Are most people exagerating their long drive exploits

[TommyD69]

Well..... Ya!!!

Golf is the only game that I can think of, that is akin to a man reading a map... ONE INCH EQUALS A MILE.....

I remember reading a magazine article about an "old time golfer" who had this poem put on his tomb stone...

"Tell all your stories of hard luck shots... of each one straight and true...
But when you are done... remember son... that NOBODY cares but you!"

[Shindig]

When I'm the starter and the guys tell me how far they hit the ball I tell them to move to the back tee then they only hit the ball about 190-200 yards and they think they killed it.

How is he deluded? If 190's a good drive for him fair play to him.

Hazarding the guess as to how he's deluded: he told the starter how far he hits it and the starter told him the back tee is acceptable. I'll bet he didn't tell the starter 190 yards. He probably said closer to at least 300 yards. He might believe he hits it 300 yards, and not know what those are. Unless golfchief is the starter at St. Andrew's, it's unlikely he can just reply to the guy and say "Oh, you hit it 300? Let's see."

[Jack_2251]

I know how you feel, when I play golf at my course I am normally the longest in the 4 ball with an average drive of 220-240 yards, and then I look at reviews, and the averages are around 290-350...lol absolute BS

[JaY_B]

Hazarding the guess as to how he's deluded: he told the starter how far he hits it and the starter told him the back tee is acceptable. I'll bet he

Well until we know what he would of said to a starter maybe its a bit unfair to assume he lied, especially considering he just told all of us that 190 is a good drive for him, he seems more honest than a lot of people posting

[RX Phoenix]

When I happen to play with younger players, truth is they DO hit it 280-300 quite often, so I'm sitting 260 in the fairway and they're up ahead . . . in the rough. Very seldom do these bombers find the fairway. If they were finding fairways, they'd be driving it like the pros.

So the question is, is it better to be 260 in the middle or 300 in the deep stuff?

[Shindig]

When I happen to play with younger players, truth is they DO hit it 280-300 quite often, so I'm sitting 260 in the fairway and they're up ahead . . . in the rough. Very seldom do these bombers find the fairway. If they were finding fairways, they'd be driving it like the pros.

Depends how deep the stuff is. At Oakmont, get to the fairway. At Alondra Park (a course around here that's known in these parts for not really having rough), pick whichever one doesn't put a tree in your path (this may well be the "rough").

[Fourputt]

My drives here just outside of Denver at about 5500 feet elevation are typically in the 230 - 250 range. My longest drive last year was 320 in the fairway, measured on Google Earth, so give or take about 3 yards. I get longer as the day goes on and I get loose (at 61 it sometimes takes a few holes to really get warmed up and swinging freely). That 320 yarder was on the 18th hole and was helped by a light tailwind and by the ball landing on a downslope over a bunker. The bunker requires a 240 yard carry (laser measured by the course with a warning plaque on the tee box) to clear, and I regularly clear it to land in the fairway, even without the tailwind. But my typical first drive of the day is more like 235 total, including roll.

Trying to get a real average would be nearly impossible because I vary so much during the round, but I'm neither the longest nor the shortest of the guys I regularly play with.

[mapa94]

I'm not a big hitter but I do keep track of my driving distance with a gps unit and my average is 205. But I cheat because I refuse to count the drives I pop up, top, etc that are 150 yarders. My true average would be well below 200 yds and I believe that is true for most bogey golfers. Occasionally I will get 250 yards total but that is rare. I believe its a combination of exaggeration and not knowing the true distance (gps doesn't lie)

[Jarno]

So for my own peace of mind would you consider 260 in total to be a good drive? I'm comparing this against the tour average which is around 285 so to me being 25 yrds behind someone who does this for a living is not a bad distance ! If so then I take it my practice time would better spent on my putting chipping

As the post below this says, driving distance is to me irrelevant unless you are on tour where courses easily exceed 7,200 yds. What you should be worrying about is your fairways hit and GIR, like all pros worry about. Bubba watson maybe long drive #2 with 316 yds but fairways hit... 54.14% position 141. GIR 70.51% in 62 position. That shows you where you score. My boss, Class A PGA teaching professional is a great player, can scramble from anywhere, but is lacking in power off the tee. He averages maybe around your number of 260 yds, maybe a bit more. But he is by far the best short game player I have ever seen. PERIOD. I can pass him by 30-40 yds before the summer, now I can't even sniff 275 or a fairway. But he finds almost every fairway and gets to the green in fashion. After every round we play he says "Arno, scoring is 70% percent short game." And that is truly evident in his game.

[bluezdawg]

What's the best way to accurately determine the distance you hit a drive on the course (carry + roll) sans GPS? I've used the subtract the approach distance from the total hole yardage and that doesn't seem too accurate from course to course. One course I'll be 230-240 yds the next I'll be 260-270 yds. Stepping it off doesn't seem to accurate either. I'd probably loose counts after about 75 steps. Any ideas?

[golfchief]

First you need to find the true distance on a fairway then hit a few normal shots and measure off that mark. I've seen course make a green larger or moving it back 20 yards and not change the markers in the fairway. Cutting a dogleg and measuring from a marker to the green will give the wrong distance you hit the ball. not looking for the official distance marker on the tee and where the markers are on the tee box could give or take 5-15yards easy.
You should find your normal drive distance,not the one you hit once in awhile.
I've used the skycaddie to measure good shots in the fairway and many of the guys always say they thought they hit it longer than they actually did.

