Darrin, you should. you are still young enough.
That day we played in Rochester you hit several drives over 350, the most impressive was the 360 yard uphill par 4 that you flew the green on....not to mention carrying a bunch onto the roof of that garage well past the end of the fairway on the range which ended at 300.
I have promised myself I will be in shape this coming season. Working on the habit of getting to the gym 5 days a week again. When we played in Rochester I was in pretty good condition, then I tried out a new shape.. round.. and that didn't work out well for me. I'm getting back to better shape and it's starting to show on the course, I leaned into one last round to try to get to a par 4 and flew it middle of the green, ~325 carry.. bounced off and left me a mell of a hess, but a par non the less. Hopefully, I can get back to the strength level I was at three years ago and get more of that pop back in the game. I'm sure I can compete at regional levels now, but there is no chance with the real hitters.
There are monsters out there on the golf course.
I concur with the type of golfer whom hit it super long off the tee. One time maybe 29-30 years ago, I was a walk on with two other singles at a suburbia golf course. One golfer is an older guy ( back then about 50'ish ) and the other in his 30's wear eye glasses and looked like a body builder.
This guy will lay up on a dogleg hole using a 4 iron while the third guy and I were using drivers, still shorter than the 4 iron this other guy hit. The older golfer immediate ask a bunch of questions like did the guy play there often, did he belong to the man's club......... I knew he wanted to hook up with this long hitter to play club tournaments.
I can say I had encountered more than a few whom could hit over 300 on a regular base, after the practice rounds at the qualifying for the Public links and local events. They are out there, but I had never witness anyone hit it over 400, ever.
TWLD brought out the beasts from all corners of the world.
the ball and equipment are so good these days that even an old guy ( 55 next month) like me can hit 300 yard drives once in a while. Had one of 312 Wednesday using an M1, My first day in Phoenix with JackZ and Customgolfcenter, I had 3 maybe 4 that were 300 plus including one close to 330 ( Ping G25). my best on the year, hit one almost 360 on a 540 par 5 at my home course this summer with a mild tail wind and some dry and firm fairways ( Cobra pro)
Hell, if I could drive 250 I'd probably be famous!
Outside of my grandson(Jake) and stepson, along with my oldest son....3 who can go 270-320 every day, I seldom play with anyone that is really long.
Did I mention those 3 can seldom, if ever, beat me scorewise? There's more than 1 money shot in 18 holes!! ; )
I do love watching the LD fellas hit them long sumbiches though.
Art Sellinger had NOTHING to do with that Championship...It was all Golf Channel...they made all decisions.
Art was called to do some announcing chores...that is it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure lots of people, esp the young guys can hit it long. I'm just talking average Joes. Heck, I averaged around 250 when in my late 30's when I started playing. But if I go to any course in Mi including the higher end courses, I have a 99% chance of not being paired up with someone hitting it 250 or more. At least that's been my experience lately.
It's just a longer walk to the ball, hopefully one not involving trees. It can be a great advantage, but when it goes wrong, it's really wrong. An extra 30-75 yards in the wrong direction makes things reallllllly interesting, but when it's harnessed in the right way, it's Fun! I like scrambles haha.
