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

bumpnrun said:
So much depends on conditions. On the 6th hole at my home club I hit the ball 220 from an elevated tee and feel like I hit a solid shot. On the 9th a solid drive will go 270. Hitting balls at the range I will get out there 250-270 but tell me you are going to measure my drive for ananysis and I will hit 220 at the most.

One also needs to rember that a huge percentage of golfers are older. I play with plenty of older guys who never hit the ball over 200 and just tear you up with their short game. So while I bet the average 30-40 year old is 230-250 off the tee, the average golfer (including the hoardes of 60 and 70 year olds) is around 200.

Also knowing your yardage with the driver isn't that important so we can mentally fudge it a bit. I bet most 13 handicaps are pretty realistic about how far they hit their 7i though.
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One more variable is location. What I mean by that is we hear all the time about someone saying they drive the ball 280. Then you talk further and they carry the ball 245 with 35 yards of roll. Depending in where you play, that could happen. In FL, with the flat terrain and bermuda grass, most are not seeing anywhere near that kind of roll if they are getting any whatsoever.

While I still feel as though that number is completely off base, one should really talk in terms of carry distance when discussing their distances.
 
JB said:
One more variable is location. What I mean by that is we hear all the time about someone saying they drive the ball 280. Then you talk further and they carry the ball 245 with 35 yards of roll. Depending in where you play, that could happen. In FL, with the flat terrain and bermuda grass, most are not seeing anywhere near that kind of roll if they are getting any whatsoever.

While I still feel as though that number is completely off base, one should really talk in terms of carry distance when discussing their distances.
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The ball needs to have some heat on it to roll 35 yards on flat Bermuda!! Even when I play the Biltmore on bent grass I don't get near that! Must be nice to have some downhill drives and get some roll!
 
Maybe it has something to do with everyone going by launch monitors and the like?
 
JB said:
One more variable is location. What I mean by that is we hear all the time about someone saying they drive the ball 280. Then you talk further and they carry the ball 245 with 35 yards of roll. Depending in where you play, that could happen. In FL, with the flat terrain and bermuda grass, most are not seeing anywhere near that kind of roll if they are getting any whatsoever.
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My buddy just got back from Doral and PGA National (? Where they play the Honda) and all he talked about was how far the ball went compared to here Coastal Northern Ca. He went on and on about how much roll he got.
 
As one of the older guys I can say I only play regularly with one guy who averages less than 220 on his drives, he is also the only one who averages less than 200 on his drives, but he doesn't keep a handicap and if I were to guess I would put him around 25 as he rarely scores below 95. I have only played with him when he broke 90 once in the 10 years I have been playing with him. The point of all of this is that he is the exception not the rule.
 
bumpnrun said:
My buddy just got back from Doral and PGA National (? Where they play the Honda) and all he talked about was how far the ball went compared to here Coastal Northern Ca. He went on and on about how much roll he got.
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As a person that has played both of those courses (including PGA National for THP outings) as well as hundreds of rounds in N. CA, I can tell you that your buddy must have some crazy secret that I would love to get a hold of. Flat land + bermuda grass = no roll.
 
JB said:
As a person that has played both of those courses (including PGA National for THP outings) as well as hundreds of rounds in N. CA, I can tell you that your buddy must have some crazy secret that I would love to get a hold of. Flat land + bermuda grass = no roll.
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Agreed. Sticky sticky! But my drives did carry farther in FLA. More than im used to at least.
 
burmbuster said:
Maybe it has something to do with everyone going by launch monitors and the like?
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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.
 
Thainer said:
Agreed. Sticky sticky! But my drives did carry farther in FLA. More than im used to at least.
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Yeah, you can get some decent carry depending on how the weather is that day. But roll? I wish. The land and grass type just wont allow it.
 
Sean said:
"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..."What do you think?
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I believe it. I don't consider a 13 hdcp average though. I've hit plenty of drives that sounded, felt, and flew great and been slightly disappointed when finding them right around this same yardage. There is a big difference between my driving range distance and my actual playing distance though.
 
