How far does your best drive carry?

[shootin4par]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

Having a long drive is a matter of pride. I have a long drive and my mid to long irons are pretty good. That being said, my short game and putting aren't all that great and that's what keeps me around a -6 handicap. Like I said before, having a long drive is a matter of pride, but, it sure doesn't make the rest of a guys game any better. I think having a respectable 240-250 yard drive with a good short game makes a good golfer. Of course, if I can keep my long drive and practice enough to get my short game where it should be, that would be better

is it a matter of pride, or is it a matter of swing mechanics that are better then most and if they were touched up then the longe driver would shoot good scores as well.

[canadian_man_44]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

is it a matter of pride, or is it a matter of swing mechanics that are better then most and if they were touched up then the longe driver would shoot good scores as well.

Actually, with me it's probably not playing enough. Just celebrated my first wedding anniversary in August, so, now that the honeymoon is pretty much over she soon should be sending me to the course so I'll be out of her way. LOL

[Sumosid]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

6 Feet 5 Inches
125KG

Practice once a week (driving range), play about once a month on average (winter really sucks...)

Ping G5 Irons
8 iron: 145M with backspin (more proud of this than my driver)

Cobra Baffler Hybrid:
3 Iron: 200-220M

Taylormade V-steel:
3 Wood: 220M

Taylormade 580XD with Graffoloy blue stiff shaft:
Driver: 275M on a good hit with roll.

If asked to carry a 235M chasm over the Hauraki gulf... Might hessitate and take a safe shot instead. In other words, my driving distance although respectable isn't reliable everytime. I can't count the times that I have tried to rip it and hook it or slice it. Or the times that I simply just hit it relaxed and nearly drive a PAR 4 hole. It makes no sense to me.... It's all good though, Just need to play more.

Cheers,

[jaypo]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I tend to think that average touring pro's don't have that much of an advantage in length over a solid scratch golfer or even a medium handicap player with a fast swing on dead center, semi square path/ face solid shots. I would say 30 yards max per same shot based on equipment only. An ametaur obviously won't average a good driving distance because most don't hit it well very often. The pro's will average a lot better proportionately because they make good contact most of the time, even when the world no. 1 for example blocks it in the s..t But when we mortals talk on these forums we are almost always giving our max distances. I beleive 75 percent of what I here. For example I live near an old retired pga venue that I used to compare my distances and many of my students also against for giggles and the bottom 20 percent of the pro's hit it like myself and a few not so great players but fast swingers hit up there close to where I saw tiger and hank khene hit it on there perfect shots. I agree most players have weak clubhead/ball speeds and don't hit it very far, but this is a golf forum with people very passionate about golf so most of you probably are quite good golfers and that is why I beleive a descent amount of the distances I here about with slight exaggeration still. Regardless of how far we hit the ball isn't it the amount of fun we have and the hopes and acheiving of better results what makes this game all about. jaypo

[i.wright]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

it is interesting to read so many people disscusing yardage off the tee.I resently went to a pro and told him i was not happy with hitting the ball 200-220 yards.he changed my set up so that i could attack the ball and now hit the ball between 230 and 260.£14 well spent in my view

[GolfJunkieSr]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I am one of those guys that the older I get, the "longer" I was. Now days anything over 230 yards is a good drive, and I usually play my second shot from the short stuff. I have one of those "Skycaddie" gps gizmos, which gives pretty accurate yardages.

I agree with the poster above about exagerating distances. There have been times my 230 drive was out there 250+, according to whom ever I playing with at the time. This happens alot. The biggest problem with "padding" your drives is that you think you are closer to the pin than you really are. Then wondering why that second shot came up short. LOL, GJS

[LowPost42]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I am one of those guys that the older I get, the "longer" I was. Now days anything over 230 yards is a good drive, and I usually play my second shot from the short stuff. I have one of those "Skycaddie" gps gizmos, which gives pretty accurate yardages.

I agree with the poster above about exagerating distances. There have been times my 230 drive was out there 250+, according to whom ever I playing with at the time. This happens alot. The biggest problem with "padding" your drives is that you think you are closer to the pin than you really are. Then wondering why that second shot came up short. LOL, GJS

An iGolf GPS really opened my eyes. The first hole on my course is 410 yards. I'd hit a lot of balls to the 150. The math says I hit it 260. The iGolf says I hit it 250. Yes, there's a bit of a dogleg.

Thus, I find that using the iGolf at least gives me realistic expectations of how far I drive. The next time there's a creek at 230, I'll pull something shorter.

[Laserman]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

Guys,

When I make really great contact I get 3oo to 320 Yards. Usually though I drive the ball about 260-280 range. I'm 45 years old and weigh 210. My problem is the short game from 70 yards in that keeps me from scoring in the low 80s and 70s. I shot a 87 yesterday and hit a 310 yeard drive but got a bogey on the hole. I'm a bit more accurate at 150 yards in than under 100. Drive distance is not that important as long as You have a shot at getting on the green in regulation. Greens in regulation is much more important than driving distance. I'd give up 50 yards on my drives if I could score more pars and birdies.

