I played river bend the day before with my GPS watch. I was one tee up. It was downhill, but not significantly downhill… I average 280 off the tee and hit this one well…
Eli was 50 yards past this and was playing a tee back.
His swing creates speed, he hits the ball far. I questioned his distance previously and don’t think he averages 300 off the tee, but he’s definitely hitting the ball well past 300 on occasion.
Jacked up with a little nervous energy between the final major and gallery pressure, very much realistic to absolutely crush that one.
Doesn’t mean he averages 300, but its in the tank when everything lines up
Having played with both of them at Cog Hill, I can assure you that Eli can easily hit it 300+ yards. He is also fearless with his driver. There were many places when I some 40 yards shorter wouldn’t hit the driver and he just swung away.
As much as Eli’s weight is made fun of, what hasn’t been discussed much is he was a D1 athlete whose hand eye coordination is incredible. Look at his swing again and the backswing isn’t that impressive. What is impressive is how much leverage and swing speed he is able to generate on the down swing.
Because Eli is so long, it’s pretty much overlooked that Mike is also not a short driver of the ball. He is also the quickest player I have ever played with. Hands down.
Im generally the quickest player anyone has played with. It has been suggested to me that slowing down play may improve my scoring.
Any chance thats is also true for Mike?
Agree with your comments on Eli downswing. Thats what i meant. The swing just doesnt seem to generate the speed to hit ball 300 but clearly it does.
Sweetspot contact adds a lot, so maybe his hand eye coordination allows him to contact sweetspot a lot.
That is…far. Guessing he’s typically in the 175-180 ball speed range then. Go him.
From your shot track, watching that drive sail at River Bend, had to be a little nerve-wracking towards the end, right @Craigers? I know I’d be all, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I nail it, land it well, and it’s going to end up in the water?!” Probably not as close as it looks on that map.
Distances have just gotten silly in the last decade or so. As I’ve mentioned here a few times, I’m reading Pelz’s Short Game Bible published, I want to say, in the early 00’s, and the typical distances there, aren’t the distances I read about (and occasionally hit myself) here.
I thought I was wet for sure… I wasn’t even close. Good times! I also managed to hit the green… also played 2 with some strategy and barely missed the eagle chip…
My biggest takeaway is they are still actively mediocre at working around a golf course and avoiding mistakes.
Mike had a huge advantage with Steve on his bag, but still made mental mistakes.
Yes, There was one hole I thought he had picked up, only to find out that he had finished it. He wasn’t playing well and he admittedly like to play fast. However, there were times if he thought through what shot he wanted to take, he would have for sure saved himself some strokes.
Knew it! I’m surprised it took this long.
Nice work. I never saw it coming.
