Improving My Distances

[MC_Hammered]

TLDR version: I believe I have a solid and balanced swing throughout, but in my mid 20s, only hitting a SW 80 yards, 7 iron 150 yards, 5 iron 180 yards and driver 260 yards.

I don't really understand why my distances are poor? I'm sure this is the million dollar question posted on these forums, and likely asked in similar context before, but forgive me, I am new here.

To give a deeper understanding as to where my frustration stems from:
1. I have a pretty solid tempo and make sure not to over extend my backswing.
2. I generally make solid contact with the center of the club face.
3. I always make sure to line up shoulders square, legs slightly wider than my shoulders, back straight, ball is lined up with my left eye, arms resting with the shaft pointed toward my crotch, very minor shaft leaning left to where the butt is just over the ball, and club face just behind the ball
4. My angle of attack seems pretty down on the ball and divots are at the start of where the ball lies, to out in front of the ball.
5. Swing seems pure with left arm straight and right arm bent at 90 degrees as I draw back, breathing in on backswing, breathing out as I swing through the ball, balanced in terms of steepness per club used, and shifting my weight to where my front leg is straight at the point of contact.


Potential factors as to why I might not have the distances I am seeking:
1. The trajectory of my ball is quite straight for woods, slight draw on long irons, slight fade on short irons, and may be a bit high with high to fair back spin.
2. I use Titleist CB 712 "cavity" forged irons, but maybe don't have the swing speed for them. I like to have the feel of the ball as it contacts the club face and have a strong enough consistency hitting it's smaller sweet spots. I also don't sweep at the ball with an angle of attack for divots and making divots with larger iron heads can be a bit painful if the course is a bit dry.


Is it really just that I have clubs that don't match my swing speed and causing too much punishment, or is the trajectory of the ball too high for the distances I seek? I wish I had current stats with a trackman or something to tell exact launch angles, clubhead and ball speeds, but I don't think I am far from exceeding average with 80-90+ with irons and 100+ with driver club head speed.

 

[jlaakso]

Your 7I loft is 35*. My 10yo TM Tour Burner 7I is 33*, most modern 7is are club longer I.e ~30* or below. That means the number in the club head dies not mean anything. So your 6I or even 5I has the same loft as 7I.

I suspect that you hit them fine, the lofts just are not as cranked up as others.

 

[DataDude]

Those distances are fine. I have to imagine you are longer than 90% of all golfers. You are probably more likely to mess your game up by chasing distance than you are to get substantially more distance. The only thing that may help is to go get custom fit. If you want more distance from your 7 iron instead of your 35* club than get a set with a different lofted 7 iron?. They come as low as 29* these days.

 

[MC_Hammered]

Your 7I loft is 35*. My 10yo TM Tour Burner 7I is 33*, most modern 7is are club longer I.e ~30* or below. That means the number in the club head dies not mean anything. So your 6I or even 5I has the same loft as 7I.

I suspect that you hit them fine, the lofts just are not as cranked up as others.

Well that kind of sucks for understanding my distance control. I use a 4 wedge bag and have a 714 AP2 4iron with a 3 hybrid to suffice as an in between 3 iron and 5wood.

Still only 260-275 drives and 80 yards on my 56 sandwedge seems low.

 

[MC_Hammered]

Those distances are fine. I have to imagine you are longer than 90% of all golfers. You are probably more likely to mess your game up by chasing distance than you are to get substantially more distance. The only thing that may help is to go get custom fit. If you want more distance from your 7 iron instead of your 35* club than get a set with a different lofted 7 iron?. They come as low as 29* these days.

After playing with my dad's 1990s pings forever, I went to a local shop and they had the 712CB set for $400 missing only a 4 iron, so I couldn't refuse. Sucks they're that lofted, especially since I use a 4 wedge bag. Again though 260-275 yard drives and a 80 yard 56/8 SW seems lower than it should be. I'm not chasing swing speed, but it just seems off considering how low my distances are.

 

[tahoebum]

What is your overall level of fitness and handicap? Your distances are not short by any means, longer than most male golfers. Most all of us can learn to become more efficient and increase our swing speed. Learning better footwork and delaying the release of the club are common areas for improvement but the best way is to seek professional help. golf is hard and it usually takes lessons and lots of time to improve scores and/or clubhead speed. And as many of us know, those are not guaranteed even if we work hard at it.

Most of the guys that I know that are in that upper 15% of golfers for distance had it from the first year or two after they started playing. You can certainly improve your distance, sometimes dramatically, but often the bombers are born not made.

 

[links_slayer]

I don't see anything wrong with those distances. What do you think they should be?

