We Don't Hit it as Far as We Think?

[JB]

He hits a low to mid trajectory shot with 10-15 yards of draw on it. I've never played on Bermuda, only Bent and Poa so I have no idea what it is like to play on. It's grainy right?

Think soft grass with a grab like affect like a sponge.

 

[bumpnrun]

Think soft grass with a grab like affect like a sponge.

Sounds like it is nice to hit off of. You can keep the weather though. It is 62 and sunny here and that is pretty much as hot as it gets.

 

[Thechosen1]

You're better off with the morning. The thunderstorms usually roll in between 3 and 4ish and the heat won't be as bad (but still stupid hot).

Go to weather.com and look at the 10 day for Orlando. It looks the same as Tallahassee and Tamp and Jax and the rest of the state for the most part.

Stupid hot, chance of storms mostly in the afternoon. A 4 year old could be a weatherman here in the summer.

Oh trust me we've been down there before and it's almost like clockwork.(I already did check the weather down there and nothing but the same stuff haha) Sadly my pops is making me pick the places to play but I want his input and every time I mention it he seems annoyed so it bothers me. I meant to say late morning to afternoon(11am-1pm) cause of the rates and that they go down compared to the morning. Thanks for the reminder though!

 

[Thechosen1]

JB I can't remember if in the summer is the rough just as bad in the winter. Like from what I remember in the winter the bermuda the ball sits down in the rough(correct?) and in the summer I don't remember what it's like down there or does it play the same as in the winter.

 

[JB]

JB I can't remember if in the summer is the rough just as bad in the winter. Like from what I remember in the winter the bermuda the ball sits down in the rough(correct?) and in the summer I don't remember what it's like down there or does it play the same as in the winter.

Summer is off season in FL for many areas. The rough will not be as bad for most.

 

[CharlieMoy]

Sounds like it is nice to hit off of. You can keep the weather though. It is 62 and sunny here and that is pretty much as hot as it gets.

It's awesome to hit off of when JB is next to you on the range and he's down wind. Divot sandwich anyone?

 

[JB]

It's awesome to hit off of when JB is next to you on the range and he's down wind. Divot sandwich anyone?

Got to hit turf to take a divot young man. Topping balls does not leave to many beaver pelts.

 

[JWLI]

I am and have always been a long hitter. Not "crazy long" and I don't claim to carry 9-irons out to 175 yards or some other extravagant number, but I can hit a ball considerably longer than many of the people I've played with over the years. I'm sure that there have been many times when I've told someone how far I can hit such and such a club that their eyes roll up and they think that I'm exaggerating, but I know what the truth is and that's all that matters to me.

I think it's true that many people exaggerate their driving distances, but I don't think that anyone could know enough about enough players to say definitively that they've come up with certified averages for "Most Men" or anyone else for that matter.

Over twenty years ago and to this day, I have tracked my yardages as best I can because I need to know what I can or can't do with any given club so that I can give myself the best opportunity to score well. "Back in the day", I used to hit balls at a very large schoolyard and I would march off yardages all the time so that I always knew how far I was carrying whatever club(s) I was practicing. I have very specific yardages for all of my clubs and I rely on that information when I'm out on the course. So while "tall tales" about extreme yardages may make for great storytelling, the real yardage is what I depend on and as such I'm very realistic about mine.

Like anyone else, if hit some ridiculously long tee shot I get a kick out of bragging about how far it went, but I don't let myself get caught up in any "Oooh or Aaah" stuff because I always remind myself that even though I may really blast one crazy far now and then with no help from the wind or the elevation or what have you, I know that most of the extraordinarily long drives were possible because certain conditions existed that allowed that extremely long shot and if there were I'm always quick to point that out.

Like I said, if someone wants to tell stories to amaze his or her friends that's fine, but if they themselves believe a story they know isn't true, then they're only lying to themselves and that can only hurt their game. As has been said many times, only the score gets written on the card, not the clubs used to achieve it.

So just use the club you know will get the job done and leave the storytelling for the 19th Hole.

 

[Postman]

195?must be 6 year olds,hell I played a 580 yard par 5 and reached in regulation using a lob wedge off the tee and then 2 sand wedge shots.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I came away from this ignoring the numbers (195) but do agree that people think they hit farther than they really do for the most part. His numbers may be off, but the premise of the article is correct, imo.

