How Far Do Competitive Sr. Amateurs Hit It?

[Miler]

Miles of Golf used a TrackMan to collect data at the Michigan Amateur and the Michigan Senior Amateur. It is interesting to compare the data from these players. In summary, the regular amateurs hit it 280, senior amateurs 240, and super-senior 232. This link gives you all the TrackMan data and an analysis of the data.

 

http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/senior-golf/michigan-senior-amateur-driver-data/

[Tstiles]

That's good info , I don't feel as bad now

Last night I was wondering how far the guys on the Champions Tour were driving it ... The tour average was 269 yds.

[vietnameeh]

how about the elite "seniors"

that play in amateur events vs playing in regular senior events...

randy haag (low am at senior british open)... pumps it 300 yards

I am sure there are several others who hit it out there

[richard t]

Thanks for this. I was starting to get down on myself. 64 yrs old and I, for real ,average 225-230 with the occassional 240 or so. I guess I should take what I have and be happy. I do find that as I get older hitting the fairways at any distance is much better than distance, or at least I rationalize it.
Thanks again.

[chuckw]

[quote name='Miler' timestamp='1305216246' post='3227911']
Miles of Golf used a TrackMan to collect data at the Michigan Amateur and the Michigan Senior Amateur. It is interesting to compare the data from these players. In summary, the regular amateurs hit it 280, senior amateurs 240, and super-senior 232. This link gives you all the TrackMan data and an analysis of the data.

[url="http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/senior-golf/michigan-senior-amateur-driver-data/"]http://www.milesofgo...ur-driver-data/[/url]
[/quote]

Thanks for the dose of reality! I am a super senior and this make me feel a lot better about my current efforts with the driver.

[Llortamaisey]

Jerry Greenbaum, one of the greatest senior amateurs, hits it about 240 max off the tee. He's 71 years young a shoots his age or below everytime out.

[atlanta golfer]

A friend of mine told his senior dad, it shouldn't be very hard for him to hit the fairway, since the senior tee boxes are often times actually located IN the fairway. Kind of heartless but still pretty funny.

[Ruleschamp]

I've played with Mike Bell numerous times. He won the US Senior Amateur in '06 and was the #1 and, at worst #3, ranked Senior Amateur in the US from 2007 through the beginning of last year by both Golfweek and Golf Digest (including being named their National Senior Am of the year 4 times), winning numerous times on the Society of Seniors tournaments (the elite association of national tournaments for senior golfers in the US). Mike carries the ball about 215-230 and with roll is about 245 to 260. Like everyone else, he may have a day where he's hitting on all cylinders and carries it a little farther, or a little shorter than those numbers.

There was a funny article by James Achenbach in Golfweek a few years ago about Mike's grit and determination because he carded a 13 on a hole in one tourmanent because it required a 230 yard carry over a huge canyon just to reach the fairway. It took him 3 times to finally get the ball to land just beneath the fairway on the crest of the canyon hill so that he could play it. He still finished in the Top 5. He's an INCREDIBLE machine on the putting green.

[That Bob Guy]

[quote name='Tstiles' timestamp='1305222424' post='3228304']
That's good info , I don't feel as bad now

Last night I was wondering how far the guys on the Champions Tour were driving it ... The tour average was 269 yds.
[/quote]


Man, this is funny. Played my 2nd round of the season, and although it was only in the 50's F, I wasn't hiiting the ball as far as last year. At 56 years young, and regardless of all the aches and pains, this info makes me
feel a lot better. Thanks.

[That Bob Guy]

[quote name='vietnameeh' timestamp='1305232363' post='3228735']
how about the elite "seniors"

that play in amateur events vs playing in regular senior events...

randy haag (low am at senior british open)... pumps it 300 yards

I am sure there are several others who hit it out there
[/quote]

Yeah, but we have to save some of our strength for sex!

[That Bob Guy]

[quote name='Tstiles' timestamp='1305222424' post='3228304']
That's good info , I don't feel as bad now

Last night I was wondering how far the guys on the Champions Tour were driving it ... The tour average was 269 yds.
[/quote]


Now, would this be carry, or carry and roll?