 

[jlaakso]

I could kill for hitting 250yd drives even once

At the end of the day, it does not matter how long you hit your 7 iron. What matters is that you have a club that you can hit 150yd when you need that distance. It's all about knowing your distances, not hitting 200yd with 7 iron.

 

[baylrballa]

Still only 260-275 drives and 80 yards on my 56 sandwedge seems low.

seems normal if not somewhat above average.

 

[campilobaxter]

Well that kind of sucks for understanding my distance control. I use a 4 wedge bag and have a 714 AP2 4iron with a 3 hybrid to suffice as an in between 3 iron and 5wood.

Still only 260-275 drives and 80 yards on my 56 sandwedge seems low.

The SW at 80 might be a little low (what degree is it? 56*?), but the 260-275 driver is definitely not low. Those are some long drives. For example, I tend to hit my SW (56*) about 85, my 7i about 155, and my driver about 230.

 

[Flipit]

Pretty much my numbers are as you mentioned. Once in a rare while I’ll hammer one 20 yards longer. Guess that means I have room for improvement in my ball striking.

 

[jlaakso]

And usually there is something wrong if you need to hit wedges with full swing I wouldn't worry about those distances. Golf is not a ego sport, or shouldn't be. one can break the first barriers (B100) with hitting no more than 150-180yd with their most confident club. I have played my best rounds with 4h (~170-180yd on a good day) as my longest club. Not sure what is your skill level and handicap (i.e how experienced you are), but it's far more important to keep the ball in play than stretching max distance 20-30 yards.

 

[jlaakso]

What is your overall level of fitness and handicap? Your distances are not short by any means, longer than most male golfers. Most all of us can learn to become more efficient and increase our swing speed. Learning better footwork and delaying the release of the club are common areas for improvement but the best way is to seek professional help. golf is hard and it usually takes lessons and lots of time to improve scores and/or clubhead speed. And as many of us know, those are not guaranteed even if we work hard at it.

Most of the guys that I know that are in that upper 15% of golfers for distance had it from the first year or two after they started playing. You can certainly improve your distance, sometimes dramatically, but often the bombers are born not made.

This. I have noticed 10-15 yd increase in my iron distances when I have learned to relax, swing easy and my body works in unison instead all parts indepently while hands are rushing to hit

 

[MC_Hammered]

What is your overall level of fitness and handicap? Your distances are not short by any means, longer than most male golfers. Most all of us can learn to become more efficient and increase our swing speed. Learning better footwork and delaying the release of the club are common areas for improvement but the best way is to seek professional help. golf is hard and it usually takes lessons and lots of time to improve scores and/or clubhead speed. And as many of us know, those are not guaranteed even if we work hard at it.

Most of the guys that I know that are in that upper 15% of golfers for distance had it from the first year or two after they started playing. You can certainly improve your distance, sometimes dramatically, but often the bombers are born not made.

I'd say around a 5-10 handicap, but distance can be troublesome taking a 5 iron in on a par 4. I could be in better shape, but not awful. "Relationship weight" at best lol

 

[Turtlerancher]

Well that kind of sucks for understanding my distance control. I use a 4 wedge bag and have a 714 AP2 4iron with a 3 hybrid to suffice as an in between 3 iron and 5wood.

Still only 260-275 drives and 80 yards on my 56 sandwedge seems low.

The big thing is, how's your dispersion at these distances? If your distances are consistent, and your accurate, why mess with trying for a few more yards at the chance of a bigger miss?
I know, I spoke blasphemy!
BUY NEW CLUBS!!

 

[Inferno2ss]

I'd say around a 5-10 handicap, but distance can be troublesome taking a 5 iron in on a par 4. I could be in better shape, but not awful. "Relationship weight" at best lol

We would need more information about your swing. What are the clubhead speed and launch angle of your 7 iron?

I avg 267 with my driver and 173 with my 7 iron. However, I was losing a ton of distance on my 7 iron because my launch angle was 28 deg, where now it is around 22 deg.

My PW is around 28 deg now, to show how much extra loft I was adding to my clubs. Most pros are around 17 deg with their 7 iron.

If you have a PGA Superstore or a golf galaxy etc you can go there and hit some balls and check your numbers.

 

[Johan185]

Have you even watch the weekly long drive championship?

The driver Lofts are 4 to 6.5 degrees, The shafts are 48 inches long. and Everyone is swinging out of their shoes.... Including the Ladies.

They hit 400 yard drives on to 50 yard wide fairways. Only one out of 8 shots needs to be on the grid.

None of us play on golf courses that are 50 yards wide and each and every shot counts as a stroke.

The Best players in the world are playing and practicing every day. Period. Plus the fact that they are world class athletes.

