The Reddit "mythical golfer who hits 300 yard drives"

[RoyalMustang]

I've heard this from time to time Reddit. It got me thinking: how often do you play with someone who can hit the ball 300 yards on a regular basis? 

 

I have a few guys: 

1) buddy of mine, mid 30's, played baseball and has a pretty powerful swing. He's pretty wild but can match me in distance a couple of swings a round. Not consistently though. 

2) guy in occasional playing group, + 2 cap, usually not 300 off the tee but can get there. Deadly accurate at 275-280 though. 

3) another guy in occasional playing group, played on a team that qualified in the NCAAs multiple times. He carries over 300 on every swing. 

4) group of players we were paired with that had recently graduated college and were on a mini-tour. All were carrying 300+. On the first hole we played, which is 365 and slightly uphill, all the guys were within 50 yards of the green.  

5) Another buddy who is a 13 cap. He just swings way too hard though and rarely connects.  

6) a couple of the HS kids that I've been paired with are getting out over 300 regularly. 

 

I'd wager it's not exactly rare to find a player capable of driving 300. Carrying 300, that's tougher but still NOT that rare. But the Reddit crowd seems to think so. Sure, I don't think I've ever been paired with a rando hitting the ball that far; it would be cool if I did.

[monty09]

I have played with a few who can get it out there 300+ all in...  flying it 300 more then once a round - is more rare for me.    I dont think its as rare as it was 10-15 years ago....  

 

one guy i play with can get it out there pretty good but no clue where it is going... hits the ball FAR but hardly ever breaks 85

Edited February 7 by monty09

[OnTheBag]

11 minutes ago, monty09 said:

one guy i play with can get it out there pretty good but no clue where it is going... hits the ball FAR but hardly ever breaks 85

This is the more common occurrence.  I've never hit a drive 300+ yards in my life, that wasn't cart path assisted.  But then again, I was in my late 40's when metal woods became common.  Being in the industry for as long as I have, many of my former players and now their sons can carry 290+ with some regularity and with accuracy.  For most former baseball players, they have the swing speed but lack anything that resembles accuracy.  

[hollabachgt]

Among Shot Scope users, only 4% can drive the ball over 300 yards. Within Arccos users, no age/handicap range averages over 300 yards.  Even on the PGA Tour, there were 21 players last year who's longest drive was shorter than 300 yards.

All that to say, among the hard core golfers, the percentage of players who can drive the ball over 300 is very small. When you expand it to all players, it's a very rare feat.

[golfpractitioner5]

I’ve played with a few that can get it out to 300+ yards on occasion but have no idea where it is going.  Most were former baseball players as mentioned above.

 

With that said, I got paired up with a random guy at a course I frequent last year. He used his 3 iron off every par 4 and par 5 tee and was always 290+ yards and in the fairway.

 

I never got to see him hit his driver because him and his friends were playing for money, and they made an agreement prior to the round that he could hit from their tee box which was one up from the tips if he agreed not to use anything above a 3 iron all round.

 

He ended up shooting a 67 on a par 72 from their boxes that played out measuring 6,700 yards.

 

From what I gathered the reason that they made the agreement is had they made him play the tips and have access to his driver, he would have been even further ahead of them and in the fairway. I assumed from that and the fact that he was 290+ yards with a 3 iron that he was easily getting 300+ yards total if not carry with his driver.

 

Honestly, it was the best round I’ve ever seen in person not played by a pro. The most sickening part of it was the guy had just picked up golf 3 years prior as a good way to network for his job and played off a +4 handicap at the time I played that round with him.

 

I asked him if he ever played tournaments, and he stated that he had no interest in golf outside of work and playing with friends. The only reason he kept a handicap was for when it was needed if he was doing an event that required it like work scrambles or playing as a guest for a member/guest competition with buddies.

[Maine Golfer]

If you can thats great. 90+ percent of people online saying it are just lier's with ego issues. 

