Do you know your carry distances?

Pretty good idea. Yup.
 
I wanted to say yes but Arccos shows I miss short 42% of the time.:(
 
Remember , most useful is to know average carry distance. The shot that jumps from a flier lie or is helped by wind or down slope terrain will be a well above average carry shot.
The shot to a significantly elevated green will be a well below average carry distance.
I think the player with an average 8-iron carry yardage (flat terrain, no wind) of 140 yards, may carry his wedge 140 if the shot is down hill and, or, down wind. Or he may carry his 6-iron 140 if it is an uphill terrain shot.
 
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I know mine pretty well and check/adjust periodically. Got new irons shortly before wintergeddon so a little fuzzier right now, but working on it.
 
I'm in the middle of a series of lessons and we are going to calculate this data in one of my future sessions, but I'm pretty sure I can get close to what my carry distances are.
 
Prior to last year I was a ball park distance type of golfer. With approach shots I was happy to get somewhere near a green and thrilled to be on. As I worked on my swing and used things like indoor Trackman and GCQuad with my golf ball, I started to develop a better sense of my distances. My GIR and scoring improved as a result.

When I get my new irons I will spend some time getting used them and then go through a formal distance setting session. I will write down my carry distances and bring a little cheat sheet with me as I start playing. I will even take notes on how those distances work or not on a course and in different types of conditions.
 
I know.my full swing carry distances +/- a few yards. I have a place where I periodically check the numbers from time to time.

I keep a chart in my bag for reference when needed. Comes in handy sometimes for up hill, and down hill shots
 
I have a really good idea of how far each club in my bag carries when struck properly, especially irons and wedges. Not from any kind of data tracking but from playing a couple hundred rounds per year. Carry is about all you get a good part of the year in south GA, especially on my course that does not drain well at all.
 
I know my carry within about 5-6 yards. When I hit an iron, I always choose conservatively so I go long a lot.
 
i have an idea what they are on good shots

I think this the right answer for me. Bad shots that don't have proper contact can have much lower ball flights but if the ground is hard the total distance might be the same.
 
I know my carry distance pretty well through from my 7i-54* during the summer when I'm playing quite a bit. During the winter the big fluctuations in temps, how stiff I am, and a how I'm striking it aren't quite as consistent. My carry for my 7i is around 185-190 and I can squeeze a little more out of it. Once I get to the 6i and longer though I'm not near as consistent. I also hit it pretty low with those so my carry can sometimes be the same or less than my 7i but I will get a lot more roll. Once I get to the 200 yards mark though I'm just trying to hit the green or at least be around it.

I know when I'm hitting it good that my number for a solid PW is 153. We had one day that because of tee marker locations and pin locations all 4 par 3's were 153 or 154. With wind adjustments and elevation changes they were all PW, a couple solid, one a little soft, and one I went after hard. Ended up getting 2 closest to the pins around 8-10 ft, just missed one around 15 ft, and my worst was about 20 feet. That was a good day!
 
I always play my carry numbers on irons and approach shots never worry about run out unless pin is down wind. As soon as I swapped to using just that my scores dropped quite a bit.
 
yes, did the yardage testing with Trackman. also lasered my 1/2 3/4 shots for less than 120 yards. I also track my approach shots on course trying to use club for center yardage +5. now I need to learn to factor in wind.
 
Yea, I find that carry distance is more important then total distance. I try to keep up to date on mine.
 
Higher handicap golfers have to take out a lot of "noise" when they do carry distances. IOW, if you do a session on a simulator you have to remove the fat and thin shots from group you hit with each club which can mean you have to hit more balls than a low handicap golfer. You may have to hit 10 balls and pick the best 5 shots rather than take the best 5 out of 6 shots. So I may hit 10 shots with each club and take an average of the 5 best shots for my carry distances. I'm not trying to kill the ball, just making good solid swings for my stock shot.

