DRIVING RANGE YARDAGE???

Dylan69

Has anybody experinced this.

I was down at the driving range in Leopardstown and i was hitting the driver and the short irons reasonable well , distance wise! Now the driver was getting the ball down around 250 plus a bit of roll which is fine for me.

Yesterday, i was driving along and i happened to see a driving range down in Greystone so i pop in and start hitting the ball. At first, the yardage marker seem to me a bit funny to me, the 200 yard marker look miles away. Anyway, hit the driver and i came up short of the 200 yard marker every time.:(:(:(:(

Has anybody experinced this? Are the yardage wrong here or what?

stockdam

Possibly different balls.

I never look to see how far I'm hitting the ball at the driving range.

For irons I'm more interested in the consistency of the yardage. For my driver I want to hit it straight and out of the middle. I know when I'm hitting the ball well and I don't use the yardages on driving ranges as for me they are rarely correct.

lemon head

If this is the case that most yardage are all wrong then why bother putting them there.

G1032

In some cases the yardage is correct but the range balls that you are using are terrible. They wouldn't travel nearly as far as the ball you would use on the course.
In other cases the yardage is just wrong.
You should never base how far you hit the ball on driving range yardages.

GreeBo

I think the yardages are usually correct but the balls are so bad/old/dead that they really lose distance very quickly.
In spawell I used to warm up with some 8irons to ~140 then hit some 5 irons to ~140 and then some rescues to...you guessed it...~140.

BUACHAILL

I use both of them driving ranges and I agree they are nowhere close to each other !!

I think its for a number of reasons, firstly Stockdam is right about the balls.Leopardstown since they have done the place up got in all new balls they are srixon if I remember right and would be a very decent ball for practice and will travel. Greystones use a mix bag of everything and their best ball wouldnt be great by any stretch so that gonna show a huge difference in flight between ranges. Greystones markers are not accurate either, play much longer than it should for yards and I think they might even measure in metres and even at that they play long for metres ( my own thinking not fact ) because there is a huge difference. I would go by Leopardstown between both ranges although greystones has a much more level field so better to see your ball landing etc !!

Range for me is only for tempo, ball striking and keeping my swing lose so I dont get caught up in distances etc !!

Dylan69

I hear what you saying about not getting caught up on distance, belive me i dont but when i saw the difference, i knew there was something wrong! I was swinging nice and freely!

My gut feeling is the greystone one is a bit dubious.Buachill, you might be right there as it might be marked in metres but true again i still think it looks a bit iffy.

Leopardstown is grand for me as i'm closer to that place. Just a pity that as far as the 250 marker, we can't see it land due to mounds.

BUACHAILL

between the both of them I would rather Leopardstown for the mats, bays balls etc but I do think Greystones has a better field. The balls however do put me off but if your only going to make a few swings makes no odds what your hitting, price wise I think Greystones is a little cheaper

Brewster

Stones is in metres...

conman

I noticed that too about Greystones.

but i need to figure out my yardages, so im headin up to Portmarnock on friday, and there is a nice driving range there i see.. so hopefully i can get distances measured for most - all clubs

Myksyk

Really guys you shouldn't use driving ranges to calibrate clubs. the balls used are nearly always compressed often travelling 20-25% less than standard balls. My driving range has one green measured at 159yards (7 iron-ish). It takes at least a 6 to comfortably reach it. I don't think I've seen anyone come even close to the '250yard' final green.

PhilipMarlowe

Exactly. What good is knowing how far you hit a driving range ball?
Take the ball you regularly use out to a proper flat grass area and hit 10 or 20 shots with your 7 iron and see where the most of them end up (step it out yourself).
Better again to do it in heavy ground and see how far you can 'carry' the ball.
In an ideal world do this for all your clubs.... but at least do it for your PW & 7 iron and you can guesstimate the rest.

