PGA Tour Player's club yardage/distance

[pinehurst]

Ernie is a tall guy. I wouldn't be surprised if his iron shafts were a bit above standard length which would make them go farther. I remeber watching Erie tee off on the 8th at Augusta several years ago when he was playing with Phil. They both took it over the right bunker with ease which is about a 280 yd. carry. Ernie made it look easy. That flowing tempo is mesmorizing.

[TLUBulldogGolf]

I really dont think Choi is a legit 300 yard driver. Most of those guys when they show the track man numbers are only carrying it 270-280 range max, obviously some are higher like Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Ernie, etc., but most of them have such high driving distances because of roll. They get rediculous amounts of roll, plenty of people can hit it 300 with 30+ yards of roll.

 

As far as the numbers, most of them haven't surprised me. Like has been said there are still variables, some may be playing clubs with jacked up lofts versus others, Brian Gay must have something going on with his irons because he hits his driver nowhere.

[ingenjuro]

how is it that these guys get so much difference in yardages between clubs?

 

i have a 10 yard gap between my clubs.

 

is it the speed?

[mikeweirfan]

They either know that the need to cover certain gaps in yardages, and have their irons bent to hit the ball that certain yardage and they are also much more precise with their yardages. Where you might know how to hit a shot to within 5 yards of your distance, they would be able to know what club to hit within half a yard of what they need to.

[hos]

Don't know where the Golf Channel is getting the yardages from...

They ask the players.

I'm not saying your wrong but then why do Ernie's yardages differ from his official website? His 6iron differs 7yd......thats alot IMO. The thing i'm actually impressed with is the numbers aren't all that long. You would figure the golf channel would hike up the numbers a little bit, but they seem pretty legit. That's the reason i was asking where they got the numbers from. I didnt know if they asked the players or it was based on shot tracker type data over the years.

Yeah, they have said a few times that these were the player's reported yardages --- it's only on that basis that I started the thread. :)

 

Els' "stock" iron swing may only be 70% effort, while Gay's stock iron swing may be 90%. Still a lot of variables.

 

I just like to see the yardages and gaps that the players use.

 

Ditto! Good info there.

 

Its crazy that those numbers are similar to most on this site but yet these guys play Rifle 7.0s and X100s.

 

Uh, if you're trying to start a he said, she said thing; let's not go down that road!! :russian_roulette: :russian_roulette:

[SwingLikeElk]

all this is nice to know, but end of the day the key seems to be to hit the 7 iron the same distance 95% of time, making it reliable, no? isn't the distance you hit your 5, 6, 7 iron etc irrelevant unless you can consistently repeat it?

i definitely find the info interesting, but am not really concerned if i hit the ball AS FAR as Ernie Els. as someone mentioned, he hits to that yardage pretty effortlessly while I have to stripe one and hope it actually goes where I want it to at the same time, lol.

 

 

Well put.

 

Sticking it on the flag means more than anything at that level. K.J. doesn't care if Phil's 5 iron goes three yards further than his.

 

By the way, if no one thinks K.J. hits it 300 yards, they haven't been to a tournament in a while.

[hos]

On another note, I would love to see their lofts instead of which iron there hitting. I find my longer irons are close to there yardages, but my short irons are 10 yards or more past them. Which tells me either a) I'm not controlling them well (which I know) or b) their lofts are weakened. I've always wondered how many guys weaken their short irons. Been kicking around bending my pw from 48 to 50 and starting there. I can't imagine a lot of these guys are playing with the jacked up lofts on short irons (esp. the ones playing set with stock 46 or 44 pw.) I know they're extremely good at controlling a 70% wedge swing (which I'm not - chunk city). Something I've always worked on.

If anyone gets time would love to see the charts in spreadsheet form for easy reference (like to study their yardeage gaps more than anything)

Edit- Toms has good looking yardages. Never understood why some don't play even gaps. Saw an article recently someone had 10 to 15 yard gaps until his 4 iron and hybrids, then they almost overlapped. Could not figure that out. 4 iron was around 210, Hybrid around 210 to 225, next hybrid was then 220 to 230. Made no sense to me. I would toss one out of the bag for sure.

[robb01]

They either know that the need to cover certain gaps in yardages, and have their irons bent to hit the ball that certain yardage and they are also much more precise with their yardages. Where you might know how to hit a shot to within 5 yards of your distance, they would be able to know what club to hit within half a yard of what they need to.

 

And that is why they are so amazing :)

[whatsamatta]

Any for the Bob Hope Classic?

[maggot]

Never understood why some don't play even gaps. Saw an article recently someone had 10 to 15 yard gaps until his 4 iron and hybrids, then they almost overlapped. Could not figure that out. 4 iron was around 210, Hybrid around 210 to 225, next hybrid was then 220 to 230. Made no sense to me. I would toss one out of the bag for sure.

 

 

Cause it's not always just about distance, They may carry a 2I and a hybrid that go the exact same distance but very different flights.

