Drive distance is merely relative

luvagoodshot

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This year is has become more apparent to me than ever before that driving distance is relative to course conditions and weather. For example, when the course FW's are wet and soft, I feel lucky if I get off a 200 yd. drive. But when the course FW's are hot and dry, I expect 230-250 yds on my drive because in such conditions there is so much roll out after the carry. During yesterdays round I even got off one drive of 285 yards that I became aware of. The course conditions can even determine whether or not getting onto the par 5 holes will take a minimum of 3 strokes to get on those greens or 2 strokes. Therefore, I don't think it is fitting to declare what my total driving distance is, but would be better to state what my average carry distance is. Nevertheless, I sure do love all the extra yards I get on my drive when the FW's are hard and dry. I can use all the help on my drive I can get.
 
Out of curiosity do you find that your handicap fluctuates seasonally as result of the distance gains in drier weather?

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I agree. I usually pick the tees I'm playing off based on this and wind conditions.
 
Out of curiosity do you find that your handicap fluctuates seasonally as result of the distance gains in drier weather?

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Not really because I need to work on my short game which has been suffering of late
 
I agree. I usually pick the tees I'm playing off based on this and wind conditions.

I try to do the same, depending on what my partners want to do
 
I also pick my tees based on wind. Sometimes I will do it based on wet conditions but since I hit the ball high the wind wrecks my game more than my thing else.
 
Funny this thread is created today. I played for the first time since the spring rains stopped up here. 14 yards longer on average that what I was hitting in May/early June. I'm happy it's dry out.
 
Out of curiosity do you find that your handicap fluctuates seasonally as result of the distance gains in drier weather?

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Yes. Big time. If I can hit a club or two less than a hybrid into par 4's or play for a bounce on 200 yard+ par 3's is huge.
 
Funny this thread is created today. I played for the first time since the spring rains stopped up here. 14 yards longer on average that what I was hitting in May/early June. I'm happy it's dry out.

well that and i'm sure your straight killing your drives with your custom THCE shaft right?
 
This year is has become more apparent to me than ever before that driving distance is relative to course conditions and weather. For example, when the course FW's are wet and soft, I feel lucky if I get off a 200 yd. drive. But when the course FW's are hot and dry, I expect 230-250 yds on my drive because in such conditions there is so much roll out after the carry. During yesterdays round I even got off one drive of 285 yards that I became aware of. The course conditions can even determine whether or not getting onto the par 5 holes will take a minimum of 3 strokes to get on those greens or 2 strokes. Therefore, I don't think it is fitting to declare what my total driving distance is, but would be better to state what my average carry distance is. Nevertheless, I sure do love all the extra yards I get on my drive when the FW's are hard and dry. I can use all the help on my drive I can get.

I agree 100%. But don't just stop with the wetness of the ground. You've got to take the wind and elevation into account as well. I spent a ton of time hitting on an About Golf sim this past winter. I went from thinking I was still King Kong with a driver to knowing that I have a high swing speed and also fight high spin. Perfect strikes on the sim carried 280ish and rolled less than 10 yards. 120's playing SS with 3100 RPM's equal a ball that screams to 260 then falls straight down.

But.... put a breeze behind my back and firm conditions and no green inside 350 is safe. Make it wet and into a 20mph wind and I'm hitting 3w into a 500 yard hole, and probably still not getting there. For cripesakes I can hit a trap draw 4i that gets there with two whacks....

So total distance is greatly impacted by conditions. Carry distance is as well though. Less so but for someone that isn't anywhere near the ideal 2200RPM's, wind is huge. 10mph either way can make almost 100 yards difference in carry for me. 10 into my face will just stall my high spinner that launches WAY up. 10 behind me helps it tremendously. If you hit a low draw that spins 2k on the nose, carry distance will be affected WAY less than my moon ball high spinner. In fact if you spin it too low you might be helped with a slight breeze into your face.
 
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