Is my Driving distance decent?

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Gary V — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 23:05:10 GMT

Don't focus on total distance the roll factor is not accurate. Concentrate on carry distance. I just tested the new ProV's and the left dash. The left dash will be my ball this year. My ball speed (more important than club head speed) averaged 139 and my average carry distance was 248 yards. I'm turning 64 in May. My index is 7.6. I'm focusing on ball striking and chipping. My goal this year is to get my index down to below 5. I can't do that chasing more distance.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Kurt K — Sat, 20 Mar 2021 14:41:48 GMT

I agree, tried to remember numbers off memory of the day. Not good idea. Attached shot of numbers getting on the particular day (TSi3, left dash ball). www.titleist.com/.../vpxopwnbspsu56dkkrxf

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Chuck Zirkle — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 19:38:08 GMT

[quote user="leolovesgolf"]If you hit it straight and have confidence, don't chase distance. I noticed someone mentioned getting a 1.5 smash factor. Not to cast stones, but that isn't realistic or repeatable for anyone. You would need to optimize everything and be essentially perfect on your power delivery. Could you pick up a few yards with 111 club speed? Yes, but your numbers are good enough-especially if you keep it in play. Case in point, i switched to a tsi3 to ADD spin this year. I was playing a TS4 and my smash was 1.46-1.48, but the spin was too low to maintain the level of consistency i wanted. The Tsi3 added about 500 rpms, smash dropped to 1.45-1.46, but i'm hitting it way straighter. You just have to find something that you trust.

Also, regarding range balls vs real balls... I have a tendency to pick up 4-6 mph of ball speed with a pro V1, relative to rb's, depending on the age and quality of the rb's.

Hope this helps.

[/quote]

What is your spin rate. My fitters shoot for around 2200.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

19hole — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 16:35:36 GMT

Hey Kurt, your numbers are a bit off. With a swing speed of 106 MPH and a ball speed of 154 MPH, your smash factor is actually 1.45. Ball Speed / Swing Speed = Smash Factor.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Sandy J — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 16:00:47 GMT

Around 15% more carry on average

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Sandy J — Sun, 14 Mar 2021 20:12:33 GMT

With my TSi2 11* I had a drive of 293 yds. Little wind at my back and downhill hard fairway but consistently longer than my 915 D2

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

TTremble — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 15:25:48 GMT

That’s more than plenty. As mentioned above, if you’re consistent, that is more valuable than your “grip it and rip it” guy who is losing balls and hitting houses more often than not. I actually started using my 3 wood more than I use my driver in the past 4 rounds and I’ve gotten me more consistency which is VERY important. Just think on your par 5’s it’s not your first shot, it’s your 2nd shot.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Chuck Zirkle — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 20:40:35 GMT

Hit my driver today 245 yards and was like an out of body experience......it seemed to carry forever.....at 74+ the eyesight goes also...... =) =) =) =) =) did feel good, much better the irons and the putter

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

leolovesgolf — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 17:39:07 GMT

If you hit it straight and have confidence, don't chase distance. I noticed someone mentioned getting a 1.5 smash factor. Not to cast stones, but that isn't realistic or repeatable for anyone. You would need to optimize everything and be essentially perfect on your power delivery. Could you pick up a few yards with 111 club speed? Yes, but your numbers are good enough-especially if you keep it in play. Case in point, i switched to a tsi3 to ADD spin this year. I was playing a TS4 and my smash was 1.46-1.48, but the spin was too low to maintain the level of consistency i wanted. The Tsi3 added about 500 rpms, smash dropped to 1.45-1.46, but i'm hitting it way straighter. You just have to find something that you trust.

Also, regarding range balls vs real balls... I have a tendency to pick up 4-6 mph of ball speed with a pro V1, relative to rb's, depending on the age and quality of the rb's.

Hope this helps.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Mark N — Sun, 07 Mar 2021 15:34:20 GMT

I would take 278 down the middle everyday all day!.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Nate M — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 23:58:18 GMT

You can't base any information off of range balls. You're better off hitting your everyday premium ball on a course and seeing your results with that. Go out at a slow time where you can practice and hit a handful of drivers on an open hole. Your club head speed should be good for 275 carry.
Other than that, I would agree on doing to a place that does driver fittings and you can get a better idea there

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Don O — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:45:40 GMT

You can go to a club pro that does fittings just to "tune-up" your current setup. With a Flight Scope or Trackman, you can find out what the optimal loft is for that shaft and if another shaft would be better. Titleist doesn't sell heads alone, so you'd be working with a used head that at best won't be counterfeit but may still not be the best loft for your swing.

