average 300 yards really?

[canadian_man_44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

I played with tiggerwannabee today. He hit 13 of 14 fairways. The other four were par threes on which he put the ball on the green each time. I figure that's pretty accurate. I guess the key to being long and accurate is a lot of practice.

[shootin4par]

Re: average 300 yards really?

That may sound right, but from a matemathical point of view, it is incorrect.

While sacrificing distance does not necessarily improve your aim, it DOES increase the level of tolerance. It's simple triangulation.

If you hit the ball 280 yards, and need to hit a 40yard wide fairway, then the tolerance is +/- 4.1 degrees.

If you only hit 180 yards and need to hit the same fairway, then the tolerance is +/- 6.3 degrees.

That's a difference of 2.2 degrees or 53.7% more acceptable target area!

Of course, over the entire hole, the difference evens itself out.

A 360 yard par 4 with a 15 yard wide green, could be one 180 yard shot with 6.3 deg tolerance followed by another 180yard shot with a 2.4 deg tolerance onto the green, or it could be one 280 yard shot with a 4.1 deg tolerance and 1 80 yard shot with a 5.4 deg tolerance (appx 125% more acceptable target area - which, by the way, is fairly constant no matter how small your target is, aiming for the pin v. center of the green).

Regarding options, it is true that adding distance adds options, but adding distance often also adds challenges - fairway bunkers, water hazards, out of bounds etc. coming in play.

SO all in all - I don't think there is a definate conclusion here. It's all about playing to the odds.

if you take a person who flips their hands into impact, if they it less then 250 chances are they are a flipper, and teach them how not to flip into impact you will add distance and accuaracy. the mathamatical equation of correctly timing a flip and having it in the fairway is much smaller then the equation of somemone with forward shaft lean having it in the fairway, and because that person has forward shaft lean, their distance would be longer and their misses tighter

gofl digest did an article a few years ago and it talked about A,B,C,and D players A was the best palyers and D was the worst players. According to their article THey found a direct corralation of shaft lean to average score. THe more forward shaft lean the lower the score, the more backward/flip the higher the score. foward shaft lean equates to compresion, compression equates to distance, so it is more then safe to say that the A players hit it farther as well to scoring lower

[slater170]

Re: average 300 yards really?

i average 300yds on a drive
its from my house to the petrol station when i go for ciggies!

[RonnieSC]

Re: average 300 yards really?

I live on a golf course, on a 520 yard par 5 to be specific. It's a very wide fairway which gets you about 20 yards of roll on average. Maybe 2 times a day someone will be hitting from the 250 yardage post, maybe 2 times a month someone will be hitting from just outside of the 200 yard post. I see most decent drives landing 285-290 yards out meaning their about 230 off the tee. My good drives are 245-250 and to me that's all I need, usually guys with me say something like "Wow, that's gotta be 300 yards or more".

I believe the length of their drives and their egotistic handicaps go hand-in-hand.

This takes me somewhere else, does anybody actually play "Real" golf?, like don't touch it, EVER, unless it's on the green and actually hole every putt and actually post every score no matter how high or low it is? It seems every time I play someone using my 13 handicap if their a 17 and I give them 4 I could of given them 10 and had a close match!

[slater170]

Re: average 300 yards really?

I live on a golf course, on a 520 yard par 5 to be specific. It's a very wide fairway which gets you about 20 yards of roll on average. Maybe 2 times a day someone will be hitting from the 250 yardage post, maybe 2 times a month someone will be hitting from just outside of the 200 yard post. I see most decent drives landing 285-290 yards out meaning their about 230 off the tee. My good drives are 245-250 and to me that's all I need, usually guys with me say something like "Wow, that's gotta be 300 yards or more".

I believe the length of their drives and their egotistic handicaps go hand-in-hand.

This takes me somewhere else, does anybody actually play "Real" golf?, like don't touch it, EVER, unless it's on the green and actually hole every putt and actually post every score no matter how high or low it is? It seems every time I play someone using my 13 handicap if their a 17 and I give them 4 I could of given them 10 and had a close match!

hi ronnie
great point you make!
i play real golf i hate it having to mark a six or a seven but i do!
i know that when i state my handicap that its genuine.
i want to be the best i can be im more interested in accuracy than distance i dont carry a driver!