Can you consistently Dunk a Basketball into a hoop 10' feet above the Pine wood floors?

Most amateurs can't. But when we fail to hit the ball 300 yards into a 15 yard wide fairway we are disappointed.

3, 4, or even 500 yards into the Woods isn't going to improve your scores or increase your enjoyment of the game.

Birdies and Eagles will.

Most long ball hitters are born and not Trained. In Baseball and in Golf. I see lots of kids 12 to 14 years old hitting 290 yard drives. But unfortunately they can not play golf.

Distance is a Marketing tool....

What everyone needs are clubs and golf balls that will go where we intended and at the correct distance. Not 15 more yard with the Driver.


Imagine your self sitting in the middle of the Fairway, after one of your best drives. You grab you trusty SW which only goes 80 yards. You hit it precisely and watch it clear the green into the Hazard 110 yards away. Right over the Flag. Down the embankment into the Pond.... How useful would the extra thirty yards help your score? Or would you rather stuff it 3 feet from the pin at 83 yards from your divot.

But if distance is your only Goal....

Get fit to the latest equipment, with the Strongest Lofts. Hit your 7 Iron, or in other words your new 20* degrees 4 iron with a 7 stamped on the bottom, 200 yards. Miss the Green and get a Double Bogey. Purchase a Long Drive Championship Driver. Hit it out of your socks and impress your friends with your 300 yard drive. All the While losing to Old man Par.

M2C

Distance Is King.

 

[Brassie]

It's pretty much dependent on club head speed. Big swing arc (arms fully extended in conjunction with full core rotation), full wrist cock, good backswing tempo and everything in sync, then a late/lagged club head release through ball impact. You can possibly learn how to generate more club head speed but I would suggest you work with the best teaching pro you can find to get it right.

In my mid 30's to mid 40's, my controlled driver swing speed measured between 122-127 mph on swing speed radar. Full throttle max effort swing was 130 or just a touch over. If I found the middle of the driver face, those went almost 350 yds. My normal mid 120's SS yielded 310-320 yds. I was a fairly long driver of the ball with a slight draw. Now at 67 y.o. it is no where near that club head speed but I do hit reasonable 260-270 yd drives in play and it's all good. My swing coach thinks we can get a bit more distance but we are working on grooving a fundamentally sound swing first.

You have to watch lofts on irons these days. My current 6 iron is the same loft as my old 5 iron back in my peak playing days. My 5 iron back then was 195-200yd club. My 6 iron now is a 165-170yd club. As you can see, I've lost club head speed with age. The most important thing is to know your shot distances for each club and hit your shots consistently well and accurate, meaning tight dispersion. Much more important to cleanly hit shots in play, to a known distance. At my best, 7 iron down to the wedges, if I was having an "ON" that day, I could throw "darts" at the pins with the mid to shorter irons. That is a lot of fun when your confidence in execution is that high!

 

[Johan185]

Give these a Try.

What do you have to Lose?

Sent from my SM-G977U using Tapatalk

 

[Inferno2ss]

Swing speed may not be the issue. If he is driving the ball 260 he should have good clubhead speed.

Back when I was flipping at it a bit I could swing my gap wedge 90 mph and it would go the same distance as when I swung it 83 mph, it just went way higher.

 

[Brassie]

TLDR version: I believe I have a solid and balanced swing throughout, but in my mid 20s, only hitting a SW 80 yards, 7 iron 150 yards, 5 iron 180 yards and driver 260 yards.

I don't really understand why my distances are poor? I'm sure this is the million dollar question posted on these forums, and likely asked in similar context before, but forgive me, I am new here.

To give a deeper understanding as to where my frustration stems from:
1. I have a pretty solid tempo and make sure not to over extend my backswing.
2. I generally make solid contact with the center of the club face.
3. I always make sure to line up shoulders square, legs slightly wider than my shoulders, back straight, ball is lined up with my left eye, arms resting with the shaft pointed toward my crotch, very minor shaft leaning left to where the butt is just over the ball, and club face just behind the ball
4. My angle of attack seems pretty down on the ball and divots are at the start of where the ball lies, to out in front of the ball.
5. Swing seems pure with left arm straight and right arm bent at 90 degrees as I draw back, breathing in on backswing, breathing out as I swing through the ball, balanced in terms of steepness per club used, and shifting my weight to where my front leg is straight at the point of contact.


Potential factors as to why I might not have the distances I am seeking:
1. The trajectory of my ball is quite straight for woods, slight draw on long irons, slight fade on short irons, and may be a bit high with high to fair back spin.
2. I use Titleist CB 712 "cavity" forged irons, but maybe don't have the swing speed for them. I like to have the feel of the ball as it contacts the club face and have a strong enough consistency hitting it's smaller sweet spots. I also don't sweep at the ball with an angle of attack for divots and making divots with larger iron heads can be a bit painful if the course is a bit dry.


