3w distance off the fairway

[DoglegRight]

I'm not the biggest hitter after a back injury in the summer of 2015. My driver SS is between 100 and 105 mph and I get about 265 out of the driver. My 3 wood off the tee is about 230 - 240. I never hit it off the deck but for once or twice every few rounds. Only when I get the occasional long par 5 that I can't reach and I'm just giving it a rip. I have a fly z+ 5 wood that I love off the deck and it's a good 220 - 225 carry. If I'm farther into a green, I don't worry about going for it.

[Arpeggi]

What are these ridiculously short distances? Are you guys listing your 3 IRON distances?

[DoglegRight]

What are these ridiculously short distances? Are you guys listing your 3 IRON distances?

 

Considering I haven't carried a 3 iron in years, nope, not quoting 3 iron lengths.

[b.mattay]

250 comfortable carry with a draw

260 comfortable carry with a fade

 

This is assuming a perfect fairway lie. If the ball is sitting down even a hair, I am likely going to a 5 wood.

[b.mattay]

I'll shoot mid to low 70's regularly with 30+ putts. If I could average in the 27-29 putt per round range I'd be very near scratch. I'm almost always around 30-33 putts per round. It KILLS me.

 

I think you could be scratch with your current putting if you have good course management (eliminate doubles/penalty strokes etc)! 30-33 putts isn't that bad, especially if you hit the centre of a lot of greens! I believe an average of 30 putts/round is about standard for a scratch golfer. If your strength is ball striking, I believe there is hope!

[jgrogan]

I can carry mine anywhere from about 50 yards to 270. Depending on contact.

 

In all seriousness 3 wood is my worst club in the bag. I am a 10 handicap. Swing speed is 120 with driver. Thinking of going to low lofted hybrid.

 

[Mikeco]

Where do you play? And are those carry distances? I play a bit better than scratch, my s.s with a 3w is 113-115 and I don't carry it anywhere near 290 on the course. Maybe on a launch monitor but I've found almost every launch monitor to be generous.

 

I play in NY. Mostly in the albany region. I competed in the NYSGA Amateur Series this past year. 6 tournaments, 3 wins. I competed in the NYS Mid-Amateur Championship as well. Played 18 around Bethpage Black for my birthday the end of July and shot 78 with 5 birdies from 6900yds 2 weeks before the Barclays. I CARRY driver 285-290. I can CARRY my 13.5* 3w 272 pretty regularly. It's not a once in a while thing. My 3hybrid is a 245 club off the tee and 230 off the deck. I know my distances. I'm a low cap and the strength of my game is ball striking. If I could putt worth a damn I'd be scratch or better.

[Mikeco]

I'll shoot mid to low 70's regularly with 30+ putts. If I could average in the 27-29 putt per round range I'd be very near scratch. I'm almost always around 30-33 putts per round. It KILLS me.

 

I think you could be scratch with your current putting if you have good course management (eliminate doubles/penalty strokes etc)! 30-33 putts isn't that bad, especially if you hit the centre of a lot of greens! I believe an average of 30 putts/round is about standard for a scratch golfer. If your strength is ball striking, I believe there is hope!

[Mikeco]

It could be the course your posting most of your rounds from as well. Speaking from experience as a good ball striker/bad putter I've always found that the difficulty of the course has little to do with how I score from 6000yd with a course hdcp of 69 to 7100 with a 76 hdcp i shoot a couple under to a couple over and it's extremely rare that j have less than 31-32 putts

[jmkenn0]

I carry my 3 wood 250 on average (ducks) - modern equipment, somewhat athletic/in-shape, decent swing. I got fitted recently for my M2 during lunch, wearing loafers and jeans - SS was 108 avg, off the tee it was going so far I don't even want to post it because of the wrath I would face.

 

And you know what? I rarely hit 3 wood - would rather use hybrid off the tee if I need to stay somewhat in play. Going for it in 2 at the course I play most of my rounds at is either not plausible or just not a good idea. Sometimes I do it just for giggles though.

[shortstack31489]

more consitently about 250 ish. On a good hit, around the 270 mark.

