Distance

[garyinderry]

using google earth last night i measured a few places where people normally drive. into the wind some of these are actually very very short.

 

[SocketRocket]

I'm a 27 Hcapper and have always been able to hit it over 200yds on a calm day. Average when I first started was 225-230. Now after getting more consistent I carry the ball 235yds average and get run to 265 on firm fairway hits.



I would disagree big time with this. As I said above what my distances are and those are from Trackman using the laser rangefinder and calculating from distances left to greens.
Not only that but I would class myself as an average distance at my club. Many guys I play with would out drive me by a good 20 yards. The low single figure guys would be hitting the par 5's in 2 never mind the long par 4's.
As for the comment about scratch golfers I played with one last week and he carried the ball further than I get with run.

Another pensioner at my place who also has early stage emphysema can hit his 4 rescue club 200yds and he's not tall either and plays a fade.

I am not talking about single digit handicap players, I am talking about the average Joe. As I said most people dont know how far they hit their driver and often base it on the best shot they have ever made downhill or spurious guesses.

When I talked about scratch golfers I am referring to the par for a hole. The par is what a scratch golfer would be expected to hit, not what the average 22 handicapper hits.

If you are a 27 handicap player and hit the ball 265 yards then what is happening to your short game? To get this into perspective, Ian Poulter's average driving distance is 274 yards, Colin Montgomerie is 270. The tour average is around 280.

Of course some people hit the ball far but not many club golfers. There is nothing wrong with that and if people face up to what they are actually doing rather than what their testosterone clouds then they will be able to plan their shots better.

 

[Snelly]

I find it hard to believe that the everyday golfer only hits it 200 yards with the big stick. I look at my course and the blokes I play, that includes the old men in the Tues/Thurs roll-up. Apart from a few I would say a majority of them are over 200 with a driver.

I agree with this. Most golfers are over 200 yards with a decent drive. But not much more than 200 I would say.

I also agree though that in general terms, most golfers think they hit the ball much further than they actually do.

I am not one of them. I would consider myself a long hitter and am not outdriven often and as a rough guess, I would say my average is 240-260 at best.

 

[SocketRocket]

I agree with this. Most golfers are over 200 yards with a decent drive. But not much more than 200 I would say.

I am talking about peoples average drives, not their best. It is a real eye opener to measure out the positions most people drive to using Google earth. OK, it's best to do that with fairly level fairways.

I drive the ball similar to you and when I stripe one its around 270/280 but that not average. I often play with people who claim to be hitting 250 yards but in reality are getting around 200/210.

 

[Foxholer]

I disagree. Most people I see play dont hit the ball over 200 yards. They think they do but thinking and doing is a different thing.

Look at your home club on google earth or the like and plot out distances from the tee to average driving distances (realistic ones) So many people tell me they drive around 230 - 250 yards when they are hitting more like 180 - 210.. You cant just look at the 150 yards marker and estimate how far you have hit.

You must see some pretty ***** golfers then!

However, I agree that 210-220 is pretty much the norm!

For the course I see most of (which normally requires a handicap of 18):
There's a bunker on the first at 235. Most drives that are on the fairway are about 15 or so yards short of that. There are some bunkers on the 3rd (slightly uphill) that start at 230. Most tee shots are about level with or a bit past these and the tees are normally 15 yards forward of the blocks. Same pattern happens on most holes. There's a bunker at 195-200 on 13 that often catches a 'good' tee shot and a road on 17 at 186 (slightly downhill) that most fly by 10-20yds. And the bunker on 18 at 255 is rarely reached! However, there's also a bunker at 302 on 15 that many good drives are pretty close to, or even past! And the one at 235 (again, downhill) on 8 is certainly in play.

Though why can't you use the 150yd posts to check distance hit?

 

[MadAdey]

Just had a work out to rough estimates using google maps and I see what you mean, maybe people are not driving as far as what you think they are. I know how far I hit the ball with my driver and maybe I am one of the lucky ones who can really stick it out there big distances. I know I get a carry of around the 260/270 mark just from the 3rd at my place that needs a drive of that distance to take it over the fairway bunker. Also using your Google idea I know that I regularly hit it around 300 down our 1st, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 13th. Would not know about hte other holes at my place as I do not use the driver on those ones.

 

[garyinderry]

just noticed that the last 4 trees down the left side of our first are 40,50,60 and 80 out. handy to know

 

[Neddy]

It is largely a macho thing IMO. I saw it on Sunday. 177 yard, slightly downhill, par 3. Probably plays about 165 on a still day.

As me and my playing partner approached the tee a three ball was leaving. I heard one of them say "you took a 7 there aswell right" and sure enough they were both 10-15 yards short having hit from what i saw decent shots.

They'd obviously rather miss the green than acknowledge the fact they need a 6/5 iron to hit it 160 yards.

Doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Phil2511]

@SocketRocket

Ian Poulter's average driving distance is 285.5yds and he is ranked 174th out of 190 PGA tour players. 93 almost 50% are 290 and over with 22 hitting it over 300yds and 7 are 310yds are more.

Now those are their average tournament rounds and include missed fairways, drives into trees and water. Head winds, uphill will be balanced with tail winds and downhill.

Oh and remember I said average carry and average firm fairway hit with run. Because I know both based on not hitting the fairway all the time and also we have 2 holes that have 200 to carry ditches and I can carry those easily. Saturday into a 22mph head wind I cleared them by 15-20 approx, based on eye and distance left to green on GPS.

Oh and I don't just play with Single figure people either.