From perfect conditions, one can make adjustments for wind, slope, etc. And on the courses I play it's better to be a little short than long, unless you end up in the bunker, but the real nasty stuff is behind the greens.
 
Higher handicap golfers have to take out a lot of "noise" when they do carry distances. IOW, if you do a session on a simulator you have to remove the fat and thin shots from group you hit with each club which can mean you have to hit more balls than a low handicap golfer. You may have to hit 10 balls and pick the best 5 shots rather than take the best 5 out of 6 shots. So I may hit 10 shots with each club and take an average of the 5 best shots for my carry distances. I'm not trying to kill the ball, just making good solid swings for my stock shot.

From perfect conditions, one can make adjustments for wind, slope, etc. And on the courses I play it's better to be a little short than long, unless you end up in the bunker, but the real nasty stuff is behind the greens.
For your example a high cap “using a simulator and making 10 swings” why not count all 10 shots to learn the average carry distance?
If a player is using only his better/best shots to figure carry distances his ball will inevitably be short of the green . Remember that when asked the number one fault they see from amateurs, Tour pros reply “they don’t take enough club for the shot at hand” .
 
For your example a high cap “using a simulator and making 10 swings” why not count all 10 shots to learn the average carry distance?
If a player is using only his better/best shots to figure carry distances his ball will inevitably be short of the green . Remember that when asked the number one fault they see from amateurs, Tour pros reply “they don’t take enough club for the shot at hand” .
Not answering for ITR, but in my case I'm not going to deliberately try to chunk one way short so why include those in my my average. By the same token I don't include the nuked pulls that go further either because I'm not trying to do that on the course. She said as much when suggesting high cappers need to eliminate the 'noise' caused by thin mishits too. I want to know what the average carry is of my half way decent normal shots. Those represent what I'm hoping to do on the course.
 
Not answering for ITR, but in my case I'm not going to deliberately try to chunk one way short so why include those in my my average. By the same token I don't include the nuked pulls that go further either because I'm not trying to do that on the course. She said as much when suggesting high cappers need to eliminate the 'noise' caused by thin mishits too. I want to know what the average carry is of my half way decent normal shots. Those represent what I'm hoping to do on the course.

Yes, I understand. But there seems to be a conflict and, or, contradiction between this thread and the recent thread which I think was titled "where is your miss?".
In this thread nearly every participant proclaims that they know their carry yardages. In the other thread the majority of posts read "my miss is usually short of the green"
or "at my course long is no good so I make sure my miss is short of the green".
So, the reason most amateur players consistently miss short of the green is due to not knowing their true, realistic carry distances. For example, if a player strikes ten 7-iron shots:
1) duffed fat carries 110 yards
2) bladed thin carries 150 yards
3) struck reasonably well carries 150 yards
4) struck especially solid, perfect strike carries 160 yards
5) scooped floater carries 125 yards
6) struck pretty good, slight miss carries 140 yards
7) struck reasonably well carries 150 yards
8) toe shot which dives left carries 135 yards
9) slight miss which balloons a bit and carries 138 yards
10) bladed worm burner which carries 125 yards

The player above might think his "stock 7-iron average carry" is 150 yards, and if he clubs himself for that his approach will come up short of the green about 70% of the time.
The player would hit more greens, and shoot lower scores, if he realized his "average 7-iron" carries 140 yards and clubbed himself for that.
 
I think I know the general distance an average shot should go and I don’t think I can get more specific than that.


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I know mine very well, do a lot of gap testing. One reason I don’t like to change clubs very often.
 
I try to go through my own yardage and gap analysis during the season. Usually in May/June because the weather is nice and I've had a bunch of rounds under my belt.
 
By the time I've got a few rounds in me for the year, I've got a pretty good idea of what I can get out of my clubs. Right now though? I'm about at my low point for distance knowledge on the course having not played a round in so long.

But definitely, when I'm in season, I've got my windows I play to.
 
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