[Chuck Brown]

One of the better golf shops in the midwest is Miles of Golf in Ypsilanti, MI, about 15 minutes east of the UMGC in Ann Arbor.

Owner Chris Mile puts out an occasional e-newsletter on eclectic golf topics.  Today's newsletter contained this:

Feature Article - How Many Yards is Your Ideal Golf Course? 
by Chris Mile
 
Computing Your Ideal Course Distance.  The answer to the question of how long a course should be is real simple.  It is 28.  Just multiply the length of your average drive by 28 and that, in my estimation, is the length of a course that will be challenging but enjoyable to play.  So if you drive it 200 yards, your ideal course will be 5,600 yards long (200 x 28).
 
The logic behind the concept of "Driver x 28" is that an ideal course will have a combination of easy, moderately difficult, and difficult holes.  By knowing the length of your drives, you can estimate how far you hit your other clubs.  For example, most golfers will hit their 6 iron 64% of the distance of their driver.  If a medium distance par 4 is a drive and #6 iron, you know the length of a good par four for you is 164% of the distance of your drive.  Having this information plus definitions for short, medium, and long holes, you can compute the total distance for an ideal course for you based upon your driving distance.
 
Now the only thing you need to know is the distance of your average drive.  This is a more difficult question than you might think, and as a general rule, most of us overestimate.  To get a real accurate estimate, you can have the TrackMan radar units at our range measure your drives.  They are accurate to within 1 foot for every 100 yards.  Anyone who signs up gets a 30 minute free trial and this is plenty of time to get an accurate read on your driving distance.  You can sign up for the free 30 minutes in the golf shop or at: http://www.mytrackman.com/TrackMan.Online.DrivingRange/
 
More Information.  If you want a more detailed explanation of how the "Driver x 28" system was created, go to our blog.  Give us your comments on the blog and we will share these with our readers in the next edition of the Miles of Golf Times. http://www.milesofgolf.com/blog/

One interesting twist on this, is that if you plugged a PGA Tour pro into this mix, and assume that 315 yards is what they might average on a launch monitor (while few tour players average 315 yards in Tour driving distance stats, I'd wager that MOST of them could put up 315-yard numbers on a launch monitor at a practice tee, with ease) the course yardage number would be 8820.

[Bill Brightly]

Ugh. I'm sure that made Tom Doak spit out his coffee

[Tom_Doak]

Luckily I don't drink coffee.

So, for the average woman who hits the ball 150 yards, the ideal length is 150 x 28 = 4200 yards?

I don't think this makes much sense.  After all, we regularly play with other people who drive it 20 yards shorter or 20 yards further than we do.  By this logic, those people should be playing from a set of tees than is 560 yards different.

[Chuck Brown]

Ugh. I'm sure that made Tom Doak spit out his coffee

It hit 81 degrees in Benzie County today.  I'm thinking that Tom might have been enjoying a beverage that was, uh, somewhat frostier than coffee.  I hope so.

[Chris Buie]

They used to say it was your 5-iron distance x 36.

[Joe Bausch]

The text above suggests using your "average drive" distance, but it wants to use a distance determined from hitting drives on a range. This, IMO, would give a number that I would call a "typical drive" distance. 

My 'typical drive' still goes in my old age about 260 yards, which x 28 = 7280.  Back 25 years ago, I could play a course north of 7000 yards.... not anymore.  I can't really play past 6500 yards these days.  What gives?

Well, I think if you really did compute your average drive distance from real world conditions, the x28 formula might be a good estimate.  For me, if I throw in a quacker and a block each round, and a few others hit less than solid, my average drive is probably more like 230.  Now that times 28 is a course length I'm comfortable with.

[John Moore II]

Yeah, this guy who puts out these newsletters might be a good clubfitter, but that 28 x your normal drive for ideal course length is bogus. There is no way I'd be able to break 80 on a course that was 8100 yards long, or more. That is what my 'ideal' length comes out to. That just isn't right, no way.

[Richard Choi]

I don't like the formula either. My trackman data averages 265 in the air. That's 7450 according to the formula. I can play that length, but it is a bear. I like the 5 iron formula much better.

[John Moore II]

I don't like the formula either. My trackman data averages 265 in the air. That's 7450 according to the formula. I can play that length, but it is a bear. I like the 5 iron formula much better.

Yeah, the 5 iron formula works better. That comes out to 7200 for me. This driver formula is way off. Are you sure he didn't mean to say 23? (though that comes out really short) His 64% 6 iron distance is pretty spot on though, for me at least. If my average drive is 290-300, then that puts my 6 iron distance right around 190, which is correct.

[Matt_Ward]

Place 80% of the men who play the game today at a max of 6,500 yards and they'd likely be quite content.

Few women should play a layout that's more than 6,200 yards. Both yardages assume sea level altitude.

[Terry Lavin]

Place 80% of the men who play the game today at a max of 6,500 yards and they'd likely be quite content.

Few women should play a layout that's more than 6,200 yards. Both yardages assume sea level altitude.

My driving distance x 28 is 6500 yards and I am quite happy playing courses that distance.  My friends all want to play 6900 yards and I struggle a bit, but not that much.  The five iron formula didn't work for me, because the distance was only 6100 yards.

[Matt_Ward]

Terry:

Most people should follow what you do -- from the men side of things.

Too many people overestimate what they hit a ball CONSISTENTLY and what they can CARRY the ball CONSISTENTLY.

[Bill_McBride]

Place 80% of the men who play the game today at a max of 6,500 yards and they'd likely be quite content.

