Driving distance ranges for junior golfers

[eddiebigeddie]

On 5/4/2021 at 9:47 AM, BloctonGolf11 said:

6 months ago my son was lucky to pop 160 yard drives...16th, 17th, and 18th holes Saturday, tired, he went 192, 195, 191. Like you said once they hit those spurts and you find the right combo it pops. 

Its funny how just time/growth etc. changes a kid.  I remember my son finishing his 8th grade season back in September of last year (13 yrs old) and could barely hit it 220 on a good drive.  Well, fast forward to December/January and he hit a big growth spurt (height & weight) and he's now hitting the ball 260-270 on normal drives with a few longer on perfect drives.  Little 💩 has already caught me with his distances.

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, eddiebigeddie said:

Its funny how just time/growth etc. changes a kid.  I remember my son finishing his 8th grade season back in September of last year (13 yrs old) and could barely hit it 220 on a good drive.  Well, fast forward to December/January and he hit a big growth spurt (height & weight) and he's now hitting the ball 260-270 on normal drives with a few longer on perfect drives.  Little 💩 has already caught me with his distances.

This is why golf is in a decline. Parents quit when their kids outdrive them. 
 

source: me

[BloctonGolf11]

12 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

This is why golf is in a decline. Parents quit when their kids outdrive them. 
 

source: me

That happened at what, 9 Leezer?

[eddiebigeddie]

1 hour ago, leezer99 said:

This is why golf is in a decline. Parents quit when their kids outdrive them. 
 

source: me

Luckily thats not me...I can still beat him because he hasn't learned course management at 14 yet, still wants to hit less club than he thinks he needs "because he's so strong" LOL.  Plus I chip & Putt way better then him.  But he's coming along well & I hope he beats me badly before its over with so it helps him get into college 😉

[leezer99]

1 hour ago, BloctonGolf11 said:

That happened at what, 9 Leezer?

 

Lets set this straight... he has beaten me ONCE when he was 11 (now 13).  It was at the Kapalua Bay Course where I played the blues and he played the whites.  I've spanked him playing only 9 iron though because like @eddiebigeddie expressed, my son makes dumb decisions on the course.  My clubs are in semi retirement now though... just not enough time.

[BloctonGolf11]

2 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

 

Lets set this straight... he has beaten me ONCE when he was 11 (now 13).  It was at the Kapalua Bay Course where I played the blues and he played the whites.  I've spanked him playing only 9 iron though because like @eddiebigeddie expressed, my son makes dumb decisions on the course.  My clubs are in semi retirement now though... just not enough time.

I am glad I can use pending shoulder surgery as an excuse to not play my son now. He never beat me but it was quickly on the horizon. 

[heavy_hitter]

19 hours ago, leezer99 said:

This is why golf is in a decline. Parents quit when their kids outdrive them. 
 

source: me

This is true.  I quit when my daughter out drove me and could beat me.

[Golfingdawg19]

My daughter is 13 and has always been small for her age. I think she is 5'3 now and close to 100lbs. She had been stuck driving it around 185 for a long time and her swing speed was low 70's. I took her to get fit for irons and they told me that she needed something with a senior flex so she got all new irons (Mizuno 921 Hotmetal Pro). I went ahead and got her new woods with senior shafts in them and I swapped out the shafts in her hybrids for senior flex. The new driver (Cobra Radspeed) has a 10.5 degree loft where her old driver had 12.5. All of a sudden she has picked up a ton of yardage. Driver is consistently going 200yds now and yesterday she hit one 215 yds. The flight is a little lower and she is getting more roll out. The spin numbers are down as well so all of this stuff factors into it. When I took her for a lesson about two weeks ago, her driver speed was at 76mph and that was at the very end of the lesson. I'm sure it is a little higher than that when she isn't tired. Bottom line is things can change fast. Some of it is growth and some of it is the right equipment.