[golfpractitioner5]

I think the problem with a golfer saying I can drive the ball 300+ yards is the fact that a lot are not necessarily lying but are stating that based off the mere handful of times they’ve done it compared to all those hundreds, if not thousands, of times they’ve put it 260 yards.

 

For example, my average drive is 250 yards, and I am proud of it. But, you put me on a rock hard dry course with the wind behind me, and I’ve been known to get it out to 300 yards with that huge bounce and roll out.

 

Does that technically mean I can drive it 300 yards? Yes

Should I be telling people I drive the ball 300 yards? That would be a big nope.

 

I am aware of the difference. A lot of people are not. LOL

 

It is like playing with that guy who waits for the green to clear at 260 yards out because he hit his 3 wood that far one time in his life. Technically he could do it, but is he gonna do it? Nope.

[SouthHope]

Most guys I play with drive it 250 - 275 range but once in a while get paired with a guy who hits it longer.  Certainly not common to hit it 300+ but I'm in Maine where we get to play 6 months a year.  I bet in Florida, California, etc it's more normal to see guys hitting it longer.

[WristySwing]

Almost all of the guys I work with can hit it >300 (verified on GCQuad), but I am the lone punter rounding out the pack at about 250 carry on a solid hit. In the wild, I would say most people hit it the same as me, if not shorter but claim this to be 300.  I usually tell them naww, but if they keep bringing it up I just nod silently.

[rooski]

Every time I play with myself :) I made a driver switch and am now at roughly 2700-2800 spin off the center and it still carries over 300 on a GCQuad.

 

Now that I'm done being the annoying internet bragger (I really am sorry), I will say I often end up playing with some of the better high schoolers and some college players in the area (D2 college), and a solid 30-40% of them hit it as far if not further than I do. The kids these days are built different when it comes to speed

Edited February 7 by rooski

[MattM97]

You know a lot of that is just guys joking right? Granted there are a bunch that can and a lot of younger guys are stronger and more athletic than ever so for some it's possible but for others it was maybe once.

 

I myself am capable of going 300+ on a good day but I don't have a lot of good days right now, just more fun when I do. 

[Springsteennut]

I play with my neighbor. He’s mid 30s, single handicap, does CrossFit most days and takes weekly lessons. The best I ever seen him do was just over 290. He is usually in the 260/270s range. He’s also very accurate. That’s the best I play with. Me I’m a short , skinny  and was 60 last year. The best I had last year was 268. No downhill, or much wind. The ground was hard but not that hard. I impressed myself with that. I play with a lot of different guys and have never seen a 300 yard drive. 

[PlatinumNike]

21 minutes ago, rooski said:

Every time I play with myself 🙂 I made a driver switch and am now at roughly 2700-2800 spin off the center and it still carries over 300 on a GCQuad.

 

Now that I'm done being the annoying internet bragger (I really am sorry), I will say I often end up playing with some of the better high schoolers and some college players in the area (D2 college), and a solid 30-40% of them hit it as far if not further than I do. The kids these days are built different when it comes to speed

definitely more younger “smaller” people hitting it far, of course technology but also use everything in their swing to utilize the ground forces. I can’t remember the name but there’s that one college kid who looks like he’s gonna blow his back out swinging. 

 

no more Corey paving settling for 250 yards

 

myself 300+ but I’m 6’2 and the leverage helps, most people I’ve been paired with in AZ are older but boy do they hit the fairway. 

[PuffyC]

The majority of PGAT pros don't average 300 off the tee so you're probably not going to see lots of randos doing it. We play munis in a metroplex of over 7 million and Arccos says I average 276 right now. It's very rare that anyone we get paired up with is hitting it further, and if we played with someone who could average 300+ off the tee more than 2 or 3 times in the past 5 years I'd be shocked. However I meet all kinds of people who claim to drive the ball 300 yards but they're just eyeballing it and mentally culling the bad ones. Put most of them on a LM or shot tracker and they'd be a lot closer to 250 when they really catch it.

