So How Far Do Average Golfers Really Hit the Ball?

[cmatthews77]

By handicap standards I'm average(21.2 hcp). I hit my 7 iron 170ish and my driver goes 280-290. consistency on shots is my issue, but my distances are where I believe they should be. driver ss 107-114.

 

I bet you get asked to play in A LOT of scrambles!!!!

[deadsolid...shank]

I saw one Sunday by Vnutz lasered at 324! So I know how far he can hit it.

 

Some people really do know how far they hit it.

[buckeyefl]

Everything missing dead centre or sweet spot is a mishit, i wasn't talking about duffed shots. if I shanked a 7 iron and hit a bin 15 yards away I'm obviously going to discount it. Over a period of time most golfers know how far they hit the ball. I was presuming a certain amount of common sense would be used.

 

80% of golfers sits at the 18-36 handicap and then the majority of golfers in the world would likely, not know their distances at all.

so "most golfers" isnt correct.

 

I have played with loads of high handicappers as well as single digit guys and completely disagree with that comment, maybe the guys you play with are dafter than the ones I do

 

The majority of people I play golf with have a pretty good idea of how far they hit the ball when making normal, solid contact. And that includes the plus 30 handicapper that plays in our group.

 

Most of the time when someone in our group comes up short, it is because we misjudged the wind or the slope or because we mishit it.

 

Simply not true unless you play with the anomaly of anomalies. You last sentence negates everything else. They do not know how far they hit their clubs or the things you mentioned, minus mishits which will be numerous, or they wouldn't be coming up short. There have literally been books written as well as studies on the topic so what you suggest is simply not the case. Its along tge "feel vs fact" when working on your swing. You are seriously suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages?

[Gh05t]

By handicap standards I'm average(21.2 hcp). I hit my 7 iron 170ish and my driver goes 280-290. consistency on shots is my issue, but my distances are where I believe they should be. driver ss 107-114.

 

I bet you get asked to play in A LOT of scrambles!!!!

Lol suprisingly no, however will be in one on 3 weeks, I'll do my part

[DLev45]

Everything missing dead centre or sweet spot is a mishit, i wasn't talking about duffed shots. if I shanked a 7 iron and hit a bin 15 yards away I'm obviously going to discount it. Over a period of time most golfers know how far they hit the ball. I was presuming a certain amount of common sense would be used.

 

80% of golfers sits at the 18-36 handicap and then the majority of golfers in the world would likely, not know their distances at all.

so "most golfers" isnt correct.

 

I have played with loads of high handicappers as well as single digit guys and completely disagree with that comment, maybe the guys you play with are dafter than the ones I do

 

The majority of people I play golf with have a pretty good idea of how far they hit the ball when making normal, solid contact. And that includes the plus 30 handicapper that plays in our group.

 

Most of the time when someone in our group comes up short, it is because we misjudged the wind or the slope or because we mishit it.

 

Simply not true unless you play with the anomaly of anomalies. You last sentence negates everything else. They do not know how far they hit their clubs or the things you mentioned, minus mishits which will be numerous, or they wouldn't be coming up short. There have literally been books written as well as studies on the topic so what you suggest is simply not the case. Its along tge "feel vs fact" when working on your swing. You are seriously suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages?

 

I think he is suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages on a good shot with each club. That doesn't help much when his chances of hitting said good shot is < 25%.

[North Butte]

r

I think he is suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages on a good shot with each club. That doesn't help much when his chances of hitting said good shot is < 25%.

 

Just so.

 

Also accounting for the range of distances for the other 75% of the time which is anywhere from 100 yards shorter (duffed) to 30 yards longer (bladed) than his good-shot distance. And every distance in between. Plus the left-right misses.

 

Our mythical 30 handicapper might have a 90th-percentile range of 110 to 160 yards with his "150 club" that goes exactly 150 on a perfectly struck shot. He will probably, if he's at all smart, cheat the odds a bit and use the "150 club" (which is frequenty 110-160 totally at random and much shorter or longer occasionally) from about 140 yards. But even doing that he is still going to hit it 110, 120 or 130 at least half the time. Leading the self appointed experts here to claim that he's an idiot who doesn't know how far that club goes.

