A general formula may apply to most of the golfers but certainly not for all the golfers.
As the static measuring for club fitting, it’s only a starting point. No harm done if someone follows the guideline to try it out for a round or two.
I’ll be 70 next year and I had only lost maybe 7-8% of my driver distance thanks to the new driver and the new golf balls. The department I’m lacking is the irons play. I had already storage my 1& 2 irons ( also the 58 & 60 degree wedges). Replacing them with hybrids and 54/56 degree wedges.
I had also witness a lot of the guys won’t move to the forward tee even they are using 3 woods for approach shots on most the par4s.
I guess it is a matter of pride, to want to keep up with their buddies on the men’s tee?
I will experiment the next time by the first one to announce to use the forward tee just to see if anyone will agree and follow my suggestion.
I’m really still comfortable hitting mid irons to the green on the average par 4s so actually no need to move up a set of tee, but it’ll be fun to play with the guys. I’ll use fairway woods or hybrids off the tee to stay with the group if it’s less than 360 yards par 4.
What is ure typical driver swing speed and ball speed at 70 may I ask?
These days? 93-98 depending on how I feel. 45" -45.5"
I need to declare that my irons are 1992 Apex with #4 steel. Am considering change back to X-14 PS with Rifle 6.0.
I have no comment. Other than 
…! Only because your 8 i is traveling 135….image|375x500 That was my best this year. Here’s where my 70 year old partner is
I mean your 8i is traveling 135 so the swing speed vs driver at 98 just isn’t translating unless your irons are an inch shorter than standard. My drivers are 46”. At that ss 8i should be 85 mph and carrying further than me probably 155-160ish. My 8 goes spot on 145. 82 mph. It’s pretty easy math today. At 70 you should easy have lost 15mph even if you are Superman. You had Pro Tour swing speed in your youth. Amazing!
135 is the top of the range, I should count on the 8i 128-130 yds. in the air. My short irons do not run-out. Already lost the back spin from my youth. I wish I can carry my Apex 8 iron 135 yards, that’ll make me feel like 35 again. Wait, that’s before I had my first born.
In winter months, With the frost on the fairway, I can still carry my 8 iron close to 130 ( slick ground increase club head going through the turf, get it?) but usually 122-125 is stock distance in cooler temperature for this set of irons.
I’m eyeballing my wife’s Callaway BB with senior graphite shafts. She won’t let me have it unless, of course I’ll get her a new set of irons.
The issue with the older model iron sets with graphite shafts, the OEM just extend the length 1/2"-1" to get the same swing weight with the stock iron heads.
Unlike today, some will have light weight heads for lighter shaft weight. Callaway and Ping later played with the weight on the badge in the cavity to adjust the head weight. I don’t think my wife’s set has that feature.
Thought about drilling out portion of the hosel to adjust the weight for a shorter shaft length but wife stopped me. She does not like anyone to mess with her stuff. Even when I fix and repair all my friends golf clubs.
Lots of reasons why an 8-iron might not be swung as efficiently as a driver (though for me, it’s the other way around), and carry distance for a given iron is going to really depend on dynamic loft and spin.
From this chart we can see that a 135 carry on an 8, falls between 93 and a 100 driver speed (130 and 143 yds, respectively) Lots of slop in those numbers too. I don’t find Dew’s stated carries to be out of the norm, given that chart.
(Me, I swing my 8-iron at ~87 at 36.5", but usually top out at 155-ish distance, and far more often it’s in the 145s. I am really trying to replicate the feel of a 48 wedge I have that, at about 35.5", I averaged around 88 MPH with in the same session. No, I don’t know why a 1 inch longer club averaged 1 MPH slower, but I’d like to fix it.)
Big fan of this 1K Orange I just stuck in the Driver. 45.5" long, but more controlled strikes than some other 44.5 and 45" shafts I’d been trying. Golf is weird.
Yes, a lot of variables involved here. And no one chart should dominate the whole golfing population.
Data are good to narrow the chase down, but also can be misleading at some point.
Same as information, interpretation of the information is just as important as receiving it.
Jay it’s not just that. Unless someone has found the fountain of youth, it doesn’t translate. I know what I’ve lost from 40 to 50 to 60 to even 63. We’re talking 70 here. If the man says so, all I can say is more power to him. I can tell you at my club one of the best players in his 50s was busting it 290+ He turned 69 this year and physically looks exactly the same as he did 20 years ago and is barely out there 250 now. He said I swing exactly the same way I always have, I still go after it! The ball at age 70 does not go as far, period, full stop! The speed is just not there. Next year at 70 he moves to the golds in tournaments… that’s gonna be scary.
Oh, absolutely. All I’m saying is that 8 iron carry seems to be aligned with someone claiming 98-ish driver speed. Not all saying anything about the likelihood of a >70 year old rocking that speed.
