Am I the only one who hits my drives less than 250 yds here?

[ddstanford]

Love playing up there! Tera and I want to get back up for a weekend soon. Have they got that par 3 in town re-worked yet?

just opened it this week and it looks to be in great shape. better than the 18 hole course right now as it is still growing in and the greens are healing after core aeration

 

[JonMA1]

If only 1 or 2 out of every 10 of our drives were in play on the course, we wouldn't stand much chance of having a decent handicap.

You've just described my game. Lol (ok, not quite that bad)

My youngest son sort of fits this. He is around 6' 5" tall and he can totally CRUSH a driver. Swings that sucker like a baseball bat. I like it when he makes a good drive as you can hear the ball whistle while it is moving through the air. I think his SS at times is around 1tweens when he was last clocked at the fitters. Not sure he can still do that though as he has gotten a little older now.

Funny, the person described in my post is my oldest. He's not a big guy, but he was a decent HS baseball player. As a pitcher had good velocity, and offensively very good bat speed. Some people are just able to rotate faster than others I guess. Sadly, he didn't get those genes from his old man.

When he hits his irons, the ball makes that whistle sound you've described. I've played with long hitters but cannot remember hearing that with anyone else. Both on the course and in a simulator he was consistently hitting his 4i 225 yds. But it was funny to see him try to stop a chip on severe downhill green. He'd get so pissed off..."that's impossible!" Hahaha.

Anyway, with the equipment that's out and so many folks doing strength training, it isn't hard for me to believe there are men and women out there who can hit much longer than me.

 

[Hamfist]

I know what you mean what tees do you play? I'm thinking of moving up to the senior tees... I'm going to be 50 this year so... not a senior but my game plays like it distance wise.

On a calendar I'm 56, most days I feel 1000, play the regular men's tees, and occasionally will burst into uncontrollable weeping after a tee shot... Ok, I don't weep. I will curse.

 

[greenOak]

I agree.

A little off-topic, but it's a pet peeve of mine when folks automatically call BS on claims of a certain distance as an average. While there are certainly a high percentage of golfers on the internet who either knowingly or unknowingly exaggerate, there are also a lot of folks who really do average well over 250 yards. These same folks will bring HC into the equation as though outliers don't exist. I know of one individual who averages well over 250 and doesn't have that great of a game. He's just very athletic and doesn't play often enough to get better.

Yeah this. Just because you dont know any long hitting amateurs doesn’t mean they don’t exist. As others have said plenty of athletic people who grew up playing rotational sports can really crush the ball. It’s also interesting how only driving distance gets called into question even though people tend to overrate every aspect of their game. I’ve seen plenty of similarly extravagant claims from mid-handicappers claiming to hit the green half the time from 150 or making 80% of their 5-foot putts. Somehow these never get called into question. People talk about others ego, but it seems more like an insecurity about not hitting it far.

 

[ntanygd760]

The longer you hit it the longer it can go offline....

I like missing by tons so I can just go back over the trees with no issue.

 

[radeon962]

Best drives from my last 2 trips to Carl’s Golfland Trackman Range before COVID shut them down.

Most likely inflated values but the system is good for doing comparisons between clubs as it is relative. Typical carry on the golf course I play for is 245-250 yards.

Just got an email that they are opening the range, fittings and lessons back up so hopefully we will be able to get back in the store to actually shop as well.

 

[MonroeBob1955]

My drives seem to average about 200. With hard fairways, I can rollout 220-230 sometimes but not often.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Smiter]

I think you are on to something. Where do you think they miss it most in driver loft, or simply shafts to heavy and stiff that hit like boards, or would say it is equal? I have been looking into shafts myself for my driver, but I am already light at 50grams and basically senior flex. My loft is 10.5. I am fairly happy with my drives, yet I feel something is still lacking. I am wonder if I am torquing the shaft some, but probably is . My SS is up and down, but tends to hang around low to mid 90s. Sometimes I clip close to 100, yet on the course, I fully believe it is around 90-95.

Ooh, ooh, can I play internet swing doctor too? Lol.

Without seeing your swing I would say the weight of your shaft is fine, maybe? You may want to play something closer to regular flex though. If you are clipping 100 regularly, you probably need more shaft. If it’s closer to 90 on average R flex could be about right. You probably could maybe optimize your flight with more loft and more shaft or maybe you could probably utilize less shaft and less loft?