 

Of course he could certainly be very pessimistic and play that "150 club" from 120 yards. That way he'll only occasionally be 10 yards short and will have to well and truly foozle to be short of the green all together. But how do you think his scorecard will look once he mixes in a selection of 130, 140 and 160 yards shot when he's 120 from the flag? At any of the courses I normally play a steady diet of hitting three extra clubs from 120 will lead to at least a couple of lost/OB balls ON PERFECTLY STRUCK IRON SHOTS.

 

That's not course management. That's just becoming a head case.

[North Texas]

r

I think he is suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages on a good shot with each club. That doesn't help much when his chances of hitting said good shot is < 25%.

 

Just so.

 

Also accounting for the range of distances for the other 75% of the time which is anywhere from 100 yards shorter (duffed) to 30 yards longer (bladed) than his good-shot distance. And every distance in between. Plus the left-right misses.

 

Our mythical 30 handicapper might have a 90th-percentile range of 110 to 160 yards with his "150 club" that goes exactly 150 on a perfectly struck shot. He will probably, if he's at all smart, cheat the odds a bit and use the "150 club" (which is frequenty 110-160 totally at random and much shorter or longer occasionally) from about 140 yards. But even doing that he is still going to hit it 110, 120 or 130 at least half the time. Leading the self appointed experts here to claim that he's an idiot who doesn't know how far that club goes.

 

Of course he could certainly be very pessimistic and play that "150 club" from 120 yards. That way he'll only occasionally be 10 yards short and will have to well and truly foozle to be short of the green all together. But how do you think his scorecard will look once he mixes in a selection of 130, 140 and 160 yards shot when he's 120 from the flag? At any of the courses I normally play a steady diet of hitting three extra clubs from 120 will lead to at least a couple of lost/OB balls ON PERFECTLY STRUCK IRON SHOTS.

 

That's not course management. That's just becoming a head case.

 

This explains it as good as anyone can. Can't understand why more people don't get what you are saying.

[wmblake2000]

This whole question of 'how far do you hit (especially irons)' has been on my mind. Like most of us, there is a range between poorly hit, adequately hit, well hit and wow I smoked that one. Averages don't make sense because outliers have too much influence. Should you focus on your median distance (half longer, half shorter)? Or modal distance (the length you hit the most balls)?

 

PS: on most holes I'd rather be short than long of the green

[elwhippy]

No more than 200 yards on the level with a driver. I am talking UK conditions. Courses usually have some moisture and our fairways grass can't be cut too short or they die off. 250 is a big hit at 55 degrees and moist air.

[North Texas]

Everything missing dead centre or sweet spot is a mishit, i wasn't talking about duffed shots. if I shanked a 7 iron and hit a bin 15 yards away I'm obviously going to discount it. Over a period of time most golfers know how far they hit the ball. I was presuming a certain amount of common sense would be used.

 

80% of golfers sits at the 18-36 handicap and then the majority of golfers in the world would likely, not know their distances at all.

so "most golfers" isnt correct.

 

I have played with loads of high handicappers as well as single digit guys and completely disagree with that comment, maybe the guys you play with are dafter than the ones I do

 

The majority of people I play golf with have a pretty good idea of how far they hit the ball when making normal, solid contact. And that includes the plus 30 handicapper that plays in our group.

 

Most of the time when someone in our group comes up short, it is because we misjudged the wind or the slope or because we mishit it.

 

Simply not true unless you play with the anomaly of anomalies. You last sentence negates everything else. They do not know how far they hit their clubs or the things you mentioned, minus mishits which will be numerous, or they wouldn't be coming up short. There have literally been books written as well as studies on the topic so what you suggest is simply not the case. Its along tge "feel vs fact" when working on your swing. You are seriously suggesting a 30 handicap knows his yardages?

 

Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you.

[Argonne69]

We all mishit shots from time to time. The better the player, they less frequently they happen. What shocks me the most are not the shots hit short, but the ones that airmail the green. I'm not talking about a shot pulled, hit thin, or sculled. I'm talking about the well hit ball that went 20 yards over the green. What did you just hit? What did you think you just hit? I see this quite often with wedges. Maybe these players don't know how to hit a partial wedge, but taking a full swing with a PW from 90 yards is generally a no-no.

 

Of course, it's not like it hasn't happened to me. How many times did I hit a 6 iron thinking it was a 9 iron? My favorite example was playing a course for the first time in which I was preparing to nail the clock tower on the clubhouse behind the 9th green. I was in the middle of the fairway at the blue pole, and pulled out a 5 wood for a 210 yard shot to the back pin position. My partner looked at me, and said, "A fairway wood from 150 yards"? I'm like, the pole is blue = 200 yards. I guess I hadn't noticed up to that point that the course used colored 150 markers to indicate the flag position, rather than colored pin flags. WTF. I had never seen this before, or since.

