Figuring Out Carry Distance

[Fairway_CY]

How does everybody figure out their carry distances?  I know that my average drive is about 230 yards... but I have no idea what my carry distance is.  Same with my 3 wood.  Irons (especially 6 iron and under) are a little easier because, for the most part, I can see where they land on the greens... and then I can pace it off from what I measured it at with my rangefinder.  

Just wondering if you have access to devices (TrackMan, etc) that allow you to gauge your carry distances properly or not.  I'm not thrilled about going into a place like Golf Galaxy and using their simulators because I'm not sure how accurate they are.  

Any suggestions?

CY

[iacas]

Measure when it's wet and the ball plugs or basically doesn't bounce very far.

Or try to carry enough things near where you think your carry yardage is and see how the shots turn out.

[Grinde6]

I like to use bunkers, hills, that sort of thing to figure out my carry distance.  If I use a bunker, I know where the ball first landed and I can laser it.  I have in the past, on a slow day at the course, had my buddy stand off to the side about where we thought my carry distance is and once my ball landed he would drive to that spot so I could laser that distance, and hit enough balls to get a fairly accurate carry distance...then of course I had to do the same for him, only issue is he is not as accurate with his driver....lol

[Lihu]

15 minutes ago, Fairway_CY said:

How does everybody figure out their carry distances?
Any suggestions?

Other than knowing the distances to targets on the driving range, what Erik said. . .

 

2 minutes ago, Grinde6 said:

I like to use bunkers, hills, that sort of thing to figure out my carry distance.  If I use a bunker, I know where the ball first landed and I can laser it.  I have in the past, on a slow day at the course, had my buddy stand off to the side about where we thought my carry distance is and once my ball landed he would drive to that spot so I could laser that distance, and hit enough balls to get a fairly accurate carry distance...then of course I had to do the same for him, only issue is he is not as accurate with his driver....lol

Whether I like it or not, this just kind of just happens.

 

6 minutes ago, iacas said:

Measure when it's wet and the ball plugs or basically doesn't bounce very far.

Or try to carry enough things near where you think your carry yardage is and see how the shots turn out.

That's pretty much what I do. Doesn't make for great scores, but you can do that on practice rounds?

 

 

[Patch]

If you have an area with some soft dirt as a landing area, try that. 

I use a dry lake bed that has soft sand in some areas. I hit my various clubs into the soft stuff. When I go to retrieve the balls, they are usually with in a foot or two of where they landed. Some are imbedded. I walk to the midle of where the balls landed, and I then use my range finder, or gps to figure the yardage for each club. 

This is on level ground. When on the course, I will add, or subtract carry yardage due the up hill or download hill terrain of the fairway. 

The roll after the carry can change from course to course. Sometime from hour to hour. I factor that distance in, in the first 2-3 holes. 

[scott71law]

I use a simulator at local Golf Galaxy (also happen to work there part time) and it seems almost dead on to me, but your mileage may vary. We have a couple in the store, the old school enclosed one and a newer model that I can't remember the name of but it is simply a little box that sits next to the tee area and links to a hard drive with a big screen monitor that does it all. I prefer the new style one rather than the enclosed area with the projector-type set up where you hit into a fake driving range background. The one I use is almost identical to the distances I see on the course, unless there is wet/wind/dry/etc. on the course. I'm sure you can find a decent indoor simulator at other retailers, too. Don't be wary of them!

It's actually funny to see all the customers who claim to hit "300 yard drives" really hitting it about 250 with the latest greatest drivers and blaming the simulator.

Scott

[bkuehn1952]

I have relied on the old school approach of measuring on wet days.

[David in FL]

Yep. Play a lot of golf, and just see how far it goes...

[Club Rat]

An option would be to have a spotter in the fairway.
They could flag each location and then measure the locations with any GPS.
Ideally a level fairway would give an indication of the yardage of roll-out also.

A course late in the day may allow one to utilize their facility for several shots.

[Hatchman]

I go with the wet ball mark indicator measurement.

[Fairway_CY]

Thanks all.  Looks like I may have to take my buddy out to the course with me one late afternoon and we can take turns hitting shots and measuring them.  Not too many days when the course is saturated that they allow us on it, so... plugging shots won't work.  I like the idea of hitting at/towards a fairway bunker.  That one could work nicely too.

I appreciate the feedback!

CY

[1badbadger]

When determining my carry distance for irons, I like to hit shots into sand traps.

This can be done on the golf course or a range that has bunkers around target greens.  You can either laser a spot of the trap (the back edge works well) and hit your shot using that as your target instead of the flag:

When doing this on the course, the advantage is being able to see exactly where the ball landed in the bunker.  This can't be done at a range, but usually the bunkers on a range aren't that big, so if you can get an accurate yardage to the trap, you'll have a good idea how far you carried it.  It's just so much easier to see where the ball lands when you're hitting into a bunker at the range...you can see if you are short and the ball bounces in or if you go over.

When you do this at the course, not only are you charting your carry distance, but it gives you a good opportunity to practice your bunker shots.

[Lihu]

7 hours ago, Grinde6 said:

I like to use bunkers, hills, that sort of thing to figure out my carry distance. 

 

52 minutes ago, 1badbadger said:

 I like to hit shots into sand traps.

 

I like the way the really good golfers seem to think using bunkers is optional.

[Golfingdad]

For my driver, I've seen enough shots on the range with some markers to have a general idea - and general idea is the best I can do anyway based on how inconsistent I am.  3 wood and hybrid I just assume to be 10-15 yards less than what I consider my average distances for those clubs.

But, again, I'm still so inconsistent with longer clubs that I don't really need to know because I'm never trying to carry anything that's risky that's even close to that distance.

[WUTiger]

On course with using bunkers or seeing where the ball plugs on wet days is best.

Problem with the range: Unless  you're at an upscale course that uses ProV1 balls on the range, you get lesser balls which: have a lot more variance ball to ball in distance, and, sometimes are limited distance balls (don't go quite as far as on-course balls).

With driver, I'm more concerned about total distance. If I hit it a little thin, it carries 190 and runs out 30 yards. If I hit it solid, it carries 220 and runs out maybe 20.

As for Golf Galaxy, the Trackman, etc. seems to be fairly accurate. At the GG I use, the head fitter says the settings are a bit conservative, if anything.

[saevel25]

9 hours ago, Fairway_CY said:

How does everybody figure out their carry distances?  

Just years of hitting the ball near the same distance. You get use to carrying certain things like bunkers on courses you routinely play. You can use google maps or google earth to measure that if you don't have a laser or GPS. 

I know my gaps. So I tend to remember one club and then do the math. My 9 iron is 160, I know I have about 12 yard gaps in my irons. 

[Denny Bang Bang]

On occasion I hit an empty course during the week, and use a rangefinder from different distances to the greens.  E.g. Find a 130 yd shot and hit a half dozen game balls at the green.  Between that and playing a bit, I've gotten used to the yardage.

Playing when the ground is wet seems like an ideal approach as well.