[eddiebigeddie]

^^^this is so true.  Like I said earlier about my son...last fall he ended the High School season (he's an 8th grader, just turned 14 in Feb.) as the #6 man on the team and shortest hitter distance wise 220 on a good day.  The team went to an actual fitter with trackman last month and he ended that day as the longest hitter by a good 10 yds (274 that day vs 262/263 for next kid).  Luckily for our team, we are Young and "should" be really good for the next few years.  We'll start this fall season with (2 Freshmen, 3 sophmores & 1 senior) and unfortunately for the Senior, he is going to battle for the 5 spot all year.  My son went from ladies flex driver and mid 80g stiff irons shafts to end the season....now he's in Reg Flex driver, stiff woods, 120g stiff irons shafts.

[Ray Jackson]

My little guy is 12 (13 in December) and hit a speed increase recently. Now at 91 with driver, 210 approx carry and total 230 ish…..we have a GC2. He has been working on club head speed, does some work in the gym and is being dragged along by his bigger faster older buddies. In his tournament age group he’s the longest except for one other kid who has some lbs on him. 

[kekoa]

Speaking of speed and distance, my son played a few practice rounds with a 10yr old kid who consistently hits it 240-260.  I've never seen anything like it.  We put him on the mevo+ and his average SS was 97.   He's very good, but luckily golf isn't his #1 passion 😉

Edited May 27, 2021 by kekoa

[Goldenhawk]

I thought my oldest son hit it long during his high school days.  Normal drives during the junior and senior years were around 280 yards with 300+ when he goes after it.  My second oldest son missed his freshman year on the golf team in 2020 due to COVID.  But he easily matches my oldest now, and he is still growing.  Can't wait to see what he can do this coming school year.

[leezer99]

3 hours ago, kekoa said:

Speaking of speed and distance, my son played a few practice rounds with a 10yr old kid who consistently hits it 240-260.  I've never seen anything like it.  We put him on the mevo+ and his average SS was 197.   He's very good, but luckily golf isn't his #1 passion 😉

SS 197?

[kekoa]

18 hours ago, leezer99 said:

SS 197?

Yah.  minus 100 🙂

[wildcatden]

97MPH Swing speed for a 10YO?!  Wowza!!  Is he a big kid?  I'm trying to figure out how when my junior is going to make his next jump. Finally got him into a better shaft that appears to fit him (Aerotech Claymore MX48 F2 Flex), but his SS is in the 70-72 range on average with occasional bursts to 74-75 (and bad ones down in 68-69 range). 

 

We have Speed Sticks, but those seem to screw up his swing whenever we use them.  Don't know why, but he just gets all out of whack with them. In the meantime, we keep playing other sports (primarily baseball and tennis). He pitched a 5-inning, 1 run game the other day with 3 hits, 7 SO's and 1 walk.   Also doing "body weight" type exercises (push ups, leg lifts, etc...) and have 6lb medicine ball to do chest pass tosses, etc...

[MB19]

15 minutes ago, wildcatden said:

97MPH Swing speed for a 10YO?!  Wowza!!  Is he a big kid?  I'm trying to figure out how when my junior is going to make his next jump. Finally got him into a better shaft that appears to fit him (Aerotech Claymore MX48 F2 Flex), but his SS is in the 70-72 range on average with occasional bursts to 74-75 (and bad ones down in 68-69 range). 

 

We have Speed Sticks, but those seem to screw up his swing whenever we use them.  Don't know why, but he just gets all out of whack with them. In the meantime, we keep playing other sports (primarily baseball and tennis). He pitched a 5-inning, 1 run game the other day with 3 hits, 7 SO's and 1 walk.   Also doing "body weight" type exercises (push ups, leg lifts, etc...) and have 6lb medicine ball to do chest pass tosses, etc...

Medicine Ball has been great for my kids.

 

 

[Goldenhawk]

14 minutes ago, MB19 said:

Medicine Ball has been great for my kids.

 

 

Medicine Ball and Swing Fan are what my boys use.

