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Just been having a little tinker looking at scorecards from my local club, and analysing some aspects of my game.

I jotted down for each hole where I can take driver off the tee the range of yardages I might expect for the drive, excluding shanks, etc... I then averaged the inside yardage (shortest) and outside yardage (best). I included all conditions, so that shorter winter yardages played uphill are factors.

I've always figured myself to have a short drive in the region of 225 yards, not great but as long as just about everyone I've played with. As my course is not long this is not a problem. I was somewhat disappointed that the short average was 201 yards, and the long average was 235 yards. I've never tried to kid myself or others that I am long off the tee, I wonder how many would find if they did this exercise that they are in fact deceiving themselves.

Interestingly, I ran the numbers excluding the holes that are played wildly up or downhill, and the lower average was only 2 lower, and the upper yardage only increased to 240.

Overall I learned that I need to get some help with my driving...

Driving distances are a macho ego driven area where people always talk a bigger fight than necessary. The reality is that the average 18 handicapper drives about 200 while the average 9 handicaapper drives about 250. There is usually a wide range between those off the sweet spot and the normal drive.

I'm longer than average ,but erratic, so it often means I'm longer into the jungle ,or my mishit runs very little especially in the winter. This weekend was hot and hard ,so going over 250 was easy.Keeping it on the fairway was the true test.

If you are hitting it 210 on the fairway, it is an easier game than 250 intot he jungle.

Oh you guys aren't going to open this can of worms again, are you ? FWIW, I agree with both of you. It's been statistically proven that the average male golfer averages about 200 yards with the driver. I suspect that Lefty has a pretty good benchmark there ...cap 18 = 200 yards, cap 9 = 250 yards. Of course these are just averages which take into account us mere mortals as well as the GR big-dog studs I'm sure we'll be hearing from shortly.

Ok here we go. You can't measure driving distance by HC....there of course is an average for everything but everybody is different. On a normal swing for me....that is medium tempo I drive it 260-270. If I swing hard it is 290....assuming I hit it straight. I know a 16 year old kid at the First Tee and he is a 30 HC....he has never played golf before. This kid is 6'3" and is about 200lbs of muscle....plays High School football. When he hits his driver straight....which is rare right now he drives it 290-300...his normal swing is a big slice at about 250 yards. If you want more distance get a good shaft and go to the gym. Of course if you’re going to swing out of your shoes every time you better have a great short game out of the ruff.

Further interesting analysis - I took my last two scorecards. In both rounds I shot well under my handicap (19 BTW) so was swinging fairly well. Both rounds just under 50% fairways. My PERCEPTION was that last week I drove the ball really well (I did just miss a few FW's, not worth worrying about) and this weekend I drove poorly. In fact the difference in average was 1 yard! Both rounds were within my range as above, towards the upper range.

My point was to provide personal testimony to the idea that we might (just might) kid ourselves about how far we hit the ball... I did, and I never claim to be a big hitter...

I am generally the longest in my foursome, but in the grand scheme of things, I am not long at all, a 260 yard shot is about all I've got. However, other players perception of how far I hit it is amusing, usually they think I hit it over 300. I can only assume they think this because they believe they are hitting it further than they actually do.

When I struggle with my driver I will switch around my bag and play a 16 degree 4 wood off the tee, which I hit about 235. One day I was playing with a young guy, who not only worked at the course but was a mechanical engineering student to boot. He was hitting his driver about as far as I was hitting my 4 wood. On #18 he said "If I were you I wouldn't even carry a driver, you can hit that 4 wood about 270, as far as I hit my driver".

For the record, I never, ever, burst anyone's bubble and correct their yardage estimates.

I believe the largest mis preception in distance is the carry distance. When you add roll which can be 20 yards on a good drive the distance is much longer then the carry in the air. Most carry distance is not what people think. It is usually much shorter.

Is it just that the yardages on golf courses are lies? I hit a drive yesterday on a 525-yard hole and walked off 7 yards back from a sprinkler head saying 203 (which was virtually right next to the 200 yard marker). So it was saying my drive was 315 on a flat fairway.

I'm a pretty big guy (6'2", 210) and I swing pretty hard so I ought to be able to hit the ball relatively far. I really did get a hold of that one to be sure, but is 315 unreasonable? Am I kidding myself?

Something else to keep in mind when using yardage markers when calculating drive distance is that holes are measured down the middle from the tee to the center of the green, not "as the crow flies". Cutting a bit off of a dogleg can greatly increase the distance you "think" you hit your drive.

That's not unreasonable for a guy your size with a fast swing if you really caught it and got some roll. Now if you're talking pure carry distance, then I think that would be pretty spectacular.

My quoted distance are inclusive of roll - my depth perception is not good enough to accurately estimate carry distances - I often think "that's a short drive" only to find it flew and rolled much further...

You've just made an old man very happy. Thanks!

I have similar experiences Cagey. I'm generally the longest guy in the regular groups of guys I play with. They always ask me what a long drive for me is, and when I say 280 (which is I break out about 1 in 20, or 25) they assume I hit every drive 280 and measure off of that. In reality, I average about 240 or so (even that might be a stretch), which means I hit my fair share or 215-225 yard drives to offset some of the longer ones.

i calculate all by carry. my driver is a pretty high loft & doesn't get a whole lot of roll(excluding downhill holes). my avg.is 230-240 carry. that's with mushy range balls.

on course the distance is largly influenced on which swing shows up. i've had days where i fly it no less than 240 & have gotten them out to 290(lucky bounce). these days don't occur nearly often enough.

others it's fade city. that's where distance just bottoms right out. i went out with my wifes relative last weekend. big guy, plays ball & hockey, just crushes it. but he slices. it'll get out there about 260 & turn right. BIG right.

a good club & shaft combo cannot be overlooked either. with my wallybanger, maybe 220 if i catch it perfect. that's excessivly low for my tm, though.

i don't need to exagerate my distance. i'm officially still a 27 capper, so lying does me no good.

Yeah, that's definitely not 315 of carry. That's where the ball came to rest. Just to note, it wasn't on a dogleg; the hole was dead straight. So the yardage markers really were telling me I hit it that far. I just can't do it consistently right now :)