Are most people exagerating their long drive exploits

[sonicblue]

This is what we read all the time and it really makes no sense to me at all. To drive the ball 250 into play puts you about a 7 iron or less in on most holes. On the par 5s and short 4s its really a wedge. If someone has the athleticism to hit a drive that well which requires a lot of timing and balance, it just seems odd they cannot hit a wedge on the green and knock the ball in the hole in two putts most of the time thus yielding a single digit handicap. In a word something is amiss and I suspect its the average driving distance into play.

It's a completely different activity for an athlete to hit a ball sitting up on a tee with a huge clubhead, vs. hitting a ball with a small iron head that's sitting on the ground. Hell, I'm an 8 handicap, and I've bombed a drive only to completely push/thin a wedge into a bunker and make bogey. Plus, that 15 who occasionally hits that long drive also very occasionally mishits one entirely or bombs it into the trees/lake/hazard. Not to mention, even if that 15 manages to go fairway to green, let's not forget our friend 3-putt.

I have a friend, little guy, decently in shape, pretty unsound swing, doesn't play much, rarely breaks 100. I've personally seen him tattoo a drive, dead down the middle, long. It happens.

[BDE]

I'm one of the longest at our club, in the junior section. I hit the ball about 220. However, I can never do the consistently. If I could, I would be a whole lot better player. Instead I just hit irons off the tee most of the time, and that does okay for me. I just need the confidence in the driver. However, I am made feel such a small hitter, by some people who say they hit it 300+ consistently, bang down the centre.

[ArjunGFX]

I think that the conclusion that we can all draw from this is that we've discovered a secret to hitting the long ball... this could be the next revolution in golf instruction: posting on the internet.

I can't wait to see Tiger, Phil, Rory and all those guys forgetting the gym and just chilling on their laptops before teeing off.

If you spend a day at a golf course you'll probably see a few 300+ yard drives out of the thousands of drives all day. However, you spend a day on an online forum in a discussion with 50 ppl and you see dozens and dozens of golfers who hit it 300+! The data speaks for itself.

[BASHERBAKER69]

But how many hit 300 plus drives with velocity??..not many.

[powerfade]

I think that the conclusion that we can all draw from this is that we've discovered a secret to hitting the long ball... this could be the next revolution in golf instruction: posting on the internet.

Virtual Reality?

[golf_junkie27]

I think that the conclusion that we can all draw from this is that we've discovered a secret to hitting the long ball... this could be the next revolution in golf instruction: posting on the internet.

Or go to the driving range. 7 or 8 out of 10 people are wacking their driver, doing what I call "speed practice." I'm sure you've seen it. Grab a ball, tee up, hit it with a driver, ball has not even landed and they are already teeing up.

[MasterOfTheBogey]

Is it really that outrageous to believe that people on a GOLFing forum actually know how to hit a ball half way descent. Its not like people are saying that fly the ball 300 + yds on a constant basis.

With the technology thats out today, its not uncommon to see a few people who can hit 280 +, but the people saying on a mis-hit the still hit the ball 260. If I have a mis-hit on a drive it will go 225 and another 100 to the right.

[powerfade]

Is it really that outrageous to believe that people on a GOLFing forum actually know how to hit a ball half way descent. Its not like people are saying that fly the ball 300 + yds on a constant basis.

Uh, I believe I said 250, not 260 (that would be crazy).

LOL!! (I was being a little facetious....a little. I've (or rather technology has) hit them a little off the sweetspot on the toe side and still got that kind of distance. I'm sure the other big dogs, who jack a normally struck tee shot over 280, do the same. It's just something we have to live with.).

[iWALK18]

First of all, I think a lot of people confuse carry with distance. I swing about 105, use an r5 draw with stiff prolaunch blue, and my carry is 260, with the ball rolling to about 280. I think you should be sure to include both measurements, but carry to me is the more telling stat.

Also, some people think that their best drives represent how far they hit their driver. If I really go after it, I can carry 280 (and have hit greens 280 yards away with a tee shot), but thats not how far I would say I "hit my driver". With my most reliable full swing, i "hit my driver" 260.

