Lawson Little and Bryson DeChambeau

[Brent Carlson]

David,


So your buying that a double digit handicap in the 70’s carried the ball further than the best pro’s would a decade later?

Well, Garland is a mountain of a man; I'd say 6'5".  The levers are there.  If he were leaned out back in the day I could see serious distance.

[JESII]

Power to all fields as they say

[John Kavanaugh]

Back with 70's technology Garland could have been fresh off an alien anal probe and still not be carrying his drives further than the best pros of the future. It is pure science fiction.


We will never be able to have a serious discussion on distance until amateurs come to grip with how far they actually hit the ball.

[Tim Martin]

Back with 70's technology Garland could have been fresh off an alien anal probe and still not be carrying his drives further than the best pros of the future. It is pure science fiction.

 

[Bob Montle]

Thomas,


Like I said, if 99%+ of courses would design for their players (almost certainly in the lower 99% of drive lengths) all of that is taken care of.  The problem is, for decades the golf press judged courses by their potential for championship status.  The every day course needs to be no more than 6,800 yards to challenge all but that 1% of top length players (which starts at about 280 yards, BTW)

It's not just the professionals.
At my public course we have a weekend group of about 25 golfers. I can name five of them who can regularly and consistently drive over 300 yards.  These guys are hitting 190 yard wedges also.  It's ridiculous.
Sunday, Andy was in the rough, 295 yards from the green, and hit 3-wood.   I mis-spoke. Not ridiculous.  Obscene!

[Garland Bayley]

Back with 70's technology Garland could have been fresh off an alien anal probe and still not be carrying his drives further than the best pros of the future. It is pure science fiction.

...

What perhaps you are missing is that this is a discussion about how hard PGA players were trying to hit their drives. One proponent wrote that Nicklaus was swinging 100% "several" times during a round. If I remember correctly, Jack generally said he swung 80%. That means that if he averaged 260, at 100% it would be 325. I am not claiming to have been hitting my best that far. David produced a video showing him reaching nearly 400. So the astute reader would recognize that comparing my best to their average would show they are not going for their best "several" times a round.

Unfortunately, your lack of astuteness leads you to often sling stupid insults on this website. You should do something about that.

[Kalen Braley]

There is a reason the best Pros can't compete with, much less are in the same time zone with Long Drive competitors. Being a PGA Tour pro means you do everything well, not necessarily are an elite driver of the ball.

Its very plausible Garland was hitting that distance given his height, being in terrific shape, and using Rock Balls aka Top Flites of the era...

[John Kavanaugh]

In the 70’s the pros would play green courses while the civilians played brown courses. I would regularly be hitting wedge into 500+ yd par 5’s. Amazing what hard pan can do for your ego.

[Thomas Dai]

This thread, which I started pondering if Brysons recent distance enhancements would be a catalyst for change in the way that Little was seen as the poster boy for the introduction of the 14 club rule seems to have morphed into a famous Monty Pythons sketch .. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=26ZDB9h7BLY

Atb

[Garland Bayley]

In the 70’s the pros would play green courses while the civilians played brown courses. I would regularly be hitting wedge into 500+ yd par 5’s. Amazing what hard pan can do for your ego.

Once again your failure to be an astute reader has caught you out. The firmness of the ground had nothing to do with it. If you paid attention, you would have seen my claim was for carry of the ball. The astute reader would have asked how I could determine carry in that day and age. The answer would be that there were high power transmission lines running across one fairway 260 to 270 yards off the tee. From time to time I would hit one of the lines on the fly with my tee shot.

[John Kavanaugh]

I played somewhere similar where hitting the wire was a mandatory re-tee. Did your course have a local rule concerning the wire?

[Garland Bayley]

Didn't know much about rules back then. I played with my dad who knew little about rules and younger brother, and had no influence from others as we played after work and dinner.

We simply hit it, found it, and hit it again.

[John Kavanaugh]

You were a prodigy. How did a kid with that raw talent never get better?

[Garland Bayley]

Before marriage, I was right around a 10 handicap while not being able to putt at all. A lot of three putts. I basically gave up golf to marriage and family for 25 years.

[David Ober]

There is a reason the best Pros can't compete with, much less are in the same time zone with Long Drive competitors. Being a PGA Tour pro means you do everything well, not necessarily are an elite driver of the ball.

Its very plausible Garland was hitting that distance given his height, being in terrific shape, and using Rock Balls aka Top Flites of the era...

Definitely plausible. I have seen quite a few 2-cappers (usually young, dumb college golfers -- I was an NAIA college coach for two years, so we got our share of those) who drive it with the very longest of the long drivers on the PGA tour and even a couple 10+ cappers with that kind of length. They 10+ guys are quite, quite rare, but in my 30+ years of golf, I've seen a handful. Usually very good athletes from other sports who just don't care enough/lack the finesse required to actually learn how to score. Knew a basketball player back in 1990 who was 6'6" and 250, amazingly long arms. Used to hit 2-iron(!) 280 to 290 in the air in 1992. Just prodigious.

Played in my SCGA Am Qualifier today with a bunch of young guns (College players and high school players nowadays, mostly), and oh my goodness did one of the kids I got paired with crush the ball. Lasered several of his  back to the tee and he was 320 to 340 on every drive he hit with one going 351. He was hitting is 3-wood 290 to 310 -- and he's a college freshman. Ethan Barnes.


He outdrove me by 70 to 110 yards ... and I beat him by a shot. LOL


Still didn't shoot low enough to qualify (I shot even-par 72), but always enjoy Oak Valley. We had to walk, and no caddies allowed, due to Covid. Really struggled with my stamina on the back nine. Easily cost me 2 to 3 shots. But oh well, gotta get my fat *ss in shape!

[Kalen Braley]

Awesome David, bummer on just missing the cut thou.


I'm looking forward to seeing pics and such when/if you and John have your match.  John claims to have never lost to a player who can't out drive him, so that sounds interesting. Maybe Anthony will come out of GCA retirement and caddy for you, he does fine work!

[David Ober]

Awesome David, bummer on just missing the cut thou.


I'm looking forward to seeing pics and such when/if you and John have your match.  John claims to have never lost to a player who can't out drive him, so that sounds interesting. Maybe Anthony will come out of GCA retirement and caddy for you, he does fine work!

How long do you hit the ball, Kavanaugh?

[David_Tepper]

Nice to see Justin Thomas and Colin Morikawa showing you don't have to be built like a linebacker to play winning golf on the PGA Tour.

[John Kavanaugh]

Awesome David, bummer on just missing the cut thou.


I'm looking forward to seeing pics and such when/if you and John have your match.  John claims to have never lost to a player who can't out drive him, so that sounds interesting. Maybe Anthony will come out of GCA retirement and caddy for you, he does fine work!

How long do you hit the ball, Kavanaugh?

I'm a 240 hitter.

[Pete Lavallee]

Definitely above the Mendoza Line!

[David Ober]

Definitely above the Mendoza Line!

LOLZ

[Kalen Braley]

423, was the best he could do apparently! 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayon1s5ZT2E

[John Kavanaugh]

Deshampiehole shot three over today. Digest is emailing me, an idiot bud is texting me, I heard he hit a long one, are we over it yet?

[Tim Martin]

DeChambeau might hit it far but he’s short on manners. After the most recent dressing down of a rules official he has been relegated to the “dead to me” scrap heap.

[Jeff Schley]

Agree with Tim re: his lack of etiquette / manners. The rules official didn't try to hit a 3 wood multiple times OB, so venting to his ruling which was correct is unprofessional. Will he be the John McEnroe of golf? He is on his way, that when things don't go his way he pouts it appears.