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

[Qwkz51]

300 is the minimum drive here on THP

I don't think it's a much of a problem on here as other boards I've read 95mph driver swing sites and 290yd drives

I definitely think people over extrapolate their average. I don't think it's malicious, some of it is lack of knowledge or too much pride when their swing isn't as effective it used to be. I've hit some healthy drives, I've also hit some arthritic, plague infested, fairway dribblers. Like headcovers or hoodies on the course, someone else's game is irrelevant unless I'm playing against them for money and I don't play for money because I'm awful.

 

[paperclip]

I can be inconsistent with my distances, but Game Golf says my typical distance with a driver is 240. That is with data over almost 2 years.

 

[BigMac]

I thought everyone CARRIED 250yds here...no?

Yep, I do consistently...125 yards up and 125 yards to the left or right!

 

[chile]

Yep, I do consistently...125 yards up and 125 yards to the left or right!

Welp. The math works

 

[annsguy]

I am lucky to go 250 in two. But I sure do love it.

 

[greenOak]

Welp. The math works

My math OCD is acting up

 

[OldandStiff]

I lost a yard on my average for the year after posting in this thread.

Can't be a coincidence.

What's the internet version of osmosis?

 

[Tennis19]

my ball flight is low/medium. avg carry is 190-200. total distance is around 220-230.

 

[Luchnia]

So last night I averaged some of my drives from a recent practice session on the launch monitor and I averaged 210. I did not include any of my drives that went over 260 which gives me a more realistic average. If I include the few longer drives I would make it to 225 because I hit 7 that were over 260 and 3 over 270. I did include the occasional scarfed drive of 185 and so forth on the lower side.

I think this is fairly accurate assessment of my average distances. I would even go as far as to state it is probably 200 most of the time on the course as I am pretty solid in my practice area, but I know I am hitting a bit longer on the course because my irons I am pulling out of my bag for my second shots are much shorter irons than earlier in the year. The 5 and 6 iron has seen a lot less usage in the last month.

If I want to improve this I need to bulk up this 65 year old worthless cracked up body and skinny aching arms, not to mention put some work in on more center ball striking with my driver. Someone needs to invent "insta golf swing for seniors."

 

[Hamfist]

So last night I averaged some of my drives from a recent practice session on the launch monitor and I averaged 210. I did not include any of my drives that went over 260 which gives me a more realistic average. If I include the few longer drives I would make it to 225 because I hit 7 that were over 260 and 3 over 270. I did include the occasional scarfed drive of 185 and so forth on the lower side.

I think this is fairly accurate assessment of my average distances. I would even go as far as to state it is probably 200 most of the time on the course as I am pretty solid in my practice area, but I know I am hitting a bit longer on the course because my irons I am pulling out of my bag for my second shots are much shorter irons than earlier in the year. The 5 and 6 iron has seen a lot less usage in the last month.

If I want to improve this I need to bulk up this 65 year old worthless cracked up body and skinny aching arms, not to mention put some work in on more center ball striking with my driver. Someone needs to invent "insta golf swing for seniors."

I hear snorting those bath salts will give you super human strength. They'll also make you into a psychotic subhuman, but, hey, you'll hit the ball hard. (And possibly eat your playing partner.)

 

[tucsonsean]

I couldn't get through all ten pages here. I've never played with anyone who averages 270-290 off the tee--and that's in over 30 years! When I go to PGA events with GPS in hand, the pros are AVERAGING about 255-265 in the air (plus the generous 30-40 yards of roll the multi-cut pro fairways give them). Then there was that recent massive study of 60,000 golfers world-wide that found the average poke to be around 190-205. Any of those guys who boast a regular 295 off the tee must have really terrible short games--or why aren't they playing professionally? I've had it with these threads. (BTW, at 72, I 'power' it a solid 190 off the tee and choose my tees accordingly.)