 

2I for tee shots into the wind and hybrid for long approaches into greens.

[hos]

2 hybrids for 20 yard distance with a 5 yard overlap? Maybe diff. shafts?

[Asleep]

Pat Perez

 

160 yards.....8-iron

 

145 yards.....9-iron

 

130 yards.....PW

 

115 yards.....GW

[og512]

how is it that these guys get so much difference in yardages between clubs?

 

i have a 10 yard gap between my clubs.

 

is it the speed?

 

I was wondering the same thing because I have a 1-12 yard gap between irons.

[whatsamatta]

Is Golf Channel still reporting the distances?

[tigerphan]

1st- they play on great fast fairways with helps then with driving distence with so much roll

2sd- Choi only carrys the ball 260 yards

 

lol I hit my irons same distence as Ernie :D ( swinging easy like him, but if he goes after one I'm not gona be anywhere close)(i'm only 5'7 130 pounds :P)

[AcesAZ]

[quote name='chipper3344' date='17 January 2009 - 07:52 PM' timestamp='1232243524' post='1431414']
[quote name='Asleep' post='1428524' date='Jan 16 2009, 03:56 PM']I thought a thread showing how far tour pros say they hit their clubs might be interesting, and it seems Golf Channel will report these distances throughout 2009.


Ernie Els

205 yards.....5-iron

195 yards.....6-iron

180 yards.....7-iron

160 yards.....8-iron


Note: this represents flat/still conditions for a stock shot, not how far X-player hit his x-iron on a particular shot.[/quote]

Don't know where the Golf Channel is getting the yardages from, but Ernie lists his yardages on his site. They're slightly off, but not too bad.

[b]Driver:[/b] 290
[b]3-wood:[/b] 255
[b]2-iron:[/b] 238
[b]3-iron:[/b] 225
[b]4-iron:[/b] 212
[b][i]5-iron: 205
6-iron: 188
7-iron: 178
8-iron: 164[/i][/b]
[b]9-iron:[/b] 152
[b]PW:[/b] 134
[b]SW 54-degrees:[/b] 120
[b]SW 59-degrees:[/b] 88
[/quote]

Those are almost exactly the same as mine, SS- 112 driver, 97- 6 iron.

[caller]

[quote name='SwingLikeElk' date='20 January 2009 - 09:56 AM' timestamp='1232463407' post='1436370']
[quote name='theironhorse' post='1432445' date='Jan 18 2009, 11:12 AM']all this is nice to know, but end of the day the key seems to be to hit the 7 iron the same distance 95% of time, making it reliable, no? isn't the distance you hit your 5, 6, 7 iron etc irrelevant unless you can consistently repeat it?
i definitely find the info interesting, but am not really concerned if i hit the ball AS FAR as Ernie Els. as someone mentioned, he hits to that yardage pretty effortlessly while I have to stripe one and hope it actually goes where I want it to at the same time, lol.[/quote]


Well put.

Sticking it on the flag means more than anything at that level. K.J. doesn't care if Phil's 5 iron goes three yards further than his.

By the way, if no one thinks K.J. hits it 300 yards, they haven't been to a tournament in a while.
[/quote]


I agree. KJ is conservative on distance and try to stay away from troubles.
When 2008 British Open, KJ proved that by hitting far more FWs than any other players.
I believe most of pros can easily hit over 300 yrds if they want to. Matter of their game style.

[setter02]

Agreed with Ernie and his distances. When he was at the club where I worked last season for a charity event, he was asked about how hard he would swing at the ball, his response was 80%, and if he really wanted to rip at it, 85%. Never heard a sound like how him and JJ Henry hit their drivers, made a 'poof', sound, incredible!

[TPDawnPatrol]

Fairways are usually tighter and firmer during pro tournaments.

[ahl3bomber]

Also, you have to understand that most amateurs swing their brains out, and pros swing in control
I am sure if they wanted to, they could squeeze out an extra 5-10 yards

[Opinion8ed]

[quote name='theironhorse' timestamp='1232298741' post='1432445']
all this is nice to know, but end of the day the key seems to be to hit the 7 iron the same distance 95% of time, making it reliable, no? isn't the distance you hit your 5, 6, 7 iron etc irrelevant unless you can consistently repeat it?
i definitely find the info interesting, but am not really concerned if i hit the ball AS FAR as Ernie Els. as someone mentioned, he hits to that yardage pretty effortlessly while I have to stripe one and hope it actually goes where I want it to at the same time, lol.
[/quote]

That's true. Consistency is far more important than distance. If I hit my 7 iron 160 +/-2 yards 95% of the time, I'll beat you hitting your 8 iron 160 yards +/-5 yards 80% of the time. I'm pretty consistent with my distances. Right now, though, my challenge has been on adjusting my distances. I've learned that I lose almost a club off a tee, but that I tee the ball fairly high I guess. The wind has been a bit challenging. I know I hit a 8 iron 150y, but with that tail wind, how far does it go? What about crosswind? Will it knock the top out of my shot? Will it add distance on my draw? What about that slightly elevated green? How much extra club is that? Will the ball skip off the green or should I aim for the upslope and hope the ball checks off the hill and releases onto the green? Do you know how many yards you'll lose if you fade it a little?

