How far do you hit a golf ball?

Golfers love to tell you how far they hit the ball. However what they are really referring to is how far they can hit their best drives, and even then most golfers like to (slightly) exaggerate how far they can really hit the ball. It makes for great banter in the clubhouse!

If you want to score well, you need to know precisely which club to take to get the ball to where you want it. That is, you need to select the club that, with most probability, will propel the ball the distance you require it to go, in the direction you want it to go in.

When I ask "how far do you hit the golf ball?" I am not referring to how far you could hit the ball. I am not talking about long drives. What I am referring to is how far you hit the ball with each club in your golf bag.

You need to know how far you hit the ball with each club in your bag.

Calculate ‘carry’ distance.

When you are calculating how far you hit with each club, make sure you take the average distance. You need to know how far the ball will go with a club most of the time.

Well watered or wet fairways get little or no run. Good greens will hold a ball very well. So what is more important is how far the ball carries in the air before it hits the ground.

The advantage of this is you will know, give or take a few yards, precisely where you expect the ball to land. This is critical if you are to fly the ball over hazards such as bunkers. It is not important that the ball goes a total distance of, say, 100 yards. It is far more important to know that the ball will clear the bunker at 95 yards!

You need to know how far the ball carries with each club in your bag.

Plan your way round

To score better you need to spend a little time on each shot calculating the distance to the target. When you know how far you have to go (to avoid hazards) then you can select the correct club more easily.

If you start to plan your way round the course based on how far the ball needs to carry on each shot you may find that you get closer to the pin more of the time, and your scores start to fall.