What's YOUR birdie yardage?

mikeintopeka · 2017-01-10T22:46:30+00:00

Excerpt from the article: "It has taken me years to figure out by rigorous calculation what instinct told me all along. I’m most comfortable and having the m...

livegolf

Par 3's: 12 birdies totaling 1,986 yards
Par 4's: 35 birdies totaling 12,484 yards
Par 5's: 26 birdies totaling 13,231yards

Average par 3 birdie is 165.5 yards
Average par 4 birdie is 356.7 yards
Average par 5 birdie is 508.9 yards

Based on that my birdie yardage is 6,265 yards, still not sure exactly what that means though! Not sure I want wedges into every par 4 and potentially reachable par 5's every hole if I hit a good drives (conditions dependent of course)

mikeintopeka

livegolf - Your stats are really close to mine and what I posted in the opening. You'll eventually remember your 'average' length for the different holes and make it a mental challenge to 'give yourself a chance' at a birdie. Boy do I get pissed off missing a very makeable birdie putt on holes that are longer than my average and the opportunity for the average to increase.

If you are concerned about how much fun a driver and wedge would be on par 4's, you are hitting it a lot longer than me. My average tee ball is about 220 yards (including flat out bad shots) and my average birdie yardage on a par 4 is about 160 so I have a reasonable chance to birdie any 380 yard hole. And that for me is a driver and six or 7 iron which is 'fun'.

rsvman

livegolf This is a necropost, but the more I think about this, the more I think that these data are meaningless without a control.

For example, what are your bogey lengths? Is there a difference between your birdie lengths and your bogey lengths? That would provide something to really think about. (Sadly, I'd be racking up bogey data a heck of a lot faster than birdie data.)

Maybe I'll do this next year. Just make a spreadsheet with so-called birdie lengths, par lengths, bogey lengths, and double-bogey lengths, and see whether there is anything to this idea.

livegolf

I'm not a long hitter, typically fly driver 230 yards. That leaves 9 iron or wedge into 10 par 4s in the average example. Shorter holes are a flip wedge and longer are a mid iron. Thats assuming quite a few things though, including no wind!

Par4QC

livegolfEither I'm drunk, or you are.
Think maybe there's a typo in that statement somewhere??

sdandrea1

livegolf I'm not a long hitter,

Bullshit................when you're playing golf with me you are. 😉

DC300

Weirfan haha that's the truth!

BogeySwine

Interesting! I went through my scorecards for the past season which was twenty four rounds. Three birdies on Par 3's from 160 yards to 195 yards. Five birdies on Par 4's from 329 yards to 410 yards. One birdie on a Par 5 of 560 yards! I have a habit of "putting a little extra" on my tee shot on a Par 5 and it rarely turns out well!

livegolf

Par4QC

Malbec tonight!

rsvman

"long hitter" is relative, I guess.

I don't have any idea what length of par 3s, 4s, or 5s that I birdie most frequently. I have never tracked it.

I prefer par 3s to be from 115 to about 175, and I like there to be some variety in their lengths. Par 4s over 400 yards are rarely birdies for me. I like 320-390. For par 5s, the longest that I could potentially reach in two would be about 470-480, and it would require two great shots. But it's easier to birdie par 5s than any other type of hole; I generally have shorter approach shots to most par 5s around here.

Again, all guesses, though, since I have no data.

BogeySwine

Update! I have played a bit more this season, probably 45 rounds. Here are the birdies(no eagles) in past twenty rounds. Two birdies on Par 3's 161 and 144. Six birdies on Par 4's 325 twice, 333 twice, 344 and 360. One birdie on a Par 5 485. Very similar to my post in January. I am playing better overall but the improvement is mostly just eliminating double or triple bogeys!

ZWExton

rsvman Yep. For every birdie player X makes on a 360yd par 4, he might make 3 bogeys. Hard to call that birdie yardage.

livegolf

rsvman

No idea on my bogey yardage, probably an extra 20 yards a hole average. I've got way too many over par scores to try that one out.

I'm revising my decision, my birdie yardage is a 15 ft eagle putt!

mikeintopeka

@ZWExton and @rsvma the point of tracking the yardage is to determine a set of tees you would enjoy the most. The author, Brad Klein of Golfweek wrote, " I’m most comfortable and having the most fun when I’m playing tees in the 6,200-yard range" which is what HIS spreadsheet results were for him.

