I hit 7 iron (32 degree) around 160-165, how far would you expect me to be able to hit a driver? I am really not hitting driver as far as I'd like

that's a pretty jacked 7iron, I'd say you should fly your driver about 255-260

Ok that's what I think too, I play with some single digit handicaps and on par 3s we often pull the same iron. I am hitting driver like 220-240, it is really pathetic and frustrating.

what's your miss with driver?

most bad players that are good iron players are poor drivers of the ball and vice versa, unfortunately that's why they're still bad players

you might not have the optimal shaft in your driver. assuming that you're hitting it correctly, you might be losing distance if the trajectory balloons etc

Do your rare great drives go 255? Also how often do you hit your 7 iron 160-165? Do most of your 7 irons really go about 150-155 and only the occasional good ones go 160-165? If so then driving the ball 230ish with the occasional 250-260 drive would actually be expected.

I've only played one executive course in the last 3 weeks, but decided to take the skirt off and play in 9 degree celcius temperatures tomorrow, last round of the year for sure.

Playing this awesome old course Highland Gate
http://en.clublink.ca/golf/golfcours...COURSE_ID=0500

It's very short, but a very old classic golf course by one of canada's best legacy course designers. can't wait!

Yes, describes me well, I am way too new to get offended at being called bad

My miss is a short low hook or a ballooned small fade. I tend to top the ball some and fly it like 100 yards then it takes a huge bounce with mega top spin on a bad shot. Every now and then I dip one, hit the ground, break the tee and hit a weak popup. I think the misses are all over the place because I'm always tinkering with my driver swing, not feeling confident when hitting it. One thing of note is that even my good drives are all really low compared to most people, I never hit it high and far, a high drive for me is a bad popup.

I have a used 10.5 degree titleist driver with a 65g stiff shaft. I hit it with a way lower trajectory than is optimal, I can't seem to correct it.

Yes my rare great drive is 250ish, I think your logic is sound but I hope I'm not being egotistical when I say that no I really do hit my 7 iron 160+ every shot that isn't simply mis-hit. I LOVE my 8 iron and use it on almost any shot in the 150s so I am pretty confident in my distance judgments because those are really common shots for me.

Also for the sake of argument if a guy is hitting driver 300 yards, how far do you expect him to hit 7 iron? I feel like I play with at least one guy who can hit a 300 yard (great rare obv) drive and hits similar irons to me. My working theory is that the driver is just exposing my swing flaws and I have subconsciously slowed down the driver swing to somewhat try to "control" the club into avoiding disaster shots. I am confident with my irons and swing them hard always, maybe not the case with the driver?

My distances are like PW 135, 9i 145, 8i 155, 7i 165, 6i 175 like clockwork, then I get into my hybrids (adams A3os set) and 5h is only like 180, 4h 190-200, 3h 200-220. I also feel I hit my 4h and 3h not nearly as far as I should, looking at their degrees of loft and some simple math, and I sort of feel like my distances flatten out at the long clubs. Also I am aware that I hit my 3h almost as far as driver

Someone that can fly a good drive 290-300 should be expected to be able to hammer a 32 degree 7 iron about 195-200. That doesn't mean that's how far that golfer's normal 7 iron shot would go since it's quite likely he doesn't swing max effort on his irons and I'd say about 185 would be his "normal" swing. A 32 degree 7 iron is also basically a 6 iron in most sets found in a better player's bag.

Some pros also bend their irons to add more loft since they hit their irons so far they need to shorten them up a bit. I recall an announcer once discussing the fact that Jesper Parnevik plays very weak irons because he's just so ridiculously long with them even by pro standards. Jesper's 7 iron might be 41 degrees or something crazy I dunno.

I remember reading an interview with retief goosen where he said he hits his 8 iron 145 yards. (He might have said 155 yards)

DDonkey, I think you're assesment of why you're not hitting your driver as far is probably accurate. Are you hitting an Aldila 65g stiff shaft? If so, I hit the same shaft, and I have a REALLY hard time with the stiffness of this shaft. IMO, try a few drivers, and see if one just feels right for you. I used my buddy's 65g REGULAR flex shaft, and it made a WORLD of difference. It changed my swing.

Palo, can you knock it off?

So.....crazy story time.

