The 300+ yard Dude

[IrishGolfer]

So I played a fourball match the other night, the 1st round of the club pairs competition. My partner and I usually do well in this. In fact a bonus of winning this match was that the winners were to face Andy_79 and his homie.

Anyway we lost the match (dammit! ) but I wanted to tell you about one of the dudes we played against.

I hadn't met him before, turns out to be a great guy. He is in his early / mid 40s and works as a paramedic. He didn't look overly big or well developed but this guy could hit a ball.

His h/c is 11 and after the first few holes there was little to no evidence of much ability but from the 4th onwards I got a lesson on how to drive the ball.

POW!!! Drive after drive were rifled dead straight 300+ yards. On our 5th (stroke index 1) I hit what turned out to be my best drive of the day, about 290 yards with a slight tailwind. Yer man was at least 70 yards past me. That's 360 yards. He then pops a SW on the green to 4 feet, cans the putt for a 3 nett 2!! Goodnight!

On the 7th, he was a good 50 yards outside me. I hit a 4 iron to a par 5, he hits a PW!!

Now it turns out he couldn't hit his irons sideways. In fact he dinged all the par 4s with some horrendous efforts. But of course his partner was there to back him up.

But he was a master of the driver; the power he generated with a fairly simple swing. All timing related as well. POW!!

I have never played with someone as naturally long as him. Fascinating stuff.

I could see him come onto this site and get torn to shreads foroutlandsih claims. But these dudes do exist!

 

[SiberianDVM]

I played with a guy like that a couple of weeks ago, but he was fairly large at 6'3" and an athlete: former minor league baseballer, currently working as a paramilitary.

He could pound his driver well over 300 yards, but only about half of them found the fairway. On the woodsy courses we have around here, that meant several lost ball penalties.

Made my little plinkers look downright pathetic.

 

[warbirdlover]

I play (or used to play) with my neighbor Byron (The_Bomber in ST) and also ejdahl21 in here. Both just crush the ball. ejdahl21 swings pretty hard. Byron swings easy. Last summer I hit a great (for me) drive of about 265 and Byron was 100 yards beyond me!! 100 yards!! But I hit my hybrid on and we both parred it.... Amazing to watch those balls carry that far.

 

[eclark53520]

I know lots of guys that can pound the ball off the tee and still shoot over 100...

I dont understand where people get to thinking all high handicappers suck at ALL parts of the game...just because they can drive it 300+ doent mean they know how to hit a wedge or putt...but as soon as a high handicapper starts spouting about even 290 yard drives they are ousted for being a lier...

When i first started on the driving range(after i cured my slice before i ever hit a golf course) i could fly them 300...my iron game was pathetic at best and my putting was OK

I have decided to work more on my iron/wedge game because thats where i was loosing strokes andi have calmed down on my driver to keep it in the fairway about 260ish...

 

[cobraprov1]

I know lots of guys that can pound the ball off the tee and still shoot over 100...

I dont understand where people get to thinking all high handicappers suck at ALL parts of the game...just because they can drive it 300+ doent mean they know how to hit a wedge or putt...but as soon as a high handicapper starts spouting about even 290 yard drives they are ousted for being a lier...

When i first started on the driving range(after i cured my slice before i ever hit a golf course) i could fly them 300...my iron game was pathetic at best and my putting was OK

I have decided to work more on my iron/wedge game because thats where i was loosing strokes andi have calmed down on my driver to keep it in the fairway about 260ish...

i completely agree with you..i mean..ya i carry 300+ but i also know when not to hit driver and how to score..so you guys that can hit the ball forever but cant hit irons..jus need to lower the amount of time you work on your driver at the range, try workin about 75% irons and wedges and the other 25% on driver..trust me it'll help you

 

[ezra76]

Most of the guys who think they hit it 300 aren't even close. Some actually do though and still play $hit golf. Some of the negativity surrounding it on the internet is fueled by jealousy I think. Honestly, I'm a better all around player than I used to be a few years ago but I can't drive it as far as I used to. Not sure exactly why. My irons, however, are just as long if not longer now. Of course I no longer hit these total abortions off the tee with the driver. I may pull it, hook it, push it or slice it but I'll still hit it solid. Back then I might top it, sky it, hit a wormburner... those shots just don't happen anymore. I suppose a measure of getting better off the tee is I'm taking balls out of play due to them being worn out, scuffed up from bunker shots mostly vs. losing them from errant drives.

Still, I've only played with 1 guy in 5yrs. that I'm 100% sure could legitmately outdrive me, so very skeptical. Twofast is not him, although he can hit a bomb every once in a while I feel I'm right there with him when we both hit it solid. He just happens to hit driver on everthing but a par 3.