 

[OldandStiff]

It seems like THP as a whole would probably be way above the average, not in terms of length (but probably that, too), but in not overestimating length. I feel like casual golfers are the ones with big misconceptions about how far they and others hit it. I mean, look how many people here use gps tracking. Really takes out any guessing. That has to put us way ahead of the curve on something like this.

 

[Hamfist]

I couldn't get through all ten pages here. I've never played with anyone who averages 270-290 off the tee--and that's in over 30 years! When I go to PGA events with GPS in hand, the pros are AVERAGING about 255-265 in the air (plus the generous 30-40 yards of roll the multi-cut pro fairways give them). Then there was that recent massive study of 60,000 golfers world-wide that found the average poke to be around 190-205. Any of those guys who boast a regular 295 off the tee must have really terrible short games--or why aren't they playing professionally? I've had it with these threads. (BTW, at 72, I 'power' it a solid 190 off the tee and choose my tees accordingly.)

You question my claim of 170-190 (with a nice bounce)?? I'm totally besmirched.

 

[toad65]

Not wanting to call anyone out, but it seems like most posts I read are talking about their drives being 260-290+ yards. Is everyone here a pro or are yardages being exaggerated? I don't have yardage envy, just know mine will never reach that distance and neither will anyone I play with regularly. What's your secret

If I were to average my drives, I'd be right at 250-ish, with a liberal definition of "-ish" being anywhere from 10-40 yards...

 

[JonMA1]

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.

Good point. I've been called out on which part of my game cost the most strokes. While I'll readily admit to a sucky driving average, a few seasons back I was hitting a higher percentage of GIR than most people at my level hit.

As a 25 in 2017, I hit 33% of GIR for the entire season. I didn't realize that was anything special until a 10 on that forum said he only hit 25% (he must have had a great short game). I was then called out for saying my short game and putting cost me more strokes than my full swing - which if you're hitting 33% of your greens and struggling to break 95, there's an indication something else is woefully poor.

People read Broadie's book Every Shot Counts and then wanted to apply those stats to everyone. I'm not a statistician, but I at least understand the concept of outliers in a population. Unfortunately, my GIR has dropped over the last couple years and I am now closer to average for golfers at my level.

It seems like THP as a whole would probably be way above the average, not in terms of length (but probably that, too), but in not overestimating length.

That's what I'm seeing as well. There seems to be mostly reasonable responses - the kind of distances I usually see when playing with others.

 

[oumagic]

You are definitely not the only one who hits under 250. While my Arccos smart distance is above 250, there are plenty of drives under 250. If you just look at my drives today, I had 6 over 250 and 5 at or under.
View attachment 8943707

Full disclosure. Not all days with the driver are created equal. Above is my round from Saturday and below is yesterday

 

[SHIFTY]

I couldn't get through all ten pages here. I've never played with anyone who averages 270-290 off the tee--and that's in over 30 years! When I go to PGA events with GPS in hand, the pros are AVERAGING about 255-265 in the air (plus the generous 30-40 yards of roll the multi-cut pro fairways give them). Then there was that recent massive study of 60,000 golfers world-wide that found the average poke to be around 190-205. Any of those guys who boast a regular 295 off the tee must have really terrible short games--or why aren't they playing professionally? I've had it with these threads. (BTW, at 72, I 'power' it a solid 190 off the tee and choose my tees accordingly.)

Hey at 72 thats pretty good! Hope I can still hit it that far by then.

In my sim league I hit around 155-165 ball speed, which if I could hit up on it would be pretty good. I know I'm losing like 30 yards total due to my launch angle.

That been said, I've played with a guy who avg 325 on the sim tour. He was getting like 180-190 ball speed on his drives, I remember a few 345's in the game. But he wasn't always in the fairway, or close to the fairway. When it was straight he had a short wedge to the green, but he had a lot of recovery shots too.

 

[JaxHax]

I've already responded to the thread with my modest average and occasional longer outliers, but I wanted to chime in on the notion of long hitters being common vs uncommon.