I don't need to track the yardage of my bogeys or worse. I make a notation on my card what CAUSED the poor play on that hole and work to eliminate them between rounds. If I can get my "Ah Shits" to 5 or less a round, I'm probably scoring in the low 80's or occasionally breaking 80, especially if I'm playing yardage that "I'm most comfortable and having the most fun".

It does lead to a good discussion. The resulting yardage may give you number that provides a good mix of greens in regulation you can hit with an iron to give you a shot at birdies while not playing something so short it becomes a driver and an 8,9, or W all day.

ZWExton

mikeintopeka I had my "ah shits" down to just a few recently. Triple bogeyed the 18th for an 80. 😭

The yardage stuff comes down to fun I guess, but golf is easier for everyone at every level when it's shorter. That isn't rocket science. Who is making more birdies from 400 than 350?

An 81 from 5,800 is not more impressive than an 88 from 6,800, is it? Score is relative. Longer is harder.

5i distance x 36 still seems the most accurate measure of appropriate course length.

rsvman

ZWExton right. So I play an old set of irons. My 5-iron would be labeled a 6-iron on today's clubs. So do I multiply the distance I get with the iron that says the number five on it, or do I multiply the distance I get with my 4-iron, which is really a modern 5-iron loft?
Trickier than it seemed, right?

mikeintopeka

ZWExton An 81 from 5,800 is not more impressive than an 88 from 6,800, is it? Score is relative. Longer is harder.

Good post! I'd take the 88 from 6,800 any day rather than the 81 (or 78 or whatever) from 5,800 as I'd feel I was challenged and rewarded. From anything under 6,000 I still have enough distance off the tee that I'd be hitting a lot of 8,9,W for my approaches and that gets mundane (been there, done that). The caveat is I know there is a day coming when I'll cherish playing from those forward tees AND enjoying it.

Yes, 36 x 5i distance is a lot quicker and doesn't need any further calculations. And in my case, using this method results in just a little longer yardage than the formula I'm tracking...6,255 vs 6,300, so I believe it's another good method too.

RobertThomas

We play from 6400-7000. I don't mind as I like to hit my hybrids and we play a different course every week. My handicap would probably be a stroke or so better if I played the same course most weeks, but that will never happen unless I retire on a course. I feel I can make birdies from any distance and I actually like long par 3's, 180-220, they are challenging. As long as I am still having fun and can hit the ball a decent distance, I do not see me dropping down below 6300-6400ish.

puttnfool

DC300 I get jacked up when I get those intermedia distances that stick me with 50 to 90 yards after the driver... hate those!

You don't carry a 3wd?

puttnfool

My birdies this year have been few and far between. I doubt I've gotten 2 in a single round at all. I'll list them all below.

EAGLE - Par 5, 450 yards
Par 3, 131 yards
Par 4, 313 yards
Par 4, 397 yards

This is back to 7/19. I can add more later, but this shows decent data. Looks like my birdies are the result of me pulling my head outta my arse to hit a decent drive. I don't get many on par 3's.

mikeintopeka

puttnfool - I plugged your yardages into my spreadsheet and your "fun distance" would be from tees that measure around 5983 yards. The lone birdie on a short Par 3 and too many birdies on really short Par 4s weighed your averages down. I'm guessing your average distance for a 5i is greater than 166 yards in the alternate calculation being kicked around here.

puttnfool

mikeintopeka throw these numbers in if you have time and see what it comes to. Probably not much different, but this is all year. Couple of longer holes in there now. A 437/4 and a 210/3 should help the numbers slightly.

Par 4, 458 yards
Par 5, 484 yards
Par 5, 513 yards (ok, these two par 5's were the same day)
Par 4, 303 yards
Par 5, 456 yards
Par 4, 307 yards (ok, here were two more the same day. The par 5 was very short. I was playing black tees with a group I met on the first tee and ended up playing the same tees with them)
EAGLE - Par 5, 450 yards
Par 3, 131 yards
Par 4, 313 yards
Par 4, 397 yards
Par 4, 368 yards
Par 4, 390 yards
Par 4, 368 yards
Par 3, 135 yards
Par 4, 335 yards
Par 5, 535 yards
Par 3, 210 yards
Par 3, 104 yards
Par 3, 135 yards
Par 4, 437 yards

« Previous Page Next Page »