Distances & Handicap

[Cernunnos]

rofl....

Ok I should have known somewhere along the way this would turn silly or turn into a big willy contest. I'm honoured I got both...rofl

What I was after was peoples handicaps & real normal distances for all their clubs, to get a real idea of what everyone is doing & to back up my opinion that good ball strikers can be both low & high handicap players.

As it drives me mad when as a high handicap player I will turn up to try a set of irons or a driver & for the chap in the golf store to be instantly trying to guide me towards certain types of clubs instantly disregarding my ball striking, just because I've let on what my handicap is.

It would be interesting to turn up to try some clubs & instead of saying 28 when asked I simply said 8 or 10, as I fully expect the golf shop sales person to be offering me different equipment than they would not realise from my ball striking that I was anything else than I'd have been saying. Thing is I'm too truthful by half

I started this thread to try & prove a point & if I disregard the sillyness & the big willy contest its started to turn into for a moment & I really think the point is proved.

N.B. Could all following posts include the following
more for interests sake than anything
Handicap...

Best round score on a full length course...
Worst round on a full length course...

Normal strengths & weaknesses...
current strenths & weaknesses...

Score for last game, this can be as strokes or Points please state....

And THRUTHFUL average distances with their clubs

Many thanks.
Cern'

 

[andiritchie]

handicap 8

best round 74 this year
worst 89 this year

strengths ball striking
weakness putting and course management

last round 80

driver 275 carry at fitting so its correct to last 2 weeks
4 iron-185-190 cluhead speed 100mph
6iron-165 clubhead speed 91mph
pw-125
56sand-85

all distances been done on launch monitors with my pro within the last 3 months

 

[Herbie]

lmao...this really has turned into a p***ing contest ha ha and I thought it was about distances and the relationship to handicaps ha ha ha. H/C is based on your average score per round carded and checked.(more or less)

I love listening to golfers when they tell me how far they hit everything when in reality few know and few are consistant enough to have a measured average nor committed enough to have it regularily tested. Forget how far you are hitting stuff and concentrate on accuracy and reduce those numbers. Only low h/c or pro players have distances they can accurately discuss and some of them often get a little excited with the telling. But at least it gives me a giggle.

 

[andiritchie]

from tee to green a play iam pretty consistant, scoring iam complete rubbish lose my patience with slow play etc

all the distance are correct to handicap playing standards had all my lofts bent togive a nice spread of distances added lead tape on the mid irons to do my best to lower my flight with them.Dont spend hours of my time trying to get things right for people to say its not true

 

[Cernunnos]

thankyou "herb"... exactly

<u>Consistency, confidence & dispersion</u> is all that divides good & average players & the whole point of the thread so why should your handicap really matter to a supposed clubfitter I use the term loosly, when all they are are sales people

Hell we've all had those moments where we hit that towering drive 10 yards beyond a green we know is 303yards or more tee to green, but that was not what I was interested in that at all, even though I've done it. But notice I've currently quoted my driver as only getting 250 - 260 yards

Oh I can muscle the drive 280 yards if I want, but if its at the cost of accuracy what's the point. Which is better 250 yards down the middle swinging within yourself, or 290 yards fifty yards right of the fairway in the trees, or for that matter that piercing draw sent probably 320 yards but left of the fairway onto the oposite bank of the river trent. No point what so ever.

Anyway I'm in great danger of falling into big willy zone myself there

So if I'm swinging my 6 iron in the fitting bay, between 83 & 95 mph what shaft would a club fitter choose...? especially when I'm hitting them sweet as a nut & the dispesion is also quite good.

I only mention this last one as I thought it interesting "andirichie" brought up. And another thankyou needed there.

 

[andiritchie]

83-95 with a 6 iron is inbetween stiff and x depending on brands

 

[cm_qs]

I know pretty much to the foot how far I hit each of my shots (cos I can measure them accurately on the course with my Motocaddy S3 Digital)

My normal "good" drive is only ever 200 - 220 yards.

