5 wood over driver?

[Osmond]

I find these threads hilarious. It's always like this when people mention their exaggerated yardages - heck, there was a 25-capper somewhere in this thread talking about hitting 260+ yards with their 5-wood. My guess would be that these players are not lying, they're just unaware of how far 270y for example is. A once-in-a-lifetime shot on a dogleg par 5 that leaves you with 200y to the green isn't hole yardage minus 200 yards and it certainly isn't anywhere near your average. Without helping wind, you won't even see Rory or Bubba average that.

That said, IF you hit your 5-wood 270y, you still need to work on your driver if you want to become a good player as it is a lot easier to score from closer to the green.

[Osmond]

Just saw your driver swing. Looks pretty good, but I'm not buying the 270y 5-wood. 240 to 250 yards, maybe, which is very respectable, but if that's the case, you definitely need to make a driver or a strong 3-wood work, if you want to improve your scores. As most will / should know, 30+ more yards will improve your score, even if you end up in the rough a bit more often.

[SavvySwede]

  Osmond said:

I find these threads hilarious. It's always like this when people mention their exaggerated yardages - heck, there was a 25-capper somewhere in this thread talking about hitting 260+ yards with their 5-wood. My guess would be that these players are not lying, they're just unaware of how far 270y for example is. A once-in-a-lifetime shot on a dogleg par 5 that leaves you with 200y to the green isn't hole yardage minus 200 yards and it certainly isn't anywhere near your average. Without helping wind, you won't even see Rory or Bubba average that.

That said, IF you hit your 5-wood 270y, you still need to work on your driver if you want to become a good player as it is a lot easier to score from closer to the green.

Well if you look as the swing he posted and his MySwing Thread it is pretty clear he isn't hitting his 5 wood anywhere near 270. But he has a very good looking swing and probably out drives most his playing partners consistently. Problem being his playing players are overestimating their distance and giving him no real barometer.

[DoubleEagle]

Playing a 460 yd par 4..Hit 3W off tee at least 280 yds.  Got to my ball and was 280 yds out...funny how that math just does not add up...

[Lihu]

  DoubleEagle said:

Playing a 460 yd par 4..Hit 3W off tee at least 280 yds.  Got to my ball and was 280 yds out...funny how that math just does not add up...

This situation is not as common.

[Loyalp4wn]

Osmond I could be wrong on 270 yds, however I'm confident that when I was hitting the 5 wood off the tee, I was in the 260s. With the new driver, I'm positive that I'm not hitting anything less than 300 yards unless I miss hit the ball. I'm pretty sure im not exaggerating these numbers either, because with the new driver I am now seeing my ball 30-40 yards farther than golfers I play with. These aren't your weekend hackers either. Today I was actually awestruck at the distance of my drive, on a par 4 that's 368 yards to the green from the blue tees I actually hit my ball 20 yards short from the green. There was an extreme amount of wind however, and the group in front of me approaching the green was not very happy that I almost hit them.. (I couldn't believe it either). I'm kind of in between your statement of seeing lower scores though. I see it on some holes now, however with my large drive now, I'm seeing 60-70 yard lay ups now that I haven't practiced in a while that are baffling me. (I've gone with the bump and run approach to these now after learning my lesson with trying to gauge the gap with a wedge, and I'm seeing great results). I do think in time though I will start to see lower scores, my short game is good, however I'm going to need to practice certain shots now that I haven't come into contact with when using my 5 wood.

[Loyalp4wn]

Savvyswede, at Torrey Pines driving range they purposely take 30% of the distance off their range balls to avoid players hitting each other, as there are mats on both sides of the range.

[Loyalp4wn]

Also, thanks for the replys everyone, and the kind words about my swing!

[Osmond]

Somehow the math doesn't really work here. A 10 hcp driving it long and having "a good short game". Surely a good long and short game should equal low scores. Have you ever hit your driver or 5-wood on a launch monitor? TrackMan, GC2 or similar? It could be eye opening to see the numbers - no matter how hard you've learned to hit the 5-wood I think you're a bit off with the numbers - unless you're playing on dry courses where the ball runs forever, but I think you mentioned earlier that it was mostly carry. With those speeds you should find it easy to carry the driver way more than 300 yards.

