Stop Lying About Your Distance - It's Pissing Me Off (Rant Thread)

[Lihu]

On 3/19/2019 at 8:28 AM, Groucho Valentine said:

Theres alot of toxic masculinity goin on up in hyeah. 

Non-toxic, to be sure. Just not meeting OSHA standards for pregnant women. I’d say a 3 level, or roughly putrid. 🤪😂🤪

[Vinsk]

The funny thing is long drives don’t always account to being a beast. It’s a talent for sure but the whole ‘masculinity’ aspect is really irrelevant. Justin Thomas would’ve lost his lunch money every day at my high school and he can out drive any of these guys posting. A club speed of 110-118mph from a non-collegiate amateur is impressive for its athleticism, not by any means a ‘masculine’ entitlement. 

[Pretzel]

9 hours ago, pganapathy said:

I agree that is tour average, but how many amateurs you know who can hit that fast.

The golfers I know that swing 110-120mph only encompasses about 70% of the people who I played with and against regularly through high school in RMJGT and AJGA events. Plus all the guys on the team at the college I currently attend. Plus the 3 or 4 guys at the local men's club who are 5 handicaps or better. Plus a good 80-90% of the field in every US Amateur or US Open qualifier I've played in. My normal driver swing was 124mph last time I measured it when I was 17 at one of those Bridgestone ball fitting events, no idea if it's faster, slower, or the same speed nowadays.

All told that probably makes up a few hundred different golfers I've met or played with that swing at least 110 mph, with maybe 20-30 that I knew well enough to name and about 5 that were in the 130+ range. No joke, the fastest swinger (and longest hitter) I ever knew had a swingspeed of 138 mph. He played on my high school team and went on to play for the Air Force Academy afterwards, swung so damn fast that he caved in the face of a driver that wasn't even 2 years old.

These players aren't at all the majority of golfers, and my perspective is biased since I've played a lot of tournaments with a lot of good golfers, but it's not as tiny of a population as you seem to think it is.

[pganapathy]

17 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

The golfers I know that swing 110-120mph only encompasses about 70% of the people who I played with and against regularly through high school in RMJGT and AJGA events. Plus all the guys on the team at the college I currently attend. Plus the 3 or 4 guys at the local men's club who are 5 handicaps or better. Plus a good 80-90% of the field in every US Amateur or US Open qualifier I've played in. My normal driver swing was 124mph last time I measured it when I was 17 at one of those Bridgestone ball fitting events, no idea if it's faster, slower, or the same speed nowadays.

All told that probably makes up a few hundred different golfers I've met or played with that swing at least 110 mph, with maybe 20-30 that I knew well enough to name and about 5 that were in the 130+ range. No joke, the fastest swinger (and longest hitter) I ever knew had a swingspeed of 138 mph. He played on my high school team and went on to play for the Air Force Academy afterwards, swung so damn fast that he caved in the face of a driver that wasn't even 2 years old.

These players aren't at all the majority of golfers, and my perspective is biased since I've played a lot of tournaments with a lot of good golfers, but it's not as tiny of a population as you seem to think it is.

They are the exception.  Very good amateurs will of course swing better than the average one.  Look at any golf course.  How many golfers do you see who have that kind of swing speed.  Most amateurs are in the 90 to 100 mph range.  At my peak I was around a 110 or so, but I was playing thrice a week then.  And yes, youth does help golfers speed, since they are more athletic as a rule.

Of course there are the odd golfers in every course who can swing it fast.  I have a cousin who hits his 7 iron 200 yards😲

[Pretzel]

7 minutes ago, pganapathy said:

They are the exception.  Very good amateurs will of course swing better than the average one.  Look at any golf course. Most amateurs are in the 90 to 100 mph range.

Which, if you'll notice, is exactly what I said (see below). Good guess on the average though, since the average driver swing speed of the average golfer according to Trackman is 93.4 mph.

29 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

These players aren't at all the majority of golfers, and my perspective is biased since I've played a lot of tournaments with a lot of good golfers, but it's not as tiny of a population as you seem to think it is.