I agree. I also agree with JB that one can skew the numbers any direction they want by selecting the right group to evaluate, but a huge number of golfers world wide exaggerate their driving distances. TV golf has made 300 yard drives seem like the norm, but many of know it is not. As I always say, I'll take accuracy every time of length. Give me a life of 250 yard drives in the middle of the fairway and I would take it over a few more yards with less accuracy anytime.

 

[jefrazie]

195?must be 6 year olds,hell I played a 580 yard par 5 and reached in regulation using a lob wedge off the tee and then 2 sand wedge shots.

It took you 3 shots? Takes me 1 with the SW then putt from 75 yards.

 

[Chunkylover77]

I always wonder how they quanitify that type of stuff, but I will say that people do think they hit it further than they think. I, on the other hand, am well aware of how short I hit it.

+1. Years ago I would have told you that I could hit the ball 300. I mean I would play a 400 yard dogleg left hole, cut the corner, and only have 100 in. That's 300 right lol? Now I look down at my Skycaddie and I see 220. I miss the old ignorant days

 

[DonW]

That's a 3/4 8 iron for me.... wuss

The funny thing was it must bounced 14 times or more before it went into a full roll then disappeared over the crown of the road. Went to find it and my cousin kept telling me we were not far enough, could not believe the distance it traveled on that concrete. The bummer of the whole thing was there were 15 or so balls in that ditch and mine was one of the shortest, so as usual I am still a short hitter by the locals standards. :disapointed:

 

[Smallville]

The bummer of the whole thing was there were 15 or so balls in that ditch and mine was one of the shortest, so as usual I am still a short hitter by the locals standards. :disapointed:

That's funny.

 

[masterkaj]

Former technical director, Frank Thomas, of the USGA recently had an article published in the UK's The Telegraph. In it, he says one of the following: "The average male golfer, playing off a 13 handicap, hits the ball approximately 195 yards with his driver – but he thinks he hits the ball 230 to 240 yards..."

The article is a .pdf, and can be found here: http://www.franklygolf.com/ and clicking on the link: "Technology is Losing its Magic, Better Try Technique"

What do you think?

I always check my driver distance with GPS, so I know I drive the ball 280-310.

 

[bama]

Are they taking into account in those 195 yd averages, the 2x per round that a 13 hdcp'er either tops one 100 yards, pulls it 45° right into an adjoining fairway or catches that tree that promptly drops his ball at the 89 yard mark???
Drop 300 yards off normal drives from some aspect listed above and you go from 195 to 215....

 

[burmbuster]

It sounds like lots of guys on here are using GPS to measure. I have a Garmin Approach G5 and use it to measure. I just added weight to the head of my supertri and found that it does indeed cost distance-today before being stormed out avg was 261 with the D, about 5 yards difference in average. That's total carry and roll but I don't get much roll anyway because ball flight is so high.

The Garmin allows you to store the running average of all your clubs if you wish.

Hmmmm. Now thats interesting. I may have to look into one. Any usage fees?

 

[hartattack52]

Hmmmm. Now thats interesting. I may have to look into one. Any usage fees?

I use my golf buddy world to measure my drives. They have a mark feature. You can set a mark at the tee box and then it will give you the distance to your ball. The golf buddy doesn't have any fees.

 

[TwoSolitudes]

I donno, I work on my game, practice a few times a week and play every month- and I struggle to average over 200 on a drive. My SS is around 90 so mathematically 220+ should be realistic but most of the time it eludes me. I hit 260 once a few years ago but if I had to give a real average it would probably be 180-190. I am working with my fourth pro trying to get the distance up.

I play with different groups all the time- they don't all outhit me and those that do don't usually outhit me by over 50 yards. And I don't think I have played with anyone who could hit the ball over 300 yards straight on the course. If you averaged in those that don't put any effort into the game at all I bet 160-180 drives would not be unusual. So as an overall average 195 sounds quite realistic.

 

[Fourputt]

Former technical director, Frank Thomas, of the USGA recently had an article published in the UK's The Telegraph. In it, he says one of the following: "The average male golfer, playing off a 13 handicap, hits the ball approximately 195 yards with his driver – but he thinks he hits the ball 230 to 240 yards..."

The article is a .pdf, and can be found here: http://www.franklygolf.com/ and clicking on the link: "Technology is Losing its Magic, Better Try Technique"

What do you think?

