How do you learn your actual carry distance?

[mynerds]

Title more or less says it all. If I can’t learn it at a place like Top Golf because of poor accuracy and range balls carry differently, what are my best options? Should I find a trackman to rent time at, use a personal launch monitor on the course with my ball of choice, track my yardages with a stroke tracker/GPS, or something else entirely?

[Shankster]

Those are all good options.  I used to pace off yardages from the 100, 150 or 200 yard markers on the course… the old fashioned way.  

[Kenny B]

I did this for my wife; here's how...

1. On the course during a quiet time (we picked 5-6pm on a non-league weekday because it is dinnertime) and on hole #11 because it's flat and straight and people don't start on the back nine; we can see anyone teeing off #10... picked a spot in the fairway.
2. Used 3-4 new balls of choice; enough where she got a couple of shots that were solid.
3. I used my GPS reset shot to zero but a laser to her position would work too; then went to where she would typically hit a ball with a particular club... standing in the rough to one side (she always hits straight so I didn't worry about getting hit). 
4. I recorded the carry distance; ran the balls back to her in a cart and she switched clubs... repeat.  Took about 30-40 minutes.

What was interesting was that with her slow swing speed, she has several FW/hybrids that fly about the same distance, but she won't give any of them up.  She uses each of them for specific shots, and she does that very well... currently a 16.5 index.

[Motoboss]

If you can access a course, or a convenient practice facility (not a driving range) as suggested pace off your yardage, get a retriever shag bag, decent balls and hit balls. Working on 100 yards in and less is a great learning tool. Once confident with short yardages the driving range for longer clubs become more relevant as your dependent on the range markers for distances. 

 I used to use five gallon buckets at my predetermined distances to focus trying to put a ball in the bucket. Sure helped on the course with visualization.

[EEZurg]

For me, it happened when I finally bought a range finder.  After measuring front/back/pin to greens.....I can reasonably approximate the carry.  Any decent longer shot, I measure to an object near where it landed.  Most days the thing i measure the least is the pins.....really have a better handle on my yardages all while playing.

[null]

Almost all decent fitters offer a “gapping session” type option where you hit all of your clubs numerous times to get your carry yardages and distances between each club

[cksurfdude]

18 hours ago, mynerds said:

track my yardages with a stroke tracker/GPS

I use a ShotScope = GPS watch + shot tracker; note that this, or Arccos or other like system, measures the distance from where you hit the ball to the position of your next shot - ie. it includes any rollout. For me and where I'm at in the game, this is 'good enough' for me. Conversely the upside of this is that it's tracking actual on-course play yardages, and the stats will offer you a "P-Avg" or Performance Average distance for each club.

[mynerds]

Appreciate all of the feedback! I'm going to start with a free shot tracker (MyTaylorMade OnCourse) to get me in the ballpark. From there, I'll see if there is a desire to further refine with either paid apps or other tech. I generally know how far I carry at the driving range based on the yardage markers, but its not much awareness beyond "this club lands closer to the 125 sign on the range, and that club lands closer to the 150 sign." I've sailed a few balls over the par 3 greens using the distance markers without being a particularly strong ball striker. Even a slightly higher fidelity on my carry seems like a point of improvement for relatively little effort.

As an aside, I can appreciate the appeal to tradition and going gadget free but my interest aren't such to be enamored by hickory clubs and the old ways. A partner at a firm I worked at in the early 00's had an antique set of clubs in his corner office and he lit up whenever he had the chance to talk about them. As a child of the tech age and as someone who works in product development, I feel the same when looking at gizmos like rangefinders and PLMs - I see as much craftsmanship in the hardware and software as that partner saw in those clubs. I don't think either of us would say the other is misguided though, and that's one of the things I like most about the sport. To each their own!

 

[cksurfdude]

48 minutes ago, mynerds said:

To each their own!

Definitely, but imo don't let the tech distract you from the actual golfing and enjoying being out on the course 

[ChitownM2]

Most PGA tour super stores have practice bays practice bays that you can rent for $10 for 30 minutes and the launch monitor will give you carry distances.  Just remember to take a picture of the screen when you switch clubs because they usually can't/wont save or recall the data for you when the session ends.

[EEZurg]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:10 PM, ChitownM2 said:

Most PGA tour super stores have practice bays practice bays that you can rent for $10 for 30 minutes and the launch monitor will give you carry distances.  Just remember to take a picture of the screen when you switch clubs because they usually can't/wont save or recall the data for you when the session ends.

I think those numbers are very suspect.....don't match what i see on the course.  Maybe it's just me.