 

[warbirdlover]

I play with 3 average size guys that can legitimately pop one 300 or more but that's pretty much it except for Zaphod's boy Eric. Most of the others I can stay with. And mine are in the fairway.

I think zaphod can do it once in awhile (270-280 easily) and his son Eric definitely can. Eric has no flaws in his game. Best young player I've ever seen. One of the UW schools wanted him on the golf team but he had too big a study load.

I rarely ever see anyone other then these above guys mentioned hit that long. (I'm only counting the balls in the fairway).

 

[trumb1mj]

I was out with some friends

last weekend and we started talking golf, of course. One of my friends boyfriend said he was a 90+ golf but said he went really long so I asked him what he was talking about. He then told me how in his early 20s he toured as a long drive competitor. He said he averages about a 340-360 yard bomb when he golfs today. I was floored by this so I got his number and we are hitting the links in a few weekends. I want to try and watch his swing to see what he does. Seems crazy!

 

[twofast2s]

lot of my drives that are over 300yds is due to wind, roll and cutting across the fairways. i think w/ my swing, i could get true 300+ once out of blue moon.

ez can definitely hit. he hung in w/ me many times when he was on it.

i like to hit driver on every par 4s and par 5s because that's how i sometimes enjoy golf. seeing a beautiful drives. however, ez's kicking my arse of late, so i might have to thinking of other clubs to hit on the tee. i hate you ez.

 

[West Coast Duffer]

I really thought I was a long hitter until i played with a guy who pounded the ball and saw it for my own eyes, he was about 6'2 and 220 and easily put it out 30-50 yards past mine. He was pretty accurate too but they and I know now what a true 300yrd drive looks like, no down hill crap or cutting corners.

 

[eclark53520]

scoring ability has nothing to do with long drives as far as i am concerned. if it did all teh guys on LDA would also be on the PGA


Good scoring golfers(usually older more experienced golfers) usually do not drive the ball 300+ yards, but they can put it on the green from 180yds and in and two putt. They can do this because they practice this part of the game as they have realized that short game is the highest percentage of shots on the golf course

Good driving golfers (usuall new inexperienced golfers) know how to pound the ball because they want to impress their friends(i know this, i am one of them) so they practice their driving 99% of the time even though driving is a very low percentage of your overal score on the golf course

Good all arond golfers are the ones on tour. They can pound the ball off the tee with great acuracy and they can hit greens all day long with any club and can get it close enough to one putt most of the time. They also know when to lay off and hit 3w when they know they can reach it with the driver...(something i need to work on)

So driving ability has nothing to do with scoring ability...and thats exactly what people try to do when they call new golfers liers for claiming they can drive the ball 300+

 

[SilverUberXeno]

I wouldn't say it has "NOTHING" to do with scoring ability. Driving distance usually means you hit everything farther than average. Hitting a 7 iron 180 yards makes it much easier to hit GIR, for the loft/stopping power.

Driving it 280+ does not mean you are a good golfer, but you're nuts if you don't think it helps your game. It's not going to cover the rest of your game, but if you're hitting 8 iron where everyone else is hitting a 4 iron, you don't have to be as good as they are to shoot the same score.

 

[eclark53520]

I wouldn't say it has "NOTHING" to do with scoring ability. Driving distance usually means you hit everything farther than average. Hitting a 7 iron 180 yards makes it much easier to hit GIR, for the loft/stopping power.

Driving it 280+ does not mean you are a good golfer, but you're nuts if you don't think it helps your game. It's not going to cover the rest of your game, but if you're hitting 8 iron where everyone else is hitting a 4 iron, you don't have to be as good as they are to shoot the same score.

True, there is something to say about swingspeed and being able to hit your irons further, but the fact is with all that practice with the driver engrains the driver swing...and the swing you put on a 7i is MUCH different than the swing you put on a driver, thus, their 7i only goes about as far as your pitching wedge(if it gets off the ground)

I was just giving an example and i agree, the word 'nothing' was not the correct term...

 

[SilverUberXeno]

You are correct though, especially with that swing-difference-idea. Guys who practice their drivers 24/7 are worse with their 7 irons than a guy who can only drive 210.

 

[David Hillman]

I'm not a big hitter (250-275) and I had my doubts, but I played with a friend of my father/brother-in-law's last year, and was impressed.

He's a big guy, must 280 or so, and he takes a Daly-sized cut. He went for the green on a 380y par 4, and damn near made it. He had a 20y chip, and proceeded to take, I think, 3 more shots to get it on the green. The rest of his game was woefully eratic, but holy cow could he bomb it off the tee. He didn't hit one less than 340. It was crazy.

And yeah, he did go to a long-drive contest. He claims he was hitting just as far as anyone while they were warming up... until he threw his back out, and had to leave in an ambulance.