Why do people lie so much about their distance?

[RFKFREAK]

I only drive 240-ish and have at least 3 par 4 per round with only a wedge to the green. The answer is quite simple, play shorter tees.

On the course I played this past Saturday, the par 4's ranged from 273-400. I don't think it's a matter of my playing the wrong tees, it's a matter of my drives ranging from 157 to 230, and only finding 4 of 11 fairways Saturday; in other words, very inconsistent. There are plenty of reasons why I'm roughly a 35 handicap and one happens to be I'm inconsistent off the tee, whether it be distance or control. I also see above you say, "160 is still good for a normal 7i." In my world, I normally hit my 7i around 140. I'm still working on my game and right now, playing the middle tees, even if it means putting up big numbers, is fun because I'm with my friends who also play those tees and when I'm on the course, it's about enjoying a round of golf.

[Lihu]

On the course I played this past Saturday, the par 4's ranged from 273-400. I don't think it's a matter of my playing the wrong tees, it's a matter of my drives ranging from 157 to 230, and only finding 4 of 11 fairways Saturday; in other words, very inconsistent. There are plenty of reasons why I'm roughly a 35 handicap and one happens to be I'm inconsistent off the tee, whether it be distance or control. I also see above you say, "160 is still good for a normal 7i." In my world, I normally hit my 7i around 140. I'm still working on my game and right now, playing the middle tees, even if it means putting up big numbers, is fun because I'm with my friends who also play those tees and when I'm on the course, it's about enjoying a round of golf.

I might get stomped on for saying this, but in my experience, hitting the driver well is easier than hitting irons well. Most of us are inconsistent with the driver on the course, and conditions on the course will change all the club distances. However, on normal flat ground and no wind, your drives should be +/-10 to 15 yards, like on a driving range. If you are saying that your range distances vary from 157 to 230, then this explains why your 7i is "only" 140 yards. Keep in mind that most people hit the 7i that distance, and I was implying that the 160 yard distance is well above average. Hitting 7i 140 and driver 220 with 10 of roll to get 230 is pretty good. Proper consistency is key, and a great way of gaining it is through effective practice. Even though I am just starting to see the results of this type of practice, I think I am in a position to advocate it. Getting back to the point, if you can't hit your driver properly consistent, there is no way you can hit your irons consistently either. So, it's more important to gain this consistency to improve your game. I know my statement sounds like it goes against trying to hit as far as possible, but as you gain the proper type of consistency you gain speed and distance. BTW, 400 yards is a longer par 4, I don't expect you to see many of them off the "standard white" tees.

[PA Golf Info]

The thing I see in my area is that a lot of ranges are not marked right.  I know one range by me has a tee area that is about 20 to 25 feet above the landing area at about 75  yard and out. There is another range by me that you hit into a up slope. I still fell a good calibrated digital golf range can give you the best read.

[Strandly]

Cold makes the ball less compressible and probably goes less by 4% from 85F down to 48F?

Warm humidity makes the ball go farther because the air density is lower, but is the density lower in cold damp conditions?

Somehow, I feel that the cold damp air would give you shorter shots than hot low humid conditions. That might have to do with roll more than carry as dry conditions will give you a firmer fairway and thus more roll. It could also be because you are warmer and hit more efficiently.

Lots of factors here, including mental, which could make you swing stiffer (more slowly) in cold damp weather?

Random weather lesson incoming!  When air gets heated, from the sun for example, it rises (duh).  This is what the news is talking about when they mention a low pressure system; air is moving away from the surface.  High pressure systems are the opposite (also duh); warm air reaches altitude, cools and then descends, leading to increased pressure on the surface.  Cold air is heavier than warm air and will push it out of the way, which you also see in the news in the form of cold fronts.

Humidity is a whole other animal.  Air holds water vapor but the amount it holds varies depending on the temperature of the air.  Warm air can hold a ton of water vapor, cold air holds little.  When you see a humidity reading in the news, say 47%, the air right then contains 47% of the water it could possibly hold at that temperature.  If the air temperature would rise the humidity level would fall, and vice versa.  If air is ever at 100% humidity and the temperature drops it will start raining or snowing because water vapor exceeds capacity.

Now, how does all of this affect a golf ball?  I have no clue. Using my armchair logic I would expect a ball to fly the best in a hot, dry climate and the worst in a cold, damp one but knowing my luck with these types of guesses I'm probably wrong.

[PA Golf Info]

Yea true that... Elevation as well.  You go and play in Lake Tahoe you will fell like superman.  You can crush it when you start getting over 5000 feet.