Is it really just that I have clubs that don't match my swing speed and causing too much punishment, or is the trajectory of the ball too high for the distances I seek? I wish I had current stats with a trackman or something to tell exact launch angles, clubhead and ball speeds, but I don't think I am far from exceeding average with 80-90+ with irons and 100+ with driver club head speed.

What Driver do you have, what loft? and what shaft is in it? What golf ball are you using?

Your 5 iron loft is the same as my 6 iron. Jlaakso earlier pointed out your lofts are older and weaker compared to current irons.

Watch these two videos in this post link below. The 1st video explains how your right arm (assuming you are righthanded) affects club loft and ball launch angle at impact.... and in the 2nd video, how to generate more clubhead speed with the timing of pushing your left hip back (hip rotation) at the right time, to really snap the clubhead to max speed at impact.

https://www.thehackersparadise.com/...ka-golf-swing-coach.90928/page-9#post-8971750

 

[MC_Hammered]

What Driver do you have, what loft? and what shaft is in it? What golf ball are you using?

Your 5 iron loft is the same as my 6 iron. Jlaakso earlier pointed out your lofts are older and weaker compared to current irons.

Watch these two videos in this post link below. The 1st video explains how your right arm (assuming you are righthanded) affects club loft and ball launch angle at impact.... and in the 2nd video, how to generate more clubhead speed with the timing of pushing your left hip back (hip rotation) at the right time, to really snap the clubhead to max speed at impact.

https://www.thehackersparadise.com/...ka-golf-swing-coach.90928/page-9#post-8971750

Callaway Xtreme Fit 10.5 driver, stock shaft. Used the Kirkland "Pro V1s" this past weekend and they played actually really well. I was really surprised, but I'd say Pro V1s mostly. Could maybe use a little lesser than tour grade balls, but they are so good off the tee and around the green it's tough to use anything else when I barely lose them.

I'll check out the videos though. Thanks

 

[MC_Hammered]

Swing speed may not be the issue. If he is driving the ball 260 he should have good clubhead speed.

Back when I was flipping at it a bit I could swing my gap wedge 90 mph and it would go the same distance as when I swung it 83 mph, it just went way higher.

Yeah I have a Titleist Vokey 52 for my gap wedge and it goes about 100 yards.

 

[MC_Hammered]

Give these a Try.

What do you have to Lose?

Sent from my SM-G977U using Tapatalk

Probably could start shaft shopping, but now I am looking into a better set of irons and that would be expensive buying both

 

[MC_Hammered]

It's pretty much dependent on club head speed. Big swing arc (arms fully extended in conjunction with full core rotation), full wrist cock, good backswing tempo and everything in sync, then a late/lagged club head release through ball impact. You can possibly learn how to generate more club head speed but I would suggest you work with the best teaching pro you can find to get it right.

In my mid 30's to mid 40's, my controlled driver swing speed measured between 122-127 mph on swing speed radar. Full throttle max effort swing was 130 or just a touch over. If I found the middle of the driver face, those went almost 350 yds. My normal mid 120's SS yielded 310-320 yds. I was a fairly long driver of the ball with a slight draw. Now at 67 y.o. it is no where near that club head speed but I do hit reasonable 260-270 yd drives in play and it's all good. My swing coach thinks we can get a bit more distance but we are working on grooving a fundamentally sound swing first.

You have to watch lofts on irons these days. My current 6 iron is the same loft as my old 5 iron back in my peak playing days. My 5 iron back then was 195-200yd club. My 6 iron now is a 165-170yd club. As you can see, I've lost club head speed with age. The most important thing is to know your shot distances for each club and hit your shots consistently well and accurate, meaning tight dispersion. Much more important to cleanly hit shots in play, to a known distance. At my best, 7 iron down to the wedges, if I was having an "ON" that day, I could throw "darts" at the pins with the mid to shorter irons. That is a lot of fun when your confidence in execution is that high!

Coaching is just stupid expensive these days and every coach I've run into wants to completely change my swing. Not like I have some weird self taught swing like Bubba or Jim Furyk. I have a pretty balanced and standard swing, but most just feel like wanna be Butch Harmon's turning weekend warriors into Rory McIlroy haha.

You're probably right though. Just sucks hitting a 5 iron 180, but I think I am going to look into replacing my irons given how many issues with distance control they seem to have, and then maybe shafts, and then coaching. Stupid expensive game, but by far the best way to ruin a Sunday.