The day off my wedding two years ago we have a little golf outing. One of my buddies makes a hole in one. Cool enough.

My anniversary is Monday, so we are almost two years to the day away. He and his wife are in town for the weekend, so my buddy and I get up and play golf this morning.

Same hole, basically the same pin, boom, hole in one. He has played the hole twice his whole life, in a total of 2.

Rules q: ball dead behind tree...only play sideways means I have to stand on cartpath.... I take relief tree no longer in wAy chip on green par... Legal?

wow, that's insane!

definitely yes

Unsure / I will check. I went and hit a bunch of drivers at the golfsmith store into the fancy screen and my swing speed was coming in mostly in the 90s, a few in the low 100s. The guy I spoke to said I was probably right on the border for a stiff shaft vs regular. My thought at the time was I am just learning and expect I'll probably increase swing speed as I get better, so went with the stiff shaft so that I would grow into it.

I actually really like my driver compared to the one I used to have (random used one I got after playing golf for like a week and wanting to buy clubs). That was a Lynx 9.5 degree with 55 g stiff shaft. I can't exactly describe what I disliked about it but I guess I think the one I have now is more balanced in weight, and that one the head seemed super heavy relative to the shaft, so it was like swinging a ball and chain. Also I assumed the extra degree of loft would help me with my trajectory but honestly its identical with both clubs.

DD

not positive this is true so call me out if i'm wrong but stiff shaft + lower swing speed can lead to a lower trajectory right?

DD,

With a SS in the upper 90's, your driver going 230-240 probably is pretty close to right. Maybe you could expect 250 on a really well struck shot. The 7 iron going 160+ is the anomaly.

played my last round of the year, aside from maybe a winter vacation
I did make 3 birdies though, including the best approach shot I have ever hit from a fairway bunker, 125 yards to 4 feet. However, I managed to catch a case of the shanks towards the middle of the round and hit a bunch of very very bad shots until I pulled it back together a bit later in the round. Sour way to end up the season, oh well.

Played again yesterday. Hole was playing tougher, 162 into and kind of a cross wind. He hit a big draw that looked good the entire time and....




4 feet left, dead pin high.

Another wedding golf outing story...10 years ago a buddy was getting married in Atlanta. About 15 of us (all D1 college golfers) played on Friday before the rehearsal dinner. #9 is a dogleg left around some trees that the green is blind to the tee shot and about 300 tee to green. I was in the group in front of the groom and while we were on the green his ball rolled up to about 5 feet. So, obviously, we put it in the hole and took off so they wouldn't even know we were still on the green. We had a great view from 10 tee as he walked around looking for it when Nick said from about 50 yards "look in the hole". Robby ran over and freaked out and he and Nick run towards each other high five and roll around on the ground like they just won the Super Bowl. Some random on the patio tells Robby he saw it go in and Robby had him attest the scorecard. We let him believe it all day and he and his dad were just glowing all day and then in one of our buddies toast at dinner that night he said "well, congrats on marrying a great girl, and oh yeah, we put the ball in the hole." In hindsight it was kind of mean, but it was really awesome. I had everyone playing that day sign the card as well as all the groomsmen and I already have it framed and in my attic waiting for his 40th birthday party in 3 years.

Wow, letting him believe that all day is insane. Don't think I could go all day without telling him. But to just sit here and read it, that's pretty hilarious.

That's awesome. I would've loved to see his reaction.

It was hard and there was intense discussion if we should tell him in private to not embarrass him too much. In the end I think we played it right but we were all nervous when it came time to tell him....being drunk helped.

Total shock and confusion until it set in, then he thought it was funny and solid work. As always you have to play the player, some would not take it well....we knew he would.

Heh I'm torn by this. Part of me thinks it's great -- largely because I doubt it was any serious golf being played since it was a bachelor party... but the competitive golfer in me thinks that it is wrong to interfere with someone's round and fake them out on such a big potential accomplishment.

It was an odd day with not knowing if we were being total dicks or if it was funny. Luckily all 5 in our group unanimously agreed to commit. 10 years removed it was a great play, but I agree, it was a dicey call at first!!!

Does it help UC that we paid the bets out as though it were a 1??? Made him an extra hundred or so....

As long as it all ended up well. +100000 at it being a dicey situation.