[North Butte]

Well maybe some of those airmailed iron shots were from duffers who clubbed-up to avoid the embarrassment of coming up short of the green! You gotta admit, a purely struck shot that flies right over the flag and clears the back of the green by 15 yards is mighty impressive...until you go look at where the ball ended up.

[Aquila]

Something else that prevents me from clubbing up to account for the probability of a less than perfect ball strike is as follows: do I want to risk hitting past my target with a well-struck shot? Asked another way, do I want to penalize good performance?

[596]

The discussion is being reduced to "I've seen once" or "One time I saw" or "on my course", etc.

 

We really need to stick to the odds. I know that a lot of golfers don't like odds, as they are shooting for the one shot, the perfectly struck ball with the 7 iron from 150, the heck with the other 5 that cost me a double bogey. The odds also say that there is a place to miss the green or not. The safe place may be short or may be long, it all depends.

 

When I say that 80% of golfers miss short, trust me, it is NOT because that was where the safe miss was. I see tons of balls in the front bunkers with the safe miss long. It makes no difference, they will miss short either because they mishit the ball or they under clubbed. I'd bet even when they hit it well, it's coming up short.

 

On the other side of the coin. The average golfer can't hit the ball the said distance 80% of the time, so how do they account for that? Do they take one or even two more clubs? If they hit the green 2 times with that 7 iron and 4 times with the 6 iron from 150, even though that 6 iron was a mishit, the odds say to play the mishit 6 iron. How many people are willing to do that? I know I am and my playing buddy does the same thing. Unless that perfectly struck 6 iron will go into a lake, I'll club up and hit the green more then if I hit the 7 iron. I'll play the odds and deal with the perfectly struck shot 2 of 10 times and play on the green 4 of 10 times with a mishit. (these numbers are only for example, I have no idea if they are real of not and other factors may effect the result , but you get the point, no need to nic pic).

 

The only real way to solve this problem of coming up short is practice, practice, practice, since 99% of all mishits WILL be short. What are the odds of hitting a mishit long? LOL

[North Butte]

You and I obviously play on very different courses.

[DavePelz4]

I saw one Sunday by Vnutz lasered at 324! So I know how far he can hit it.

 

Some people really do know how far they hit it.

 

And he wants to replace his driver...I just don't get it.

[deadsolid...shank]

He's looking for 325!!

[buckeyefl]

"Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you."

 

 

 

 

Because it's simply not a fact for a 30 handicapper. What you mean to say is he gets lucky one out of twenty times and just happens to hit one a certain distance after it rolls out, comes to rest after being chunked, hits a sprinkler head etc. More than likely he has trouble gauging a chip or 20 yard pitch let alone what you suggest. The chances you know the one in a million 30 handicapper that can accurately predict his yardage over water to a 10 yard deep island green from 150 yards with any regularity are astronomical. But of course everyone here hits 320 yard five irons so maybe you are right.

[North Butte]

Again, if he might hit a 5-iron anywhere from 20 yards to 170 yards on any given shot what club do you suggest he choose from 150 yards.

 

Of course 30-handicappers are unlikely to get a good result on a shot as you describe. So what do YOU suggest he do in that case? Hit driver? Pick it up and toss it in the water since he's probably going to end up there anyway? Quit the game?

 

The assertions that are always made in these silly threads are that the vast majority of golfers 1) delude themselves into thinking they hit each club much farther than they really do and therefore 2) they would improve their scores by taking 1, 2, 3 (or how many?) extra club on every single shot. A 30-handicapper play #17 at Sawgrass on a breezy day can't solve his problems by clubbing up.

[Pepperturbo]

Often times average Joe mid-hi cap golfer doesn't know he de-lofted the club, making it launch much longer than its actual yardage. See it rather often too, with a few friends that are 15-21 handicaps. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to watch someones mechanics and finish, to know, normally, he couldn't hit, say 7i, 180-190 yards.

 

When a ball is hit pure by skilled ball striker, its extra distance is a bit longer than normal. Better amateurs have two or three yardages per club... easy, normal and pushed, all of which are controlled. My 7i is 150+ carry...but I can push it to 160, and I am old. However, 15-20+ caps don't have that controlled ball striking ability. Hence, when they hit a club over the green one of two things occurred. Either he doesn't know actual yardages of his clubs (which is often the case) and chose the wrong club, or not knowing he de-lofted the club, making a 7i into 5 or 4i.