[Loyalp4wn]

My handicap trend is 9.6 strokes over par, I wont have an official handicap until my clubs revision date. But based on the scores that Ive put in there, which are high 70s low 80s, and compared to those with similar scores that have a handicap, im assuming mine will be closer to a 7. Ive hit my driver on a launch monitor, and the shortest ball I hit was 295 yards, everything else low 300's. Im pretty sure we're going to disagree all day on the 5wood distances, but I know for sure Im hitting the driver in the 300s

[SavvySwede]

  Loyalp4wn said:

My handicap trend is 9.6 strokes over par, I wont have an official handicap until my clubs revision date. But based on the scores that Ive put in there, which are high 70s low 80s, and compared to those with similar scores that have a handicap, im assuming mine will be closer to a 7. Ive hit my driver on a launch monitor, and the shortest ball I hit was 295 yards, everything else low 300's. Im pretty sure we're going to disagree all day on the 5wood distances, but I know for sure Im hitting the driver in the 300s

Well you don't really expect us to believe this swing is a 250-270 yard 5 woood?

Here is a gut that can hit a 5 wood 270

[Loyalp4wn]

My swing wasnt a representation of 270 yards! Did you read my comment by the way? Ill post a video hittiing my 5 wood exacty like I do off the tee when I play tomorrow, and you can tell me if im speculating.

[SavvySwede]

  Loyalp4wn said:

My swing wasnt a representation of 270 yards! Did you read my comment by the way? Ill post a video hittiing my 5 wood exacty like I do off the tee when I play tomorrow, and you can tell me if im speculating.

Are you referring to the limited flight range balls or the addressing the ball off the toe? Neither of those things are going to effect your swing speed so they are not relevant to my assessment.

[acerimusdux]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loyalp4wn

I'm pretty sure im not exaggerating these numbers either, because with the new driver I am now seeing my ball 30-40 yards farther than golfers I play with. These aren't your weekend hackers either.

This really isn't a very convincing argument when the average scratch golfer is probably driving it 250.

According to the R&A;:

http://www.randa.org/en/RandA/News/News/2013/May/Drive-Distance.aspx

Quote:

We would expect the average driving distance for male golfers with handicaps between scratch and 5 to be 240 yards.

If you want an accurate measure, you probably need to use a rangefinder or gps. If you have a cellphone with GPS, there are free golf aps that will allow you to measure distance pretty accurately.  The truth is most golfer overestimate their distance, so don't be too ofended if some are skeptical. Many launch monitors in stores also are calibrated to overestimate distance (to make it easier to sell clubs).  Most people don't have any idea how far they are really hitting it on the course unless they've used something to measure it.

[TimS65]

Give the man a break! If the AVERAGE is 240 then some people must hit further. He is one of those. I have no qualms with the distances of his woods, I just think his golf app was over-reading some of his club speeds substantially...

[SavvySwede]

  TimS65 said:

Give the man a break! If the AVERAGE is 240 then some people must hit further. He is one of those. I have no qualms with the distances of his woods, I just think his golf app was over-reading some of his club speeds substantially...

I don't remember any talk of a golf app. Were you perhaps referring to this thread. http://thesandtrap.com/t/79697/inaccessible-clubhead-speed Though it is a good example of what people are willing to believe.

[Loyalp4wn]

Thanks for your confidence Tims65. I feel like theres a lot of beating around the bush here for no reason. Lets say I do find a more accurate means of measuring my distances, I still feel like I'm not going to be that far off of my original estimates. At my home course, that I play every day, there are a few par 4's that are from 350-370 yds. On the ones closer to 370 yds my drive lands 10-15 yds in front of the 100 yard marker. If there are winds blowing at me, I'm usually right at or before the 100 yard marker. Maybe I don't have the most accurate means of measuring my distances, but I know what a 250 yard drive looks like, and then I know what my drive looks like and it's considerably farther! I'm not saying any of this to be arrogant, or "wow look at me I can drive the ball 300 yards", I'm saying this with years of development and progress with my swing. I hope I can get a video on here showing you my full swing speed, as the videos I have on here are swings on the range. You can say what you want about my handicap not adding up to my distances either, I just registered for an official handicap 2 weeks ago and haven't received it yet, I'm just giving you my strokes over par average, which is 9.6. I'm now dealing with 60-70 yard layups that require an extreme amount of touch that I'm currently without, when I was using my 5wood to tee off I was dealing with 110 yard lay ups that I have a better gauge with.

[Osmond]

I think we'd rather see some stats, not a random video at full speed. Post a slow motion video from the face on view, it'll be easier to see the power in your swing from that. The videos we've seen so far don't indicate that you hit the 5-wood 260-270. The driver to 290-300 I just about believe, but the 5-wood definitely has WRX bonus to it. I find it hard to believe you carried the 5-wood we've seen more than 210 yards.