Was in a Dicks recently and they had a chart up in their hitting bay. For a 90 mph swing speed it said carry was 200-210. My swing speed is in the 90 mph range and my best drives measured with GPS including roll are in the 230-240 range. I play the Gold tees at my home course (~ 6000 yards). The longest par 3 is 162 and the longest par 4 is 411.

I find at that distance I could possibly hit every club in the bag. I'm usually a low to mid 80's shooter, but when on can get into the 70's. Golfers would have more fun playing the appropriate distance (tee) for their game.

    I will not go to any golf shop and get on a monitor. I think they would tell me, sir we are sorry, but your swing speed is not fast enough to register on our LM. 😱

    I can live with the 200 to 220 drives. What gets me on the 6000 plus yard courses is being 165 170 out. Have to hit 5, 4 iron or hybrid, fairway clubs that kill my greens in regulation. You know what Travino said “ pro’s that putt for par and dogs that chase cars don’t last long”.

      Sneakylong

      That’s a really good point. Tee boxes should be marked for handicap, not yardage. Beginners should start at forward tee boxes and move back as they improve. And folks like me should get to move forward as their handicap goes up. But hey, nobody is stopping folks from playing the tee of their choice. Nobody but pride......

        Tinker Never heard that saying before, but it makes an awful lot of sense. Hitting more than a 7 iron in greatly depreciates my chance of scoring ( on a par 4 at least), hence my interest in SL irons, but that’s another topic.

        I played with Wierfan last week and saw that our group probably should have played from three different tees if you are looking purely at distance. We played back, while the two we were pair with played the senior tees, as hey should have. The longer tees allow me to actually hit more than drive and a wedge into Par 4s, Peter could still reach par 5’s in 2 from back there, but was admittedly more comfortable being a bit closer and the other guys needed every bit of the distance gained. What I find most telling is how far back you can feel comfortable on a par 3. 200 yards is it for me, beyond that, it’s a 💩 shoot. If that distance is more like 150-160 for you, then play the tees that put you there and you probably are closer to the right set. I find most courses set up to allow your approach to be from about the same distance as the average of the par 3s ( barring extremes) so it’s a pretty good indicator of where you should be playing. I know we have some extremes here in terms of SS, but that 90mph range should find that pretty true.

            rsvman I guess 220-225 and in play isn't horrendous.

            I'll trade ya!

            My GPS does a much better job of telling me how far I hit the ball. It's REAL data since it accounts more accurately for course and weather conditions. I think launch monitors (the good ones) tell you how far you "might" hit a ball.

              I thought someone on FGI some time ago shared that an ideal course length is your 5i distance X 36 or something? Does that sound familiar?

                JeffTilley By that math it’s 5580 for this short knocker.......

                I got exactly the same number and on most of my courses, I play 5500 to 5800.

                  Do what my regular foursome did - move to the geezer tees. The 4 of us have been playing together for years and are similar in ball striking with similar clubhead speeds and all within 5 years of age of each other - 70 to 75. By moving up we enjoy the game more and still play for bragging rights and talk smack when we hit one really good.

                  ZWExton

                  I caution against using those formulas as they tend to put folks at a tee that is past their skill level. It would have me at ~6800+.....can I, sure, but I have no business playing 6800, especially a course with a higher slope.

                  As long as the golfer is telling the truth (how many are full of sh1t with there yardages) and it ought to be an average, not, I "can" hit my drive 280, which I can, but a more realistic avg is 260. Things like slope,layout, etc. Should be factored in. I like to play hybrid tees quite often, which would be Mens/White and then the next tee back which will get me 6300+ up to 6500,much more than that is asking for trouble. I have also played courses where playing shorter tees is no fun as the EOF is in range or hazard or junk....that's no fun either.

                    Overall yardage is really not the factor. The course closest to my house is 5850 from the whites but it has one short par five, three medium par threes and the rest mostly beastly par fours. One par four is 455 uphill. The very next hole is 410 with the first 280 uphill. 18 is 400 dogleg right with 260 to get to the corner.

                    Oh and the senior tees are on the same box just about 8 or 10 yards shorter.

                    Precision over distance is what makes golf difficult though, right? Shorter is definitely easier. 4 degrees of miss on a 170yd approach is a lot more punishing than that same miss from 110.

                    In the end I can't imagine giving a crap where anyone plays from. I think the 5i measure is pretty good and will give a player the appropriate shots into the greens assuming an adequate drive. Otherwise you end up with driver/wedge all day if you're playing decent golf.

                    I hit it far. If I play whites or a short blue I'll almost never hit driver. I don't think driver/chip is the intent on a 390yd par 4. I'll go hybrid/full-wedge or 4i/9i most of the time. I'm a risk-averse insurance underwriter.

                    Play reds and have fun, or play blues and know you'll be hitting longer shots and not score as well - can still be fun!

                      Last Sun. I played a course at 5500+. Shot 75, no birdies. Week before, same course, but played the 6100+ tees. Shot 76, again no birdies. Had a couple drives that were the longest, on a couple of particular holes, I've ever hit on those holes(10+ yrs. at this course). My swingspeed? Who the hell knows. Better yet, just who the hell cares? Certainly not me.

                      Swingspeed is much too much talked about. For any age. Going to a launch monitor?......the figures to come home with are the ones that show distances for every club. Not how fast or high you hit. Few are going to walk away from those monitors and improve speed/distance.

                      Gee, maybe I could shoot 65🤔.

                      ZWExton I wish I had your personal control. I’m too damn intent on hitting driver, show me a short par 4, I want to drive the green... I know if I want to score, I’d hit hybrid off the tee most holes, but that’s NOT fun.

                        Simulators are fun. If I'm killing time and go to one of the local stores, I know if it is "off". Anyone who is trying to seriously find out if they should buy a club based off of them needs to bring their current clubs in for comparision. Hit them both on the sim and then decide.

                        We have sims here where I work. We don't sell clubs but the sims are accurate, as are our GC2's. With the Sims you can boost or cut back distances... just do it under a different name on the screen, put in your own settings.

                        I went into Golfsmith and set up the sim under my name and boosted a bunch of settings for laughs. When I go in there and hit they think I'm a Superbeast.

                        So I played today at a course that is longer than the ones I usually play, so I decided on an impromptu "members tees" idea. I played the gold tees on the three hardest holes on each side, and played the whites on all the others.

                        So I played gold on the holes handicapped 1 through 6. I liked it. It worked out well for me.

                          Oh, and I did hit one drive 230, and couple of others about 215-220, so I think the simulator I used was pretty accurate. My shortest drive was about 188, which, again, is what the simulator showed for my weakest effort.

                          rsvman

                          There are times at my club when I would really enjoy playing a blended tee box that puts the overall distance a couple hundred yards shorter than the usual tees I play. Especially in the spring, when the ground is still soft and the temps are still somewhat cool despite the course finally being open.

                          We go from 5800 yards (which is too short for me currently) to 6500 yards at the next tee section (which is a beast when there is no notable rollout). Throw in some wind and some back hole locations on those longer holes - it's incredibly difficult to manage some days.

                          I proposed the idea a few years ago, but the head pro at the time refused to consider it. We have a new head pro and a new GM now (just hired this season) who both seem to be more in-tune with making the membership experience more enjoyable, so I might float the idea to them and see what happens.

                          It would require them to get the course re-rated, but quite frankly I would almost be willing to front that expense if they'd consider it.

                          I think it would give a lot of our members a bit more of an enjoyable-yet-fairer challenge.