The great drive for dough putt for show debate thread.

[Orikoru]

I answered a few pages back but I've just went and checked my handicap history to make sure. I took up the game again in 2016 and my first congu handicap was 15.

I bought them towards then end of the 2019 season and by that time I was an 9.2 index under congu. In those 4 season getting from 15 to 9 I practiced a ton and took a bunch of lessons. I'd be at the range twice a week on top of playing 2 rounds a week (sometimes 3 times per week in the first couple of years). Currently I'm at 4.1 (course handicap 5, same course) so I'm 4 shots better than back then. I haven't had a lesson in that time and as I've already said I don't practice just play 2 rounds per week, a lot of them without any warmup, just get on the tee and see what I've got.

Now I didn't stick to the speed training, I do it sporadically and I've never done gym work with it either. When I first got them I did the first level, so 7 weeks or so and saw a decent jump probably around 8mph clubhead speed and my ball speed when from low 140's to low 150's, so not all of the club speed was transferred to ball speed. Level 2 required swings on your knees and I just couldn't be bothered with trying them in the garden, in the mud in winter/spring and I was happy with the extra distance. Since that first time I normally do then for a couple of weeks in April and find that brings me back to over 100mph driver speed.

This year I'm on week 3 and I'm actually going to continue and I'm doing some other work, mainly just stretching now but plan on getting my fat ass back into a gym at some point as well. I need to get healthier but at the same time I'm also curious to see if I can get faster and if that will bring my handicap down. As it stands in my current condition I think I've hit my ceiling, I don't feel I could get lower than currently unless I make some changes, get fitter and some extra distance so I can reach par 5's in two comfortably.

Love this. I wish I could be bothered to do it myself.

 

[Springveldt]

Love this. I wish I could be bothered to do it myself.

Honestly just the speed training isn't that hard. Maybe takes 15/20 minutes per session, 3 times a week. Just swing them as fast as you can with each rep, swing right out of your shoes. That's all I did.

People always say to do it in the off season as you can lose your swing for a bit but I've found that the "losing" swing part is usually a couple of rounds. It's hard to do off season here in the UK since it gets dark early, it's always wet or cold (I destroy the garden if it's wet with my feet) and you need really high ceilings if you are doing it indoors which most of us don't have. That's why I'm deciding to stick with it this year, just to see come September time if I've actually gained anything or not.

 

[sunshine]

ams are just not consistent enough to be influenced by stats. ( I am not anyway)

Really strange comment. How do you choose which club to hit if you don’t know how far you hit the ball?

 

[Backsticks]

You said it yourself in posts 24, 33 and 230 and I gave up looking any further after that point through boredom.

In your overly simplistic reading. Most golfers dont need to be told that if their longest drive is going to land in a lake, then you play shorter...

 

[Backsticks]

So how much has your h/cap dropped with your increased distance, you must be scratch or there abouts?

What makes you think that ?

 

[Deleted member 31467]

But you're not going to remark on the difference between yourself and DJ?
Humble.

No, why would I?

 

[Deleted member 31467]

In your overly simplistic reading. Most golfers dont need to be told that if their longest drive is going to land in a lake, then you play shorter...

As far as I'm aware, you've only mentioned a lake once in your dozens of posts in this thread.

 

[Bobthesock]

Probably not meant to say this on here but I'm a pretty short hitter for a single figure handicap but just won division 1 in an open by 4 shots. Probably driving it 230-240 all day but no 3 putts and a few good up and downs.
I don't really see what an extra 20 yards off the tee would of done for me, can easily see what a few missed 5 footers would have though

 

[Orikoru]

Probably not meant to say this on here but I'm a pretty short hitter for a single figure handicap but just won division 1 in an open by 4 shots. Probably driving it 230-240 all day but no 3 putts and a few good up and downs.
I don't really see what an extra 20 yards off the tee would of done for me, can easily see what a few missed 5 footers would have though

Well the 5 footers might have been 2 footers if you were approaching the green two clubs shorter.

 

[Backsticks]

Probably not meant to say this on here but I'm a pretty short hitter for a single figure handicap but just won division 1 in an open by 4 shots. Probably driving it 230-240 all day but no 3 putts and a few good up and downs.
I don't really see what an extra 20 yards off the tee would of done for me, can easily see what a few missed 5 footers would have though

Depending on roll condutions, but 230-240 is not short - it is above average, and in single figure handicap country !
And you cannot draw conclusions from a single round.

 

[clubchamp98]

Really strange comment. How do you choose which club to hit if you don’t know how far you hit the ball?

I know exactly how far I hit the ball.
but very rarely hit full out I prefer to work the ball?
I was very low index when younger.
but I would say most ams don’t Know and more importantly don’t really care.

 

[clubchamp98]

Love this. I wish I could be bothered to do it myself.

There lies the answer imo.
most golfers can’t be arsed doing this .
so stats mean nothing to them, but everything to the ones who do.

 

[Neilds]

I know exactly how far I hit the ball.
but very rarely hit full out I prefer to work the ball?
I was very low index when younger.
but I would say most ams don’t Know and more importantly don’t really care.

I think that most amateurs think they know how far they hit the ball but, as with everything in golf, they tend to overestimate how far they actually hit it

 

[Bobthesock]

Depending on roll condutions, but 230-240 is not short - it is above average, and in single figure handicap country !
And you cannot draw conclusions from a single round.

It was rolling a bit tbf but then again was a longer course than my own.

 

[bobmac]

What makes you think that ?

Maybe I assumed that you took your own advice, increased your length and after years, you must be at least Cat I. If you have medical issues that means you can't swing faster then I apologise

 

[sjw]

I'm about a 24 'cap unofficially. I putt as well as I'm going to putt. The way my scores will come down is getting to the green/close to the hole sooner.

 

[Springveldt]

Probably not meant to say this on here but I'm a pretty short hitter for a single figure handicap but just won division 1 in an open by 4 shots. Probably driving it 230-240 all day but no 3 putts and a few good up and downs.
I don't really see what an extra 20 yards off the tee would of done for me, can easily see what a few missed 5 footers would have though

230-240 isn't short for a single figure, especially at this time of year if the ground hasn't dried out and it's still cold unless you are at scratch or there abouts.

It isn't just 20 yards on drives though, you will gain distance on your irons as well. Imagine a 420 yard par 4 and currently you driver 240 and a left with a 4 or 5 iron in for the other 180. Now look at it like you drive 260 but that 160 is now a 7 iron iron. Over the balance of a season, what is going to net you better birdie opportunities, a drive and 5 iron or a drive and 7 iron?

 

[Deleted member 29109]

230-240 isn't short for a single figure, especially at this time of year if the ground hasn't dried out and it's still cold unless you are at scratch or there abouts.

It isn't just 20 yards on drives though, you will gain distance on your irons as well. Imagine a 420 yard par 4 and currently you driver 240 and a left with a 4 or 5 iron in for the other 180. Now look at it like you drive 260 but that 160 is now a 7 iron iron. Over the balance of a season, what is going to net you better birdie opportunities, a drive and 5 iron or a drive and 7 iron?

It’s not even about birdie opportunities. It’s about just making easier pars and fewer doubles. Being closer to the hole helps.

 

[sunshine]

I know exactly how far I hit the ball.

So you do use statistics

 

[Backsticks]

I know exactly how far I hit the ball.

That would be a mean distance with statistical known long/short probability about that then ? Allowing you to judge a hazard carry distance with 2 standard deviations say ?