Best Method for Calculating Average Driving Distance

[bkuehn1952]

I believe the PGA Tour used to look at two holes each round.  The holes were selected to run in opposite directions to get a reading with and against the wind.  They also tried to pick holes where the players most likely would use driver.  I am not sure how it is done now with "Shot Link" but for the average golfer, this process seems pretty good.  Over the course of the season one would get most types of weather and calculating the drive distance on all par 4/5 holes could take a lot of effort unless one has "gamegolf" or one of those shot tracker systems.

How does everyone else who calculates an average drive distance figure it?

Do you laser/GPS every single drive (par 3's excluded)?

Do you only count holes where you use driver?

How do you count drives that go O.B. or are lost?

Do you exclude drives that are affected by odd circumstances (hit cart path, hit tree)?

I don't track average driving distance but many people seem to know fairly accurately what their average is.  I am curious about the methods used to develop the number.

[Lihu]

  bkuehn1952 said:

I believe the PGA Tour used to look at two holes each round.  The holes were selected to run in opposite directions to get a reading with and against the wind.  They also tried to pick holes where the players most likely would use driver.  I am not sure how it is done now with "Shot Link" but for the average golfer, this process seems pretty good.  Over the course of the season one would get most types of weather and calculating the drive distance on all par 4/5 holes could take a lot of effort unless one has "gamegolf" or one of those shot tracker systems.

How does everyone else who calculates an average drive distance figure it?

Do you laser/GPS every single drive (par 3's excluded)?

Do you only count holes where you use driver?

How do you count drives that go O.B. or are lost?

Do you exclude drives that are affected by odd circumstances (hit cart path, hit tree)?

I don't track average driving distance but many people seem to know fairly accurately what their average is.  I am curious about the methods used to develop the number.

GolfLogix can do it as with Swing by Swing.

Droid application called "DriveDistance" (TrueGolfGPS.com) is potentially easier if that's all you want. Pretty much count everything with Driver, OB are measured where they go OB.

Previously, I leeched the data from playing partners.

[MrDC]

I walk to my ball, hit the button for a yardage, and then do some quick math for the hole, done.

Driver only, no OB's, no cart paths, only fairways/rough.

[Jeremie Boop]

I tend to put less stock into "average drive" length than I do "typical drive" length. I say this is because factoring in the outlier drives, like the super long ones and the horrible duffs, skews the numbers. That's one thing that Game Golf does a decent job of, it will give you the average of all shots, but it also tells you what your typical/expected distance is with each club.

[GolfLug]

  Jeremie Boop said:

I tend to put less stock into "average drive" length than I do "typical drive" length. I say this is because factoring in the outlier drives, like the super long ones and the horrible duffs, skews the numbers. That's one thing that Game Golf does a decent job of, it will give you the average of all shots, but it also tells you what your typical/expected distance is with each club.

Good post. Median is more useful than average.

[Lihu]

  GolfLug said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremie Boop

I tend to put less stock into "average drive" length than I do "typical drive" length. I say this is because factoring in the outlier drives, like the super long ones and the horrible duffs, skews the numbers. That's one thing that Game Golf does a decent job of, it will give you the average of all shots, but it also tells you what your typical/expected distance is with each club.

Good post. Median is more useful than average.

Average drive is only useful for tracking progress.

I'm not convinced knowing your driving distance is all that important otherwise, though. It's more useful to know your iron yardages. The maximum distance for any wood or hybrid is too unpredictable for me. It's not like I'm going to be backing up a driver, hybrid nor anything in between. . .

[Jeremie Boop]

  Lihu said:

Average drive is only useful for tracking progress.

I'm not convinced knowing your driving distance is all that important otherwise, though. It's more useful to know your iron yardages. The maximum distance for any wood or hybrid is too unpredictable for me. It's not like I'm going to be backing up a driver, hybrid nor anything in between. . .

Knowing how far the ball carries on a drive is pretty important. I know I can carry over 240 on a decent strike so that helps me a lot on my league course. How far the ball will roll out is probably the biggest variable in drive length because it's affected by a lot of factors once the ball lands. For example, when it was super wet out my drives were only going about 240-260 total because they were getting basically no roll out. Now that the ground is drying out and I'm getting more roll I'm getting back up to 270-280 again. The trouble is, it's almost impossible to figure out your carry distance on the course unless you can see your pitch mark in the fairway or there is a forced carry that you know the yardage for.

[Lihu]

  Jeremie Boop said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Average drive is only useful for tracking progress.

I'm not convinced knowing your driving distance is all that important otherwise, though. It's more useful to know your iron yardages. The maximum distance for any wood or hybrid is too unpredictable for me. It's not like I'm going to be backing up a driver, hybrid nor anything in between. . .

Knowing how far the ball carries on a drive is pretty important. I know I can carry over 240 on a decent strike so that helps me a lot on my league course. How far the ball will roll out is probably the biggest variable in drive length because it's affected by a lot of factors once the ball lands. For example, when it was super wet out my drives were only going about 240-260 total because they were getting basically no roll out. Now that the ground is drying out and I'm getting more roll I'm getting back up to 270-280 again. The trouble is, it's almost impossible to figure out your carry distance on the course unless you can see your pitch mark in the fairway or there is a forced carry that you know the yardage for.

Right, so this is why I stated that it's not all that important.

I also carry 245 yards on a decent drive, but trying for a 240 yard forced carry? Probably not. Not anything over 220, which is generally the maximum you and I will most likely see anyway.