 

A friend does that rather often and stands in amassment when he fly's the green by 20-40yds. His natural response is tentative excitement that he could hit that club that far I laugh. Finally a couple of months back I demonstrated how its done, by de-lofting 155yd 7 iron, pushing it to 170yds, yanked it a bit, too, as it flew the green. :lol: :beach: The problem with de-lofting and average Joe golfer, he doesn't know when that happens or what he's doing to cause. De-lofting is also hard to control at impact.

[jut111]

"Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you."

 

 

 

Because it's simply not a fact for a 30 handicapper. What you mean to say is he gets lucky one out of twenty times and just happens to hit one a certain distance after it rolls out, comes to rest after being chunked, hits a sprinkler head etc. More than likely he has trouble gauging a chip or 20 yard pitch let alone what you suggest. The chances you know the one in a million 30 handicapper that can accurately predict his yardage over water to a 10 yard deep island green from 150 yards with any regularity are astronomical. But of course everyone here hits 320 yard five irons so maybe you are right.

 

What part of when he hits it good don't you get? Why is it so hard to believe a high handicapper knows how far he hits it when he makes solid contact?

[jut111]

The discussion is being reduced to "I've seen once" or "One time I saw" or "on my course", etc.

 

We really need to stick to the odds. I know that a lot of golfers don't like odds, as they are shooting for the one shot, the perfectly struck ball with the 7 iron from 150, the heck with the other 5 that cost me a double bogey. The odds also say that there is a place to miss the green or not. The safe place may be short or may be long, it all depends.

 

When I say that 80% of golfers miss short, trust me, it is NOT because that was where the safe miss was. I see tons of balls in the front bunkers with the safe miss long. It makes no difference, they will miss short either because they mishit the ball or they under clubbed. I'd bet even when they hit it well, it's coming up short.

 

On the other side of the coin. The average golfer can't hit the ball the said distance 80% of the time, so how do they account for that? Do they take one or even two more clubs? If they hit the green 2 times with that 7 iron and 4 times with the 6 iron from 150, even though that 6 iron was a mishit, the odds say to play the mishit 6 iron. How many people are willing to do that? I know I am and my playing buddy does the same thing. Unless that perfectly struck 6 iron will go into a lake, I'll club up and hit the green more then if I hit the 7 iron. I'll play the odds and deal with the perfectly struck shot 2 of 10 times and play on the green 4 of 10 times with a mishit. (these numbers are only for example, I have no idea if they are real of not and other factors may effect the result , but you get the point, no need to nic pic).

 

The only real way to solve this problem of coming up short is practice, practice, practice, since 99% of all mishits WILL be short. What are the odds of hitting a mishit long? LOL

 

Obviously your "miss" isn't a hot pull. My last round of the 9 greens I missed, 7 were missed long thanks to that.

[North Texas]

"Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you."

 

 

 

 

Because it's simply not a fact for a 30 handicapper. What you mean to say is he gets lucky one out of twenty times and just happens to hit one a certain distance after it rolls out, comes to rest after being chunked, hits a sprinkler head etc. More than likely he has trouble gauging a chip or 20 yard pitch let alone what you suggest. The chances you know the one in a million 30 handicapper that can accurately predict his yardage over water to a 10 yard deep island green from 150 yards with any regularity are astronomical. But of course everyone here hits 320 yard five irons so maybe you are right.

 

 

Are you even reading what I post? Because your reply has nothing to do with what I posted.

 

To keep it simple just focus on what the bold part says. That's really all that matters in this conversation.

[buckeyefl]

"Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you."

 

 

 

 

Because it's simply not a fact for a 30 handicapper. What you mean to say is he gets lucky one out of twenty times and just happens to hit one a certain distance after it rolls out, comes to rest after being chunked, hits a sprinkler head etc. More than likely he has trouble gauging a chip or 20 yard pitch let alone what you suggest. The chances you know the one in a million 30 handicapper that can accurately predict his yardage over water to a 10 yard deep island green from 150 yards with any regularity are astronomical. But of course everyone here hits 320 yard five irons so maybe you are right.

 

 

Are you even reading what I post? Because your reply has nothing to do with what I posted.

 

To keep it simple just focus on what the bold part says. That's really all that matters in this conversation.