I played last year in a society of 24, 40% would be cat4, 50% would be cat3 and 10% cat 2 nobody lower than 9. ALL of those guys were hitting the ball over 200yds and on the Society Captains day the longest drive was won by a 16hcap guy with a drive of 277yds and that was held at the end of September and it was a very wet year in 2011 too so not much run out there.

Oh and my putting is woeful, though spent 3 hours on it yesterday after an abismal day on Saturday having 2 or 3 four putts and at least 7 three whacks. Moved the ball forward instead of playing in the middle and seems to be working, sunk 2x15 footers yesterday over 9holes whereas I was missing putts 3 and 4 feet almost every time the last few weeks.

 

[patricks148]

i wouldn't worry about distance, when i started playing i used to hit my 5 wood 150 yards, 6 years on i'm down to a 7 handicap and i'm at least upto 160 yards with it (Smile)

 

[Foxholer]

OK. Just played 18 at a course where there is run in the fairway, but not in the rough.

I'm not a short hitter, but certainly not a long one either. My Drives were 203 (rough) 237, 230, 225 (into slight breeze) 265 240 (nto slight breeze) 270 with slight breeze but rough) 250 (nto slight breeze) 273 (with slight breeze) 220(rough).

So rather better than 'average'! Whee! Best part was only needing 2 putts in the last 4 holes!

 

[SocketRocket]

@SocketRocket

Ian Poulter's average driving distance is 285.5yds and he is ranked 174th out of 190 PGA tour players. 93 almost 50% are 290 and over with 22 hitting it over 300yds and 7 are 310yds are more.

Now those are their average tournament rounds and include missed fairways, drives into trees and water. Head winds, uphill will be balanced with tail winds and downhill.

Oh and remember I said average carry and average firm fairway hit with run. Because I know both based on not hitting the fairway all the time and also we have 2 holes that have 200 to carry ditches and I can carry those easily. Saturday into a 22mph head wind I cleared them by 15-20 approx, based on eye and distance left to green on GPS.

Oh and I don't just play with Single figure people either.

I played last year in a society of 24, 40% would be cat4, 50% would be cat3 and 10% cat 2 nobody lower than 9. ALL of those guys were hitting the ball over 200yds and on the Society Captains day the longest drive was won by a 16hcap guy with a drive of 277yds and that was held at the end of September and it was a very wet year in 2011 too so not much run out there.

Oh and my putting is woeful, though spent 3 hours on it yesterday after an abismal day on Saturday having 2 or 3 four putts and at least 7 three whacks. Moved the ball forward instead of playing in the middle and seems to be working, sunk 2x15 footers yesterday over 9holes whereas I was missing putts 3 and 4 feet almost every time the last few weeks.

Attached is are the European Tour driving averages : http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/stats/genworthfs/season=2011/categoryid=3/index.html

You will notice Ian Poulter is 174 yards. The post wasnt about you, it was about the average golfer who would be around a 22 handicap.

 

[Phil2511]

I used the PGA site to obtain my stats which has Poulter as one of the shorter hitters so not a good example really.

And I was not replying as for my own distances but as what I see. Hence the story of the high handicapper society with no Cat1 and very few Cat2 people. I will play with all ranges of golfers and it is only 1 in 10 that somebody doesn't make it over the ditch at our 18th which is 197yds exactly to carry and that's at the end of the round when people would be getting tired.

I will also say that even the majority of our 13yr old and over Juveniles hit drives well over 200yds.
So we will just have to agree to disagree.

 

[Oddsocks]

It's funny how people feel the need to worry about distance, but never dispersion.

Personally I couldn't give a hoot about 230/240/250/260 or 300, I'm only worried about dispersion as around my course this is the difference between pars and a no score with the rough being so penile.

I'm driving the ball between 240 & 230 without run, with a rough dispersion of about 15 yards max, if I could swap 10 yards in length for 5 yards less dispersions it would be a no brainier

 

[MadAdey]

It's funny how people feel the need to worry about distance, but never dispersion.

Personally I couldn't give a hoot about 230/240/250/260 or 300, I'm only worried about dispersion as around my course this is the difference between pars and a no score with the rough being so penile.

I'm driving the ball between 240 & 230 without run, with a rough dispersion of about 15 yards max, if I could swap 10 yards in length for 5 yards less dispersions it would be a no brainier

Amen to that brother. I would happily give 30 yards of driver distance away if I could guarantee hitting the fairway every time:thup:.

 

[Phil2511]

It's funny how people feel the need to worry about distance, but never dispersion.

Personally I couldn't give a hoot about 230/240/250/260 or 300, I'm only worried about dispersion as around my course this is the difference between pars and a no score with the rough being so penile.

I'm driving the ball between 240 & 230 without run, with a rough dispersion of about 15 yards max, if I could swap 10 yards in length for 5 yards less dispersions it would be a no brainier

Agreed on this. Accuracy is always more important than length.

 

[Foxholer]

the rough being so penile.

I think you meant 'penal'. It's the long drive devotees that are 'penile'!

Distance vs dispersion really depends on the course (or even the hole). That course I played is quite wide open, so plenty of profit in distance. The other course I play regularly is relatively new, so hazards (specially water) are generally in play, so accuracy and distancy control are key there (though it's still about 6500/6800/7200).

 

[Hammers271284]

Was just wondering if that driver ditance was carry distance or total distance?

 

[RGDave]

I disagree. Most people I see play dont hit the ball over 200 yards. They think they do but thinking and doing is a different thing.

Does skycaddie pass the Socket test?

 

[RGDave]

I'm driving the ball between 240 & 230 without run, with a rough dispersion of about 15 yards max, if I could swap 10 yards in length for 5 yards less dispersions it would be a no brainier

I'll lend you my swing, if you want to try it out...