[Jeremie Boop]

  Lihu said:

Right, so this is why I stated that it's not all that important.

I also carry 245 yards on a decent drive, but trying for a 240 yard forced carry? Probably not. Not anything over 220, which is generally the maximum you and I will most likely see anyway.

I play a hole regularly that has a pond that takes 230+ to carry, depending on where they put the tees at.

I never lay up short on this hole... Ever. The only time I put it in the water is if I pull hook it. I usually end up somewhere between the two trees just off the second part of the fairway. Of the 10+ times I've played this hole this year I've put it in the water twice and I think I only did the same twice all of last year. Knowing that I can carry that pond gives me the confidence to go for it, even on the days I'm having trouble with driver I tend to have no trouble on this hole. It's pretty strange really.

[Lihu]

  Jeremie Boop said:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Right, so this is why I stated that it's not all that important.

I also carry 245 yards on a decent drive, but trying for a 240 yard forced carry? Probably not. Not anything over 220, which is generally the maximum you and I will most likely see anyway.

I play a hole regularly that has a pond that takes 230+ to carry, depending on where they put the tees at.

I never lay up short on this hole... Ever. The only time I put it in the water is if I pull hook it. I usually end up somewhere between the two trees just off the second part of the fairway. Of the 10+ times I've played this hole this year I've put it in the water twice and I think I only did the same twice all of last year. Knowing that I can carry that pond gives me the confidence to go for it, even on the days I'm having trouble with driver I tend to have no trouble on this hole. It's pretty strange really.

The carry doesn't look like the only option for the shot, it looks like there is room on the right over the 180-ish forced carry? If you hit more left the carry grows. . .

On Topic, the golf apps on most phones works pretty well.

[Jeremie Boop]

Nobody really plays off to the right because there's a tree line just out of the picture here and there's the cart path that runs right through that area. So if you catch that cart path you have no clue where it's going to bounce. I wasn't necessarily saying that the way I play it is the only way to play the shot, just that it is a 230-240 carry that I always take on. Everyone else lays up short of the pond and the cart path leaving them 160+ to the green.

[saevel25]

  bkuehn1952 said:

How does everyone else who calculates an average drive distance figure it?

Do you laser/GPS every single drive (par 3's excluded)?

Do you only count holes where you use driver?

How do you count drives that go O.B. or are lost?

Do you exclude drives that are affected by odd circumstances (hit cart path, hit tree)?

I don't track average driving distance but many people seem to know fairly accurately what their average is.  I am curious about the methods used to develop the number.

Google maps is a good method if you are good at remembering where your ball ended up.

I typically just use Game Golf. I calculate the distance for each club I use.  OB shots do not get calculated into driving distance for me.

Yes I would throw away outliers. If you had to do some math. I would right down how far out the ball goes and how far left or right it goes. Then plot them on some graph paper and find the shots that end up 80% of the time in a grouping. This way you can get your distance and your dispersion.

[Lihu]

  Jeremie Boop said:

Nobody really plays off to the right because there's a tree line just out of the picture here and there's the cart path that runs right through that area. So if you catch that cart path you have no clue where it's going to bounce. I wasn't necessarily saying that the way I play it is the only way to play the shot, just that it is a 230-240 carry that I always take on. Everyone else lays up short of the pond and the cart path leaving them 160+ to the green.

This is kind of off topic, but what I was stating is that it is not really a forced carry if you optionally carry it. The second shot for those who layup is a forced carry, and it looks to be less than 80 yards? I just played a course in San Jose that is known for being pretty difficult off the longest tees, and we didn't have any forced carries over 220 yards. The longest was a par 3 which was only 180 yards, and my rental 3W more than covered the distance to the green.

As far as getting back on topic is concerned, there are plenty of apps that do it well, but I don't really have any reason to use them except to monitor progress.

[DrvFrShow]

When I hit a decent shot I get about 215 - 220 carry for my driver, or used to before my shoulders died. The course I play has a water hazard on 16 where they give a distance from a tree to the hazard and to carry the hazard. I shot the distance from the tee to the tree and added it up. It's 210 to the hazard and 230 to carry it. This means I need to hit a 5 wood or 7 wood off the tee. I could hit driver and hope I hit right of the hazard into the rough, but that's a risky shot, so I find it best to lay up and hit an 8 iron onto the green. 3W would be risky because it could roll into the hazard.

[bkuehn1952]

  Jeremie Boop said:

I tend to put less stock into "average drive" length than I do "typical drive" length...That's one thing that Game Golf does a decent job of, it will give you the average of all shots, but it also tells you what your typical/expected distance is with each club.

So you use Game Golf and "expected" distance?

[bkuehn1952]

  GolfLug said:

Good post. Median is more useful than average.

How did you determine your median?

[DrvFrShow]

I have game golf, and while it's nice for getting yardages for my metalwoods and mid-irons, for 8 iron and shorter the numbers are weird because I have more chip shots with my 8 iron than I do full shots, so it gives 37 yds for my distance, even though I used to hit my 8 iron 140 yds - I don't know what it'll go when I start playing again. I think I'll club up and swing 70% for the first few rounds.

[David in FL]

I don't know or care what my average or median driver distance is. All I care is that I can estimate with some degree of relative accuracy how far I'm likely to carry the ball and how much subsequent roll I might get for the current drive, given the current conditions. The way I've learned that is by hitting a lot of drives, under a lot of differing conditions and observing the results. Nothing more to it than that.