Loft is not only a function of club head speed. The angle of attack may be down or up on the ball. That is neither good or bad, but just needs to be accounted for in the fitting. That changes the dynamic loft of club head coming into the ball. One of the aforementioned launch monitors can reveal so many important key factors that even a trained eye can't pick-up. Let alone an online group of users working in text.

If you hit a range ball and it veers left or right, ....it may not be how you hit the ball. Launch angle and how it responds to force applied are so far from how consistent a Pro-V will respond.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Chuck Zirkle — Mon, 22 Feb 2021 17:01:10 GMT

I am 74+ yrs old, I will take that yardage all day long......in the middle 256 carry, 278 roll......playing from the Senior Tees, will be hitting a lot of short clubs into the greens. 225 carry, 235 roll.....

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Brock — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 13:44:25 GMT

Decent, but you're about 15-20 yards short from being completely optimized for your swing speed. Someone with 111 mph club head speed should be carrying the ball approximately 275 yards.

The important numbers to have are ball speed, angle of attack, launch angle and spin rate. Unfortunately, the cheaper launch monitors aren't going to be able to give you all of that information. This is where some time on a professional launch monitor comes in handy.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Rick A — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 10:39:05 GMT

To calculate smash factor, you only need to have two pieces of information—club head speed and ball speed. By dividing the ball speed by the clubhead speed for a given shot, you are left with a number that serves as the smash factor.

111 X 1.42= 158 MPH ball speed. You ball speed should have been 159.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Rick A — Sat, 20 Feb 2021 10:23:18 GMT

You're missing some important factors like spin rate and loft. Range balls, of course, are a terrible way to measure your numbers because many courses use limited flight balls. I suggest you get fit for your driver and see what those numbers are. They'll be much more reliable.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Joe F — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 23:39:20 GMT

Thank you for the suggestion! My ball flight is typically low so I will definitely try to increase my launch and let you know!

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Kurt K — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 22:05:55 GMT

Is it decent? Yes. Is it to your max, probably not. The smash factor is low, need to get up to 1.50. Looking at your numbers, you may not be launching high enough. Do you remember what your ball speed was? I was hitting my new 9 TSi (A3 setting) and had 106 ss, 1.5 smash, 154 ball speed with a 270 carry. I found that the better my launch angle (13), the more carry I got.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Chris B — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 21:42:53 GMT

Well there are a lot of variables that could affect this, but Ill tell you that with 100MPH swing speed and a TSi2 I was getting the same carry and roll numbers. One in particular that I really got hold of (Admittedly it was the outlier and not my average) rolled out to 295.

So IMO you should be getting better carry and rollout numbers with a swing speed that high.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Joe F — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 21:28:07 GMT

Is the TS2 worth the upgrade? I was so tempted to get the club head only and use my shaft from the 917D2. Hearing it from someone who transitioned from the 917, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

Thank you!

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Joe F — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 21:25:14 GMT

Hi! Thank you for responding,

I had another quick question about range balls. The range balls I was hitting were pretty worn down. My loft is 9.5 degrees + A4 setting. I had D4 before A4 and I loved that setting too!

How much should a person expect from hitting a range ball to hitting a Prov1/Prov1x.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

Don O — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 20:27:47 GMT

Hard to tell from hitting range balls of unknown characteristics and condition. You didn't mention the loft, but if your flight with your gamer is too high, you likely should try D4 and A1. If you can take the Garmin on course and hit multiple tee shots with a better ball than a range ball, you'll know better.

Can't argue with hitting fairways at any distance.

RE: Is my Driving distance decent?

John H — Fri, 19 Feb 2021 19:43:22 GMT

If you can do that all the time, you're a leg up on 90% of amateur golfers out there. I have a 9.5 TS2, and also kept my 917D2 9.5, both have same shaft as you. Find myself enjoying both clubs, little more distance with the TS2. The TS2 has some more forgiveness, which is nice to have.