I hope you realize what I’m doing here. There are too many variables in swings to make it cookie cutter. If you are generally happy with your drives, you might want to stop right there. If you want to optimize launch conditions you need to see a good club fitter.

I hit 3-5* up on the ball (long drive background even if the CHS no longer screams it) and even though my CHS now puts me on the border of S versus X flex, I still need a very stout and heavy shaft to optimize my flight. And I still crank that sucker down to the lowest loft possible when it comes out of the box.

As another example of an odd swing, my son (our schools first ever all conference Freshman golfer, not that I’m proud of that ), very good golfer. Got him on Trackman and found out he is swinging 8-9* up on the ball (must have watched me too much when I was more limber) but his hands are in front of the clubhead at impact so even at 10.5* loft he hits it a world lower than I do. It produces an amazing low draw almost every time that rolls forever even when soaked. So do you fix that or just let it go? His optimizes results on Trackman show he’s giving up a little on carry and GAINING a little total distance versus their optimizes results. I swing 5-8 mph faster than him still and when it’s wet he puts it past me, sometimes significantly so. (I begrudgingly admit, as when it’s wet my moonballs total is their carry and that low tight draw of his will run for days.

He plays the correct ball for him in the Bridgestone XS so he doesn’t have trouble holding greens. So should I have someone mess with his swing or should I just have him go with what works? I’m leaning towards the latter. I’m afraid that if he changes it, he won’t be as good and if your ball gets significant rollout when mine hops back a step from the tee, and you play an appropriate ball that holds greens just fine, I’d hate to screw up a good thing. I don’t know how you can hit up 8-9* on a ball from the tee with your hand ahead delofting the club? I have to work hard to get to 3-5* up without using a 6” tee.

Bottom line, if you’re happy with your tee game, just go with it. There are so many variables and any of them could screw you up. If you truly feel you are missing something, find the best clubfitter you can and have them fit the club to you. You and I aren’t going to play on the tour so unless we’re willing to retool our swing, you might as well go with what you’ve got and get equipment that fits it as well as possible.

 

[Smiter]

I've heard that a lot of the Long Drive competitors don't have much of a game other than being able to hit the ball a long ways. It's great that they can smash a drive 400+ yards, but there are still a few shots needed after that to get the ball in the cup. They also don't care much about accuracy - as long as they can get 1 or 2 of their 10 balls in the grid, they could be in the running. If only 1 or 2 out of every 10 of our drives were in play on the course, we wouldn't stand much chance of having a decent handicap.

I was a + when I competed in long drive, just as an FYI.

I’ve never taken a lesson. As a young teen I rode my bike down to the driving range and with a borrowed wooden driver I’d hit a bucket of 100 with all drivers. My goal was to put every ball into the woods behind the 300 marker. Maybe 10 made it there but I also was always the cleanup hitter in baseball and I wasn’t even interested in golf. I just loved the feel of a crushed shot. Baseball. Golfball. Didn’t really matter. At 15 I hit a baseball a later measured 466 feet (to the base of the school, and I put out a window on the second floor).

I went all out at everything. So my first love was swinging with everything I had (and anyone that saw my swing pre-accident knows that is exactly what I did).

It got to the point that the driving range owner told me that if I collected my balls out of the woods and a couple other buckets worth, I could hit as much as I wanted. So I went there almost daily for several summers. No goal other than hitting them into the woods. Swinging out of my shoes, etc etc.

That was my swing until 09/17/2019. I had an unfortunate 55-0mph crash in the blink of an eye and almost died. I haven’t had much time to work on a new, older, saner swing, but early results are promising. I posted my best score since summer of 2018 2-3 weeks ago. I’ve shortened my swing. I’ve also lost a great deal of CHS which last year it didn’t matter as I could not for the life of me find the center of the clubface. This was pre-accident but lost knowing I was fighting for my life with a bad diagnosis. And medication. Ugh. I hate the medication but if it keeps me alive, I’ll deal.

I came down with a rare illness fall of 2018 and my HC skyrocketed. I was a 5.2 going in, I don’t even have an official one but it’s estimated at 9-11, but I played like a 20+ from fall of 2018 until this year. This year I’m playing about like an 8-10. It ain’t the long ball that’s driving it either. It’s been muddy so zero roll. I’ve lost 1.5-2 irons in. But I “think” I have a repeatable swing worked out. I’ve been happy as I’ve had rounds in the mid 70’s again. Last year I was happy with 90.

