Distance

[kid2]

Think of your best scoring rounds. Do they come from hitting it 10yds further or from hitting several more fairways & greens? Dispersion is more important than that extra 10yds.

A lot of people could learn a lot from this statement alone.....

Its the whole reason i went the lessons route for this season... Im not short by no means but my dispersion was crucifying me...Its where i was loosing shots to Par....

Since starting on this road my swing plane has changed my posture through the shots have changed and iv got a much more relaxed swing.....Im not hitting at the ball anymore and its starting to become more fluid which in turn has tightened up my pattern...

I think that a lot of people could play the game much better if they weren't concerned so much about distance.....
Distance will always come in the end..Especially as the technique gets better.

 

[Doon frae Troon]

Braid, Vardon, Jones, Hagen, Cotton, Hogan, Snead, Locke, Thomson, Palmer, Player, Nicklaus, Watson, Faldo, Seve, Norman, Montgomery, Woods.
A decent list of the greatest players over the last 100 years
Probably only Snead, Palmer, Norman and Woods would be regarded as big hitters of there time.

240 yards in the fairway or 260 in the rough.....what would you chose.

 

[Oddsocks]

The above post sums it up nicely, while distances are increasing, handicaps are not coming down, simply because people are getting deeper into the cabbage.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

It's pretty simple Ian. They simply can't make a club that is going to help people hit the ball more consistently distance-wise, that takes time & practice and people are lazy. They know that people will buy more distance, it doesn't matter if it delivers to most people as they will have already bought the marketing blurb and will believe they hit it further regardless.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I fully expect my new driver to be longer that my old one. As I got better my older driver got shorter, mainly as I was swinging faster and that was not right for a draw biased head and regular shaft, I had to aim out far right to accommodate my "draw".

I know I could find irons that hit it further and better than my current set but I am fully intending to spend the cash I could on those to make my swing good enough to make the most of my irons, only that way can I ensure my handicap goes down and STAYS down!

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Having a 3 wood that goes 270 mops up those customers that "just can't hit" a driver. You don't need more clubs to fill the gaps as technically you would be closer to the green, so knowing and being good with your yardages it crucial here, no matter if its a 140 yrd PW or 8 iron.
Club marketing has been on the same path for years! Personally I think it's the ball guys that feed out the most BS in new tech...

Can't agree with this, it absolutely matters that you have a big gap between clubs. If you can't hit a driver then you have a problem with your swing and if you have a problem with your swing, you aren't gonna hit that magic 3-wood either straight or 270yds on a consistent basis so you aren't necessarily going to be closer to the green, most likely you'll be further in the clag. Selling 3W's that go as far as drivers (if they do) is simply ego feeding and isn't helping people get better at golf or lowering scores. But then if they are making millions, why should they care?

 

[Crow]

The two biggest problems I see in amateur golf is the pressure, for some stupid reason, that players put upon themselves to hit a club that needs to be 100% flushed to get what they think should happen

Never a truer word spoken Tommo!

I play by far my best golf when I'm taking a club more and not going at it with everything I've got just to get "that" yardage which I know I can get if I flush it.

Only trouble is I can't seem to remember this for more than one round.

 

[patricks148]

I've solved my distance problem...!

I'm buying a set of Wilson Fatshafts, simple

 

[duncan mackie]

I agree with some on this post, and disagree with others....nothing new!

1. Swings/players his consistent distances, not clubs. Most dispersion figures for club/shaft combinations (irons) focus on width not distance (it's a factor but a small one). So if you want to hit consistent distance go see a Bob, don't get another set of irons.........
2. But people don't buy irons to find consistent distances (they don't go to Bob either but that another thing). They buy club/shaft combinations for width dispersion, and length...but most are approaching this from a 'fitted' perspective ie they aim to buy the right clubs for them, which co-incidentially will deliver more distance....read Gareth's recent posts for an excellent summary of this!
3.They so the same with drivers; yes they want more distance but not at any price in terms of confidence/consistency.
4. Most discussion on 'gapping' ignores the blindingly obvious - you have 13 distance clubs and you will have gaps! Referencing the post on 3 woods - if you aren't going to hit the green consistently from 250, gapping in this area is irrelevant.

I like Tommo's approach - great summary of the realities

I don't

 

[SocketRocket]

I have absolutely no doubt that some clubs do go further than others, but I think that ball technology has moved forward more than any club design and I also think shafts help to get the optimum from your own personal swing.

Length is mega important to the professional game these days, the closer to the green the better chance of getting near the pin…not hard to work out.

However, at 60, I’m still shooting some of the best score of my life and yesterday at my old club Winterfield, not a long course but on full greens, I got it round in 67 to lift a pot of cash that paid for my outing to Goswick come the end of may.

Was that 3 under gross at Musselburgh Tomo? Great game of golf, well done.

 

[MadAdey]

This distance obsession is all about selling more kit. So they give you these fantastic new irons that can hit the ball further. One slight problem with these clubs, the PW has a similar loft to what would be considered a 9i in a real set. The other thing I have noticed with these sets are they come in 4i-PW, they then make you the offer of buying a GW that will be a similar loft to what is considered a real PW. SO do they hit it further? do they bugger, let me just re-stamp my 9i with PW then my clubs will hit it further, simples.