Your original post made it seem like you thought nobody short of pros could swing that fast. The statement of 110-120mph being freakish among amateurs is incorrect, because I'd consider it unexpected if I went to a course and didn't find a few regular golfers that fit that category unless the course was a real dog track. A freakish swing is one that you're surprised to see, not one that you're surprised to never see. 

[pganapathy]

13 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

Which, if you'll notice, is exactly what I said (see below). Good guess on the average though, since the average driver swing speed of the average golfer according to Trackman is 93.4 mph.

Your original post made it seem like you thought nobody short of pros could swing that fast. The statement of 110-120mph being freakish among amateurs is incorrect, because I'd consider it unexpected if I went to a course and didn't find a few regular golfers that fit that category unless the course was a real dog track. A freakish swing is one that you're surprised to see, not one that you're surprised to never see. 

I agree every course has one or two golfers who can swing over a 110 mph.  Is 115 to 120 mph freakish.  Almost certainly.  Agreed, athletic and good golfers can do it.  But it is a small percentage.  I would definitely call my cousin freakish for hitting his 7 iron 200 yards.  Though I understand your point that a freakish swing is something you are surprised to see, but agree that you will see it.  Otherwise it would be super rare.  Even that is difficult.  Look at how many people try out for the LDA

[lastings]

19 hours ago, NZ Golfer said:

I wish at times I didn't hit the ball as far as I do.

You know there’s no rule that say just because you can hit it far you have to hit it far, right?

[DaveP043]

3 hours ago, lastings said:

You know there’s no rule that say just because you can hit it far you have to hit it far, right?

Yeah, 2 choices.  Select a shorter club, or learn to hit it straighter.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

Yeah, 2 choices.  Select a shorter club, or learn to hit it straighter.

What about a 3/4 punch driver? 😜

[Drexelius]

The guy who says that he wishes he didn’t hit it so far at times is the same guy who answers the interview question, “What is your greatest weakness?”, with the answer, “my greatest weakness is that I work too hard”. Ha ha - what a blowhard.

 

[Kevlar10]

I get the OPs annoyance but being only an occasional golfer, it doesn’t bother me as much as a playing partner that shaves strokes off his score just because he has to be “the man”.  A few years ago, I hurt my back and wouldn’t play because I didn’t want to go through the pain.  I missed the game so much, I went through PT just to get back on the course.  I used to be one of those guys who could hit over 300 but that was maybe 2/10 drives because I was swinging so hard I was either crushing it or hitting it 200 with 150 yards of slice.  I’ve learned that 270 off the tee is fine.  Now I don’t even focus on my distance off the tee.  Although o still do get the occasional 300+.  One thing that I’ve noticed though is that overall swing speed isn’t the key.  You need to hit your max speed as you contact the ball, not before.  If I can hit 110 at that time, my drives are longer.  When I reach my max speed during the downswing or decelerate as I’m making contact, I only hit about 240-250.  My B in L swings over 120 and I can consistently out drive him.  

[DaveP043]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

What about a 3/4 punch driver? 😜

I've got that one, kind of a hockey swing, all body, no "release"  It makes sense to reduce spin into the wind, better than hitting a 3-wood that balloons.

[billchao]

4 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

I've got that one, kind of a hockey swing, all body, no "release"  It makes sense to reduce spin into the wind, better than hitting a 3-wood that balloons.

Yea I got that one, too. Yours probably makes it past the ladies' tee 🤣

[DaveP043]

Just now, billchao said:

Yea I got that one, too. Yours probably makes it past the ladies' tee 🤣

at least one time in three

[LMoore]

When someone says they hit a 7 iron 200, my first thought is who’s 7 iron. Callaway Apex? 30 degrees. Titleist AP1? 30 or 31 degrees. Ping I 500? 29 degrees. All cast clubs.

Traditional loft for a 7 is 34 degrees and in a few cases 35 degrees. So in reality, they are hitting a 6 iron. 