Getting old sucks. I’m starting to see that. Illness, medication, and accident has all attributed to that. But I’m hitting it further on average swinging 15 MPH less than I did last year. The last round I played, I play an F8+ Cobra Driver with a CNC face, at least part of the ball hit the center 1” circle every drive. If you wipe it down every drive, you can see every impact. I’ve found with that driver it’s forgiving enough if half the ball hits it then the drive will be a success. At least distance wise. Last year I was skymarking, hitting behind the ball, you name it I did it. I hit a drive 8 yards at a THP competition. Damn near whiffed. As embarrassing as a whiff, maybe more so as you might save a whiff with a “i was only joking guys....” (I’d never do that, just as an FYI). It wasn’t even the first tee. Freaking humiliating.

Which maybe what I needed. I used to just bomb and gouge the short area courses into submission. I can’t do that now. I have to be close to the center or it gets ugly real quick.

 

[Smiter]

You've just described my game. Lol (ok, not quite that bad)



Funny, the person described in my post is my oldest. He's not a big guy, but he was a decent HS baseball player. As a pitcher had good velocity, and offensively very good bat speed. Some people are just able to rotate faster than others I guess. Sadly, he didn't get those genes from his old man.

When he hits his irons, the ball makes that whistle sound you've described. I've played with long hitters but cannot remember hearing that with anyone else. Both on the course and in a simulator he was consistently hitting his 4i 225 yds. But it was funny to see him try to stop a chip on severe downhill green. He'd get so pissed off..."that's impossible!" Hahaha.

Anyway, with the equipment that's out and so many folks doing strength training, it isn't hard for me to believe there are men and women out there who can hit much longer than me.

Pre accident my normal 4i I carried 225 (on clean hits). I have an Epic 4i that I’ve planted a couple times on a 260 yard par 4. Throw on the normal downhill downwind qualifiers. But on trackman I could carry it 240-245. That thing is a damn howitzer. I will not mention my 3i shot into a certain hole way back when and I could go north of 140CHS with driver.

Now, my normal 4i I’m getting a much more sedate 200 carry. Generally with my irons my carry is my total. I’m still happy with that as I’m 10x as consistent so far this year. I don’t have to worry about breaking a hip every swing, etc etc. lol.

Ok, I’ve said enough here. But there are some folks here that break golf balls. I’m no longer one of them. But I’m old, sick, and broken.

 

[Necroshine]

Right now I average 200 yds with a 3/4 swing and my collection of found golf balls I'm using up from the fall/winter. I'm now down to the really bad ones so I'm sure I'm loosing a few yards due to dirt and wear. Going to schedule a lesson or two because I have to get this fixed 3/4 swing straightened out along with some other issues. I'd be happy to average 225-230 off the tee.

 

[Smiter]

I like missing by tons so I can just go back over the trees with no issue.

I knew we were related. My last eagle was on a dead straight 350 yard hole. Drove the green? Oh hell no. That was hole 7 and I just randomly selected a club that I thought would go 150 or so from 8’s FW into the hurricane and took a hack at it. I stopped watching when it looked to be staying on the cup. Put my club back into my bag and looked back up. Ball was gone.

Cool part to that story is I’ve now lifetime eagled every hole on the front save the two 3’s. Still only have one HIO and it’s neither of those holes. I’ve driven that green a couple times (one of the hardest greens on the course) and never came close to sinking the eagle putt.

Now only two HIO’s separate me from a nine of lifetime eagle golf. Fat chance there, lol.

 

[YukonLiving]

Just checked my stats for all tracked shots.

Last 2 years, average 254 yds. Longest was 309.

Last 3 days have been a little shorter with temps hovering around 50*. Average 246 yards. Longest was 283 yards.

A little warmer weather, and the average today went up. 5 shots, average 257, longest 283.

 

[Smiter]

Ah hell, why not.....

Caught this one a little on the toe.... kidding kidding. It was after extensive working out with overspeed training as with any one off shot there were a lot of qualifiers. First and foremost my probably true average was 270 at that time. This accounted for any mishits or less than favorable conditions. Still long accounting for that. This is the second longest drive I’ve ever recorded and I have 3 witnesses to it.

At the time my CHS thanks to the overspeed training was in the low 130’s. Not bad for an old(ish) guy. Still shy of the 142-144 I could touch back when I competed long drive.