[Kcct82]

33 minutes ago, wildcatden said:

97MPH Swing speed for a 10YO?!  Wowza!!  Is he a big kid?  I'm trying to figure out how when my junior is going to make his next jump. Finally got him into a better shaft that appears to fit him (Aerotech Claymore MX48 F2 Flex), but his SS is in the 70-72 range on average with occasional bursts to 74-75 (and bad ones down in 68-69 range). 

 

We have Speed Sticks, but those seem to screw up his swing whenever we use them.  Don't know why, but he just gets all out of whack with them. In the meantime, we keep playing other sports (primarily baseball and tennis). He pitched a 5-inning, 1 run game the other day with 3 hits, 7 SO's and 1 walk.   Also doing "body weight" type exercises (push ups, leg lifts, etc...) and have 6lb medicine ball to do chest pass tosses, etc...

Yeah, speed stick messes with my kid’s swing too. Wasted a few hundred bucks on The Stack.

[RmoorePE]

My 13 year old daughter is constantly chasing distance with her driver. In the events she has played in, her driving distance has always been in the top of her groupings, and so I never worry about it but she takes it very seriously.

 

She's a 7th grader and somehow worked her way into daily weight lifting with an 8th grade boys basketball team after school. I didn't even know until one day we were golfing in the evening and she was complaining that her distances were all 10 yards short. I noticed her sequencing looked slow or lazy. I asked if she felt tired or something. She said "Not tired, just sore, I did front squats and Romanian deadlifts today."  I was like "What? Where?" and she told me she had been working out for 2 weeks with the team. The weightlifting coach is very good, so once I found out he was in charge of the training I was happy to hear she was engaged with them. I talked to him and he told me the program was heavy functional lifting, with optimum recovery periods for muscle groups mindful of jumping and accel/decel. All good stuff for a youth golfer/athlete. When she is practicing on her net at home she uses a headless club between hits to practice moving really fast.

 

Anyway the differences in distance over just a couple months is 10 yards plus. She was on the trackman last night at my friends house and could get in the 240-250 range when 230 was the max the last time we were there.

[heavy_hitter]

19 hours ago, wildcatden said:

97MPH Swing speed for a 10YO?!  Wowza!!  Is he a big kid?  I'm trying to figure out how when my junior is going to make his next jump. Finally got him into a better shaft that appears to fit him (Aerotech Claymore MX48 F2 Flex), but his SS is in the 70-72 range on average with occasional bursts to 74-75 (and bad ones down in 68-69 range). 

 

We have Speed Sticks, but those seem to screw up his swing whenever we use them.  Don't know why, but he just gets all out of whack with them. In the meantime, we keep playing other sports (primarily baseball and tennis). He pitched a 5-inning, 1 run game the other day with 3 hits, 7 SO's and 1 walk.   Also doing "body weight" type exercises (push ups, leg lifts, etc...) and have 6lb medicine ball to do chest pass tosses, etc...

 

My opinion and many others is that Speed Stick are a waste of time for juniors.  If you are going to do them, better off just swinging the lightest stick.  Have been told, the only reason they are in a lot of the PGA players bags is because the companies pay the caddies to slip them into the Tour Players bags.  Very few tour players are actually using them.

 

Best way to gain speed...  Chest strength, leg strength (box jumps, squats, dead lifts).  For a kid not ready to hit the gym, would just stick to push ups, med ball chest pushes, and a plyo box.

[darter79]

20 hours ago, Kcct82 said:

Yeah, speed stick messes with my kid’s swing too. Wasted a few hundred bucks on The Stack.

can't knock the stack that system is smart. I've seen my kids speed not only go up but better golf as well. That system is a lot different than super speed as its actually guided and their max is the same effort level as you would swing your driver. I never had any good results with super speed outside of a game to play on breaking records. That said after having the stack for about a month I had her pick up her old super speed sticks and speed was up on average of 10-13 mph on the super speed. I say the stack works.

 

Now I don't think that is the only thing kids should be doing. 

