Driver Distance

I am 15yrs old and is 6'0 and weigh 190 even. I am not really buff ,but I'm ok toned. I carry the ball about 255 to 260 yards. In total I hit the ball about 275. My swing speed is 103 to 104mph. Am I averge distance compared to other 15yr olds or shorter?

hi
that a good distance for your age and above the average for men, what you don't say is if your on the fairway more than in the rough.
cheers
bill

Ask the proper question. You're short compared to a 15yo with a 110 MPH and the same PTR. You're long compared to a 15yo with an 80 MPH SS, or even one with a 103 MPH SS with a poorer PTR.

As for your carry compared to your SS, you're as long as you can be.

I have a 14 year old grt. grandson who averages 240 off the tee with a driver, and is hitting his 5i 160. He is about your height, and weight. He is from all accounts when I play with him, a 14 handicapper with a very good short game. Guage your game from there.

Problem is he likes to play baseball, and hardly devotes anytime to his golf game. Perhaps some day he will change his sport of preference, and make an old man happy...LOL GJS

I hit the fairway about 9 out of 18 times. My misses aren't very bad though. My natural shot is about a five yard draw.

90mph clubhead speed is good for 135mph ball speed with perfect contact. That is good for about 250 yards carry.

100mph clubhead speed is good for 150mph ball speed with perfect contact. That is good for about 275 yards carry.

110mph clubhead speed is good for 165mph ball speed with perfect contact. That is good for about 300 yards carry.

As we can deduce from the above, 1mph in clubhead speed will translate to about 3 yards in carry distance. But this rule of thumb is good only for a relatively narrow range of clubhead and ball speeds. This is because the faster the clubhead strikes the ball, the less efficient the transfer of momentum.

There is more to distance than clubhead and ball speed. We must also consider launch angle and spin rate. For any ball speed, we know precisely what launch angle and what spin rate the ball should have for maximum carry distance. We also know those parameters for maximum total distance counting carry and roll.


Let's take your numbers as an example.

104mph for 255 to 260 yards of carry distance. This is sub-optimal when compared to the numbers above. 104mph should send the ball at least 275 yards but not 300 yards. About half way in between. Let's say 290 yards. This is about 35 yards more than what you do. There's only a few reasons for the ball to go short in your case. Either bad contact, sub-optimal launch angle and/or sub-optimal spin rate. It would be wise to figure it out so that you can bring the appropriate corrections so that in turn you can achieve optimal performance.

A different way of looking at it. 255 yards only needs about 90mph clubhead speed. But everything else must be just right. Contact, launch angle, spin rate. It requires less force but more control.

In other words, the better you can make the ball fly, the farther it will fly.

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why do i always get suckered into titles with DRIVER or DISTANCE!!!!

Very educational Martin - Thanks.

You're probably not alone on this.

It must be an instinct that most men are born with - similar to the instinct that we have for the need for food & water.

AAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHH .... A WITCH! A WITCH !!!


Seriously - just swing harder. That's what it's all about.

You must use these balls though!

You have no par 3's?

If you mean to say you're more like 7/14, that's cool. 9/14 is pretty good, assuming your misses aren't horrible.

Please note that Martin is detailing PERFECT launch conditions - something most golfers (including tour pros) will never achieve. Guys like Bubba Watson are very close if not there - hence why his smash factor is 1.54.

The reason I say most will never achieve it is because in ortder to get the requisite launch angle for our measly 90 and 100 MPH swing speeds, we need to use 9° drivers - which means we need something like a +6 to +8 degree angle of attack while still making perfect contact.

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