So the qualifiers. The tree line on the right that ends shy of the bunker, there’s a ridge there bisecting the FW. So it did require a carry of 300. 15 MPH wind at my back helped that. I also dead nutted one. The feeling you get once in a while where the middle dimple coincides with the middle of the clubface. Just perfect contact. I hit a towering draw. Those tend to run on unwatered FW’s.

So that hole generally sucks. The pin was on the front so I hit Driver GW on it. 15ft, 2 putt birdie for an anticlimactic end.

Second longest drive I’ve ever hit, long drive inclusive. Do I average that? Hell no. Do I average 300? Hell no. Last year in only about 8 rounds I probably averaged 200. Year prior 250. Fact is I’m just not a good enough striker of the ball to average much more.

This year with a toned down swing I’m probably averaging 230. Good strokes, 260. Getting no roll yet so once I do if I continue to find the center of the face, it might go to to 275 average. I’ll be very happy with that but true average last year was probably 220 with the occasional very deep one going much further. Prior to that on occasion, almost scary long. But if we want to talk averages im pretty sure my carry average of 230 or so this year will hold up. On well struck balls it’s 260 or so.

(Yes there is the back teebox back there, it’s like 18 at Augusta. You’ve gotta worry about limbs and crap too).

 

[OldandStiff]

I hit a few under 250 today. Curiously, I was using the same type of ball for the 2 I thought I hit better....

 

[HarlettoScara]

Things like Arccos are absolutely fantastic for getting accurate club distances but absolutely crushing for the ego So many people I've played with who say that they average "about 250 or so" and occasionally poke one around the 300 mark, but when you see them hit it's maybe 220 or so. I don't think it's anything deliberately inflating, more that they just don't know. I always thought I was a fairly long hitter until I started using the Garmin tracker last year which has my average drive at 269 (which is very much incorrect!) and my one round with Arccos shows average drive at 230 with a few out at 250-260 ish. It will take a lot more rounds to get a better average, but of course this is the internet, so anything under 320 carry is purely amateur hour!

 

[BigMac]

...but of course this is the internet, so anything under 320 carry is purely amateur hour!

It's not unlike fitness forums, where everybody has a minimum two plate bench and four plate deadlift!

 

[Luchnia]

It's not unlike fitness forums, where everybody has a minimum two plate bench and four plate deadlift!

Yep, on the forums you can be whatever you want, no matter how untrue it is.

 

[M2Giles]

It's not unlike fitness forums, where everybody has a minimum two plate bench and four plate deadlift!

2 5's on each side counts....

 

[Scorp]

I was a + when I competed in long drive, just as an FYI.

I’ve never taken a lesson. As a young teen I rode my bike down to the driving range and with a borrowed wooden driver I’d hit a bucket of 100 with all drivers. My goal was to put every ball into the woods behind the 300 marker. Maybe 10 made it there but I also was always the cleanup hitter in baseball and I wasn’t even interested in golf. I just loved the feel of a crushed shot. Baseball. Golfball. Didn’t really matter. At 15 I hit a baseball a later measured 466 feet (to the base of the school, and I put out a window on the second floor).

I went all out at everything. So my first love was swinging with everything I had (and anyone that saw my swing pre-accident knows that is exactly what I did).

It got to the point that the driving range owner told me that if I collected my balls out of the woods and a couple other buckets worth, I could hit as much as I wanted. So I went there almost daily for several summers. No goal other than hitting them into the woods. Swinging out of my shoes, etc etc.

That was my swing until 09/17/2019. I had an unfortunate 55-0mph crash in the blink of an eye and almost died. I haven’t had much time to work on a new, older, saner swing, but early results are promising. I posted my best score since summer of 2018 2-3 weeks ago. I’ve shortened my swing. I’ve also lost a great deal of CHS which last year it didn’t matter as I could not for the life of me find the center of the clubface. This was pre-accident but lost knowing I was fighting for my life with a bad diagnosis. And medication. Ugh. I hate the medication but if it keeps me alive, I’ll deal.

I came down with a rare illness fall of 2018 and my HC skyrocketed. I was a 5.2 going in, I don’t even have an official one but it’s estimated at 9-11, but I played like a 20+ from fall of 2018 until this year. This year I’m playing about like an 8-10. It ain’t the long ball that’s driving it either. It’s been muddy so zero roll. I’ve lost 1.5-2 irons in. But I “think” I have a repeatable swing worked out. I’ve been happy as I’ve had rounds in the mid 70’s again. Last year I was happy with 90.

