300+ Yard Drives - Bulls**t!!

[flomarilius]

In the 3 years playing this game I have yet to see someone of that physical stature bomb it 300. Hell the guys I play on my tour with cant bomb it 300 and theyve got similar stature. Hell maybe this is the guy who can do it.

 

[Sandpiper3]

Dave, the reason im a little skepticle, even though i know there are some gorillas out there, is that so many punk kids at the range dont know shit blabbing around they can pop it over the back fence (which would be about a 280 carry on a high traj.). Same as kids who tryout for our golf team, they come in saying that they can shoot par and outdrive everyone there, so the coach puts them in my group and i always hit the first tee shot. 3w right up the gut 4 years running. Havent had one young punk kid yet whose outdrove my opening 3w (which is probly around 240-260 depending on the day).

 

[TVT]

thats a hard thing to do

 

[EnglishGolfer]

It's almost all in the equipment.

I used to drive to 250yards with my Taylor Made Burner Driver if I really nailed it and back then I was a much better player. Now I average 270-280 and can get upto and beyond 300 if I go for it and the conditions are good. However my iron distances have not increased a single yard so the conclusion is inescapable.

 

[JasonMacIsaac]

No,its when YOU get sceptical.I don't get sceptical at all because after 25 yrs of playing I have seen enough club golfers hitting the ball this far.Maybe you haven't.

Dave I also see about 20 players at each course who say they hit it 260-270 yet only average 225 or 230 off the tee. 300 is a long poke, watch a full round of tiger and subtract the yardages, he does not average 340 yard drives, the majority of his drives are 290-310.

 

[Strider]

i know i don't average 300 yard drives but i truly believe there are guys out there that can do it quite easily in fact and they are not on any pro tour. one lives up here by me in michigan and the other in wisconsin. my friend here averages about 125 mph ss and can take it over 130 easily with a steel shafted driver. best part is, he is a very good golfer, not a grip it, rip it, and pray swinger. he has a very fluent and controlled swing and just smashes it.

i didn't get a chance to play with him at all last summer till one of the last tournaments of the year. i ran into him during our practice round so we hooked up played a few holes together. the second par 4 he outdrove my 3 wood with his 3 iron by 20 or so yards. on a par 3 210 yds, he hit 7 iron and put it 7 feet from the flag. on a par 4 350 yds i tried to rip it and with a helping bounce and lots of roll i put the ball to the fringe. he unloads on it and flies it into the greenside bunker, pin high. 350 in the air! thats friggin unbeleivable.

there is no doubt there are consistent 300 hitters out there if not longer.

 

[dave.]

Dave I also see about 20 players at each course who say they hit it 260-270 yet only average 225 or 230 off the tee. 300 is a long poke, watch a full round of tiger and subtract the yardages, he does not average 340 yard drives, the majority of his drives are 290-310.

I agree with that and what Sandpiper said.Its obvious many people exagerate distances,both on the web and elsewhere,but there are genuinley long hitters in every club,seriously long,up there with the longest on tour.They are there in every club.However,there are few if any players at club level that come anywhere near the skill of the average tour pro on the greens.Thats my point,I am far more sceptical about claims of genious on the greens that I am about length.As I said earlier I have played with a guy who carries 320 checked with a range finder.John Daly's new length with the Burner is 317.

 

[gobber]

This is an excert from a Golf Digest article in 2004 about amature golfers actual distances.


"Distance and accuracy off the tee The golfers in our test averaged 212 yards per drive on the measured holes (Nos. 4 and 9). The tour average during the Buick event was 285 yards; Woods averaged 298. So Tiger has an 86-yard head start on our players. Our 10-and-under handicappers bridge this gap by nearly a quarter, to 232 yards, trailing Tiger by 66 yards. Woods' driving accuracy at Torrey Pines in '03 was subpar (48.2 percent; the tour average was 66.2 percent). Tiger made up for it with his approaches, hitting 73.6 percent of greens in regulation, against the field's 64 percent. On the year, Woods hit 62.7 percent of fairways (ranking 142nd in driving accuracy) and reached 68.6 percent of greens in regulation (26th).
The difference in driving accuracy between our higher- and lower-handicap players was fairly small, 44 versus 40 percent, on the two longest measured holes.
One of the most telling numbers was how dramatically the amateur players inflated their driving distances. The lower handicappers claimed their average drives went 247 yards, while driving-distance stats taken on two holes documented an average of 232--a 15-yard exaggeration. Higher handicappers claimed a driving average of 227 yards and, in actuality, hit it 198 yards--a 29-yard lie of the mind.
Many conclusions can be drawn from this data, but the hard lesson on this aspect: The worse the players, the more they kid themselves about how good (and long) they are. Nobody wants to admit he drives the ball less than 200 yards. Succumbing to self-delusion, it seems most amateurs tend to equate their best drive with their average drive."