[ProForceX]

The swing speed numbers and club speed numbers are flip-flopped.

[Texsport]

[quote name='King Kobra' timestamp='1305302705' post='3230791']
Jerry Greenbaum, one of the greatest senior amateurs, hits it about 240 max off the tee. He's 71 years young a shoots his age or below everytime out.
[/quote]


Playing from which tees?

Sounds like the front pegs with that tee shot average.

Texsport

[honketyhank]

[quote name='Miler' timestamp='1305216246' post='3227911']
Miles of Golf used a TrackMan to collect data at the Michigan Amateur and the Michigan Senior Amateur. It is interesting to compare the data from these players. In summary, the regular amateurs hit it 280, senior amateurs 240, and super-senior 232. This link gives you all the TrackMan data and an analysis of the data.

[url="http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/senior-golf/michigan-senior-amateur-driver-data/"]http://www.milesofgo...ur-driver-data/[/url]
[/quote]

Many thanks for that. While I feel that I should be able to carry the ball farther than my average drive carry, and I am working on that, I also see that at 64 years old, my goals may be a bit higher than I thought with respect to what an old guy like me can really expect. I normally play the middle (white) tees. There is one hole that requires at least a 185 yard carry if hit dead straight and right on the target line. Any miss left is likely to be either in the hazard or OB. Any miss right requires progressively more carry the more right it goes. It is a tough tee shot for most guys who play the whites (and for any macho guys who play the blues but shouldn't). It is a short par 4, so pretty much anybody requires only a wedge if they carry the hazard. Birdie hole if you can carry the hazard, easy double bogey if you can't.

The red (forward) tees yield a tee shot for which I do not even think about the hazard, I just whack it and hope for an up and down birdie. It would be a blow to my ego to step down to the reds just because of this one hole. But fortunately, our course is set up with what we call "combos". There is a "blue/white" setup and a "red/white" setup, The red/white might be a reasonable choice for me. Basically, this takes the white tees for the shorter holes and the red tees for the longer (of course, shorter and longer mean relative to what you might see for the par score).

I am thinking now to adjust my strategy. Play the red/white combos (I would be playing the reds on this particular hole) until I am breaking 80 fairly regularly. Then move to the whites until I am going over 85 regularly. Or, if I start breaking 80 regularly from the whites (yeee-ha), move up to the blue/white combos.

I note a rule of thumb from a post from somewhere sometime that sticks in my memory. Multiply your 5 iron distance by 36. The result is the yardage course you are best suited to play. That would put me between the whites and the red/white combos on my course.

[wrmiller]

Well I guess I'm the exception and not the norm...

Just this morning I played with a 20 year old who plays with the Cornhuskers as a sophomore, and plays to a +2.7 (unverified).

We played a local course from the back tees, about 6900 yds. He usually outdrove me by about 10-15 yds, but we were pretty much hitting the same irons, to the same distances, i.e. 5 iron ~200, 6 iron 190, etc., etc.. I did manage to out drive him on a couple of holes, and even drove the green on a short (327 yd) par 4, out driving him again. Hit driver 3 iron to the middle of the green on a 534 yd par 5. But those were the exceptions.

He did score better than I, carding a 69, while I came in at 5 over that. Oh well, it was a great time. I got quite the complement from him about half-way through the front nine: "I get older guys all the time that are willing to play from the tips with me, but you can actually play from here!" I told him that my home course is 7100 yds from the blues, and that I'm comfortable at that yardage for now. But I ain't getting any younger!

As I said, he is 20, and I'm 56.

[Tstiles]

I keep telling myself that it's how many , not how far ... But then the reality sets in that I'm playing a par 72 course ( avg tee shot 260 , so I can't reach most of today's par 5's ) and many of my younger competitors are playing a par 68 course.