Laserman

[bloodredsun]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

With a full swing and good contact I'm generally looking at 300+ yards. I'm 6' 1" and 220 pounds, was a national ranked discus thrower in my youth and have played sport for my country.

My biggest drive ever; I landed it straight into the lake that started 20 yards or so in front of the dead straight 360 yard par 4.

It sounds so much more impressive until you have to come clean and admit that the green was about 30 yards lower than the tee and there was a howling gale directly behind me . The same day I lashed an absolute peach straight into the teeth of the wind on a hole going the other way. That time I got it about 180 yards and it's the only time I've ever found my ball behind the pitch mark from a drive!

Generally, with no wind or elavation changes, I'd look to clear anything up to 275 yards if I have too but for general game play I would look to hit it 280-290 yards including roll. I've changed my course management a lot recently as I'm now trying to play to my next shot. So the driver is only used on long par 4's and par 5's. Short par 4's get a tee shot that leaves me 150-120 yards shy of the green so it's often a 2 hybrid/4 iron.

[BrianW]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I have learned a great method how to hit a consistent 350 yards off the tee:

Tee up high

Create width in the backswing

Good shoulder rotation

Late release of wrists

Great tempo

Full follow through

Get in the Zone

Drop and Pop the club

Hit the ball

Then turn around and run like the clappers in the opposite direction.

[Bigbo]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I am 58 years old 5ft 7in tall 160 pounds. Short,fat, and ugly but I swing a mean stick. Average drive 290-310. Winter time lots of roll it will even go farther.
Bigbo

[Rule]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

300 yds. That would be 150 towqrd the target and 150 to the right. Since I didn't do the math, I really don't know what the distance is, but out of play it is.

[Bigbo]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

300 yds. That would be 150 towqrd the target and 150 to the right. Since I didn't do the math, I really don't know what the distance is, but out of play it is.

Rule it is still on the tee. You need to hit it again.
Bigbo

[captglover]

Re: How far does your best drive carry?

I'm not sure where I stand in this... there seems to be quite a lot of suggestion that the average golfer kids himself about how long he drives the ball, and my numbers are so different from what the average golfer is supposed to hit, I wonder ...

I'm 5'10", 200 lbs, and fifty years old. I have an 11.8 handicap index. I am fairly athletic, and played golf pretty much 4-5 days a week from age 12 through 18. I was a big hitter then, even with the old balls and the wooden drivers. (a little side story I love telling: I played against Amy Alcott in High School. We sandbagged the first spot knowing that person would lose to her, so I moved up from 3rd to 1st man. Among the first holes at Riviera CC in LA were two par fives, and on each tee she dinked it down the fairway 180-200 yards, and I hit two shots close to 300. I thought I had this match! But then she was down in two or three and I missed the green then 3-putted...)

I came back to golf this year after many years away from it, and after a few months to work the kinks out, I still seem to be hitting it pretty well, and long off the tee. First, though, let me say that I miss the fairway almost as much as I hit it! Especially with the driver. But, I have hit quite a few drives this last year over 300 yards. Now I can't always see where the ball lands, and haven't been able to measure the carry. But the distance I measure, using the hole yardage, fairway markers and a laser finder, is sometimes even over 300. Some of those drives where on down hill holes, but not all.

I recently switched my 3-wood and 7-wood to regular shafts, rather than the stiff ones I had - my Titleist 905 driver still has a stiff shaft. I am hitting the 7-wood 240 yards pretty regularly off the tee (which I love because it hits pretty straight for me), and the 3-wood I'm hitting 260 - 280 when I get it all. I've slowed my swing down to improve my accuracy, but the regular shafts seem to be giving me more distance.

I wonder if I'm somehow getting something wrong. I don't even really think distance off the tee is so important. It is not how I measure how well I'm playing. The short game, and accuracy with my approach irons is much more important to me, because unless I hit it out of bounds, my tee shot distance doesn't seem to effect my scoring as much. I was recently frustrated with my woods off the tee, so half way through a round I hit only my 4 iron off the tee on the par 4s and 5s. I was getting 200+ yards out of it and still had under an 8 iron for my third shot on par 5's, and a 9 or wedge on some of the par 4s. It almost made me consider not using a wood off the tee!

If you calculated my average drive, then my number would definitly go down, for I used to top one here and there (getting better about that now) or sky one, miss hit it, or slice it in the trees. But when I connect with it, about 60% of the time, the measuring devices I've used tell me I'm hitting my tee shots longer than these articles suggest a recreational golfer hits it.

How do you really know? Is the measurement one's average drive? Is carry the only distance you measure?

I am thinking of getting a Sky Caddie, and that would solve it. It has a great function of pressing a button at the tee and again at the ball and tells you exactly how far you hit it. Seems like a great tool for measuring iron distances too.