[tigerwannabee]

Re: average 300 yards really?

I live on a golf course, on a 520 yard par 5 to be specific. It's a very wide fairway which gets you about 20 yards of roll on average. Maybe 2 times a day someone will be hitting from the 250 yardage post, maybe 2 times a month someone will be hitting from just outside of the 200 yard post. I see most decent drives landing 285-290 yards out meaning their about 230 off the tee. My good drives are 245-250 and to me that's all I need, usually guys with me say something like "Wow, that's gotta be 300 yards or more".

I believe the length of their drives and their egotistic handicaps go hand-in-hand.

This takes me somewhere else, does anybody actually play "Real" golf?, like don't touch it, EVER, unless it's on the green and actually hole every putt and actually post every score no matter how high or low it is? It seems every time I play someone using my 13 handicap if their a 17 and I give them 4 I could of given them 10 and had a close match!

My round today I shot 4 over par, a typically bad round for me, but on 2 of the par 5's I had about 200 yds left. One at 501 I had 190 left and the other at 523 where I had about 215 left........there is some who can hit it that far really and also keep a real score. I know how you feel on the matches though.....I played a guy last week where I had to give him 12 strokes......I could have given him 25 and still won. I don't understand why people just can't put in the right scores......it would be an embarassment to me to play a match that badly but a handicap looking decent.....

[canadian_man_44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

And I played the round with him so you better believe it. Hey, I'm not a very good golfer and I hit the ball 275 yards off the first tee that round.

[wirrenut]

Re: average 300 yards really?

300 yards isn't required to play a good solid round of golf in the mid to upper 70's. So hit it 230 - 250 and work on the irons. I bet you can hit as many GIR's the guy who says he hits it 300 yards all the time.

[tigerwannabee]

Re: average 300 yards really?

300 yards isn't required to play a good solid round of golf in the mid to upper 70's. So hit it 230 - 250 and work on the irons. I bet you can hit as many GIR's the guy who says he hits it 300 yards all the time.

You are right. I played with a tourist passing through our course today who shot an even par 72 with drives averaging about 220. He played a lot of long irons into greens, by hitting them short and rolling on. If you are good with your long irons then that's ok, but I'll be the first to tell you that a 9 iron is a heck of a lot easier to hit than a 4 iron. If this guy had a drive that was 60 yards longer he would be playing in the 60's all the time.......I guess that is the advantage of putting it out there............errr, as long as you can control it.

[BrianW]

Re: average 300 yards really?

Hi,

In reality, what does it matter anyway?

Big hitters tend to spray the ball and have to recover, even if you can hit 300yds on a 500 yd fairway you still have to get onto the green and in the hole.

I would prefer a 230 yd drive into the fairway, a layup with a fairway wood and an accurate pitch or chip to the green.

Regards
Brian

[canadian_man_44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

Brian,

As a golfer who plays with Tigerwannabee quite a bit, I would say that he is not the average "spraying" longball hitter. This year the worst I've seen him hit was 11 of 14 par 4 and 5 fairways. That being said, the other three were in the short rough. I would say that as a longball hitter, he is very consistent. As for it shorter drivers being more consistent, when I hit the ball 250 and below I was slicing 50 - 60 yards. With some swing instruction from Tigerwannabee my distance has improved to an average of 275 and I am consistently hitting more fairways. IMHO inconsistency is caused more by setup and swing then how hard you hit the ball. Good setup and good swing directly affects where the ball is going to go(left, right or center) regardless of how far you hit the ball.

I've watched Tigerwannabee go from the "average" (15 - 20 handicap) golfer to a very good golfer (currently 0.3 handicap) in the past 4 years. His drive has improved from around 230 yards to the average of 300 that he is now hitting. His iron play is impecible and his short game is almost perfect. This year I've never seen him miss more then one green from inside 200 yards. He constantly is working to improve his game. Personally, I've seen him tie the course records at three different golf clubs this summer. Does that sound like someone who sprays his driver. I don't think so.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't stereotype long ball hitters as being inconsistent. With proper swing and setup Tigerwannabee is consistently hitting 300yards and consistently hitting the fairway. With his help on my swing, I've gone from hitting 2 - 3 fairways a round at 250 yards to hitting 12/13 of 14 fairways(sometimes all 14) while hitting the ball an average of 275 yards. Obviously you are happy with your 220-240 yard drives. Good for you . I'm constantly trying to improve my game. I was not happy with an inconsistent 250 yards. I am happy with a consistent 275 yards, but, I'm still trying to get better. With that being said, I'm going golfing.