[Perrymr]

 

If you can get some time on a launch monitor that's great.  A driving range and a range finder can give you some approximates,  and paying attention to yardage and where you end up on the green can help get it dialed in while on course

Edited June 16, 2022 by Perrymr
Too wordy

[Kansas King]

Laser rangefinder is my answer and it's an affordable longer-term solution. You can laser flags or objects on the range to know how far you're hitting and you will always know how far the pin is on the green. It won't take long before you know exactly what club goes what distance. Being a 9000 handicap, that will likely hurt you're ability to be consistent but after three rounds you'll already probably have around 27,000 shots to gain a working knowledge of your carry distances. 

But in all seriousness, lasers are where it is at if you're looking for an affordable solution that will also continue to impact your ability to measure carry distances in the future. Knowing you're exact distances during rounds will continue to hone your knowledge of how far you hit your clubs every time you play. 

[RollingGreens]

On 5/13/2022 at 9:52 PM, mynerds said:

Title more or less says it all. If I can’t learn it at a place like Top Golf because of poor accuracy and range balls carry differently, what are my best options? Should I find a trackman to rent time at, use a personal launch monitor on the course with my ball of choice, track my yardages with a stroke tracker/GPS, or something else entirely?

Arccos or shot scope. Gives my your highs lows and generally the consistent number you are able to hit in the course. If you are practicing getting on a launch monitor or being strict with knowing what the stance is of each target isn’t a bad way to start

[RickyBobby_PR]

7 minutes ago, RollingGreens said:

Arccos or shot scope. Gives my your highs lows and generally the consistent number you are able to hit in the course. If you are practicing getting on a launch monitor or being strict with knowing what the stance is of each target isn’t a bad way to start

Those are giving high and low for total distance and not carry right? 

[RollingGreens]

16 hours ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

Those are giving high and low for total distance and not carry right? 

The average, high, and low. If you only want carry the best way is on a launch monitor. I don’t get much rollout so my numbers are pretty spot on 

[RickyBobby_PR]

3 hours ago, RollingGreens said:

The average, high, and low. If you only want carry the best way is on a launch monitor. I don’t get much rollout so my numbers are pretty spot on 

Exactly. For you yes this works but when a thread is asking how to determine carry yards, using something that doesn’t track that isn’t very optimal 

[Angry Birdies]

Rapsodo MLR worked for me.  My numbers slightly change from winter to summer. I have to keep using it throughout the year to keep accurate averages throughout my bag. 

[goaliedad30]

I've had my distances dialed in for years. When I see anything that looks like it's changing, I go to the range with my Garmin R10 and re-calibrate. I'm not quite as long as I was in my 30's now that I'm 59, but the difference is probably less than a full club. 8i used to be 150, now a 7i is 153. I'm lucky in that I get really good feedback on course, since my shots tend to hit the green and stop within a yard or so of the pitchmark (I play Left Dash, to reduce the "spinning ProV1s back off of greens" effect). That means I can spot check the yardage I thought I was playing with what I actually hit, while the quality of contact is still fresh in my brain.

[TheCanadianBogeyman]

I've grabbed average carry distances a few different ways.  First, when I got fit for new irons, I did a gapping session with the fitter when they came in.  Second, where I live, with it snowing all winter, indoor golf is the only option for half of the year.  You can either pay to play a round or hit balls on a sim range.  So every couple of months, while practicing, I will do my own gapping session.  It's not perfect, as they aren't top quality sims, and I'm not using my gamer ball, but for my level of consistency, it's close enough that I can make a good approximation on course.  Lastly, I have been using a shotscope GPS this year to track my game.  It only gives me total distance, but for example, if I think my 7 iron carries about 160, and my measured total distance is 165-170, I know I'm not far off of what I think my carry distance is.

[drb1956]

Started at the range. Got an approximation, then figured out my #'s as I've played on courses thru the years. Distance #'s have not changed much since I started playing, 4 sets of irons ago. Pretty much the same #'s today.  It's funny, you buy new clubs, figure you'd get better distance, end up the same #'s. I have hybrid irons now, and played Cally X-20's before, and the #'s are exactly the same between the sets, with identical lofts. The hybrid irons get up easier than the X-20's, and play straighter for me, as the Cally's always leaked to the right. I get a flyer every once and awhile, but not often. My irons overlap each other, maybe by 5 yards, but I can pretty much count on the numbers I have for my clubs. Lie has a lot to do with the club I choose. I was using a GPS app for distance, now I have a Garmin. Tee off, get to ball, look at watch, choose a club, hit the ball. The app would sometimes chose to run ads, so I subscibed, but I tired of puliing out the phone on every shot. Garmin is so much easier!!