There's a lot more to this game than just "I'm 160 out so I'll hit my 7i".

D: 275
3W: 240 (most inconsistent club, though)
3i: 215
4i: 200
5i: 185
6i: 170
7i: 160
8i: 150
9i: 140
PW: 125
51*:110
56*: 85
60*: 70

When I hit it, these distances are very accurate. But my misses are usually a lot farther off than the pros...and more frequent. And my touch around the green + putting cost me about 5 strokes a round!

Also, I've heard the pros will adjust their loft. They might want their 8i to go 160 on the dot so they deloft it a bit. My stock MP57 8i might be a degree or two more lofted than theirs. Even stock from one brand to another differs. And, cavity backs tend to go a little farther than blades so that's a major factor.

[Opinion8ed]

[quote name='TLUBulldogGolf' timestamp='1232428661' post='1435951']
I really dont think Choi is a legit 300 yard driver. Most of those guys when they show the track man numbers are only carrying it 270-280 range max, obviously some are higher like Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Ernie, etc., but most of them have such high driving distances because of roll. They get rediculous amounts of roll, plenty of people can hit it 300 with 30+ yards of roll.

As far as the numbers, most of them haven't surprised me. Like has been said there are still variables, some may be playing clubs with jacked up lofts versus others, Brian Gay must have something going on with his irons because he hits his driver nowhere.
[/quote]

I always wished they'd show wind in the distances. When we're watching so-and-so hit a drive and they show 117 swing speed 295 carry 325 total distance or whatever, I'd love to know the other factors. Was that a 10mph due south tailwind? Are they playing at 3000' elevation? Are they hitting from 30' elevated tee box? I'd love to see a profile graphic of the ball flight with the ground contour and the wind in the graphic. It might make them seem more human when they hit a 375 yard drive...downwind, downhill. I usually hit 275. I played in a charity event where you could buy a Bubba Drive (after the Tiger scandal, the church didn't like the Tiger Drive). You took your tee shot at 375. I decided to hit a drive just to see. I hit it not-centered, off the toe, but a high draw. It landed in the fairway at 355. Of course, there was a 30mph steady tailwind and the tee box was slightly elevated.

[tembolo1284]

I need to see the lofts and lengths of these irons to really make anything out of it.

my PW has 51 degrees of loft on it and is 35.5" long. Is that a GW for these guys now or what?

also these fellows are much taller than me...wouldn't be surprised if they play longer shafts.

[petter7]

I posted this chart in another thread, but, if you didn't see it,
here's the Trackman data of PGA-LPGA Tour averages.
Just for your information, of course.

[attachment=689152:PGA:LPGA Trackman Averages.jpg]

[GungaLaGunga]

[quote name='petter7' timestamp='1290807958' post='2810243']
I posted this chart in another thread, but, if you didn't see it,
here's the Trackman data of PGA-LPGA Tour averages.
Just for your information, of course.

[attachment=689152:PGA:LPGA Trackman Averages.jpg]
[/quote]Thanks for posting this!


I am curious what lofts these guys use. I wonder how many pros use standard/stronger/weaker lofts.

[boatrightgolf7]

Guy's here a little secret great golfers are like good pitchers they don't play at one speed. they can have a 420 yard par 4 and hit a 75% driver then a 80% 7 iron with a cut etc.. Only when they have forced carry do they hit 115% it's rare this is what makes a pro.

[cehb]

[quote name='boatrightgolf7' timestamp='1399873553' post='9277385']
Guy's here a little secret great golfers are like good pitchers they don't play at one speed. they can have a 420 yard par 4 and hit a 75% driver then a 80% 7 iron with a cut etc.. Only when they have forced carry do they hit 115% it's rare this is what makes a pro.
[/quote]

Yeah that's a common misconception. I've played with dozens of tour pros over the years and anytime they have driver in their hands I can assure you they aren't throttling back. Yeah there are times when they try and squeeze a couple more yards out (after making double, trying to get home on a long 5 etc.) but I don't think I have EVER seen a guy on tour try and baby a driver, it's totally counterproductive.

[tembolo1284]

This is a great thread!

[lumberman2462]

I'd love to know the minimum/maximum distances for Dustin Johnson's irons....[i]"uh, well. I can hit my 5 iron, uh, about 173....or 258. Just depends." [/i]

[Jgoff]

I'm 14 and can carry my 6 iron the same as kj choi. The only problem is he is not swinging 100% and he uses forged clubs and I use cast. Kj can probably hit a 6 iron 190 if he wanted to.