I notice this a lot as well.  I think some would much rather hit a few big drives than to score well.

That reminded me of me when I first started playing. I didn't know anything about golf and really didn't care. I just thought it was fun to see how far I could hit the golf ball. There was one hole I played a lot where we had the choice of laying up short of a pond (which everybody did) or trying to carry it (which nobody did except me). I tried to carry it every single time and never once pulled it off. SMH!

That all changed pretty quickly when I started playing straight up match play (with a few dollars on the line) against players that were better than I was. Then I found out the one thing I hated worse than laying up was going home a few dollars lighter.

[rkim291968]

I think it has to do with just wanting it so bad that some see what they want to see.

Either that or there is something about looking at a solidly hit ball from behind.    It seems to go a lot longer (20 - 30 yards) than it really does.

[mdl]

Wait. @Lihu are you saying you hacked together your own trakman substitute?  What do you do?  That's badass!

One more vote for inconsistency of monitors.  Pretty much ever time I've hit clubs at my golf store they tell me that if I just switched to whatever driver/wood/hybrid/iron I happen to be hitting I'd gain 10+% distance.  New driver?  Would easily get me 25-30 yards.  New irons?  I'd be in Bubba territory with my new 3i not much shorter than an average shot with my current 3W.

[Lihu]

Wait. @Lihu are you saying you hacked together your own trakman substitute?  What do you do?  That's badass! One more vote for inconsistency of monitors.  Pretty much ever time I've hit clubs at my golf store they tell me that if I just switched to whatever driver/wood/hybrid/iron I happen to be hitting I'd gain 10+% distance.  New driver?  Would easily get me 25-30 yards.  New irons?  I'd be in Bubba territory with my new 3i not much shorter than an average shot with my current 3W.

No, I just stuck a 3D accelerometer/gyro to measure how smoothly the the club moves. Really crude, but it narrowed down what I needed to some degree. Come to think of it, a cheap trakman? I wonder how well it would sell? I tried a 10GHz homodyne radar, but I think the BW is too low. Some other sensing means to make it cheaper? Yeah, if you add another 10% or 30 yards to your current distance, you would out drive Bubba!:-D

[neophyte]

I have a Bushnell range finder, Bushnell wrist gps, and a sky caddie gps. I like them all, and find that the range finder seems to be the most consistent from day to day measuring the same distance.  But they are all accurate enough to give me accurate distances.

I have noticed that there is a 75 yard distance between my "shortest slice/fades" compared to my "longest draws".  My technique driving causes me more trouble than the distance measuring devices.

I have had experienced golfers estimate my driving distances 65 yards longer than it really is.

I was using an "in cart GPS" one time and noticed a seven yard difference between my cart and my buddies cart.  We were parked side by side facing the green.

I have noticed that my gps distances are usually slightly different than others golfers gps distances.  But usually under 4 yards.

I have daily checked my wrist gps against one of the in ground markers and noticed that the distance was under 3 yards off most of the time but some days was over 4 yards off the posted distance.  I assume atmospheric conditions can bend the signal giving slight variations from day to day.

I like to know what my longest drives could be.  So I can lay up short of trouble.

I like to know what my common driving distances are.  So I can plan accordingly.

I like to know what my common carry distances are so I can safely carry trouble.

[Meltdwhiskey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meltdwhiskey

I think it has to do with just wanting it so bad that some see what they want to see.

Either that or there is something about looking at a solidly hit ball from behind.    It seems to go a lot longer (20 - 30 yards) than it really does.

Yeah, I think this adds to the perception as well.  I was hitting balls a couple months ago and an older guy came up beside and we started talking.  Turned out he had spent his entire life in golf.  Teaching golf, running golf courses, opening / owning country clubs at times, etc.  He wasn't just some guy at the range, but rather a guy who knew a good bit about golf.

So he gave me a couple tips about my swing.  I employed them and hit a couple great ones.  He then said - looks great, that must be 280.  And they did look great.  Powerful shots with just a bit of hook on them.  I was elated!  The only problem was I was holding 3-wood and I guess he just assumed I had driver in hand.  But to your point, they did look 280 - but would have been 240 or so at best.