[Kcct82]

47 minutes ago, darter79 said:

can't knock the stack that system is smart. I've seen my kids speed not only go up but better golf as well. That system is a lot different than super speed as its actually guided and their max is the same effort level as you would swing your driver. I never had any good results with super speed outside of a game to play on breaking records. That said after having the stack for about a month I had her pick up her old super speed sticks and speed was up on average of 10-13 mph on the super speed. I say the stack works.

 

Now I don't think that is the only thing kids should be doing. 

Good to know you guys are having success with The Stack. My kid is probably too young for it right now. He would start to chase numbers and use his arms and flip in his swing. He doesn’t have the self control to keep the swing the same.

[heavy_hitter]

1 hour ago, darter79 said:

can't knock the stack that system is smart. I've seen my kids speed not only go up but better golf as well. That system is a lot different than super speed as its actually guided and their max is the same effort level as you would swing your driver. I never had any good results with super speed outside of a game to play on breaking records. That said after having the stack for about a month I had her pick up her old super speed sticks and speed was up on average of 10-13 mph on the super speed. I say the stack works.

 

Now I don't think that is the only thing kids should be doing. 

I heard about this outstanding 10 yr old girl in Texas making massive strides with the Stack.

[jj9000]

Removing this post, as it could be taken out of context.

 

Made the parties laugh though.

 

Edited May 28, 2021 by jj9000

[darter79]

52 minutes ago, Kcct82 said:

Good to know you guys are having success with The Stack. My kid is probably too young for it right now. He would start to chase numbers and use his arms and flip in his swing. He doesn’t have the self control to keep the swing the same.

Self control is king, you have to gain speed the correct way. Over speed yes, but still making a swing that's not flying all over the place. Stack builds in all kinds of elements. 

[leezer99]

4 hours ago, heavy_hitter said:

I heard about this outstanding 10 yr old girl in Texas making massive strides with the Stack.

 

Bro, I heard she's carrying it 240+ now.  

[kekoa]

On 5/27/2021 at 11:32 AM, wildcatden said:

97MPH Swing speed for a 10YO?!  Wowza!!  Is he a big kid?  I'm trying to figure out how when my junior is going to make his next jump. Finally got him into a better shaft that appears to fit him (Aerotech Claymore MX48 F2 Flex), but his SS is in the 70-72 range on average with occasional bursts to 74-75 (and bad ones down in 68-69 range). 

 

We have Speed Sticks, but those seem to screw up his swing whenever we use them.  Don't know why, but he just gets all out of whack with them. In the meantime, we keep playing other sports (primarily baseball and tennis). He pitched a 5-inning, 1 run game the other day with 3 hits, 7 SO's and 1 walk.   Also doing "body weight" type exercises (push ups, leg lifts, etc...) and have 6lb medicine ball to do chest pass tosses, etc...

 Not a big kid.  He is tall for his age though.  Voice sounds funny so I'm not sure he's hit puberty already or if thats even possible.  At 10 yr old us kid yardages he can pretty much drive every par 4 and a lot of times its not even with driver.  

[wildcatden]

1 hour ago, kekoa said:

 Not a big kid.  He is tall for his age though.  Voice sounds funny so I'm not sure he's hit puberty already or if thats even possible.  At 10 yr old us kid yardages he can pretty much drive every par 4 and a lot of times its not even with driver.  

 

Puberty earlier than normal is possible. A quick Google says can occur as early as 8(!). However, it is cautioned that early puberty can be sign a other health problems. 

[ConcernedBoutCOVID]

On 5/28/2021 at 5:51 PM, leezer99 said:

 

Bro, I heard she's carrying it 240+ now.  

That's incredibly long for a girl 10

 

Must be on track for tippy top D1 if not straight to LPGA

 

Should bring to the attention of college coaches ASAP

Edited June 2, 2021 by ConcernedBoutCOVID

[gazav]

Love seeing all the swings from the junior players. Here’s my son, Christian.

Edited June 18, 2022 by gazav