[IsleOfMan]

I'm hitting my 17.5* 3HL around 215-225 off the deck but don't get much, if any, more than from the tee... that said, it's a pretty shallow face deck-bias club, so I guess that's not too surprising. Also, I'm less likely to miss-hit off the tee, so there's always that. For perspective I'm getting ~225-240 out of my driver with a club head speed around 95, but I'm generating around 1000rpm too much spin for my carry and roll to be optimal and working on bringing that down... unfortunately it's swing related and not equipment, so I can't buy a solution.

[Bodles]

In my experience and opinion there's a lot of replies from 'above average' club golfers, distance wise here.

Out of the 5 guys I play with regularly 4 of us are about the same, 1 guy is what we consider long, he hits 5 iron 200-220 yards, or 180 - 200 meters, his 3 wood is like a lot of the posts here at around 260 yards.

The rest of us average about 200 - 220 yards, in different ways, 2 are mostly carry and 2 carry less but get lots of roll.

 

I know of golfers at our club who bomb the ball and easily hit 3 woods tour length, but they are more in the minority, % wise.

 

Now having said all that and have always considered myself 'average' length wise I recently replaced my old 3 wood with a new one, I had fallen out of love with the old one and it was hooking, slicing, topping and fatting, when I hit it well I would get around 200-210 yards, that was rare.

 

With my new one I hit it consistently well, very well, I make much more solid contact and the results are proof, I now average 210-230 yards, 90% of the time, depending on conditions of wind, uphill, downhill etc. I have hit it off holes where I would not have considered 3 wood before and the results again are outstanding.

 

Like I say this just my opinion and my story, nothing more. So bottom line, my old 3 wood, 200-210 at best, new 3 wood between 210 - 230 yards.

[lowheel]

I've seen alot of articles where pros hit their 3w 240-270. Is this off the tee or deck? How far can you reach? I am sitting at 215-220. I don't swing for the fences and sometimes give up yards for more accuracy if needed.

 

It definitely is the norm. Ive stood next to Stenson and Rory flying it 260+ off the deck. I have 2 3 woods a strong one 13* and a 15* off the tee i get 270 with the strong one and 260 off the tee minus 8-10 off the deck with each. Again its different for most pros but I havent come a cross a mini tour pro who cant fly it 245-250 off the deck as a reference point for pro distances. If your avatar is your swing at the top of your backswing then youre probably losing yards because of the club face pointing dramatically to the sky. Just something to look at if youre looking for more yards off the tee

[IsleOfMan]

It definitely is the norm. Ive stood next to Stenson and Rory flying it 260+ off the deck. I have 2 3 woods a strong one 13* and a 15* off the tee i get 270 with the strong one and 260 off the tee minus 8-10 off the deck with each. Again its different for most pros but I havent come a cross a mini tour pro who cant fly it 245-250 off the deck as a reference point for pro distances. If your avatar is your swing at the top of your backswing then youre probably losing yards because of the club face pointing dramatically to the sky. Just something to look at if youre looking for more yards off the tee

 

So you're saying what PGA Tour players and even mini-tour players do should be considered the norm? Seems like a stretch... like a Stretch Armstrong stretch...

[BYK]

I love these numbers

I hit mine 450 from the rough

[pinestreetgolf]

It could be the course your posting most of your rounds from as well. Speaking from experience as a good ball striker/bad putter I've always found that the difficulty of the course has little to do with how I score from 6000yd with a course hdcp of 69 to 7100 with a 76 hdcp i shoot a couple under to a couple over and it's extremely rare that j have less than 31-32 putts

 

The number of putts you attempt has almost nothing to do with your putting skill and almost everything to do with how close you hit the ball to the pin.

 

The number one factor in whether or not a player makes putts is how close the putt starts from the hole before he hits it.

 

Its almost certainly your iron play, not your putting.

[pinestreetgolf]

I love these numbers

I hit mine 450 from the rough

 

LOL, good post. I tried, earlier, and was shouted down by the "why don't you like fun" and "why is it so hard to believe that 9 out of 14 WRX posters can compress a ball off the deck better than a tour player" crowd.

 

If you give me a M2 13* 3 with a stiff shaft (to get it airborne, because we don't care about straight in this thread apparently) in a trackman bay with no course or pressure I can bust that sucker 275 probably. That wasn't the question, nor is it in any way relevant to golf.