[BrianW]

Re: average 300 yards really?

Brian,

As a golfer who plays with Tigerwannabee quite a bit, I would say that he is not the average "spraying" longball hitter. This year the worst I've seen him hit was 11 of 14 par 4 and 5 fairways. That being said, the other three were in the short rough. I would say that as a longball hitter, he is very consistent. As for it shorter drivers being more consistent, when I hit the ball 250 and below I was slicing 50 - 60 yards. With some swing instruction from Tigerwannabee my distance has improved to an average of 275 and I am consistently hitting more fairways. IMHO inconsistency is caused more by setup and swing then how hard you hit the ball. Good setup and good swing directly affects where the ball is going to go(left, right or center) regardless of how far you hit the ball.

I've watched Tigerwannabee go from the "average" (15 - 20 handicap) golfer to a very good golfer (currently 0.3 handicap) in the past 4 years. His drive has improved from around 230 yards to the average of 300 that he is now hitting. His iron play is impecible and his short game is almost perfect. This year I've never seen him miss more then one green from inside 200 yards. He constantly is working to improve his game. Personally, I've seen him tie the course records at three different golf clubs this summer. Does that sound like someone who sprays his driver. I don't think so.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you shouldn't stereotype long ball hitters as being inconsistent. With proper swing and setup Tigerwannabee is consistently hitting 300yards and consistently hitting the fairway. With his help on my swing, I've gone from hitting 2 - 3 fairways a round at 250 yards to hitting 12/13 of 14 fairways(sometimes all 14) while hitting the ball an average of 275 yards. Obviously you are happy with your 220-240 yard drives. Good for you . I'm constantly trying to improve my game. I was not happy with an inconsistent 250 yards. I am happy with a consistent 275 yards, but, I'm still trying to get better. With that being said, I'm going golfing.

Hi,

My comments were not aimed at Tigerwannabee in any way, my posting just happened to be after his. If I were referring to a previous post I would quote it (Like this one). I was merely passing my personal opinion that long hitting is not really a big deal, Its OK if you can do it well but golfers that can hit a drive 200 - 250 yds can still compete at the highest level so they should not feel intimidated

Sorry if you thought I was deliberately criticising someone, that's not my stile.

Best Regards
Brian

[canadian_man_44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

Not a problem, Brian.

I just wanted to make the point that even those of us that average 275 yards and some that average 300 yards can consistently hit the fairways if they know proper setup and swing, just as those who hit 220 - 240 yards can be. Proper setup and swingplane have more to do with consistency then distance. Anyone can learn to hit fairways just as anyone (regardless of yardage) can knock their ball in the trees or water if they are not setup and swinging properly.

[cb44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

[/quote]I believe the length of their drives and their egotistic handicaps go hand-in-hand.

This takes me somewhere else, does anybody actually play "Real" golf?, like don't touch it, EVER, unless it's on the green and actually hole every putt and actually post every score no matter how high or low it is? It seems every time I play someone using my 13 handicap if their a 17 and I give them 4 I could of given them 10 and had a close match! [/quote]

How true. I don't have a HCP yet, but I consistently score in the low 90s, occassionally in the 80s. I play by the rules of golf, but I have a friend who doesn't count penalty strokes and takes "gimmes" on putts. By doing this, he scores in the low 100s. If he played by the rules fully, he would score in the 130s. It used to drive me crazy but I don't worry about it any longer when I play w/him.

[canadian_man_44]

Re: average 300 yards really?

You can trust me when I say that Tigerwannabee is a stickler for the rules. Never touches his ball and never takes a gimme. 0.3 handicap without the egotistical bulls**t. Thank you very much. Everyone who has a long drive and better then scratch handicap isn't lying.