[Lihu]

The thing I see in my area is that a lot of ranges are not marked right.  I know one range by me has a tee area that is about 20 to 25 feet above the landing area at about 75  yard and out. There is another range by me that you hit into a up slope. I still fell a good calibrated digital golf range can give you the best read.

Some are not even marked with distances, but it seems like you should be able to tell when you are hitting them consistently by where the balls land. Are you referring to a simulator, by "digital golf range"? I suppose if you are just trying to check your distance consistency, then it makes no difference how far it reports absolute values?

[Lihu]

Random weather lesson incoming!  When air gets heated, from the sun for example, it rises (duh).  This is what the news is talking about when they mention a low pressure system; air is moving away from the surface.  High pressure systems are the opposite (also duh); warm air reaches altitude, cools and then descends, leading to increased pressure on the surface.  Cold air is heavier than warm air and will push it out of the way, which you also see in the news in the form of cold fronts. Humidity is a whole other animal.  Air holds water vapor but the amount it holds varies depending on the temperature of the air.  Warm air can hold a ton of water vapor, cold air holds little.  When you see a humidity reading in the news, say 47%, the air right then contains 47% of the water it could possibly hold at that temperature.  If the air temperature would rise the humidity level would fall, and vice versa.  If air is ever at 100% humidity and the temperature drops it will start raining or snowing because water vapor exceeds capacity. Now, how does all of this affect a golf ball?  I have no clue.  :-P   Using my armchair logic I would expect a ball to fly the best in a hot, dry climate and the worst in a cold, damp one but knowing my luck with these types of guesses I'm probably wrong.

Hot and dry conditions should go shorter than hot and humid conditions. Empirically, cold and damp goes about 5-10% shorter for me, anyway. Some of it could be how "athletically" you feel. ;-)

[Strandly]

I don't carry my 7 iron 160, maybe 150ish (on a good strike) and then a bounce and a roll gets me there.  I'm kinda re-learning my distances now that I seem to hit the ball better but I kinda eyeball my 9 iron at 135 and then assume all my other irons are about 10 yards apart.  It seems to work so far but I do wish I had a more exact system; hopefully I can figure something out this summer.

[Pretzel]

Yea true that... Elevation as well.  You go and play in Lake Tahoe you will fell like superman.  You can crush it when you start getting over 5000 feet.

Elevation is a huge factor. There's a near 10-30 yard difference in all of my clubs when comparing between my elevation (mile high) and sea level. Interesting enough, I find the difference to usually be only 5-15 yards since it's high and dry in Colorado, where any humidity is an improvement in terms of distance. As to why humidity increases the distance a golf ball will fly, you need look no further than some basic chemistry. What helped me is realizing that air, which is composed mostly of Nitrogen, has a molar mass of around 28 g/mol. Water vapor (H2O) on the other hand has a molar mass of only 18 g/mol. This means that when the water vapor displaces normal atmospheric air, the overall density of the air mixture is going down. Less dense air means less drag, and less drag means longer tee shots.

[Hammer 4]

Some are not even marked with distances, but it seems like you should be able to tell when you are hitting them consistently by where the balls land.

Are you referring to a simulator, by "digital golf range"? I suppose if you are just trying to check your distance consistency, then it makes no difference how far it reports absolute values?

I was talking to a guy at my range, he has one of them super duper range finders, and he said he checked all of the markers on the range, which start at 75 yds, 100, 147, 187, then the fence. Anyway, he said not one of them are correct, the 75 marker is actually 82, the 100, is actually 108, and on and on, so depending on the range, you can't trust the markers sometimes.

[jdb1911]

I'm late to this thread but I found that although golf is considered a gentleman's game, some times it's no where near that. I was playing with a older man yesterday and he was telling me that he's a 4 handicap but he couldn't drive accurately or putt very well. I know it could have been a off day. He constantly made points about how he hits his drives 265-280 but I was out driving him all day. Most of my drives are about 230-240ish. I was hitting my 3 wood farther than him. Basically I just go out and play and don't worry about others.

[Lihu]

I was talking to a guy at my range, he has one of them super duper range finders, and he said he checked all of the markers on the range, which start at 75 yds, 100, 147, 187, then the fence. Anyway, he said not one of them are correct, the 75 marker is actually 82, the 100, is actually 108, and on and on, so depending on the range, you can't trust the markers sometimes.

Some of this could be just the difference between the positions of the stall you are measuring and the "reference" stall used to take the measurements. For example, if they used the center stall for the marker measurements, and you are measuring from one of the end stalls the difference is approximately sqrt( a^2 + d^2) where a is the distance of the stall to the center stall and d is the distance from the center stall to the marker. In the case of the 75 versus 82 yards, the stall is probably about 33 yards or about 6 to 7 stalls over from the center? The 100 yard versus 108 yard difference leads to 40 yards difference. So, some possibilities are that the measurements were not taken from the same stall or some combination of other effects.