 

[USER1999]

On the fairway, 150 out, or in the rough, 120 out. Give me 120. I'm going to hit the green. I just am.

 

[Bomber69]

On the fairway, 150 out, or in the rough, 120 out. Give me 120. I'm going to hit the green. I just am.

You think:whoo:

 

[Oddsocks]

On the fairway, 150 out, or in the rough, 120 out. Give me 120. I'm going to hit the green. I just am.

No no no, your going to shank a wedge and miss it by postcodes

 

[MashieNiblick]

On the fairway, 150 out, or in the rough, 120 out. Give me 120. I'm going to hit the green. I just am.

Depends on the rough I guess

 

[Mozza73]

I don't buy clubs because I believe they will hit it straighter or longer - that is marketing bull5hit. I buy them because they look nice and give me confidence when standing over the ball by how they look. I like my irons to look chunky and big, and dull, and be as tough and hard wearing as nails - hence why I use a 12 year old set of Ping I3's.

No 7 iron will carry 150 yards if my swing is crap, regardless of what manufacturer is stamped and painted all over it, simples.

Right now I'm drooling over the Nike VRS Covert, not because I will be able to hit it longer or straighter than my old Callaway 454, I want it because it looks beautiful.

 

[MadAdey]

I am waiting for the day when someone comes up with a really crazy driver...........1 that hits it 20 yards straighter. I suppose the advertising could be something along these lines:

"with it's 2 inch shorter shaft and all that weight removed from the sweet spot we can now distribute it to help you hit it straighter on off centre shots. With a higher dynamic loft and its shorter shaft you will be hitting it shorter, but straighter with more control instantly"

The question is how many people would be interested in a driver that could promise that? I would be up for it, but I am not obsessed by distance. Ok some might say I can afford to give away a few yards, but I would much prefer to hit fairways than hit it long. After all a 6i from the fairway is far more enjoyable than an 8i form the rough.

 

[User 105]

The thing is distance with the driver is important to a certain extent depending on your handicap.

A 5 handicapper is going to always struggle if they only hit their driver 200-210 but dead straight. As on most Par 4 they probably have about the same distance to get to the green with their second. They'd need to have a pretty tidy short game to keep getting up and down if their not hitting greens. Birdies would be hard to come by !!

But a 20 handicapper would probably benefit from 200-210 but straight. They have shots to play with. They don't need to hit greens in reg.

I'd think with a cat 1 golfer if they hit it consistently around 250 but straight that is plenty far enough to get the job done.

But it's funny how most new golfers are obsessed with how far they hit their driver, I know I was.

 

[MadAdey]

The thing is distance with the driver is important to a certain extent depending on your handicap.

A 5 handicapper is going to always struggle if they only hit their driver 200-210 but dead straight. As on most Par 4 they probably have about the same distance to get to the green with their second. They'd need to have a pretty tidy short game to keep getting up and down if their not hitting greens. Birdies would be hard to come by !!

But a 20 handicapper would probably benefit from 200-210 but straight. They have shots to play with. They don't need to hit greens in reg.

I'd think with a cat 1 golfer if they hit it consistently around 250 but straight that is plenty far enough to get the job done.

But it's funny how most new golfers are obsessed with how far they hit their driver, I know I was.

That is the point I was trying to highlight in my post. Too many people are obsessed with distance, more so when they start out. What they need to get is a driver that will keep them in play. I would guarantee that any cat 4 golfer that can hit every nearly every fairway can play to 18. But I feel too many are obsessed with distance, which after you have had 2 reloads in a round, that has already cost you 4 shots. Then add in the 3 times you have to hack it out of the crap, all of a sudden you have wasted 7 shots. All because of thinking about distance rather than accuracy from the tee.

I feel it is the big companies that have put this in players minds when they first start out as that is all they read about and see when they walk into a shop to get their first set of clubs.

 

[duncan mackie]

That is the point I was trying to highlight in my post. Too many people are obsessed with distance, more so when they start out. What they need to get is a driver that will keep them in play. I would guarantee that any cat 4 golfer that can hit every nearly every fairway can play to 18. But I feel too many are obsessed with distance, which after you have had 2 reloads in a round, that has already cost you 4 shots. Then add in the 3 times you have to hack it out of the crap, all of a sudden you have wasted 7 shots. All because of thinking about distance rather than accuracy from the tee.

I feel it is the big companies that have put this in players minds when they first start out as that is all they read about and see when they walk into a shop to get their first set of clubs.

I don't think it's fair to blame the big companies here - the damage is done amongst peer groups when individuals start the game, and continues for as long as they play until a player makes a concious decision to ignore it and play to his strengths....this can be at a youung age, or once age intervenes

I will accept that the manufacturers claims can make people review this decision - only recently an older player who used to make a positive out of hitting driver to our par 3s etc suddenly aquired a set of RBZ woods, and a smile , but he has no plans to change his x14 irons. He rarely missed fairways previously, and doesn't now.

Anyone can get a driver that they can hit faiways with - it may be a 5 iron for some, but the principle is there! The psycology of most golfers is the deciding factor; that's all.