Getting old sucks. I’m starting to see that. Illness, medication, and accident has all attributed to that. But I’m hitting it further on average swinging 15 MPH less than I did last year. The last round I played, I play an F8+ Cobra Driver with a CNC face, at least part of the ball hit the center 1” circle every drive. If you wipe it down every drive, you can see every impact. I’ve found with that driver it’s forgiving enough if half the ball hits it then the drive will be a success. At least distance wise. Last year I was skymarking, hitting behind the ball, you name it I did it. I hit a drive 8 yards at a THP competition. Damn near whiffed. As embarrassing as a whiff, maybe more so as you might save a whiff with a “i was only joking guys....” (I’d never do that, just as an FYI). It wasn’t even the first tee. Freaking humiliating.

Which maybe what I needed. I used to just bomb and gouge the short area courses into submission. I can’t do that now. I have to be close to the center or it gets ugly real quick.

Dude, you're a hero. Not taking anything away from first responders or health care professionals and the jobs they do, but coming back from an accident like what you describe? I can't imagine... and I hope you're able to continue to recover.

And I wouldn't mess with your sons' swing at all. If it works, leave it. But I'm an amateur and not qualified to do anything like give golf advice.

 

[Scorp]

On a calendar I'm 56, most days I feel 1000, play the regular men's tees, and occasionally will burst into uncontrollable weeping after a tee shot... Ok, I don't weep. I will curse.

I can empathize... I'm gonna be 50 in November. Just the other day I slept wrong or something... there's something not right in my back... it's getting better but I'm using it as an excuse right now to justify why I'm not on the golf course.

 

[Tevenor]

Ah hell, why not.....View attachment 8944059

Caught this one a little on the toe.... kidding kidding. It was after extensive working out with overspeed training as with any one off shot there were a lot of qualifiers. First and foremost my probably true average was 270 at that time. This accounted for any mishits or less than favorable conditions. Still long accounting for that. This is the second longest drive I’ve ever recorded and I have 3 witnesses to it.

At the time my CHS thanks to the overspeed training was in the low 130’s. Not bad for an old(ish) guy. Still shy of the 142-144 I could touch back when I competed long drive.

So the qualifiers. The tree line on the right that ends shy of the bunker, there’s a ridge there bisecting the FW. So it did require a carry of 300. 15 MPH wind at my back helped that. I also dead nutted one. The feeling you get once in a while where the middle dimple coincides with the middle of the clubface. Just perfect contact. I hit a towering draw. Those tend to run on unwatered FW’s.

So that hole generally sucks. The pin was on the front so I hit Driver GW on it. 15ft, 2 putt birdie for an anticlimactic end.

Second longest drive I’ve ever hit, long drive inclusive. Do I average that? Hell no. Do I average 300? Hell no. Last year in only about 8 rounds I probably averaged 200. Year prior 250. Fact is I’m just not a good enough striker of the ball to average much more.

This year with a toned down swing I’m probably averaging 230. Good strokes, 260. Getting no roll yet so once I do if I continue to find the center of the face, it might go to to 275 average. I’ll be very happy with that but true average last year was probably 220 with the occasional very deep one going much further. Prior to that on occasion, almost scary long. But if we want to talk averages im pretty sure my carry average of 230 or so this year will hold up. On well struck balls it’s 260 or so.

(Yes there is the back teebox back there, it’s like 18 at Augusta. You’ve gotta worry about limbs and crap too).

Absolute crushed!

 

[Tevenor]

I've got rounds setup between now and Sunday. I have Arrcos but haven't used it yet so I think I'll try it out on both rounds to get some real data to qualify what my average really is outdoors vs my perceived average. The weather is finally going to be in the 60s and 70s with sunshine which I am hoping dries out the fairways a bit. That way I can avoid shots like this. Yes, that ball did hit and bounce backward. No, that is not an average drive. I wish....

 

[Hamfist]

I like missing by tons so I can just go back over the trees with no issue.

I have seen this phenomenon many times. I will attest to it's truth.

 

[Tenputt]

I can empathize... I'm gonna be 50 in November. Just the other day I slept wrong or something... there's something not right in my back... it's getting better but I'm using it as an excuse right now to justify why I'm not on the golf course.

Don’t want to hear it. I am almost exactly 10 years ahead of you.