Maybe I just need to find courses where I can reach the par 5's

[jmvargas]

a lot of nice info on distances and not too far from my averages(am 65)..

what i'm also interested in are the club set-ups of the above 60 group..

in my case here they are:
(all distances are carry)
...tourstage viqmx 10.5* driver---230-235 yds
...tourstage viq 17* 4-wood.---210-215 yds
...mizuno 21* 7-wood---195-205 yds
...adams V3 4i 22* hybrid---180-190 yds
...adams V3 5i 25* hybrid---170-175 yds
...adams cb2 6i---160---165 yds
...adams cb2 7i---150---155 yds
...adams cb2 8i---140-145 yds
...adams cb2 9i---130-135 yds
...adams cb2 PW---120-125 yds
...adams cb2 GW---100-110 yds
...srixon wg-504 54* wedge---80-90 yds
...srixon wg-504 58* wedge---up to 70 yds max..

all have graphite R shafts except for the srixon wedges which are steel shafted..
...i have been playing for the past 53 years and got as low as a 3 hdcp but am now a 9...

[timliddy]

In my opinion, handicap is all about distance.

[eddieM]

Not saying anything bad but I am really scared to think of a losing that much distance when I get older. It inevitable I know. I have already lost 10-15 yards since I was in my prime at 25 years old. Swing is getting slower and Im getting fatter. lol

Oh well.

[PreppySlapCut]

[quote name='vietnameeh' timestamp='1305232363' post='3228735']
how about the elite "seniors"

that play in amateur events vs playing in regular senior events...

randy haag (low am at senior british open)... pumps it 300 yards

I am sure there are several others who hit it out there
[/quote]
Maybe on a runway...Where do people get these numbers? The Trackman info there has an average carry of 260 for State Am competitors in Michigan @ 109mph clubhead speed. Lets not claim these guys regularly hit it 280+, not every course is rock hard fine fescue...might be time for a reality check...

[FLOGMR]

[quote name='timliddy' timestamp='1307591579' post='3294406']
In my opinion, handicap is all about distance.
[/quote]

You could not be more wrong...handicap is all about getting the ball in the hole with the least number of strokes....on average. At 65 I am still a 2 'cap and routinely whip lots of young guys who outdrive me by as much as 40-50 yds.

[vietnameeh]

[quote name='PreppySlapCut' timestamp='1308768208' post='3327517']
[quote name='vietnameeh' timestamp='1305232363' post='3228735']
how about the elite "seniors"

that play in amateur events vs playing in regular senior events...

randy haag (low am at senior british open)... pumps it 300 yards

I am sure there are several others who hit it out there
[/quote]
Maybe on a runway...Where do people get these numbers? The Trackman info there has an average carry of 260 for State Am competitors in Michigan @ 109mph clubhead speed. Lets not claim these guys regularly hit it 280+, not every course is rock hard fine fescue...might be time for a reality check...
[/quote]

i was referring to one person who hits 300....

and i can think of few other seniors in california that can hit 280+ (soft lush courses in the bay area)

the question is asking about COMPETITIVE seniors... so coming from my point of competition golf i have played with these guys in state tournaments and qualifiers.... and in my opinion they are one of the most competitive seniors that *I* have played with.

ya I need a reality check ... i cant hang with the internet ego's of golfwrx

[timliddy]

RM Golf,
[size=2]
In tournament golf, the player that can get to par 4's (or par 5's) in 2 is always going to beat a golfer that is on in 3. Look at the top 10 golfers on the PGA tour. Which one is a short hitter? None. [/size]

[garcia51694]

My wife's 80 year old uncle, who looks and swings like he is still 50, can get it out there between 260-265. The best part is, its dead straight every time. Unreal. We played two rounds this weekend and he shot 75 75 from the blues. I shot 74 75, but, he made it a point to tell me he is 54 years older than me. I heard he was great when he was younger, but learned it first hand this weekend. Not to mention that he was AUTOMATIC inside 12 feet w/ his old Bullseye putter.

[maverick]

At 64 I am the shortest driver in my weekly league foursome. I have the lowest index. Remember the old saying of 150 yds and in is most important for scoring. I play with a guy that puts it on the green in two on a par 5 and ends up with a par if lucky.