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You are on the 'Eagle' - Handicaps page

 
What are the golf club distances?

This is one of the most asked questions: How far am I supposed to hit each club?  What is the golf club distance?  Unfortunately, the only completely honest answer is: It depends.

It depends on a lot of factors, the clubs you are using, the balls you are using, the conditions under which you play, your gender and age, your physical fitness, coordination and athleticism, your swing speed, how solidly you are connecting with the ball. You get the idea. It depends - and it varies widely from golfer to golfer.

One person's 5-iron distance is another person's 3 iron etc. There is no wrong golf club distance, there is only your golf club distance. And knowing your distance is much more important than knowing how far each club is "supposed" to go.

Here's an interesting fact: While PGA pros hit their drives anywhere from 280 yards to 320 yards on average, and LPGA pros hit their drives from 230 to 270 yards on average, most amateurs - according to Golf Digest, average somewhere around 195 - 205 yards with their drivers.

The moral of that story? Don't compare yourself with the world's best players. You'll quickly get an idea of whether you are a "long" hitter or "short" hitter by simplying playing golf and comparing yourself to those you play with. There's no shame in being a short hitter and being a long hitter doesn't guarantee anything, and certainly not a lower score. And of course, hitting the ball far doesn't matter at all if you can't also hit it straight.

But you didn't click on this topic to read all this, did you? You want those yardages, darn it! OK, I'll give you some yardages but consider everything you've read to this point to be my caveats on this subject.

The yardages listed below show a range for average amateurs, both male and female. As you'll see, the ranges are quite large and represent short hitters, mid hitters and long hitters. (There are of course, people who hit it longer, just as there are people who hit it shorter.)

 

Club
Men
Women
Driver
200-230-260
150-175-200
3-wood
180-215-235
125-150-180
5-wood
170-195-210
105-135-170
4-iron
150-170-185
90-120-150
5-iron
140-160-170
80-110-140
6-iron
130-150-160
70-100-130
7-iron
120-140-150
65-90-120
8-iron
110-130-140
60-80-110
9-iron
95-115-130
55-70-95
PW
80-105-120
50-60-80
SW
60-80-100
40-50-60

There is a greater gap, percentage-wise, between the longer and shorter women than there is between the longer and shorter men because better women players tend to be significantly longer than weaker women players. Especially compared to men. A male player who shoots 110 might be just as long as a male who shoots 80. That is extremely unlikely in female players, however.

A final caveat: You can find charts such as this one on other sites around the web. And if you do, one thing you'll notice is that the numbers rarely, if ever, match up. Because golf club distance depends more on the player than on the clubs.

Modification to Handicapping System as from 1st February 2004.
CONGU Unified Handicapping System. The main points are as follows:
1. Maximum handicap to be 36.   Players with a handicap of more than 36 will revert to 36 on 1st February 2004.
2. No Extra Day scores.
3. Ladies' Sections will have access to Clause 19, this will include General Play increases and reductions. Clause 19.8 Stableford Adjustment can reduce the effect of a very bad hole in a Medal round e.g. a lady with a handicap of 18 who takes 10 on a Par 5, this would be converted to 8 for the purposes of handicap only.
4. Whenever you play away from home in a qualifying competition, you must report your score along with the CSS (Competiton Scratch Score), if known, to your Home Club.
5. Handicaps will increase at Open Meetings as well as reduce. The only time a competition will be for reduction only is as a result of the CSS calculation or if a competition is abandonded.
6. Other than for disciplinary measures, handicaps will not lapse. It will not be necessary to return a requisite number of competition scores in order to retain a handicap. However, your Club may make it a condition of entry into trophy competitions that a certain number of qualifying scores are returned in the previous year.
7. Small fields of 5 or less - a CSS will not be calculated (previuosly the figure was 10).
8. Handicaps will increase immediately.

With thanks to Sue Rawles, Gloucestershire Handicap and Rules Adviser, for explaining the new ladies handicap system being introduced on 1st February 2004.

One site which is useful if you wish to read more about handicaps is www.handicapmaster.org.

It predominantly details the HandicapMaster Golf Club Software which is a programme for Golf Clubs to administer competitions and handicapping, but it gives some clear explanations in a Question and Answer format on the Ladies handicapping system.   You can find the page via a link from the UK Handicapping page in the website.

Other sites to visit for information are:

Ladies Professional Golf Assocation (LPGA)   www.lpga.com

English Ladies' Golf Assocation (ELGA)   www.englishladiesgolf.org - any questions about the handicapping system which crop up frequently can be found on the "Answers Please" page.


Bunkered, Golf's Progress
(Extract from The Daily Mail, written by George Gordon in New York)

Golf has come a long way since players swung curved sticks at hand-sewn leather balls stuffed with feather.
But, despite all the modern hi-tech aids to a better game - from titanium-coated drivers to graphite-shafted irons - players are generally not getting the ball into the hole any sooner.

The average golfer still takes 100 shots for 18 holes, says the National Golf Foundation, a U.S. industry research and consulting service.
And even among the professionals on the PGA tour, the scores of the best players have increased only by 0.28 of a stroke over the past ten years.
Among serious amateur players, the improvement in handicaps has been "slight" over the past 4 years.

In 2000, the average male handicap was 15.7 and in 2004 it was 15.2.   Among women, it improved from 15.7 to 15.2 over the same period. The statistics are not being trumpeted by the big sporting manufacturers, who spend millions of pounds convincing golfers that their dream of hitting balls like Tiger Woods still lies in buying the newest equipment.

Rick Martino, director of instruction of the PGA of America, says one reason may be that while equipment has improved, courses are harder.

Other experts say thousands of elderly people are taking up the game and most do not practice enough, so their poor performances impact on statistics!!

Are you an average golf player?


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