Few women should play a layout that's more than 6,200 yards. Both yardages assume sea level altitude.

As a guy who plays with one frequently, I can tell you that few women can play courses over 5,800 yards.  5600 seems pretty comfortable.

[jonathan_becker]

My driver carry distance equates to a shade under 8,000 yards.  That's way too long!!

My 6 iron carry distance comes out almost perfectly to 64% though.

[Doug Sobieski]

FYI, if you click on the Miles of Golf website and go to their blog as mentioned above, scroll down to the entry about the Cluboratory fitting. If you click on that video, you'll get to see me in action    However, keep in mind that the launch conditions were skewed a bit by the December wind in my face and the 20* temperature! It wasn't a REAL fitting as we would normally do, but rather we were trying to create some specific launch conditions for the purposes of the video.

For what it's worth, they are one of THE premier clubfitters in the country. One of only 3 or 4 Titleist regional fitting centers nationwide, and they were the Ping fitter of the year last year. Most of the major manufacturers use Miles as a proving ground for their fitting technology.

I'll be sure to relay to Chris Mile the questions about his methodology for calculating his percentage. I'm sure he'd love the feedback.

[Mac Plumart]

Jonathan...

Why is that way too long?  You were driving the ball over 300 yards when we played Holston Hills and the rest of us were 240ish off the tee.  To get the same experience, wouldn't you need a longer course?  My numbers come out to 6,500ish and that is what I try to play.  I can play 6,700, but I hit a lot of 3 woods after my tee shot.

On a 410 yard par 4, you would hit driver, pitching wedge (or a lower club), right?  I would hit driver, 5 iron.  Now if we were playing a tournament or a match, you deserve the advantage...but to get the same experience you need a longer course, right?

[Brent Hutto]

I find my club's course to be just about ideally comfortable given my current distance. It's 6,200 yards and that implies a driver distance of around 221 yards. I do hit one or two drives longer than that most rounds but much more common is a drive around 210-212 yards (but that may be because on many Par 4 and some Par 5's I land on a ridge or upslope). Then again, the 64% thing would imply my 6-iron goes about 142-145 yards and it consistently goes half a club farther than that.

Still, it's in the ballpark. Easy to believe that my "ideal length" is 6,000 but that a familiar 6,200-yard course is easy enough. I sure don't mind playing under-6,000 courses though, I'll tell you that! If I had a true "ideal" it would be something around 5,600-5,700 yards, Par 68-69. I don't reach the Par 5's in two anyway so a course with, say, five or six one-shotters, a dozen two-shotters and at most a single three-shot hole is great fun and an easy walk. That's my ideal.

[Patrick Hodgdon]

The 5-iron equation (200*36=7200) worked out much better for me as well. To get to the same number with the driver equation (7200/280= 25.7) so maybe it should be 26 instead of 28?

[Eric Smith]

Jonathan...

You were driving the ball over 300 yards when we played Holston Hills and the rest of us were 240ish off the tee.  

Not so fast Macarthur.  I hung with JB's long ball and blew past him here on 9 and again on 12....with a 2-wood. 

[Brent Hutto]

Not so fast Macarthur.  I hung with JB's long ball and blew past him here on 9 and again on 12....with a 2-wood. 

Yeah what was he hitting on those holes, 4-iron?

[Eric Smith]

Brent,

I'm pretty sure he maxed out driver, that's why I took a picture of my feat!

[jonathan_becker]

Eric,

You need to figure out a driver because you can move it fairly well yourself.  But as the photo shows, you did blow it by me on #9!! (I caught it off the heel)   Although, I don't remember what I hit off of #12.  But I do remember you made birdie and I made bogey with a wedge in my hand!!  It's the short game that counts!!

Mac,

The thing you have to remember is that Holston was playing like a racetrack that day.  The playing conditions were superb and that gives me about 30-40 yards of roll that I normally don't get at my home course (it plays soft most of the time).  I normally fly it around 285 with decent contact and no wind. 

It's really hard to say what my ideal distance would be because 8,000 yards just weighs on my mind.  That's really far and if it's wet, then the par in my mind jumps towards 80.  I've never played a course longer than 7400 and I couldn't imagine playing anything longer than that unless it's at elevation.  I don't know, maybe I'm being a puss about this. 

I did play a course last weekend in Columbus that was 7150 and it was all carry and I had no problem....but I shot 79.  Getting the ball in the hole is what counts, not huge drives!! 

[George Pazin]

Formulas don't work in golf course architecture. In just about any respect. There's too many different types of golfers out there. They only work with trivial comparisons.

[jonathan_becker]

Mac,

To actually answer your last question, yes, I probably would need a longer course to get the same experience as yourself.  But you saw me make plenty of mistakes with short irons and missed scoring opportunities.

[George Pazin]

Jonathan...

Why is that way too long?  You were driving the ball over 300 yards when we played Holston Hills and the rest of us were 240ish off the tee.  To get the same experience, wouldn't you need a longer course?  My numbers come out to 6,500ish and that is what I try to play.  I can play 6,700, but I hit a lot of 3 woods after my tee shot.

On a 410 yard par 4, you would hit driver, pitching wedge (or a lower club), right?  I would hit driver, 5 iron.  Now if we were playing a tournament or a match, you deserve the advantage...but to get the same experience you need a longer course, right?

Why would you want or expect anyone to get the same experience? Even within the narrow realm of professional golf, would you say Tiger has the same experience as Zach Johnson? Sergio v Furyk?

Why would you seek to "equalize" the experiences of very different golfers?

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