 

[dave.]

None of that is in dispute,nor is the fact I know of several players that can hit the ball as far as Tiger,and farther.But I have never met anyone that can putt as well as he can

 

[Fourputt]

As telling for me as the distance exaggeration is the average number of fairways hit. 40-44%.... That is close to what I get and I thought I was terrible, now I see I'm about average. Since I started using Fairway Files for stat tracking, I'm hitting 5.3 fairways per 18 holes, just about 30% (actually per 14 holes as 4 holes in each round are par 3's, bringing that number up to 38%), but those stats have improved greatly in the last 4 rounds, and seem destined to continue that positive trend for the moment.

 

[demon]

Do not think for one minute you have to be a large person to hit a long ball. Charles Howell bombs it and he is on the small size (weight wise) and so is Camillo, Fredy is pretty short. Look at there shoulders, wide shoulders = naturally long distances.

 

[footballking732]

alright, i played sunday at one of the toughest courses in the area, Private or Public(which is amazing btw b/c it is public, and all the other public courses suck)

im looking at the scorecard right now, it is 351 yds from the back tees(which is what i played)...

not to mention that green is the highest point on the course, with the tee box being the lowest... equates out to 65 or so feet uphill...

anyways, i bombed my drive to past the 50 yd marker, to 45 or so yds... thats 306 yds, 65 ft UPHILL...

the rest of my drives were crap though with the one other exception being a drive to the 245 yd marker on a 539yd par 5...

 

[packerguy]

I work as a starter/ranger for a course and I can say without a doubt that the Golf Digest article is very accurate. Since I've played the course literally hundreds of times I know the distances very well and on the first tee, the average golfer doesn't even carry the ball 200 yards and this carries over to the rest of the course also. A very small percentage carry it over 240 yards and I mean about maybe 5-10 and those that carry it over 260 are extremely small.

It's true that a lot of kids overestimate their distances, there are these 3 at my course and they were on the first tee talking about how far they hit it. The oldest at about 14 said he AVERAGED 275 and his friends were about 250. None of them hit it close to 250 and the oldest maybe carried the ball 220 on the tee.

My point is that many golfers don't realize how far that 260 or 300 yards actually is. When I started working there last year I thought that I drove the ball pretty far until I started to play with people that actually did hit it 270 in the air and I was shocked at how short I actually drove it, but it did ultimately make me a stronger driver, and the competition didn't hurt. I think some will cut a dogleg, get a good bounce, look at the yardage and claim they hit their drive that far. I would almost say that you should take the yardage based on the markers and subtract 10 to have a more realistic yardage even on straight holes.

 

[dave.]

No offence but this is getting repetetive.You have just said said what everyone else has,many golfers don't know yardages and many over exaggerate.Does anyone else really need to post this? I think its 100% agreed with.But what the post was about was that 300 yrds at club level is bullshit.No it isn't.Some players can do it.Do most player hit it shorter than they think and then exagggerate.YES! But can a small minoirty actually hit it as far as Tiger? YES.And the guys that I know that can all but one UNDER EXAGERATES their distance.

 

[PINGELI]

Amateurs can hit 300 yard dives. Not often, but it can be done. My longest drive was 347 yards with an old dunlop centrus driver (it was included in my first set of clubs). The hole was 357. My drive landed just off the green. there is a tree line between the tee box and green (about 100 yards or so out). After that, it's just grass . My drive flew well over the trees and came to rest a few paces from the pin. My old youth pastor can verify.