PokeHerKing

Myksyk wrote: »

Really guys you shouldn't use driving ranges to calibrate clubs. the balls used are nearly always compressed often travelling 20-25% less than standard balls. My driving range has one green measured at 159yards (7 iron-ish). It takes at least a 6 to comfortably reach it. I don't think I've seen anyone come even close to the '250yard' final green.

Good to hear really, I use the spawell and have trouble breakin the 200 mark with my driver:eek: Also has been said above but you can hit 5,6,7 iron and get roughly the same distance out of all them. Might take licksy advice and go to the nearest field and whack a few titelist

conman

PokeHerKing wrote: »

Good to hear really, I use the spawell and have trouble breakin the 200 mark with my driver:eek: Also has been said above but you can hit 5,6,7 iron and get roughly the same distance out of all them. Might take licksy advice and go to the nearest field and whack a few titelist

i think so... time to find a field

matsy1

The Guy at my driving range says he finds all the prov1s etc in the ditch past the 300 yard marker!

Tom Ghostwood

The distances on three ranges I use are all wrong. Ive got a bushnell laser range finder (very very accurate) & what ive found is the 50 & 100 markers are correct & after that they're way off.

• 
  
• Salthill Driving range (Galway):
• The 250 marker is actually only 183 meters!
• The 160 marker is only 135 meters.
• All the rest were correct.
• 
  
  
• Glenlo Abbey range (Galway):
• 250 marker is 200 meters.
• All the rest were correct.
• 
  
  
• Birr driving range (Offaly):
• 250 marker is 210 meters.
• All the rest were correct.

I think the low compression on the range balls means that range owners
dont have to have huge lots of land. Makes sense.

spurscormac

Tom Ghostwood wrote: »

The distances on three ranges I use are all wrong. Ive got a bushnell laser range finder (very very accurate) & what ive found is the 50 & 100 markers are correct & after that they're way off.

• Salthill Driving range (Galway):
• The 250 marker is actually only 183 meters!
• The 160 marker is only 135 meters.
• All the rest were correct.
• Glenlo Abbey range (Galway):
• 250 marker is 200 meters.
• All the rest were correct.
• Birr driving range (Offaly):
• 250 marker is 210 meters.
• All the rest were correct.

I think the low compression on the range balls means that range owners
dont have to have huge lots of land. Makes sense.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a 240 marker?
The one diagonally to the left - unless there's one up to the right that I've yet to spot.

Also, if you're got to the bays on the left you'll have a much shorter distance to it than those to the right - as you'll be hitting almost straight up along the fence, whereas those on the other side will be going diagonally across the range.
Just a thought - as how can the 200 markers be right and the 240/250 be shorter than them

Tom Ghostwood

Is it 240? Even still the distance is waaaay off. I measured from the bay in front of the ball vending machine to the marker in the far left corner. I didnt measure the 200, i meant the 50 & 100 when i meant the rest of em. 'sake :rolleyes::)

Myksyk

Hmm ... I suppose we could give them the benefit of the doubt and say they are trying to correct for the compressed balls. So if You can hit a compressed ball 200 then you would hit a prov1 for example 240-250. Tho' ... on reflection ... they probably just don't give a toss.

BigAl>>

Licksy wrote: »

Exactly. What good is knowing how far you hit a driving range ball?
Take the ball you regularly use out to a proper flat grass area and hit 10 or 20 shots with your 7 iron and see where the most of them end up (step it out yourself).
Better again to do it in heavy ground and see how far you can 'carry' the ball.
In an ideal world do this for all your clubs.... but at least do it for your PW & 7 iron and you can guesstimate the rest.

I agree with the lads in not using a reg drivingrange to range your clubs/shot cause of all the prbs mentioned above in relation to bad balls inacurate yardage signs, weather conditions and so on .

If you accuratley want to range your clubs/shot! then get yourself to a indoor range/simulator and use your regular balls.

The amount of information you get from these simulators is amazing. from club angle n speed to smash speed and flight arc n distance travelled and a hell of alot more too. so much more info than u wud ever need.

But if you just want to accuratley know you club/shot distance then this is the only way to go.

Try somthing like www.golfvision.ie/