JB said:
As a person that has played both of those courses (including PGA National for THP outings) as well as hundreds of rounds in N. CA, I can tell you that your buddy must have some crazy secret that I would love to get a hold of. Flat land + bermuda grass = no roll.
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He's a big hitting teaching pro in his 20's who was back there to finnish his certification. Where we are at in the Redwoods it is always cool (<65 degrees year around) and damp. The fairways are soft enough here to bounce your ball backwards. He said the Fairways at Doral were the fastest he played out there.
 
So what does it mean when a launch monitor shows me carrying ~270 and roll to 290? Does this still hole true to his theory?

This is actually realistic.
 
bumpnrun said:
He's a big hitting teaching pro in his 20's who was back there to finnish his certification. Where we are at in the Redwoods it is always cool (<65 degrees year around) and damp. The fairways are soft enough here to bounce your ball backwards. He said the Fairways at Doral were the fastest he played out there.
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Im not doubting him at all. Just that I have played Doral probably 20 times and PGA National has been the host to the THP Outings the last 2 years and I have never seen even the biggest hitters like Biggsy, Thainer and Belbin get much more than a few yards of roll off the tee. And those guys are all crazy long. The ball just does not roll out in FL. I would LOVE and I mean LOVE to know his secret.
 
JB said:
Im not doubting him at all. Just that I have played Doral probably 20 times and PGA National has been the host to the THP Outings the last 2 years and I have never seen even the biggest hitters like Biggsy, Thainer and Belbin get much more than a few yards of roll off the tee. And those guys are all crazy long. The ball just does not roll out in FL. I would LOVE and I mean LOVE to know his secret.
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Whoa whoa whoa, did you just include me in the big hitters group? I think I'm going to blush. But he's right. I got 25 yards of roll when I hit it low-thin and it only carried like 75 yards. That's about it.
 
JB said:
Im not doubting him at all. Just that I have played Doral probably 20 times and PGA National has been the host to the THP Outings the last 2 years and I have never seen even the biggest hitters like Biggsy, Thainer and Belbin get much more than a few yards of roll off the tee. And those guys are all crazy long. The ball just does not roll out in FL. I would LOVE and I mean LOVE to know his secret.
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Is it possible by playing in the morning before the humidity picks up that you could get more distance? Maybe the same roll but distance off the tee?
 
Thainer said:
Whoa whoa whoa, did you just include me in the big hitters group? I think I'm going to blush.
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Your pasty white, a hint of sun makes it look like you are blushing...:alien:
And watching a smooth swing put a ball out there 300 yards routinely is kind of long.
 
Thechosen1 said:
Is it possible by playing in the morning before the humidity picks up that you could get more distance? Maybe the same roll but distance off the tee?
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Haha...That is adorable...Morning before humidity picks up. Man I wish. :act-up:
 
JB said:
Haha...That is adorable...Morning before humidity picks up. Man I wish. :act-up:
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Dang. :alien: Looks like we'll be sticking to playing in the late afternoon then when we're down there
 
"betcha I can hit the ball over that mountain"(spoof from Napoleon Dynomite)
 
JB said:
Im not doubting him at all. Just that I have played Doral probably 20 times and PGA National has been the host to the THP Outings the last 2 years and I have never seen even the biggest hitters like Biggsy, Thainer and Belbin get much more than a few yards of roll off the tee. And those guys are all crazy long. The ball just does not roll out in FL. I would LOVE and I mean LOVE to know his secret.
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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?
 
Smallville said:
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.
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Exactly what I was thinking. I've noticed the same thing over the years, but only because I used to do the same thing. I don't think that most people are trying to be deceptive though, more like they go by their longest drives without knowing, or taking into account, all the funny things that can happen downrange like catching the forward side of a hump, etc.
 
Thainer said:
Hahahha just saw this, super funny considering how my post was edited as you posted this!!!
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I didn't realize you edited until now haha
 
Thechosen1 said:
Dang. :alien: Looks like we'll be sticking to playing in the late afternoon then when we're down there
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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.
 
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