[golfpractitioner5]

I see a lot of mentioning about LM data on here.  The drive is the one thing I take with a grain of salt off the LM.  It is not that I do not believe that they are accurate because I do.  It is that a lot of people go at LM differently than they do on course as their is a mental understanding that I am not going to lose my ball here, so they have the zero consequences thought process.  I am one of those people.

 

My irons and wedges match up perfectly to LM data, but my driver does not.  I play a good bit of golf, and I am always between 245 yards and 265 yards total off the tee with a lot of accuracy on the course.  You stick me on a LM, and I am on average about 270-280 yards total.  My swing speed boosts up anywhere between 5-8 mph inside or on range with a LM as opposed to my playing swing speed.

 

I would say this is a common thing even if people do not want to believe it.  So, you might have a lot of people who boasts 300+ yards based on LM data but fall off 10-20 yards on the course.

Edited February 7 by golfpractitioner5

[rooski]

50 minutes ago, PlatinumNike said:

definitely more younger “smaller” people hitting it far, of course technology but also use everything in their swing to utilize the ground forces. I can’t remember the name but there’s that one college kid who looks like he’s gonna blow his back out swinging. 

 

no more Corey paving settling for 250 yards

 

myself 300+ but I’m 6’2 and the leverage helps, most people I’ve been paired with in AZ are older but boy do they hit the fairway. 

 

Yeah I similarly am 6'4" and roughly the dimensions of Jon Rahm so that's where I credit my speed, but most of these kids outdriving me look like Gumby and just all swing like Rory. It's pretty wild to watch

[CDLgolf]

I'm 60 now and most guys I golf with are a bit older. We play a couple times a week with usually 30 or 40 guys.  None of us can drive it 300 yds. We are pretty pleased with 250 yds.

[RoyalMustang]

4 hours ago, golfpractitioner5 said:

I’ve played with a few that can get it out to 300+ yards on occasion but have no idea where it is going.  Most were former baseball players as mentioned above.

 

With that said, I got paired up with a random guy at a course I frequent last year. He used his 3 iron off every par 4 and par 5 tee and was always 290+ yards and in the fairway.

 

I never got to see him hit his driver because him and his friends were playing for money, and they made an agreement prior to the round that he could hit from their tee box which was one up from the tips if he agreed not to use anything above a 3 iron all round.

 

He ended up shooting a 67 on a par 72 from their boxes that played out measuring 6,700 yards.

 

From what I gathered the reason that they made the agreement is had they made him play the tips and have access to his driver, he would have been even further ahead of them and in the fairway. I assumed from that and the fact that he was 290+ yards with a 3 iron that he was easily getting 300+ yards total if not carry with his driver.

 

Honestly, it was the best round I’ve ever seen in person not played by a pro. The most sickening part of it was the guy had just picked up golf 3 years prior as a good way to network for his job and played off a +4 handicap at the time I played that round with him.

 

I asked him if he ever played tournaments, and he stated that he had no interest in golf outside of work and playing with friends. The only reason he kept a handicap was for when it was needed if he was doing an event that required it like work scrambles or playing as a guest for a member/guest competition with buddies.

 

Wow-that's ridiculous. Basically that's mid 180's ball speed with a driver. And after 3 years? That would be the equivalent of a kid in high school, starting as a freshman, playing into the top 5 at the 6A state tournament in Texas as a senior. Winning most other state championships. While not being in school and playing 3 hours a day after school and 8-12 hours on the weekends.

 

Either the guy is a complete phyiscal freak, like 1 in 100,000,000, or he played a lot as a kid and just doesn't talk about it. 

 

I've seen this in endurance sports for people with naturally huge engines, but endurance sports aren't repetition driven. You either have natural VO2 max and the body type required for success, or you don't. Golf, even if you have great body awareness, hand-eye coordination, strength, and flexibility, takes a lot of repetition to get right. 

[millerj]

I play at 4500 ft elevation and can drive it regularly over 300 yards 😁, but put me at sea level and I'm down to like 280.... 😑 I can get it over 300, but it is certainly not a regular occurrence. I've played with a lot of golfers over the past 15 years and I've met maybe 2 or 3 that can outdrive me regularly.