Seems i've only got a little willy ......or i'm a bit Gladys!

If I had a handicap it would be 17 - 18

Scores ? Dunno - I'm not a big fan of numbers

Strengths - Short Game, Putting
Weaknesses - Inconsistent driving, abysmal approach shots.

 

[RGuk]

Re: Distances &amp; Handicap

Handicap...12

Best round score on a full length course...recently, 78. (73)
Worst round on a full length course...recently 88. (146)

Normal strengths & weaknesses...straight-ish but short.
current strenths & weaknesses...short irons,...silly double bogeys??

Score for last game, this can be as strokes or Points please state....last game off whites....gross 84

And TRUTHFUL average distances with their clubs

Driver 210-230
5 iron 160-170
7 iron (tested on range) 144
9 iron 125?
GW (tested on range) 96.

 

[Herbie]

from tee to green a play iam pretty consistant, scoring iam complete rubbish lose my patience with slow play etc

all the distance are correct to handicap playing standards had all my lofts bent togive a nice spread of distances added lead tape on the mid irons to do my best to lower my flight with them.Dont spend hours of my time trying to get things right for people to say its not true

I dont dispute what you say, my reply was general but if you are consistant from tee to green and hitting those distances consistantly I would expect your h/c to be pretty tastey.

 

[andiritchie]

good ball striking does not mean a good handicap really i avg 36 putts a round which is pants i always seem to leave them on the edge but i dont practise it enough to get better i just enjoy playing when i get chance

 

[Herbie]

thankyou "herb"... exactly

<u>Consistency, confidence & dispersion</u> is all that divides good & average players & the whole point of the thread so why should your handicap really matter to a supposed clubfitter I use the term loosly, when all they are are sales people

Hell we've all had those moments where we hit that towering drive 10 yards beyond a green we know is 303yards or more tee to green, but that was not what I was interested in that at all, even though I've done it. But notice I've currently quoted my driver as only getting 250 - 260 yards

Oh I can muscle the drive 280 yards if I want, but if its at the cost of accuracy what's the point. Which is better 250 yards down the middle swinging within yourself, or 290 yards fifty yards right of the fairway in the trees, or for that matter that piercing draw sent probably 320 yards but left of the fairway onto the oposite bank of the river trent. No point what so ever.

Anyway I'm in great danger of falling into big willy zone myself there

So if I'm swinging my 6 iron in the fitting bay, between 83 & 95 mph what shaft would a club fitter choose...? especially when I'm hitting them sweet as a nut & the dispesion is also quite good.

I only mention this last one as I thought it interesting "andirichie" brought up. And another thankyou needed there.

lol and absolutely agree with you. I can hit a draw and smack it 350yds, trouble is its never where I want it lol.My natural shot is straightish to gentle fade and regularily 250/270 range and at least Im more often on the fairway or rolled into the light rough (doesnt mean I dont duff some of those shots too when I go for a biggy)but rarely in trouble.Its hard for me at my age now to go easy, having tasted a low H/C and been that BIG HITTER in the past, if I had the sense I have now with the skills I had then,I would have been a pro lol.

 

[RGuk]

good ball striking does not mean a good handicap

Hmmm....could be tempted to agree. I've played with a few great strikers who are hopelessly wayward.

 

[andiritchie]

how old are you herb if you dont mind me asking

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Just checked strokesaver 2 and my best this year is 77 (+7) and my worst is 95 (+25). I'm averaging about 213 for my drives.

Yardage wise Driver 213
3 wood 200
5 wood 180
hybrid 170
4 iron 165
5 iron 155
6 iron 145
7 iron 135
8 iron 120
9 iron 105 not sure why I get a 15 yard difference but measured with sky caddy so must be fairly accurate
PW 95
SW 70
52 degree 60
SW 50

Have to say for me its all about the striking. I posted a thread recently asking what people preferred - good ball striking and not necessarily scoring well or scrambling it round and posting a score. The majority said they favoured hitting it well and maybe leaving a few shots out there.