Nothing but marketing and bragging rights . Unfortunately, it sells clubs instead of teaching that gapping and consistent distances are far more important than boasting how far your 7 iron goes.

Sort of the same thing much of this thread is dealing with. “Yep, popped that thing bout 320....not real sure where it is though”

[Lihu]

On 3/20/2019 at 6:17 PM, Vinsk said:

The funny thing is long drives don’t always account to being a beast. It’s a talent for sure but the whole ‘masculinity’ aspect is really irrelevant. Justin Thomas would’ve lost his lunch money every day at my high school and he can out drive any of these guys posting. A club speed of 110-118mph from a non-collegiate amateur is impressive for its athleticism, not by any means a ‘masculine’ entitlement. 

Most people who bench 350 (normal reps) can’t even properly swing a club, and those that can generally swing 140+ at long drive competitions

[NZ Golfer]

14 hours ago, lastings said:

You know there’s no rule that say just because you can hit it far you have to hit it far, right?

 

11 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

Yeah, 2 choices.  Select a shorter club, or learn to hit it straighter.

I fully understand It may seem like from my post that I'm some kind of macho distance guy ... I've certainly seen my fair share of rolled eyes from other golfers around distances ... or from a nasty slice/hook etc ... something I'm working on as a 15HC player (as where the 3w is coming in with much more fairways hit these days)

... personal I think if you can constantly hit the ball cleanly with controlled power then why wouldn't you ... many times the difference between a 110mph drive and 118mph is an emotional factor, the actual distance isn't much at the end(Plus accurately is far better in lower controlled swing)   ...but sometimes after a 3-4 putt blowing a birdie etc, the tension releases makes me swing harder on the next tee..or maybe Bunker 260 out and I really want to pass it ... 

I'm sure many Golfers are the same and hit the ball down there with a normal feeling swing.

-----example-- where I was pissed at distance off the club....  last hole game very close to my best round 2nd shot PAR4...153 yards out to an ever slightly elevated green usually hit a PW full swing to around that distance..

Now the ball was in the first cut rough 10-15mph headwind so thought to take the 9 out full swing and it came off the face perfect high slight draw ... yes here we go >>>> down it came landed behind green ran up a gravel pathway onto some rough easy 15-20yards further than I expected ...Gutted 4 more shots to close out the hole..cost us the match and outright second place for the day

[klineka]

2 hours ago, NZ Golfer said:

-----example-- where I was pissed at distance off the club....  last hole game very close to my best round 2nd shot PAR4...153 yards out to an ever slightly elevated green usually hit a PW full swing to around that distance..

Now the ball was in the first cut rough 10-15mph headwind so thought to take the 9 out full swing and it came off the face perfect high slight draw ... yes here we go >>>> down it came landed behind green ran up a gravel pathway onto some rough easy 15-20yards further than I expected ...Gutted 4 more shots to close out the hole..cost us the match and outright second place for the day

What mode of irons do you use? It's possible you got a "jumper"/ "Flyer" out of the rough, and if you have a more game improvement style iron, it's possible you hit one in the sweet spot which sent it jumping even further. It's also possible the wind wasn't as strong as you thought it was, if the course is surrounded by trees it's possible the wind up above the trees was different than what you were feeling on the ground.

 

13 hours ago, billchao said:

What about a 3/4 punch driver? 😜

11 hours ago, DaveP043 said:

I've got that one, kind of a hockey swing, all body, no "release"  It makes sense to reduce spin into the wind, better than hitting a 3-wood that balloons.

I actually practice that shot and use it from time to time, most recently on the 14th at MidSouth in Pinehurst. From the tees we were playing the fairway ended at like 245 yds, and I wasn't feeling comfortable with my 3 wood at the time which would have been the club to use, so I choked down with a driver, did a 3/4 swing and an abbreviated finish and poked it out 239 which is about 20 yds shorter than my normal drives. http://www.gamegolf.com/player/klineka/round/2446979?hole_id=42372820