[Benkross]

Because my 3w is high spin, i hit it father off the deck. 250-260 carry, 265-275 total. I find off the tee i hit it very high with almost no roll so while carry may be a cpl yards longer, it has shorter total distance

[J_Birdie]

I can hit my LTD 3W 275-285 off a sitting up lie/tee

 

Typical off the deck is 255-265. Rarely hit off deck but I did yesterday to much success.

[rcain1us]

240 is probaly max but it has to be a perfect fairway lie or I will hit my 5 wood or lay up if its a forced carry

[pinestreetgolf]

I think 99% of the confusion in this thread is some people are using "carry" and some are using "hit".

 

Those two things, with a 13-15* club off the deck, are worlds apart.

[ph00ny]

I think 99% of the confusion in this thread is some people are using "carry" and some are using "hit".

 

Those two things, with a 13-15* club off the deck, are worlds apart.

My carry isn't that far from total most of the time. I hit them mile high off the deck and that was the reason i chose to go with 13* instead of 15* and it certainly wasn't for distance. In fact if they made a 3 wood in 12*, i would go for it as well

[thlongball]

I love how much people get bent out of shape on these threads. Even more love how the PGA tour gets referenced as the "gold" standard for distance. Newsflash it's not, I know good highschool golfers who can blow those PGA averages out of the water, albeit in a much smaller sample size.

 

The PGA tour IS the gold standard for knowing how to play golf not hit it far.

 

ANY distance thread or claim on Golfwrx always incites a riot. Lol

[thlongball]

Sorry, way on the podium right now. I can SMASH......CREAM......a golf ball. If I park it at the range all day I can put on a show. However you gotta take it to the course, the ONLY place that matters.

 

And on the course I've been humbled by guys with knee socks, 5 year old golf shoes, old school push carts, and a $100 bag of knockoffs who KNOW how to play the game and shoot par or better. Distance is fun to talk about, debate, and for some people get flat angry about, but scoring will always be the only thing that matters.

[bigdriveandy]

If i am carrying my 3 Wood over 230 from the deck I'm thrilled. I don't hit it from the tee ever unless i need to hit something like 260-270

[fredstar]

There's 12 handicappers in this thread hitting their 4 woods further than PGA pros 3 woods. LOL

[CallTaylor]

Man I gave up 3 woods for a year or more. It's just the toughest shot for me to hit off of the ground. Hit up? Hit down? Somewhere in between? Who knows. You go look up "best way to hit a 3 wood off the deck" on google and there's any number of "teachers" telling me any one of those. I switched to a lower loft hybrid. It costs me distance sometimes but on average I hit it longer because I make better contact. However...a couple of weeks ago I picked up a Ping G 3 wood. I really would love to reach a par 5 in 2 here or there. So I'm trying to hit the damn thing off the ground again. Lol. I never hit a 3 wood off a Tee. Maybe it's because I'm not a super long hitter. Or because my driver is the most fun club in the bag for me to hit. Tight par 4s or short par 4s? Grab the driver and swing for the fences (I mean fairways) lol. So for me, the 3 wood is only a club I would use on a crazy long par 3 (check out Savannah Harbour. I played from the tips there and a par 3 was 252 yards. Lol.) or I use the 3 wood off the deck on a par 5. That's it for me. By the way, when playing from the tips at Savannah harbor, there's also a par 5 they call "the duke". It played 662 yards! Hahaha. I about crapped when I was on the tee box and saw how far the carry was just to clear the marsh. Hahahahaha

[WeekendWarrior1]

I live in Colorado therefore the air is a bit thinner up here at 6400 ft. but i have a 16.5 alpha 816 and from the deck its 265-280 same from the tee. Im sure it would be closer to about 255 or so at sea level.

[Tcann32]

I would say I average about 250-260 off the deck, and 260-270 off the tee. There is a 540-550 yard par 5 at my home course that you can't take driver on because there is a hazard that is about 300 out, Now, it's not that I hit my drives 300 every time, but about 20 yards short of the hazard is a down slope, and this puts you in real danger if you catch this thing with any real heat. On dry day's, I've still managed to get to it with my 3w, but it's a lot of roll. I pretty much go 3w-3w to the front of the green or to within 20 yards of it every time I play. Barring mis-hits, of course. I play my 3w at 16 degree, FWIW.

 

3 woods aren't that far off from drivers any more.