Inevitably if the ball striking is pure distances improve marginally. I may get an extra 3-5 yards on my irons. I'm not a powerful hitter but my yardages have been measured out on the practice field and are fairly accurate. I try and play my way round to leave favourite yardages but even if I don't I'm always 95% confident that irrespective of the result I have at least clubbed correctly

 

[Cernunnos]

Thanks, andirichie

Thing is, as soon as you tell a fitter you are a high handicap player, suddenly they start handing you regular shafts... what gives eh...rofl In my mind its what I'd call Handicapism where suddenly you are lumped in with the shorter slower hitters.

 

[Cernunnos]

thankyou "herb"... exactly

<u>Consistency, confidence & dispersion</u> is all that divides good & average players & the whole point of the thread so why should your handicap really matter to a supposed clubfitter I use the term loosly, when all they are are sales people

Hell we've all had those moments where we hit that towering drive 10 yards beyond a green we know is 303yards or more tee to green, but that was not what I was interested in that at all, even though I've done it. But notice I've currently quoted my driver as only getting 250 - 260 yards

Oh I can muscle the drive 280 yards if I want, but if its at the cost of accuracy what's the point. Which is better 250 yards down the middle swinging within yourself, or 290 yards fifty yards right of the fairway in the trees, or for that matter that piercing draw sent probably 320 yards but left of the fairway onto the oposite bank of the river trent. No point what so ever.

Anyway I'm in great danger of falling into big willy zone myself there

So if I'm swinging my 6 iron in the fitting bay, between 83 & 95 mph what shaft would a club fitter choose...? especially when I'm hitting them sweet as a nut & the dispesion is also quite good.

I only mention this last one as I thought it interesting "andirichie" brought up. And another thankyou needed there.

lol and absolutely agree with you. I can hit a draw and smack it 350yds, trouble is its never where I want it lol.My natural shot is straightish to gentle fade and regularily 250/270 range and at least Im more often on the fairway or rolled into the light rough (doesnt mean I dont duff some of those shots too when I go for a biggy)but rarely in trouble.Its hard for me at my age now to go easy, having tasted a low H/C and been that BIG HITTER in the past, if I had the sense I have now with the skills I had then,I would have been a pro lol.

Yeah we all duff them, at times more often than others. My problem when I get a bit loose & organic with my swing I can really pound it, but with the risk of that long fading shot.

My biggest problem comes when I know I feel the shot is a 3 wood or an iron off the tee for the safe layup in the right zone for my next shot, If I'm playing with a certain mate who is really big headed & he'll reach for the driver at every oppertunity. Thing is he's really short off the tee with his driver & when I hit my driver well & straight as I know I'm more than capable of, I can be between 20 & 50 yards past him, any day of the week, which is just the medicine to shut him up. Problem is, If I take the Driver out on the shots I feel are more high risk with low reward for relitive length, I'll be playing his game. Its something I know how to resist with most people, but when I play Dave I sometimes almost can't help myself, which is why I seem to have perfected that hooded 6iron shot out of & between the dence trees below the branches back out onto the fairway. Thing is a gentle low flying drilling bunt with my 3 wood & I'll still be easily past him & giving myself a chance of taking 3 wood or 5 wood formy second & getting close or even an outsidechance of being on (I'm thinking of a particularly challenging very long parr4 here.

This year, I didn't practice as much as I would have liked or should have early on in the year, so my consistency & dispersion is only now starting to come together with my main clubs. Hence why this year I'm a lot shorter than I'd normally be with my driver I've somehow lost about 20 to 25 yards with driver this year, not that it really matters.

