Realistic numbers.

[Luchnia]

Courses are different and a lot of variables come in to play which folks here have indicated. In observation many simply are not pumping it out there like they claim and whether it be ego or simply ignorance, it happens.

I hit a decent driver for an older guy and one of the longer hitters in my league games, but I know my drives can be erratic as all get out and definitely not as consistent as many of the other guys that I call rubber stamps. They simply amaze me at how they can repeat over and over.

Keep in mind these are approximates, but the day in question my better drives were 220, 225, 233, 236, 247, and 253 whereas my shorter drives were 173, 176, and 192. With these numbers you can see there was no way someone I was hitting very close to was 25-50 yards farther. What is really cool was that often him and I were standing close together on our second shots - that was really fun for me.

Also worth mentioning is, that was one of my better driving days in the last five rounds of golf with fairly decent fairway percentages. There was one round I had in the last five I was lucky if I could drive the ball a steady 200 and struggled to find decent fairways. Suffice it to state, I was doing some recovery shots that day

 

[Et Tu Brute?]

Having been a nearly-obsessive laser rangefinder user for just about as long as there have been golf laser rangefinders, I've never been able to maintain many delusions about my distance. Being reminded of my actual (net, effective) distance 20 or so times a round, to the nearest yard, means I'm stuck in reality like it or not.

 

[goalie]

I hit six fairways yesterday on the back nine.

Probably averaged 240 yards.

It made me a lot happier than the time I caught the top of a hill with a tailwind and dry fairway for 290, but was OB from the tee 3 times in the same 9.

 

[bobellis75]

arccos is humbling. "dude, I tattooed that one." check the data: 255.

I picked up some Cobra F8's here via THP with the arccos sensors and just activated them, just received the additional sensors to plug in to the rest of my bag...I can't wait to be humbled in my next round of golf.....(it's already humbling enough, for me....)

 

[OldandStiff]

The "long" hitters will claim the GPS in the carts is broken

This one cracks me up. I have a relative who's like this. Swears he's longer than he is, and only thinks the cart gps is right when it benefits him. Last time we played he swore the cart gps showing 250 over a lake off the tee was wrong. "It's more like 280. I have to have a big tailwind to clear it. You won't make it." After double checking my gps, and then hitting over it, it finally occurred to me that if you say/think you drive 275, but are really closer to 250, and want to hang onto that belief, you have to tell yourself that it's 280 over that water. Which is just... I don't know. A lot of work. lol But I suppose either all that stuff is wrong, or you don't hit it as far as you think. Or you do, but you just mishit the ball pretty much every time? Either way, lot of work to hang on to.

 

[Tevenor]

arccos is humbling. "dude, I tattooed that one." check the data: 255.

The biggest surprise for me when validating against Arrcos was the variant between longest and shortest drives per round, even when taking off any mishits/pulls into trees/etc. There was a round where my shortest was 254, my longest was 322 and my average was 283. almost 70 yard range. Why? 20 mph wind.

Made me realize I wasn't adjusting my approach off the tee to take account for the wind.

 

[Scorp]

Regardless of who I'm on the course with, only I can get that double bogey for my score, should I be keeping it. It's me against the course is how I look at it.

 

[McLovin]

That guy Matt on TXG who is the human ball-hitting robot generates some very impressive clubhead speeds. And I do think he's legitimately a "long hitter" relative to the universe of people I play with.

But they've done a few on-course YouTube videos and it sure looks to me like his colleague Ian isn't that far behind him. Ian seems to hit driving irons when Matt is hitting driver and in real-world terms they both end up with similar clubs into the green.

So if we had actual on-course numbers to compare to Matt's in-studio launch monitor simulations I'll bet we'll find he's only medium-long in real world terms vs. pretty prodigiously long in studio.

Those course vlogs they do seem like a good illustration of a guy who is "sneaky long" because he's consistent and in the fairway (Ian) keeping up just fine with a guy who is a "bomber" but ending up off-line or in the rough or what have you. Of course Ian has a sound swing and plenty of clubhead speed, I don't mean to imply he's doing it with smoke and mirrors.

For my part, when I'm lasering stuff on the course and remembering the distances I almost always focus of "effective driver distance" by which I mean "how much closer to the flag am I than I was on the tee". So when I say I drive it just over 200 yards on average, that's 200 yards net distance. Sometimes a ball might travel 220 yards or more in whatever direction it's going in order to end up 200 yards closer to the hole (and in the rough or trees).

I can tell you Matt has that kind of power at his disposal. When I went to their "session" here in Orlando, Matt was hitting range balls on the GC Quad before the Q&A started. With a smooth swing, he was carrying it over 300 per the monitor.

I think with Matt it's a bit of a confidence issue as he continues to work on his swing. And I'm not sure he goes at it as hard outdoors as he does indoors for the channel.

Ian talks about only recently finding his speed. When he and Matt first started their videos, Ian says his driver ball speed was in the high 150s low 160s iirc. Now he's pushing into the 170s. And Ian tried to make it professionally, so I think he has a confidence that maybe Matt hasn't found yet.

 

[Et Tu Brute?]

Yeah, you can tell Matt is totally at home in the studio. He doesn't try hard but he doesn't hold back, his swing just flows and is soooo repeatable it's ridiculous. But on the course he's got the same disease as a lot of us, he "tries" too hard but then that causes him to actually hold back and steer his swing. That'll rob you of power whether you have his speed potential or if you're a puny hitter like me.