[Hammer 4]

Some of this could be just the difference between the positions of the stall you are measuring and the "reference" stall used to take the measurements. For example, if they used the center stall for the marker measurements, and you are measuring from one of the end stalls the difference is approximately sqrt( a^2 + d^2) where a is the distance of the stall to the center stall and d is the distance from the center stall to the marker. In the case of the 75 versus 82 yards, the stall is probably about 33 yards or about 6 to 7 stalls over from the center? The 100 yard versus 108 yard difference leads to 40 yards difference. So, some possibilities are that the measurement were not taken from the same stall or some combination of other effects.

I realize that, but he took the measurements from the center stall, where the yardages are based from. He also took them form other stalls and they were off. Good thing I get balls cheap there, I hate going to Los Verdes to just hit balls..lol

[flopster]

I think the ones that lie or exaggerate are the people who have not embraced the true integrity of the game and the real objective, some think hitting the ball a long way is some sort of claim of superiority over others who can't or have no desire to.

[flopster]

I'm late to this thread but I found that although golf is considered a gentleman's game, some times it's no where near that. I was playing with a older man yesterday and he was telling me that he's a 4 handicap but he couldn't drive accurately or putt very well. I know it could have been a off day.

He constantly made points about how he hits his drives 265-280 but I was out driving him all day. Most of my drives are about 230-240ish. I was hitting my 3 wood farther than him. Basically I just go out and play and don't worry about others.

I think people like that are more the exception than the rule and would be best handled with a smile and nod as you out distance them consistently.

[Hammer 4]

I think people like that are more the exception than the rule and would be best handled with a smile and nod as you out distance them consistently.

Me..? I just don't care. Brag all you want, I play my game. But if it gets to be to much, I'll just go ahead to another hole if it's sorta empty.

[RFKFREAK]

I might get stomped on for saying this, but in my experience, hitting the driver well is easier than hitting irons well. Most of us are inconsistent with the driver on the course, and conditions on the course will change all the club distances. However, on normal flat ground and no wind, your drives should be +/-10 to 15 yards, like on a driving range. If you are saying that your range distances vary from 157 to 230, then this explains why your 7i is "only" 140 yards. Keep in mind that most people hit the 7i that distance, and I was implying that the 160 yard distance is well above average. Hitting 7i 140 and driver 220 with 10 of roll to get 230 is pretty good. Proper consistency is key, and a great way of gaining it is through effective practice. Even though I am just starting to see the results of this type of practice, I think I am in a position to advocate it. Getting back to the point, if you can't hit your driver properly consistent, there is no way you can hit your irons consistently either. So, it's more important to gain this consistency to improve your game. I know my statement sounds like it goes against trying to hit as far as possible, but as you gain the proper type of consistency you gain speed and distance. BTW, 400 yards is a longer par 4, I don't expect you to see many of them off the "standard white" tees.

I pretty much flat out said one of the many reasons I'm roughly a 35 HC is because I'm inconsistent. I suppose one could say I limited that to just the tee but overall, so, to clarify, I do not consistently hit the ball well whether with woods or irons. Overall, I feel that I have to learn how to consistently strike the ball and for those occasions when I don't, for it to be an occasion where I'm surprised rather than to have it be part of what happens at least ten times a round. My original point was that it must be nice to hit into the green with a wedge a couple times a round. For where my game is now, I realize it's not something that is going to happen regularly and I've accepted that. For now, I would much rather play with my friends from the middle tees for bragging rights rather than to possibly have more occasions to hit my second with a wedge onto the green. I understand that 400 yards is a long par 4. 273 is a short par 4, imo. All the other holes were in the 300 range which is what I would pretty much expect and don't think is too bad.

[Lihu]

I think the ones that lie or exaggerate are the people who have not embraced the true integrity of the game and the real objective, some think hitting the ball a long way is some sort of claim of superiority over others who can't or have no desire to.

Good point. Also, as there is some correlation to length off the tee and potential for a lower handicap, it could be another means to say "I have the ability, but do you?". Sometimes people want to claim to be better, when they are more or less equal to someone else and need a way to differentiate themselves. Other times, it's just because they want to be accepted by their peers. The integrity part is nice, and part of that is understanding yourself before you can get on the road to improvement. People who just want to be accepted can be helped, but the ones who want to show "superiority" are the ones that are stuck in their own little world.