Actually in the first cut or just into the right rough is a very comfortable place for me to take a long second shot. I can get a nice gentle fade with a wood or long iron into a green. Or wedge from left rough is also a comfortable place for a shot into a green too, just as much as taking it from centre of fairway. Hell I seem to be able to get a straight 6iron on the 18th at the Brailsford from the rough after a bit too much fade on a drive & get enough backspin for the ball to check right up. The times I get nervous over a supposedly easy shot & then pull off a beauty from a bad lay when it really matters is really odd.

 

[Cernunnos]

Homer is a classic example of the fact you don't need to a be long hitter to score.

Good rounds Homer.

To be honest, as much as I'm as guilty as anyone of chasing length, do prefer to hit it well & hit it straight. That for me is the holy grail for me, for good scoring.

Its been notted by one poster that temper for him is a problem & I can sympathise with that & on occasion understand, when your rhythm of play is mucked about with by slow players, or those insistent on pushing from behind. As a musician, I like tempo & timing to flow nicely, this translates well to golf, & just as playing with another musician with little understanding of timing can nark, so it can on the course. Get wound up & its a guarenteed disaster for any round.

 

[viscount17]

83-95 with a 6 iron is inbetween stiff and x depending on brands

when I got my irons my swing speed was measured at 88 - I was sold 4.5 rifles and have no complaints. (My iron distances are pretty much as Cernunnos)

when I got the driver six months earlier the swing speed was exactly the same, got a Regular (controlled swing now averages 230, sunday shot 280, let it all hang out - in the trees/lake)

trying out 3-woods last week, swing speed measured at 82-92.

 

[USER1999]

Does anyone know how far 350 yards is, because it is a bl**dy long way. Tiger doesn't hit this far, and he has a great swing, and is built like a tank.

Just because the card says a hole is 315 yards, doesn't mean if you make the green, you have hit it 315. Most of the time the tee markers won't be at this distance, and the hole probably hasn't been measured accurately in the first place (partly to get the yardage up so the course looks longer - no one wants to play a short course (note the same also applies to driving ranges)). The green can also be 3 club lengths long, so if you are on the front, you can taking another 15 yards off.

 

[SimonC]

thankyou "herb"... exactly

<u>Consistency, confidence & dispersion</u> is all that divides good & average players & the whole point of the thread so why should your handicap really matter to a supposed clubfitter I use the term loosly, when all they are are sales people

Hell we've all had those moments where we hit that towering drive 10 yards beyond a green we know is 303yards or more tee to green, but that was not what I was interested in that at all, even though I've done it. But notice I've currently quoted my driver as only getting 250 - 260 yards

Oh I can muscle the drive 280 yards if I want, but if its at the cost of accuracy what's the point. Which is better 250 yards down the middle swinging within yourself, or 290 yards fifty yards right of the fairway in the trees, or for that matter that piercing draw sent probably 320 yards but left of the fairway onto the oposite bank of the river trent. No point what so ever.

Anyway I'm in great danger of falling into big willy zone myself there

So if I'm swinging my 6 iron in the fitting bay, between 83 & 95 mph what shaft would a club fitter choose...? especially when I'm hitting them sweet as a nut & the dispesion is also quite good.

I only mention this last one as I thought it interesting "andirichie" brought up. And another thankyou needed there.

lol and absolutely agree with you. I can hit a draw and smack it 350yds, trouble is its never where I want it lol.My natural shot is straightish to gentle fade and regularily 250/270 range and at least Im more often on the fairway or rolled into the light rough (doesnt mean I dont duff some of those shots too when I go for a biggy)but rarely in trouble.Its hard for me at my age now to go easy, having tasted a low H/C and been that BIG HITTER in the past, if I had the sense I have now with the skills I had then,I would have been a pro lol.

Why is it everyone feels the need to say I can hit it this far when in fact they can't (in normal conditions). It takes a massive amount of clubhead speed to hit the ball 350 yards. 270 up to 350 yards is around 30mph difference in clubhead speed. I have a clubhead speed of 110mph which is not overly quick, my average drive is probably between 260 and 270 yards but there is no way I can hit a 350 yard drive.