 

And its really not a fact unless you added a zero to his handicap. To keep it simple go back and read what the bold part says. You cant change reality just because you saw something happen once in a blue moon.

[buckeyefl]

"Well, I've only been playing with this 30 handicapper pretty much every week for about 5-6 years now so I'm going to flat out tell you that I know better than you in this case. This guy has a pretty good idea of how far he hits the ball on a normal, well hit shot. Now obviously he hits a bad shot more often than he hits a good shot. But when he is 150 yards out, he knows what club will go 150 yards if he hits it good. Don't know why that's hard to believe but I guess it is for you."

 

 

 

Because it's simply not a fact for a 30 handicapper. What you mean to say is he gets lucky one out of twenty times and just happens to hit one a certain distance after it rolls out, comes to rest after being chunked, hits a sprinkler head etc. More than likely he has trouble gauging a chip or 20 yard pitch let alone what you suggest. The chances you know the one in a million 30 handicapper that can accurately predict his yardage over water to a 10 yard deep island green from 150 yards with any regularity are astronomical. But of course everyone here hits 320 yard five irons so maybe you are right.

 

What part of when he hits it good don't you get? Why is it so hard to believe a high handicapper knows how far he hits it when he makes solid contact?

 

Because their solid contact is extremly rare and unpredictable. Hell ive taught people how to chip and suddenly when they hit something solid for the first time they are stricken with how odd it feels and how far they hit it. A 30 handicapper would rarely even know if they hit it solid and usually couldnt tell you where they hit it on the face unless its at the extreme edges of the clubface. They also rarely hit the same spot when chipping or putting but we are supposed to believe they have solid contact figured out. They are a 30 for a reason and its usually not because they have a full grasp of a solid shot compared to one thats not. This isnt something just being pulled out of space, its been studied and verified over and over again. They arent alone as most people dont lnow how far they carry most of their clubs.

[jut111]

No one is arguing that a 30 handicapper likely doesn't make solid contact on any consistent basis. As was stated, when your range of distance outcomes with 7 iron is 25 yard chunk thru 150 yard solid contact lets say, what is he supposed to do? And whose to say that he doesn't know that when he hits it good even if he doesn't know what it feels like (which I think is complete nonsense by the way) it will go about 150?

 

In this day and age with the availability of GPS and other distance measuring technology, frankly if you don't know how far you hit it, you're either not trying or you can't overcome your own ego. Theirs not much other excuse.

[buckeyefl]

Agreed there is no excuse and yet the golf ball hawking companies are thankful everyday for courses that put lakes in front of greens. Golfers egos and delusion know no bounds.

[North Butte]

Hitting a ball over a lake in front of a green is hard. If you catch it on the toe or with the face open or a little steep or a bit fat or flip at it or do any of a dozen other things that duffers do every round, the ball will end up in the lake.

 

Again, is the solution to hit driver from 120 yards so you'll have the best chance of clearing the lake? Then what do you do when you drop-kick the driver into the lake?

 

My home course has a long Par 5 with a pond the last 90 yards in front of the green. Most times I play the hole, two good shots leave me an 8-iron or 9-iron off a slight downslope to the green. Needs at least 100 yards to get over the water and 120-130 to the hole usually.

 

About a third of the times I play that hole I either fat it or blade it and end up in the water. If I'm only going to make decent contact off the downslope 2 out of 3 times with an 8-iron, do you think I ought to hit a 7-iron instead? Think a bladed 7-iron will fly 100 yards? Or maybe a 6-iron? 5-iron? Fairway wood?

[buckeyefl]

The solution is to get better and be realistic. There is no magic bullet other than practice and a solid grasp of your current ability.

 

The 25 yard chunk shouldn't be in the mental equation but the minimum carry distance needs to be his main focus. There lies the problem since most people who think they carry a certain club 150 don't and the vast majority of the time one up short of that even when hit "solid". People hit that 7 iron 135 and it rolls to 142 and is sitting beside a front pin. The distance they had was 150 to the center and the green is 20 yards deep. So in their mind they bit a 7 iron 150. This happens thousands of times a day.

[dap]

I don't think there is a hard and fast rule that average players don't know their distances. Usually it's the ones that play mostly for fun and don't keep score are not realistic about how far they hit their clubs. The players that gamble usually know their distances because it will soon become expensive if they don't. These players are quite often too long because they make sure they have plenty of club to reach the green.