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

Sean

Sean

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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?
 
at golf galaxy I was hitting the ball 230 yesterday and I play off a 14.5. But I use to think I hit it 250 on average. I was playing with equipment not yet fitted to me though. I can see where people think they hit it a lot farther than they do. It's hard to believe the 195 with the handicap stat though.
 
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.
 
I know I don't hit it far. At the outing on the LM JB asked me how far I hit one shot and I was pretty accurate with my guess. I usually hit it about 230-240 total yards. Sometimes I get it out near 260 but those are rare
 
Sean said:
Former technical director 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?
Click to expand...

I like Frank and quote him often. Driver distance is at its highest on the internet. Much shorter on the course. The distance thing is just tied to the male ego. We all wish we could hit it further, but few of us do. I would say Frank got it right.
 
I do too. But I don't know you have a 400 yard hole, you only have 92 yards left and it's easy to assume a 300+ yard drive without taking all the factors into consideration. I just need to know what I'm carrying that day and that's what I do.
 
Frank has been saying this since about 2005. And yes, one can do a test and do that. Just as I could do a test/sampling and show that the average male golfer with a handicap between 12-18 hits the ball 230 yards.

There are so many variables to consider, but I can tell you this. We have THP outings. We have demo days. We have driver round up and shoot outs with general public and each and every time we have more than 30 golfers together hitting, the average driver distance is WAY more than 195 yards. There is just no way for someone to measure national averages. Go to a club with older players and you might find slower swing speeds and less distance. Go to a club like ours with training facilities and you will find faster swings and lots more distance. Its about how you want to view the statistics.

However I could go to a few clubs and round up all the players and have it skew any way I want to. Just as I believe Mr. Thomas has done in his findings.
 
I totally agree with the suggestion that people think they hit it farther than they really do. How many times do you see people looking for a ball 20 or 30 yards (or more) past where they eventually find it?

Also, many people go off the distances on the scorecard, sprinkler heads, signs, markers and never consider that they could be wrong. Or on the tee, you may be up at the front of the tee boxes or the pins could be at the front of the green. Or vice versa. Best way to know how far you are hitting is with a GPS last shot feature. A laser would get you closer, but you have to have a traget to aim at exactly where you were or exactly where your ball is.
 
That's kind of my thought as well. Granted, THP outings tend to attract a younger group, but sitting on the LM with you would go directly against 195 yard averages.

JB said:
Frank has been saying this since about 2005. And yes, one can do a test and do that. Just as I could do a test/sampling and show that the average male golfer with a handicap between 12-18 hits the ball 230 yards.

There are so many variables to consider, but I can tell you this. We have THP outings. We have demo days. We have driver round up and shoot outs with general public and each and every time we have more than 30 golfers together hitting, the average driver distance is WAY more than 195 yards. There is just no way for someone to measure national averages. Go to a club with older players and you might find slower swing speeds and less distance. Go to a club like ours with training facilities and you will find faster swings and lots more distance. Its about how you want to view the statistics.

However I could go to a few clubs and round up all the players and have it skew any way I want to. Just as I believe Mr. Thomas has done in his findings.
Click to expand...
 
That seems really short to me I could understand it being something like 220 and the golfer thinking 250.

But better technique would help everyone but some people aren't able to achieve that due to personal health(neck, back)
 
Hawk said:
That's kind of my thought as well. Granted, THP outings tend to attract a younger group, but sitting on the LM with you would go directly against 195 yard averages.
Click to expand...

But that is the whole point. It is all about who you test. You can skew the results any way you want.
Lets also not forget the demographic that keeps official handicaps and those that Mr. Thomas is viewing.
Its nothing more than wanting to have statistics to back something up. I could publish an article tomorrow showing that golfers today are hitting the ball 15 yards further than they were in his test and have full testing and stats to back it up.
He is a very respected man and one that I admired for many years, but stats like this are meaningless.
 
I use my GPS and or range finder to see how far I am hitting it. I do find that unless I can establish forward shaft lean with driver, I cannot compress the ball worth a darn especially at age 58 and the ball goes nowhere. No forward shaft lean = no compression = about 210 for me and I will probably feel like I am coming out of my shoes. If I can get forward shaft lean and therefore compression, then I can get it out there anywhere from 230-250 and sometimes 260 if I really catch it on the screws. The entire difference at my age is whether or not I get forward shaft lean as that in fact is the only way to get the club to work for me.

I know that for me it took a goodly amount of time to realize that without forward shaft lean I had no shot at driving the ball competently. I concentrated on all sorts of other things but at the end of the day it does at least for me boil down to about one thing.
 
I think it's a really good article. We always hear about distance, distance, distance, and not enough on accuracy. It may just come down to an ego thing and that's what drives the R&D to find a way to make the ball travel further. Personally it would save me a good amount of money if I were just to focus on the short game accuracy versus always trying to find something to make the ball travel further. :p
 
I believe it. I had no idea how far I really hit the ball until I got a GPS and started to measure my shots. My friends are full of testosterone. They think they drive the ball 50 yds further until I measure their shots, then they wimper.
 