[PedronNiall]

It's been pretty regular for me to run into, but I've happened to mainly play a number of courses that turned out to be home base for lots of area teams, especially at the college level. Played with a guy not too long ago who took 3-wood even on the longest holes and had no problem getting on in regulation. Had some mishits here and there but he was on it most of the time and smoked the ball.

 

Most fun to watch was a rando & his buddy a friend and I got paired with. Not going to humble brag on what I do, but this guy made me crack up a little with how long and accurate he was. Guy could and did take hybrid from the tips without issue when he wanted to. I'd tell his friend the best lines to take because of whatever hazards and the other guy would just sail past them all on the fly to finish right down the middle. I've seen two guys that are just that filthy with their talent and one was tour bound until he burned out on golf. Guy could flat out play and had fun while doing it. Super chill.

[PedronNiall]

9 minutes ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

Wow-that's ridiculous. Basically that's mid 180's ball speed with a driver. And after 3 years? That would be the equivalent of a kid in high school, starting as a freshman, playing into the top 5 at the 6A state tournament in Texas as a senior. Winning most other state championships. While not being in school and playing 3 hours a day after school and 8-12 hours on the weekends.

 

Either the guy is a complete phyiscal freak, like 1 in 100,000,000, or he played a lot as a kid and just doesn't talk about it. 

 

I've seen this in endurance sports for people with naturally huge engines, but endurance sports aren't repetition driven. You either have natural VO2 max and the body type required for success, or you don't. Golf, even if you have great body awareness, hand-eye coordination, strength, and flexibility, takes a lot of repetition to get right. 

Guy I went to school with started playing golf about a month before tryouts one year, then came back the next year and made the team with ease going something like 4-under for the day. Life just ain't fair sometimes, hah. Never saw anything about him  doing anything big but he went from zero to plus like he was born to play.

[Baitkiller]

20 year old son has been playing since he was eight.  Now he's 6-2 and smokes it. Kid hits it out the back of the range with a hybrid. You are right when you say kids are built differently these days in regards to speed.

[tips09]

I know a few guys who can get it out there 300+ but it’s a 50% chance it’s going OB. I’ve only ever been paired up once with someone I didn’t know that could consistently hit it that far and that was at a private club. For the majority of public golfers, which includes me, it’s going to be very rare to end up playing with someone you don’t know who can drive the ball 300+. When it comes to public golf, you are much more likely to find someone who says they hit it 250 when in reality it’s about 220. 

Edited February 8 by tips09

[st1800e]

Not just on Reddit….😉

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

6 hours ago, hollabachgt said:

Among Shot Scope users, only 4% can drive the ball over 300 yards. Within Arccos users, no age/handicap range averages over 300 yards.  Even on the PGA Tour, there were 21 players last year who's longest drive was shorter than 300 yards.

All that to say, among the hard core golfers, the percentage of players who can drive the ball over 300 is very small. When you expand it to all players, it's a very rare feat.

"Average" can change things considerably.  How are OB or other penalty shots handled in the database?  Shot with yardage = "0"?  Excluded?  It doesn't take many 0's to nuke an average.

 

I would not say that I average 300 total distance at all, but, like I'm sure many of you have, I've had drives >300 yd due to downhill, downwind, firm fairway, etc... 

 

Of course 300 carry is another animal entirely.  Not sure I've ever carried one 3 bills.  Per Flightscope, that needs in zero wind, a perfect strike and around 120/180 at 12° & 2500.  Likely can be done slower with higher launch and less spin, but the above seems like a good starting point.

 

Still not thinking there's a lot of Ams easily getting home in 2 on 625 yd Par-5s...

 

Edited February 8 by Jayjay_theweim_guy

[golfpractitioner5]

1 hour ago, RoyalMustang said:

 

Wow-that's ridiculous. Basically that's mid 180's ball speed with a driver. And after 3 years? That would be the equivalent of a kid in high school, starting as a freshman, playing into the top 5 at the 6A state tournament in Texas as a senior. Winning most other state championships. While not being in school and playing 3 hours a day after school and 8-12 hours on the weekends.