Frank Thomas says a lot of off the wall stuff. Most of it is purely his own opinion, but he uses his former position with the USGA to legitimize those opinions. The one stated in this first post is hogwash. Even at sea level most 13 cappers can hit the ball over 200 yards. Start going up in elevation and his statement becomes even more bogus. Here in Denver, I'd say that even a high percentage of 25 handicappers hit the ball more than 200 yards. I agree with his statement that most golfers don't hit the ball as far as they think they do, but the average distance is still higher than his contention. The only way I see that his 195 belief can be correct is if 13 handicappers around the rest of the world are a lot shorter than the ones I'm familiar with.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I use my golf buddy world to measure my drives. They have a mark feature. You can set a mark at the tee box and then it will give you the distance to your ball. The golf buddy doesn't have any fees.

+2. I have the Golf Buddy World. No fees and a very good GPS. Great to mark things like drives and such.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Frank Thomas says a lot of off the wall stuff. Most of it is purely his own opinion, but he uses his former position with the USGA to legitimize those opinions. The one stated in this first post is hogwash. Even at sea level most 13 cappers can hit the ball over 200 yards. Start going up in elevation and his statement becomes even more bogus. Here in Denver, I'd say that even a high percentage of 25 handicappers hit the ball more than 200 yards. I agree with his statement that most golfers don't hit the ball as far as they think they do, but the average distance is still higher than his contention. The only way I see that his 195 belief can be correct is if 13 handicappers around the rest of the world are a lot shorter than the ones I'm familiar with.

Not totally disagreeing, but I've played a long time and I play three times a week with a skins group that numbers anywhere for 25 to 40 people, and I have only ever known a handful of guys that hit drives day in, day out more than 260/270 yards. Even our best young players are in the 270/290 range, but they are few and far between. I just don't see it very often even with todays drivers and I for sure never seen it fifteen or twenty years ago (300 yd drives). There are no doubt guys out there that can do it, and I would guess in pretty good numbers, but I have just not ever seen it on a large scale.

I still lean towards the side where a huge number of guys do not hit it as far as they think they do. Our wet springs around here expose everyone and I played a lot of golf the past two springs with the big groups of different guys, I remember a lot of drives in the 225/240 range most of the time. I would guess that there are larger numbers of guys hitting it 225 than there are 280.

 

[Lefty78]

Hmmmm. Now thats interesting. I may have to look into one. Any usage fees?

No annual fees or anything. Thousands of courses are in your Garmin, just turn it on and if you are near a course it will appear as an option to play. They are constantly adding new courses to the data base you just have to download the entire DB occasionally. I travel a lot and play a lot of courses, it is handy when the course is in there but I have found several courses not in the DB so check their website I think there is a list of courses.

Yardages are generally accurate but not infallible. A feature I use a lot is the layup distances. touch a point on the display of the hole and get distance to that point an from that point to the green.

It is good for me because I have a laser to fall back on.

 

[Fourputt]

Not totally disagreeing, but I've played a long time and I play three times a week with a skins group that numbers anywhere for 25 to 40 people, and I have only ever known a handful of guys that hit drives day in, day out more than 260/270 yards. Even our best young players are in the 270/290 range, but they are few and far between. I just don't see it very often even with todays drivers and I for sure never seen it fifteen or twenty years ago (300 yd drives). There are no doubt guys out there that can do it, and I would guess in pretty good numbers, but I have just not ever seen it on a large scale.

I still lean towards the side where a huge number of guys do not hit it as far as they think they do. Our wet springs around here expose everyone and I played a lot of golf the past two springs with the big groups of different guys, I remember a lot of drives in the 225/240 range most of the time. I would guess that there are larger numbers of guys hitting it 225 than there are 280.

I certainly never said anything about 280 yard drives. I simply said that the 195 statement was just wrong. There is something very wrong with Thomas's data. I would totally agree that 225 is quite reasonable. It's only on the internet that a high percentage of golfers average over 280 yards. Real life never seems to intrude when posting on a golf web site.

 

[Smallville]

I certainly never said anything about 280 yard drives. I simply said that the 195 statement was just wrong. There is something very wrong with Thomas's data. I would totally agree that 225 is quite reasonable. It's only on the internet that a high percentage of golfers average over 280 yards. Real life never seems to intrude when posting on a golf web site.

And those that do average that usually aren't the ones talking about it. I don't think I had a clue how far biggsy hit it until I saw him on the range, he rarely talks about it.