However, see this article at GolfWRX, where some biomechanics guy is trying to assess swing speed potential by looking at performance on various physical activities: jumping height, shot put, etc… The analysis is broken down by age cohort. Looking at the younger participants, it looks like the study population was biased towards enthusiasts, to be kind, and even among those enthusiasts, that swing speed is somewhere in the 75th-90th percentile. With 100 being the fastest.
I.e., it ain’t slow.
You are data driven. If you happen to be around here next season, I’ll be honored to have a round with you.
Chances for me to go on a vacation is very slim. Still recovering from sending all my kids through grad-schools ( half of them out of State).
Another flip, I’m on the petite side for men. But I tees up with others in the pro sports business in the past and not being left behind.
These were the guys 6"-10" over me and at least have 50-60 lbs. advantage on body weight.
The course marshal had driven out to watch us play because those guys insisted teeing off from the tip. Back then I was pretty good with my 4 wood and 3 iron. Not needing the 4 wood unless I made a bad tee shot.
Same course marshal saw me weeks later and asked me to hit a driver he brought along, remember it was some Taylor Made driver with XS shaft in it. I hit an okay tee shot, with no one else around, he asked me to hit another one, which I did better.
Not saying that you doubt my numbers, I would, too. In this game seeing is believing. I was the kind of guy who will stick to the rule book and not socializing much when I was playing. Much more relaxed these days.
Yes, I lost distance comparing to my younger days.
With 43" TTDG S-400 persimmon woods I average 260-290 on a well struck tee shot. But that was long ago.
The strength came from the lower body, not so much the upper part. So no, I am not built like Ian Woosnam, but I am taller than he is.
Although shrinking a bit in the last 5 years after all the joints compacted down from aging.
There is no glory in fabricating any part of my game. I am not some guy on the other site who will drive over 300 yards and 6 iron over 200 yards. Not many golfers can do that on the average, not even the professionals unless they wish to hurt themselves.
Pretty interesting discussion here.
I’m 48 and I average 6400 yards (6298 on my home course and 6463 on my second course). I’m a 13.5 index and Arccos says my average driver distance is 250. My buddy wanted me to move back this year because I was in a stretch of averaging about 265 (and hitting it 40 yards past him). I ran the idea past my golf instructor and fortunately, he told me not to move back until I could shoot a 72 on the tees I was already playing.
I play the shorter distance on my home course because the par 3s are over water and already kill me.
Your instructor is not golf god, it will not hurt if you try from the back tee a few times. There is no penalty in doing that. It might take some of the designed hazards out of reach if you stay back a bit.
I agree on the par 3s over the water. A local golf course here on one of its two 18 tracks has 3 out of the 4 par threes over the water hazards with rock wall drop off from the front. Plays 145-194 from the back. But the longer ones all have bailed out area short of the green. At one time they had a par 3 from 189-213 with water hazards covering the right side and right front, tall rough around the back… they modified that hole to be a much shorter one by moving it to the side and the original water hazards is no longer in play, just a nice retention pond now.
Play a more difficult golf course and longer distance, then, your regular tee from your home course will seem to be a piece of cake after all the tougher ones.
With your tee distance, you should be able to cover 6,700 yards if you have a game between 170-200 yds. Plus a short game with confidence, of course.
Well I agree with that!
And with your other comment about ego - guys should really be honest with themselves and play from a set of tees that are compatible with the way they hit their tee shots.
And not talking about driving distance here but also about accuracy - if someone can’t hit a fairway then they really should consider moving up to give themselves a better chance to get the ball into play…
I work as a starter and imho most of the groups i observe should move up
I play from 5559 yards to 5933 yards
Starters probably will see the worst tee shot of the golfers for that day. Most the golfers have no warmup.
As for whether the golfers in general should play a shorter distance should be exam case by case. If a golfer is in the state of improving, younger and have room to grow his game, I’d say tee off on any set of tees when the action will not delay anyone following. If these Youngman never play a longer set of tees and never played a tougher rating golf courses then no exposure for getting better.
I used to join a group which travels all over the State to play the “better” golf courses and once a year will have an overseas excursion. After golfing on those longer higher rated golf courses, the home course is a piece of cake afterward.
Where if a golfer is getting shorter off the tee and losing touch on chipping, then it is time for moving up a set of tees or two.
I play mostly from the white tees, but will play from the forward tees sometimes, and rarely will play the back tees. I have the distance to play the back tees but my scoring isn’t there. I end up scoring around the same from the forward tees as I do from the white.
Of course, the main difference between the regular tee box and the back tee box will be the distance of the approach shot to the green and the ability to scramble from around the green.
For me, the difference is using a short to mid iron to the par4 instead of long iron/hybrid to the green.
If you have the game for 170-190, and can scramble from around the green, then I don’t see why you could not tee off from the back tee.
Scoring is not that important for me at this stage of my game. It used to be everything as I fought to lower my index number. I’m more relaxed around the game now and I enjoy it a lot more.