[Fourputt]

What's the best way to accurately determine the distance you hit a drive on the course (carry + roll) sans GPS? I've used the subtract the approach distance from the total hole yardage and that doesn't seem too accurate from course to course. One course I'll be 230-240 yds the next I'll be 260-270 yds. Stepping it off doesn't seem to accurate either. I'd probably loose counts after about 75 steps. Any ideas?

If your course is one of the high resolution areas on Google Earth, you cna get a surprisingly accurate measurement with that. Just be careful to pick the right part of the tee box, and identify a tree or other landmark to find your landing area. On most courses it's pretty easy to measure to +/- about 3-4 yards.

You are right in that most of the time calculating from the card yardage will inflate the numbers. My course has a few marker plaques that are lasered in. the one on the 18th is for a bunker on the inside of the dogleg left that requires a strong 240 yard carry (the bunker sits on top of an 8 foot tall mound). I carry that bunker regularly, but if it was on the first hole, I'd never make it.

[sirshanksalot]

I'll take 250 yards straight on a fairway on any drive over a 300 yard erratic one. From my experience people do tend to exaggerate a lot. But with some of the responses I've read it does seem like a lot of folks tend to state their drives with their best drives as opposed to their average. My driver swing was monitored at around a 102-105 mph swing speed and I regularly hit anywhere between 230-260 yards WITH the roll. Consistency beats power anyday in my book.

[giantbear]

If your course is one of the high resolution areas on Google Earth, you cna get a surprisingly accurate measurement with that. Just be careful to pick the right part of the tee box, and identify a tree or other landmark to find your landing area. On most courses it's pretty easy to measure to +/- about 3-4 yards.

Great trick, never thought of using it that way. It confirms my worst fears however. I am driving it an average of 230-240, which is not bad until you consider that, two seasons ago, i was averaging 10-15 yards longer off the tee. I guess i have found my incentive to get back in shape and reclaim my lost yards.

Its funny, last season was the season of inconsitency. I had a period where i could boom it with a lovely draw off the tee, but couldn't hit a mid iron to save my life, another period i was hitting my irons with deadly accuracy, but couldn't get off the tee to save my life. Luckily all summer my wedges were my best friend. Guess which combination produced better scores.

[Fourputt]

Great trick, never thought of using it that way. It confirms my worst fears however. I am driving it an average of 230-240, which is not bad until you consider that, two seasons ago, i was averaging 10-15 yards longer off the tee. I guess i have found my incentive to get back in shape and reclaim my lost yards.

For me getting the ball in play off the tee is critical. It doesn't have to be long, but I need to be someplace near the green in regulation in order for my usually decent short game to kick in. If it takes me 3 shots to get near the green on a par 4, I'm not going to save many pars. And I know from past experience that it is easy to get on a bogey run during around, but it can be very difficult to get off that train again. If that means I play 3W, or 4H off the tee to be certain of a clear shot at the green, then so be it. If I can get near the green by hitting 3W, 5H that's better than hitting driver, punch out, 8I... and still maybe missing the green.

To me, talk about driving length is meaningless unless the discussion also includes accuracy. It doesn't matter how far you hit the ball off the tee... what matters is that you give yourself a reasonable second shot.

[giantbear]

For me getting the ball in play off the tee is critical. It doesn't have to be long, but I need to be someplace near the green in regulation in order for my usually decent short game to kick in. If it takes me 3 shots to get near the green on a par 4, I'm not going to save many pars. And I know from past experience that it is easy to get on a bogey run during around, but it can be very difficult to get off that train again. If that means I play 3W, or 4H off the tee to be certain of a clear shot at the green, then so be it. If I can get near the green by hitting 3W, 5H that's better than hitting driver, punch out, 8I... and still maybe missing the green.

I have a client who used to be a regular on the long drive tour. He would out hit 99% of the drives during a competition. Only problem was, he could never keep it in play. I am like you, my short game handicap is much lower than my overall handicap. If I can get within a lob wedge in regulation, I have a decent chance at an up and down. Of course, I have gotten pretty good at a low 6 iron draw punch shot out of the trees too.

Having said that, i still want those 10-15 yds back. I'm not giving up yardage for accuracy, I'm just not hitting it as long. If I'm going to be in the rough, i would rather be 15 yds closer. My loss of yards is all about physical shape. mine needs to be less round.

[MGP]

My experience this past season playing with a GPS all season long and measuring a lot of drives is that most people think they carry the ball 20-30 yds. further than they actually do and think they get a lot more rollout than they actually do.

I played with a lot of guys that thought they drove the ball 280 yds. but in reality it was more like 240 yds. I got a lot of "That thing can't be right!" comments when I measured those guy's drives.

I didn't keep any stats but I'd say the majority of people I played with drove the ball well under 250 yds. as measured by the GPS. I do play regularly with a long hitter and he routinely hits it 280 yds and dead straight with an occasional 300 yd. bomb. He is very much a minority though, I played with maybe two other guys all year (about 60 rds.) that hit it as long.

Me, I average about 230-240 yds and keep the ball in play. It took a while to get used to being outdriven on every hole by 40-50 yds.

[boothyuk123]

I think a lot of golfers kid themselves about how far they actually hit the golf ball. I know that I hit the ball probably around 265-270 with a solid driver, maybe if I kill one I can get an extra 10 or 15 yards - but I know for a fact if there is a bunker out there in the distance that is around 270 then I certainly won't be attempting to carry it like many people believe they can. Golf is becoming a game of power but through the one and only Tiger Woods, he is instilling the fact that 'control' is a massive asset to have. He does not care if he has to hit a 4 iron into the green, in many ways he is taking the game back to the Nicklaus, Palmer days when technology was not available. I would sacrifice bombing the ball miles and miles if I could guarantee accuracy and control!