And the longest drive for me was 400 yards... It was in the altitude of Utah off the side of a mountain with a 30+ mph win at my back... just missed hitting the green 415 yards away... pretty awesome.

[powerfade]

In the old days we got a lot of roll from our drives thinking that was the way to go because the ball simply went farther.

These days in the time of 'optimal launch angles' it has been proven that a longer carry with less roll for more predictable tee shot placement is preferred. Of course, the type of golf course you play and the conditions should dictate what kind of drive to play.

I have a feeling that players who have difficulty launching it high and far will likely welcome roll to get them farther from the tee.

In all seriousness, I'm not trying to come off as some arrogant monster. I'm very satisfied with my driver right now. I've been playing a lot of golf lately with & against many different players. My launch angle is noticably higher with a deeper carry. The end result are drives 20-50 yards further than my competitors. I never talk smack about it. When your friends at the club start joking about me playing par 5's with driver-pitching wedge, you know you're doing something right. (No, I don't do that).

So back to the original question...sure, I would say most people exaggerate their driver exploits. It's part ego and partly because they don't have an accurate way to measure. I do give credit to the guys who say, hey I hit it 220 and I'm fine with it. We know the real fun begins at the 100 yard marker.

[Mark19]

We're not jealous, we're realistic.

I dont know what to tell you. Ive had a club in my hands since 10 but growing up I was a 3 sport athlete in HS which didnt include golf and I played football in college. So golf really took second fiddle growing up (re: the high handicap). Now Im 24 and getting serious about lowering my handicap since all I could do growing up was drive.

Im 6'2'' and weigh 205 with a muscular build so building momentum and swing speed isn't a problem for me. I usually just hit Top-Flite 2000's because I wasnt really into the game and just used whatever was cheap so that might be another factor in my deep hits, but it could be moot. Like I said I was at a golfers warehouse a few weeks ago and had a radar behind the ball and my consistent swing was 121 mph . I dont see how its so unconceivable that someone with my size can generate that clubhead speed. BTW the course I hit over the green was Norton Country Club at the end of last season. http://www.nortoncountryclub.com/layout/b13.html I was hitting from the whites.

[Mark19]

I think that the conclusion that we can all draw from this is that we've discovered a secret to hitting the long ball... this could be the next revolution in golf instruction: posting on the internet.

Like I said earlier, and this post speaks volumes. I think a lot of the reason behind people calling BS on long drives stems from jealousy.

[jfrain2004]

Speaking from my own experience I can happily go into a golf Sim and rip the club at 125 mph through the ball .... but with 0% chance of actually hitting the sweet spot and even less chance of ever finding the ball again were I to pull that stunt on a tee box.
So having read that you can lose up to 25 yrds of carry for every 1/2 inch you miss the sweet spot by I never go beyond 80% effort on my swing and so my impact speed is around 105 and in most cases pretty near the sweet spot. Now 105 is not slow but this never gives me any more carry than maybe 220 - 230 with a verified launch angle of approx 14 Deg.
Some one mentioned jealousy .... not me, just a realist

[extremeld]

[QUOTE=ganjagolfer;109163]Mike Austin's record 515-yard drive has yet to be approached in thirty years. Which begs the question: Did it—could it—really happen?

ahem? mike austins record has been exceeded on several occasions - mike dobbyn recently took the record (now 551) from scott smith (539) yards.

k

[extremeld]

my sodding driver got lost in the post and i had the pleasure of hitting my old 1980s (was state of the art) taylor made burner - wow golf was hard back then

k

[SirMilton]

I have seen three naturally long hitters in my life; two were thin, wiry guys who had a perfect swing with perfect timing; the third was a really big guy who simply crushed the ball. Back when balls were made of wound rubber bands, a crushed ball would fly like a line drive for about 50 yards then the rubber would rebound inside the ball and it would look like it had turned on an afterburner and jump another 150 yards in a straight line seemingly twice as fast, then ball would slowly climb to a peak and then fall rapidly; this is what later was called the "pro" trajectory, except now you don't see balls launched at almost zero degrees.