 

Either the guy is a complete phyiscal freak, like 1 in 100,000,000, or he played a lot as a kid and just doesn't talk about it. 

 

I've seen this in endurance sports for people with naturally huge engines, but endurance sports aren't repetition driven. You either have natural VO2 max and the body type required for success, or you don't. Golf, even if you have great body awareness, hand-eye coordination, strength, and flexibility, takes a lot of repetition to get right. 

So, I’m not sure how tall he actually was but I’m 5’9” and he had at least 6 inches on me with that lanky swimmer type build. I did ask him about past sports, and he grew up playing lacrosse all the way into college.

 

The extent of golf for him until the prior 3 years when he took it up semi regular was hitting at a driving range for fun with friends and the occasional round maybe 2-3 times a year with rented clubs.

 

He did say he took lessons pretty regularly the first year he took it up seriously.

 

The one thing I’ll say that set him apart was his swing was effortless and he had a phenomenal short game.

[PlatinumNike]

6 hours ago, rooski said:

 

Yeah I similarly am 6'4" and roughly the dimensions of Jon Rahm so that's where I credit my speed, but most of these kids outdriving me look like Gumby and just all swing like Rory. It's pretty wild to watch

hahahah facts 

 

[Denny100]

17 hours ago, RoyalMustang said:

I've heard this from time to time Reddit. It got me thinking: how often do you play with someone who can hit the ball 300 yards on a regular basis? 

 

I have a few guys: 

1) buddy of mine, mid 30's, played baseball and has a pretty powerful swing. He's pretty wild but can match me in distance a couple of swings a round. Not consistently though. 

2) guy in occasional playing group, + 2 cap, usually not 300 off the tee but can get there. Deadly accurate at 275-280 though. 

3) another guy in occasional playing group, played on a team that qualified in the NCAAs multiple times. He carries over 300 on every swing. 

4) group of players we were paired with that had recently graduated college and were on a mini-tour. All were carrying 300+. On the first hole we played, which is 365 and slightly uphill, all the guys were within 50 yards of the green.  

5) Another buddy who is a 13 cap. He just swings way too hard though and rarely connects.  

6) a couple of the HS kids that I've been paired with are getting out over 300 regularly. 

 

I'd wager it's not exactly rare to find a player capable of driving 300. Carrying 300, that's tougher but still NOT that rare. But the Reddit crowd seems to think so. Sure, I don't think I've ever been paired with a rando hitting the ball that far; it would be cool if I did.

 

I can occasionally get one out to 300 but it needs a firm rollout on the fairway.

 

Id say one of the main reasons no one really hits it 300 is the courses we play dont allow it, with the heavily treelined fairways and doglegs, no one attempts it even if they theoretically could.

 

There is a guy at our club who has a legitimate 120mph clubhead speed and its seriously fast

[RayGorman]

Come across a few weekend warriors who can top 300. Rarely, though, can they keep it on the planet. I once played with a guy who EASILY could get it out there over 300... Except he never found a fairway and most of the balls he did hit. After 9 holes he had to stop at his car to get another 2 dozen ProV's. I asked why he was using those when he would lose them so readily. "Well, I was fitted into them for my swing  at PGA Superstore". 

 

I just bet he was. 

 

And it's many years since I've been able to get there, probably late 80's, early 90's... 

[PuffyC]

13 hours ago, millerj said:

I play at 4500 ft elevation and can drive it regularly over 300 yards 😁, but put me at sea level and I'm down to like 280...

 

Great point. A 285 yard drive at sea level will be 300 a mile high. At a really high course in Colorado a 300 yard drive might only be 275 at sea level. All else being equal that's roughly the equivalent of what, like 7 mph in club head speed? So maybe the point is if you really want to drive the ball further step 1 is move to Colorado.