Only 50 yards more with driver than 7 iron!

[Dilly75]

My son had his kids lesson session tonight at a local top tracer range so off I went with my bag. I only managed to get my drives up to 171 yards. 5 shots with a 9deg Ping G10 and two were 171. About 20 shots with my Srixon 10.5 deg and only one shot at 171. So a bit odd with the higher loft for beginners theory.

I know that drive length is poor but what's odd is I was hitting the 7 iron 120 yards max.

So I'm only gaining 50 yards with a driver over a 7 iron!

Maybe I should just carry a 7 and a putter.

 

[Slab]

Not quite sure why you'd expect anything different. There's only about 20 degrees of loft difference between the two clubs. I'd confidently suggest that as your 7 iron distance improves so will your relative driver distance

(I'm no expert but i believe the higher driver loft for beginners advice is primarily to aid forgiveness on off center hits, not to add a bunch of distance... and 10.5 isn't actually high anyway)


edit to add:
I just checked some average distance stats and a 7iron will usually go about 2/3rds (66%) the distance of a driver
Your 171/120 stat puts your 7iron at 70% of driver distance, basically nothing if you were on a range, say 8 yards on driver and it’d be a 66% difference. You can find 8 yards just with a sweeter strike or marginal improvement in technique

 

[chrisd]

The few times I've used top tracer I've found it to be pretty useless on measuring distance. On each occasion it gave distances way short of my Shotscope averages

 

[Backsticks]

At the clubspeeds you have there, a few degrees difference in any club will have no meaningful influence on distance.
Range and your showscope data might be on different ground conditions, and so roll out ? Shotscope might also be discarding the bad shots, and so giving you a flattering average. It has something like Average, and P-Average. Which are you comparing to shotscope ?
The 70% guide slab mentions is usually surprising accurate (for carry distance. Total depends again on ground conditions).

 

[Voyager EMH]

Fifty years ago, I was playing with Dunlop Blue Flash junior size clubs.
I think my distances were something like.

2-wood - 165
4-wood - 150
3-iron - 135
5-iron - 125
7-iron - 115
9-iron - 105

So yes - 50 yard gain from 7-iron to the 2-wood or driver seems quite appropriate.

 

[Orikoru]

That isn't that odd in terms of gapping. I'm sure lots of people hit 7 iron 150 and driver 200, so still a 50 yard gap. You see that a lot with people who have an over-the-top cutty kind of swing, because with driver it produces a big fade that loses distance.

The few times I've used top tracer I've found it to be pretty useless on measuring distance. On each occasion it gave distances way short of my Shotscope averages

I was at a TopTracer range last night. The range is only around 150 yards long to the back fence though. In practise/range mode, the top tracer was still measuring it as it hit the fence, so I had some that were 153 carry, 151 total distance as it came back off the fence. Then I changed it to 'long drive' game mode, and this mode it estimates the total distance it would have gone without the fence being there, by extrapolating from the ball flight I guess. Slightly more use but still guesswork! Couldn't really take that as gospel.

 

[jim8flog]

I know when I first started playing on a local course one par 3 hole was 4w off the tee for me 2 years later it was a 6/7 iron.

As an older player my 7 iron is only about 125-130 and my my driver is very often only 180-200.
At my best 7 iron was 180 and driver 280 but there is a lot of years between those distances.

 

[chrisd]

That isn't that odd in terms of gapping. I'm sure lots of people hit 7 iron 150 and driver 200, so still a 50 yard gap. You see that a lot with people who have an over-the-top cutty kind of swing, because with driver it produces a big fade that loses distance.


I was at a TopTracer range last night. The range is only around 150 yards long to the back fence though. In practise/range mode, the top tracer was still measuring it as it hit the fence, so I had some that were 153 carry, 151 total distance as it came back off the fence. Then I changed it to 'long drive' game mode, and this mode it estimates the total distance it would have gone without the fence being there, by extrapolating from the ball flight I guess. Slightly more use but still guesswork! Couldn't really take that as gospel.

Shotscope gives me an average 163 yards with a 7 iron and 2 of the three places I tried Top Tracer had me averaging around 125 yards, then suddenly I got one up shot to 141 yards at Celtic Manor. Even this Wednesday in a medal on my home course I had 168 to the pin on our 3rd, not even a breeze, only elevation is at the green and I was about 6inches from being on. My pitching wedge does 125yards!

 

[Tommygun16]

Your gaps look fine to me. I used to hit 7 about 120 and driver only 160 ish. That's slightly better now, but having done a lot of practice and research I've come to the conclusion that we're physically limited. Sounds obvious but no one says it, especially in the days of Youtube golf promotion. I might have a thread coming on this soon.

 

[allygaitken84]

I'm having the same issue with my 7 iron and my 3 wood. Just back from toptracer driving range at the Gailes Ayrshire and my 7 iron average with 20 balls is 215 yds , yet my 3 wood average with 20 balls was only 246 yds, my driver was averaging out at 297 yds though - maybe I just can't hit a 3 wood!

 

[Tommygun16]

I'm having the same issue with my 7 iron and my 3 wood. Just back from toptracer driving range at the Gailes Ayrshire and my 7 iron average with 20 balls is 215 yds , yet my 3 wood average with 20 balls was only 246 yds, my driver was averaging out at 297 yds though - maybe I just can't hit a 3 wood!

#humblebrag

 

[Orikoru]

Someone needs to have a word with the Gailes about their TopTracer calibration I think.

 

[SocketRocket]

I'm having the same issue with my 7 iron and my 3 wood. Just back from toptracer driving range at the Gailes Ayrshire and my 7 iron average with 20 balls is 215 yds , yet my 3 wood average with 20 balls was only 246 yds, my driver was averaging out at 297 yds though - maybe I just can't hit a 3 wood!

Is it April?

 

[Brownie22297]

I’m opposite. I hit my driver 260-280 with roll. Swing speed is 105. But my irons are very short. 7 iron is 140 yards for example

 

[garyinderry]

I’m opposite. I hit my driver 260-280 with roll. Swing speed is 105. But my irons are very short. 7 iron is 140 yards for example

What irons are you using? Something is very amiss there.

 

[Crow]

I’m opposite. I hit my driver 260-280 with roll. Swing speed is 105. But my irons are very short. 7 iron is 140 yards for example

Sounds fine to me.

A good poke with a 7 iron is about 135 carry for me, that's a vintage 7 iron with 40° loft.
if I used a modern driver I'd expect a good hit to give me 260 to 280 with roll.

What loft is your 7 iron?

 

[Brownie22297]

What irons are you using? Something is very amiss there.

Call way x24 hot irons. With stiff shafts.I know they are old.But when I swinging well they are very accurate. but short distance wise

 

[Brownie22297]

Sounds fine to me.

A good poke with a 7 iron is about 135 carry for me, that's a vintage 7 iron with 40° loft.
if I used a modern driver I'd expect a good hit to give me 260 to 280 with roll.

What loft is your 7 iron?

The call way x hot irons.Not sure what the loft on them are.But they are accurate for me

 

[garyinderry]

Sounds fine to me.

A good poke with a 7 iron is about 135 carry for me, that's a vintage 7 iron with 40° loft.
if I used a modern driver I'd expect a good hit to give me 260 to 280 with roll.

What loft is your 7 iron?

His 7 iron is 31 degrees. That's strong.

 

[Orikoru]

His 7 iron is 31 degrees. That's strong.

It's not anymore.