My longest drive ever(without help from the cart path) is like 310, it was on a 350 yard downhill downwind par 4, but then put the 2nd shot over the green into knee-deep rough. Reached the green on shot 5 and 3-putted for an 8. Needed 7 shots to hole out from 40 yards

Today i definitely averaged over 260. I wish i brought the GPS to see what the exact number was, but i do know that i used my V2 to get distances on trees from the tee. Only one of them was less than 260 from the tee box and i passed them all comfortably. had 2 over 300, one was about 320 --- unfortunately still ended behind a tree but i was able to up and over for the GIR. I did find my GPS unit and charged up the batteries. Gonna take it out tomorrow if i can get off work on time and get some real numbers. Overall though -- i'm more worried about my putting at this point.

Two days of golf after a long layoff over the winter. 18 holes, and all of my drives were 200+ (at least the ones I could measure). I'm not hitting my driver very well at all at the moment, and my average for the weekend was still 230+.

Over those same 18 holes, I had six stroke and distance penalties, ten three putts, five wasted chips (meaning I had to chip again...in fact, I was 0 for 3 in hitting greens in regulation on par 4's from inside of 50 yards), and three duffed iron shots. That's 15 wasted shots a round.

And that's why I play a 17.

Yeah, I suck. But I'm a good guy for a scramble.

DougE wrote:

<snip> What's sometimes funny is to play with some young guys who think they hit it 280+. I tell them I'm playing the middle tees. They of course tee it up from the blues, 10-20 yards behind. They bomb their drives. Then I hit mine and it ends up same neighborhood as theirs. Maybe a little in front or slightly behind. I measure mine with gps at 225. They think theirs were 280. The math doesn't add up. I hate to burst their bubble, but if they ask, I tell them.

Buddy of mine (a young guy of 35) hits it a long way, but imagines it even longer than it is. On Saturday, we're playing in extremely wet conditions. He hits a beauiful drive and proclaims, "In summer, that one woulda been 300, easy." Man, what a crock of shit - the hole is 358 and his ball was right at the 150 stake = a smoking 208 yards. Most guys live a fantasy when it comes to distance. He is saying that his 208 yard carry would get an additional 92 yards of roll in dry conditions. Is that even possible?

windowsurfer wrote:

DougE wrote: <snip> What's sometimes funny is to play with some young guys who think they hit it 280+. I tell them I'm playing the middle tees. They of course tee it up from the blues, 10-20 yards behind. They bomb their drives. Then I hit mine and it ends up same neighborhood as theirs. Maybe a little in front or slightly behind. I measure mine with gps at 225. They think theirs were 280. The math doesn't add up. I hate to burst their bubble, but if they ask, I tell them. Buddy of mine (a young guy of 35) hits it a long way, but imagines it even longer than it is. On Saturday, we're playing in extremely wet conditions. He hits a beauiful drive and proclaims, "In summer, that one woulda been 300, easy." Man, what a crock of shit - the hole is 358 and his ball was right at the 150 stake = a smoking 208 yards. Most guys live a fantasy when it comes to distance. He is saying that his 208 yard carry would get an additional 92 yards of roll in dry conditions. Is that even possible?

Maybe if it was BONE dry and it was downhill and it hit a cart path and was rolled a little by a squirrel at the end. haha.

As I am sure with everyone, when you hit a good ball off the tee...you think to yourself...wow that is going to go 300+. Unfortunately enough our thoughts are not usually reality as most players that are amateurs hit 250 or less. I am not a big hitter, but when I really get it maybe 265 at best. I have a buddy that can easily hit it over 300. True story here..we were playing at the Bridges in Madison, WI last season. We were following a 4top that lets just say did not belong on the course. Well they were on the green of a par 4 (330 yds) and so I hit. Obviously, no where near the green my buddy stepped up and just killed one...landed ten feet from the hole with the people still putting. Prob not proper golf behavior, but it was amazing to see that shot!

Bryan K wrote:

Two days of golf after a long layoff over the winter. 18 holes, and all of my drives were 200+ (at least the ones I could measure). I'm not hitting my driver very well at all at the moment, and my average for the weekend was still 230+. Over those same 18 holes, I had six stroke and distance penalties, ten three putts, five wasted chips (meaning I had to chip again...in fact, I was 0 for 3 in hitting greens in regulation on par 4's from inside of 50 yards), and three duffed iron shots. That's 15 wasted shots a round. And that's why I play a 17. Yeah, I suck. But I'm a good guy for a scramble.

work on your putting! lol. That's 10 strokes off your round alone

KVSmith59 wrote:

Bryan K wrote: Two days of golf after a long layoff over the winter. 18 holes, and all of my drives were 200+ (at least the ones I could measure). I'm not hitting my driver very well at all at the moment, and my average for the weekend was still 230+. Over those same 18 holes, I had six stroke and distance penalties, ten three putts, five wasted chips (meaning I had to chip again...in fact, I was 0 for 3 in hitting greens in regulation on par 4's from inside of 50 yards), and three duffed iron shots. That's 15 wasted shots a round. And that's why I play a 17. Yeah, I suck. But I'm a good guy for a scramble. work on your putting! lol. That's 10 strokes off your round alone

Oops....those numbers were for my weekend, two 18 hole rounds. But yeah....I felt like I played fairly well. I was making good contact with my irons for the most part. But those errant shots just add up in a hurry. What the heck. It's my first two rounds of the year. My goal for the year is to double my GIR percentage, which I think will improve my handicap by at least 5 strokes. Last year, my goal was to improve my driver to the point where it wasn't costing me 10+ strokes a round. I accomplished that, but my handicap only improved by 3 strokes. even though I don't biff my driver anymore.

My longest ever was 305 yards. That was playing a course that had very, very firm fairways...pretty level hole from the tee box. Usually my average drive is in the 230-250 range. Anything more than about 250 I really got into it.

My longest drive was about 305. It was a 316 yard par four, and the second half of the fairway was a very, very steep hill. If you hit it just right, the ball will roll a long way, and I hit it just right. Normally my drives are more like 215, give or take 15 yards.

Three good rounds for me (15 index RCGA ):
Courses: 6080, 6080, 5396 (heavily treed)
scores: 80, 81, 78
FWs hit: 13, 12, 13 >>> nothing longer than 250, lots in 220 range
GIR: 5, 3, 3 (Awful, I KNOW - I'm a dung-flinging monkey from 100+!)
Putts: 28, 30, 30

Placing drives (best angle, shortest distance, etc.) and getting up and down. I was outdriven all but a few times. Won 2 of 3 rounds (vs eight guys each time).

Played a Lady Pinnacle on short course (frost delay -- figured low compression ball would be good - it was!) Nice ball.

I went out a couple times before i got sidetracked by more wedding stuff. Took the GPS and found out that i'm comfortably over 270 in avg driving distance. Better than i thought actually. I thought i was only 260 tops.

gonna take it again on sunday. Trying to break 80 for the first time from the back tees at Morgan Hill.

I actually tend to under-state my driving distance.

My average this year, though, has definitely been under 250. I'm just not hitting my driver solidly. My swing is good. My ball striking needs to be improved. I'd say my average is in the 230 range whereas I was hitting, on average, 260 to 270 for the second half of last year. I'm happy, though, because my drives are finding the fairway, but I'm just missing on my approaches. I've had a LOT of fringe putts this year. I expect those to start turning into GIR's in the near future.

I think the absolute key here, though, is the fact that I've had only one drive under 200 yards so far this year. That's one in 50+ drives (if include the stroke and distance penalties that I can't measure).

I hit a LOT of duff shots with my irons and wedges. I just don't duff my driver.

I am just glad to see this discussion. I don't have anyone to golf with on any kind of regular basis, and these little stats leave questions in my mind as to what "average" infers.
It also seems that I cannot get an average anything, not until I can play golf on a steady basis. My yardage, (for all my clubs actually), have varied significantly in both directions the past two years. So it is really hard trying to relate to another golfer what my game is really like. I end up saying, "Depends on the day, really.", and just leave it at that.

Very interesting discussion and here is what no one has mentioned unless I missed it while reading the majority of the responses is this,

"Driving Distance: Measured on only two holes per round, with the holes facing in opposite directions to negate the effect of wind." http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/golf/pga/stats/leaders

This is how the Pro's keep average driving distance. How many of us knew this? I just found this out recently.

I use my GPS to track my distance and keep it like the pro's do. I usually pick one par 5 in the front nine with wind at my back and one par 5 with wind against or a par 4. My longest ever drive was 360 yards with a 20+ mph plus wind behind me on hole # 13 at Texas A&M Golf course. My longest with moderate wind has been 326 yards (all these tracked by my GPS).

Now that resolved my driver issues (see my forum post "Ignorance will hurt your game" I routinely hit at least 2 or more drives 290+ with several against a texas wind about 245

To me to maximize your drives you need the proper shaft above all else, search for it and don't settle for bogus sales pitches. I can't stress this enough. I will once again start keeping track of my drives per round and see where I am because distance sure makes a difference based on this discovery which many of you might know. The pro's make the majority of their birdies on par 5's and only average about 1-2 birdies max on par 4's. My last round I dominated the par 5's birding 1 and eagling another all because the "boom" is back in my drives. Dominate par 5's just like the pro's do and your scores will come down.

One last thing I am once again doing golf specific work outs but truly even consistent work out's will improve your driving distance.