I don't know about this article. I average 436 yards per drive......:alien:
 
What happens often is that you start by looking at your scorecard. The scorecard gives you the distance to the center of the green. Now, you hit your drive and you see that your x yards from the pin. So logically, you deduct that yardage from the total yardage on the card. First problem is the tees are not always in the same position, so your starting point is usually wrong. Secondly, the cards are not updated and the yardage on them is off. Also, we tend to believe our best tee shots are our average tee shots. So, this is why we think we hit it longer. I'm a 10 handicapper and I've been using my GPS to track the distance of my shots (Callaway uPro has this feature). To my surprise, the drives I think are 260 yards are actually only 240 as the crow flies. So, this "revelation" is no surprise to me. BTW, franklygolf.com is a pretty nice website with a primary focus on putting.
 
jefrazie said:
I don't know about this article. I average 436 yards per drive......:alien:
Click to expand...

same here, except that is my 3W distance uphill into the wind
 
I hit my nine iron 270 so I really don't know :confused2:
 
When I was younger, before GPS, I probably thought I hit it a little farther than I did, but I was always long compared to who I was paired with, even in State Am qualifying events where I played with really fine players. Then age and weight gain really decreased my distance. Then I got a GPS the same time I joined the club I now play at. Last year due to flooding the course was a soft swamp. I hit so many 220-235 yard drives measured with the GPS I was heart sick. Really affected me mentally. I started doubting myself as a player. As things dried out after a wet Spring this year, and I lost some poundage, I started seeing more distance. Then I got the R11 with the right shaft and found some more. But I'm not a huge carry guy, haven't been for years. Stats like those in the article can so easily be skewed by things like roll etc. It's one of the reasons I don't care a whole hell of a lot how far a launch monitor tells me I hit the ball.

I need to hit it what I need to hit it on each specific golf course. Hit it, press that button on the GPS on the tee, then find out some real world numbers. That's when you really know how far you hit it. I played with a guy last week, pretty good player 5ish, He was confounded that I hit the ball farther than him on a few holes where he really thought he ripped one. He couldn't believe it because he thought I hit the ball so low. He should have seen me when I played an FT-i with an Xcon 6. I'd hit the ball 30 feet high at my old course and it would roll out for days. That driver didn't work at my new course.

You want to know how far you hit it? Measure with a GPS in all kinds of conditions.

Kevin
 
I thought I hit the ball much farther then I really do and had no idea up until this past year when I finally got a GPS to measure my shots. Even now I think wow I got ahold of that one get up to the ball and the GPS says 210. It's almost enough to make me want to quit heh.
 
I used to think I hit the ball longer than I actually do. I found this out when I started walking the course and walking yardages to help pass the time in between shots. I used to think that I hit the ball close to 290, when it is actually 260-270. 195 seems to be a little low to me. I could believe 230ish
 
Yep. In the late fall and early spring when it was wet/cold I had some major ego destruction going on.

Esox said:
When I was younger, before GPS, I probably thought I hit it a little farther than I did, but I was always long compared to who I was paired with, even in State Am qualifying events where I played with really fine players. Then age and weight gain really decreased my distance. Then I got a GPS the same time I joined the club I now play at. Last year due to flooding the course was a soft swamp. I hit so many 220-235 yard drives measured with the GPS I was heart sick. Really affected me mentally. I started doubting myself as a player. As things dried out after a wet Spring this year, and I lost some poundage, I started seeing more distance. Then I got the R11 with the right shaft and found some more. But I'm not a huge carry guy, haven't been for years. Stats like those in the article can so easily be skewed by things like roll etc. It's one of the reasons I don't care a whole hell of a lot how far a launch monitor tells me I hit the ball.

I need to hit it what I need to hit it on each specific golf course. Hit it, press that button on the GPS on the tee, then find out some real world numbers. That's when you really know how far you hit it. I played with a guy last week, pretty good player 5ish, He was confounded that I hit the ball farther than him on a few holes where he really thought he ripped one. He couldn't believe it because he thought I hit the ball so low. He should have seen me when I played an FT-i with an Xcon 6. I'd hit the ball 30 feet high at my old course and it would roll out for days. That driver didn't work at my new course.

You want to know how far you hit it? Measure with a GPS in all kinds of conditions.

Kevin
Click to expand...
 
I believe in the skewed data theory postulated by JB. I know many many golfers who hit their drivers much farther than 195 yards and not many of them are better than a 13. I don't think there could really be any way of quantifying this thing without testing every golfer with a valid handicap.
 
SethO said:
I believe in the skewed data theory postulated by JB. I know many many golfers who hit their drivers much farther than 195 yards and not many of them are better than a 13. I don't think there could really be any way of quantifying this thing without testing every golfer with a valid handicap.
Click to expand...

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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