Their latest video definitely had a pro-am feel about and it was clear who was the pro!

 

[fuffle master]

We like to inflate because chicks dig the long ball

 

[blugold]

ok. but that wasnt the point i was trying to make. i guess i was just merely trying to say a shorter drive with more control and playing a second shot from the fairway. but yeah go out there and grip it and rip it and play it from where ever.

Ok, and I was pushing back on the notion that shorter drives are more accurate.

 

[Drumdog]

We like to inflate because chicks dig the long ball

But the older I get, the closer I am to the ball after I hit it

 

[WLG1952]

I think what it boils down to with distances is real numbers vs feel good "comfort" numbers.

Most golfers I know want to feel good about their golf game. It helps them to justify their reasonings to continue playing.

I know my carry distances, with in a few yards, with all my full swings, using various clubs, in different situations. I have a little laminated card clipped on my bag with that info on it. I use it as a quick reference guide. That's pretty much the only distance number I care about.

Now I will be the first one to admit that I am also guilty, when going to a lost ball, I usually start looking for that lost ball, after I have already passed. It.

 

[oumagic]

It is ego and ignorance. Before Arccos, I was in the ignorance camp. On Saturday, I hit two drives to 295. In years past, if someone asked me what my driver distance was, I would have not said 300 due to ego, but probably would have said 275 out of ignorance. Arccos gives me the real and current data (not what I once hit last summer).

 

[wubears71]

All the time. Right now my average drive is 294 off the tee. Some people I play with thinks I’m hitting it 330-350 because they think they are hitting it 270-280 and I’m 50 yards past them.

 

[goalie]

When I hit my 4hybrid almost exactly 200, and my 7i almost a perfect 150, ain't nobody going to do anything but roll their eyes if I start talking about even 280 yard drives that don't include wind, cart path bounces, or dry, hard, downhill fairways.

 

[Et Tu Brute?]

When I hit my 4hybrid almost exactly 200, and my 7i almost a perfect 150, ain't nobody going to do anything but roll their eyes if I start talking about even 280 yard drives that don't include wind, cart path bounces, or dry, hard, downhill fairways.

Years ago, way before Arccos or Game Golf, I played with a guy who had numbers written on little pieces of tape written on his shafts. They were very precise looking, like "148" for the 8-iron or "111" or the pitching wedge or whatever they were.

I don't remember the actual numbers he had on there but it was obvious over 18 holes he never came with 10-15 yards of hitting a shot as far as his little pieces of tape indicated for a club. Not once. Even his solid shots were two clubs shorter than what was written on the shaft.

Maybe he meant them to be aspirational, they were distances he hoped to hit one day in the distant future. It wasn't as much funny as kind of sad and pitiful.

 

[Tevenor]

All the time. Right now my average drive is 294 off the tee. Some people I play with thinks I’m hitting it 330-350 because they think they are hitting it 270-280 and I’m 50 yards past them.

This happens all the time.

Them:"You must of crushed that 330 because you went by me in the air and I hit it 280!"
Me: "Uh not sure about that. Hit it low on the face. Probably 270ish."
Arccos: 278 yards

 

[greenOak]

People definitely overestimate how far they hit it, but I see far more people overestimate how close they hit their approaches, or how often they make putts of a certain distance. It's human nature to think you're better than you actually are in pretty much every aspect of life.

 

[goalie]

It's human nature to think you're better than you actually are in pretty much every aspect of life.

The first time I was a practice goalie for the Wild all of my "maybe I could've made it" dreams were shattered.

Then set on fire.

Then thrown, while on fire, into the hotter fire of Mount Doom.

And that was just the first ten minutes on the ice......

 

[goalie]

arccos is humbling. "dude, I tattooed that one." check the data: 255.

Um, that is exactly me when I get ahold of one.

Except I'm smiling, because it's further than my normal 235-240

 

[tahoebum]

Having been a nearly-obsessive laser rangefinder user for just about as long as there have been golf laser rangefinders, I've never been able to maintain many delusions about my distance. Being reminded of my actual (net, effective) distance 20 or so times a round, to the nearest yard, means I'm stuck in reality like it or not.

This exactly. I got my first rangefinder in 1994 or 1995 and I figured out very quickly how far I could carry each club. We have some very long hitters at my club but there are only a handful of them that are consistently in the fairway. I’ll take my straight ball that is long enough over 290 and in trouble more than a few times each round.

 

[BigMac]

I never had any illusions about being a long hitter, but Garmin Golf keeps me humble anyway. It's not perfect so I have to separate the wheat from the chaff sometimes, but overall the stats don't lie.

 

[Daddio]

Always been a priority to know my own numbers and I spend a little time ensuring their accuracy every few months. Don't really care how far someone else hits it and I care even less how far they claim to hit it. Odds are I do play with some (several?) who over estimate their distance but that's their problem, not mine. Guessing the reason for their perception gap is split between ignorance and ego.

 

[Chef23]

On soft fairways I hit the ball about 230 off the tee. I carry it 215-220 generally. For me I have a negative AoA and with my 95-96 mph swing speed I get close to maxed out. I periodically hit one that carries 240 and runs out to 260 but usually wind and firm fairways are involved.

I would argue that the better the golfer the more accurately they know how far they hit the ball. I am a pretty decent golfer and have a good grasp on my distances as pitiful as they are.