There are definitely plenty of weekend golfers out there averaging well above 250. I personally know 3 guys that I'll play with occasionally who average 270 or longer. I played a few days ago with a buddy who outdrove my drives with his 3 wood 6 or 7 times and hits 300 with driver regularly. Now, he is an avid golfer who caddied in his youth and has worked on his game - but he's not a world-class athlete or anything.

So - in my experience - while there are plenty of us that get excited about a 250+ drive - there are also plenty of folks that average above that. Certainly some folks inflate numbers in posts here and elsewhere when they feel a bit insecure of their real numbers - but I truly think there's no shortage of long hitters out there.

For me - my current distances and handicap simply mean that I elect to play white tees fairly often - unless they add up to sub-6000yds. I'm good with that.

 

[AverageJoe]

You are not. Today I hit mine 249.

 

[Luchnia]

It really depends on how many you hit and how far they are hit before you can determine an average. For example, if you drive the ball 14 times and hit 2 drives at 270, 7 drives at 240, and 5 drives at 250 you have only averaged a tad over 247 yards. That is really good, but quite a ways from the average golfer.

The other evening I hit 3 drives over 274 and 7 around 260, but the problem was I hit a bunch of drives that only were around 200-225. I was happy with it, but it really pulled the average for the evening way down. I wound up with 210 for my average yardage for the day.

 

[tucsoncacti]

Not wanting to call anyone out, but it seems like most posts I read are talking about their drives being 260-290+ yards. Is everyone here a pro or are yardages being exaggerated? I don't have yardage envy, just know mine will never reach that distance and neither will anyone I play with regularly. What's your secret

Oh I thought I was the only one. 220ish for me

 

[Luchnia]

Oh I thought I was the only one. 220ish for me

From what I have seen on my league and watching others play in my area, 220 is a very good average. I am about 10 yards under that and I think all I need to do is settle down a bit and I will at 220-230 area. I have my days where I am cracking the suckers out there nicely around 225 to 250, but then I have my days where they are not so nice and hovering around 200.

 

[tucsoncacti]

I thought I was short. When I talk about distance it’s far from bragging, FAR from it. I’m open about it because I’m ok with it. Again I thought I was short..
Secondly, I’m really confused, I’m from Nebraska and we have a little higher elevation where I’m at for Nebraska. Now I might not be from Colorado but I live fairly close and I know Colorado, my point is doesn’t the ball fly further there due to elevation? You know like coors field the baseballs just fly out of that park regularly...

My brother in law hits some super private club near year every year for a round/weekend of golf. Hes told me about it before but I forgot. Also he grew up in Ogilala area, and is now in Lincoln.

 

[OldandStiff]

My brother in law hits some super private club near year every year for a round/weekend of golf. Hes told me about it before but I forgot. Also he grew up in Ogilala area, and is now in Lincoln.

Sandhills? ?!?!

I feel like the chances are high that's what you're talking about, and if you are your brother-in-law is one lucky S.O.B. It's in the top 10 for almost all the best courses in America lists. And there's no real sentiment behind those votes, because no events take place there. So that would probably drive it even higher, imo. Never in a lifetime experience for most, once in for most of the rest.

 

[tucsoncacti]

Sandhills? ?!?!

I feel like the chances are high that's what you're talking about, and if you are your brother-in-law is one lucky S.O.B. It's in the top 10 for almost all the best courses in America lists. And there's no real sentiment behind those votes, because no events take place there. So that would probably drive it even higher, imo. Never in a lifetime experience for most, once in for most of the rest.

Yes Sandhills, there are cabins up there? He said it was in the middle of no where. Any ways he knows somebody that knows somebody (hes a government employee, works in crime lab does ballistics) so hes able to play it on a yearly basis. I will have to ask him about this again. He also made the news a few years ago as he and a buddy played 72 holes in a day. https://www.1011now.com/content/sports/Local-golfing-duo-completes-72-hole-challenge-429764723.html