golfrewind.com

IMO this category is where golf has a lot in common with my other hobby of kayak fishing. Its safe to say you cant take 40 yards and 4 pounds off of any drive or fish caught.

Its easy to see how people deceive there selfs off the tee. One of my playing partners seems to think I have a great tee box game(mostly due to the fact it stays in bounce). Our home course is short however with the average par 4 being around 380. He often says "yep you got your usual 260 out of that". Problem is when I go out to hit my second shot I am a lot closer to the 150 marker than the 100.

Ego of course prevents me from correcting him. So if other people can believe you are hitting much longer than you are, imagine how deceiving ones own ego could be.

http://www.cottonwoodgolfcourse.com/ we have a hole, #16, on my home course that's an ego killer. it's 366 from the back, very elevated teebox, like 50-100 yds up, so you're all carry on this hole. we normally end up inside the 150 marker somewhere & everyone remarks how the drive has been crushed.
okay, if i'm at the 145yd point on a 366yd hole how far have i driven it? pretty ugly, eh? :nodsmiley

balls in the air can be decieving. my in law hits it pretty good. not 260 like we thought, but he hits it straight every time. he only hits his driver about 20-30 yds further than his 3i. if i could do that, i'd get a 2i & a low lofted 3wd, & ditch the driver.

Man you all play some short courses :)
Heres the last course I played. http://www.andersoncreekgolf.com/golfcourse.html

Played off the back tees..7180 yards.....
First hole Driver ..approach wedge..115 yards.. Hole does play slight downhill
Hole 2... Driver.. 3wood.. Still had 90 yard to green.. very straight
Hole 3.... Driver... 8 iron to green
Hole 4... 5 iron.. downhill over water...
Hole 5.... Driver... cut the corner....lucky only had 90 yards to pin (big dogleg left)
Hole 6..Driver...went into the woods...lolol started to fall apart..
Hole 7... 4 iron...pin high..but pin was in the Front
Hole 8... Driver.... 6 iron.....pin high
Hole 9....Driver....4 iron into the wind....
Hole 10...Driver..3 wood..over green..downhill and with the wind
hole 11...Driver...pitching wedge (135 yards)
hole 12..3 iron..into wind
hole 13...driver...into the woods,,snap hook trying to reach..had the wind over swung.
hole 14...driver...sw..(100 yards)
hole 15....LONG as par 3...239...hit 3 iron..left it way right...and short..
hole 16...My birdie hole..lol Driver..(sliced it)..3 iron onto green..birdie
hole 17...REALLY BAD tee shot..getting tired.
Hole 18..Driver..bad 3 wood...SW 100 yards to green.

I think I hit a few 300 with the downhills and all..average about 280 I say...with roll and all.... On the driving range with range balls..Looks like I carry 225 in the air..sometime 230-240.

It's a combination of matching your swing style to your body type to get the most out of it. I am 5' 6" and my distances are very close to yours. I throttled my 8-Iron back to hit it exactly 150+- each time...I used to swing 100% at it to hit it 160-165 but accuracy wins over length EVERYTIME. My swing is naturally much flatter than someone who is tall and lanky. If I tried to swing like Charles Howell, it would be disasterous but I can swing like my friend Robert Damron with no problem...just a little flatter than Howell but with much the same results (although much shorter off the tee).

I agree 100%, generr. I just don't understand why certain people get all bent out of shape when someone mentions "300 yards". I routinely play with guys that "can" hit the ball 300 yards. They "can" also hit it 220 yards. I never guess distances. The courses we play are well marked, and most have GPS. I'm 5'8" and 200lbs. I generally hit my driver 230-250. I have, however, hit drives, measured by GPS on straight holes(some even uphill), 265-285 yards. Like I said, I'm not very big, my swing admittedly stinks and I hit a fade which costs me several yards...so if I can knock it 285, I don't see why it's so hard to believe there are thousands of guys(in my city alone) that can hit the ball 300 yards. Remember, no one is saying they are as good as the pros. Most of us realize the major differences between the average pro and the average low-mid hcpr are short game and consistancy.

I determine my distance by subtracting my yardage to the hole and the hole length. In windless conditions I carry about 250 but get 30-45yds of roll. If someone asks me what I average I'd say about 290 on a good drive. I'm really more like 280 on average - 270 If I slice. My last round I hit a drive to about 215 in on a 512y par 5. It was over 285 clearly but not 297y. This was with a crosswind and a freshly cut fw. The only accurate way would be to get a sky caddy or laser range finder.

Couple of points - I've seen a few comments on GPS and laser range finders - one thing to keep in mind, those things can have a 5-10% margin of error per 100 yds. So a drive hit 270 may have been 'only' been 243, or as long as 297, or somewhere in between. Or maybe it was 270 on the nose. Point is that unless you actually measure it with something else with less margin of error, than you really don't know.

I've re-measured my course on some holes that seemed wrong after I had played it a few times. When it was built, they used some range finder to come up with the yardage. One hole (420 on the scorecard) is actually much closer to 400 yds - FTR it's a flat hole and a good one to have picked out to re-measure because it flat and straight. The reason I went out to measure it myself is because I was consistently hitting 7 irons or less into the green and I know I don't hit 7 irons or less under normal conditions on 420 yd holes.

Leaguegolf will attest to this - IF I absolutely flush it, with no wind, I can fly it 238 yds, which is the closest I can get to how far I actually hit on the fly. I used 2 methods of measurements and both came out the same.

There is one hole on my course where a 238 yd forced carry (I've measured several different ways several times - it's the closet I can get to what it is) is required to reach the fairway. One important feature is that if your short, the ball more often than not hits the side of the hill b4 the fairway and stops - sometimes it actually rolls back down the hill. So it's a good hole to judge exactly just how far you can hit it on the fly. Most people think it's about a 250-255 carry, but like most people, they are wrong in judging distances.

Anyways, Leaguegolf teed it up 2 yds farther back on this tee than what I normally do, making it play to a 240 yd forced carry. I tried it from where he hit it - flushed it and came up 2 yds short. BTW -when you read posts where leaguegolf mentions how long he hits it - he's consisently in the 260-280 range legit. I can find my ball by going to where he hit it and walk back 35 yds!

A good drive for me, including roll, is about 230-235. Also, I tend to hit a 'soft' drive - i.e. it's not a penetrating shot and it usually doesn't roll more than 10 yds. My 14 yr old son can now outdrive me by 20+ yds when he hits it, but he still can't hit it any further on the fly than I can - his ball flight is much lower and more penetrating than mine, producing more roll. I prefer the carry and less roll. Sure, the extra distance is nice, but sometimes a rolling ball goes where it shouldn't!