[golf-noob-bruce]

Definitely. I go to the local PGA store and use their practice bays with launch monitors, and on good shots it shows 145 yard carries with my 7 iron. Went to the range on Saturday and they had the ropes all the way back (yay for a grass range 10 minutes from my house, and for mild winters in Georgia!), and they have yardages marked off to each pin from bays. Didn't have a single shot with my 8 iron carry past the 125 yard pin.

[mdl]

I like to know what my common carry distances are so I can safely carry trouble.

I've found this the hardest to figure out with the driver.  With irons, you've used them all on approaches to greens and if you hit the green you have a ball mark and you know pretty much exactly how far you carried them.  And you have a pretty good idea of the range of distances you achieve on non-horrible shots (ie, not counting big digs or skulls or shanks, but counting shots that are a touch heavy, a bit thin, a bit on the toe, and flushed).  With the driver this is much harder, since it's hard to know quite where you landed it most of the time, and taking extra GPS or laser readings where you landed it is a pain and not so cool for keeping pace.

For me, I only know what my real bombs carry, cause I only know exactly how far I carried for the few shots where I've bombed a drivable par 4 and taken the time to go back and Google Earth exactly how far I carried.  That pretty much always requires something like a top 20% drive, not an average drive.  I know for my long irons the distance range I can hit a decently or better struck shot is maybe +/- 5% of my expected distance (obviously I've hit a few absolute bombs longer than that, but we're not talking top 0.5% shots).  Does that carry over to the driver?  I'd guess the range is bigger than that, but maybe not.  So my big bombs carry what, 5-10% further than my average?  That leaves a pretty big range of what my true average carry could be.  That makes it tough on new courses sometimes, where I'd prefer the approach aiming for a pretty long forced carry, but without experience on that course I don't actually know if that's gonna be like a 90% success shot, a 50% success shot, or a 25% success shot!

[boston blackie]

I found the OP's concept interesting.  I learned something new about google maps and tried it out on my home course - fantastic.  Thanks for this insight.  It's too bad the thread got highjacked.

[Lihu]

I found the OP's concept interesting.  I learned something new about google maps and tried it out on my home course - fantastic.  Thanks for this insight.  It's too bad the thread got highjacked.

Yes, it is fantastic. I had been checking all my course distances using google maps for some time now.

Oops, sorry about the earlier hijack.

[liquor box]

Hey quick question

The course i play on has some extreme elevation changes; the driving range drops 80 feet from the hitting area to the 250 yard mark.

I'm just curious does anyone know how elevation change effects overall distance ?

The one hole i hit driver on, Google maps shows it at 230 yards, and 21 yards below the tee box.

I bought a book by Jack Nicklaus and he calculated at 10yards elevation equalled one club

[iHack]

I found the OP's concept interesting.  I learned something new about google maps and tried it out on my home course - fantastic.  Thanks for this insight.  It's too bad the thread got highjacked.

Yes it got highjacked and taken for a ride.  But google maps works great and its fun to know how far you drive the ball.  I will be using it to map out courses I've never played before this upcoming season.

[nevets88]

Yes it got highjacked and taken for a ride.  But google maps works great and its fun to know how far you drive the ball.  I will be using it to map out courses I've never played before this upcoming season.

I've seen people do their own yardage books via Gmaps. In lieu of buying the fancy laminated one at the pro shop. Some of them were pretty good, lots of different carry distances, green depth and width. Some just print out the web site pages. Even w/O gps or a smartphone, the internet wins you one.

[Dave2512]

That's why I just use gps. I don't hit it consistent enough to have a need for exact yardages. I played my home course at least 50 times in 2013. It was rare to face exactly the same shot one day to the next. In order to keep things moving I just trust what the cart gps says and hope I hit my best miss. That and play a course enough and you remember those things. The tee markers may move a bit but knowing the fairway bunkers are 269ish out is enough for me. Regardless I am trying to stay out of them. In fact in 2014 I am going to take into account I rarely hit it good and attempt to erase what I think is my maximum potential yardage and pull one club more. I experimented with this late 2013 and I rarely missed long.

[Hammer 4]

Ahh, the days, when you had to estimate yardages...

[nevets88]

Ahh, the days, when you had to estimate yardages...

I've played in the UK where some courses, there are no yardage markers in the ground, just the 100, 150, 200 mini tree or stick. You'd be surprised how good you can get at guesstimating.