In golf, men and women are equal......

I was playing golf with my fraternity brother Joseph Pangilinan when out of the blue he said ….“ The rules of golf imply that after the drive, men and women are all equal”. The assumption here was that the ladies tees were way forward and therefore women could outdrive the men easily. But by the second shot, the men would be able to “equalize” the ladies tee advantage and the playing field would even out. I often play with guys who comment that the ladies red tees are just too far ahead over the men's regular blue tees. I am not too sure if the guys say this as a “preamble” so they can get a better deal on the bets we make.... ("Hey, let's play even... No more "plus" ok? You are hitting from the red tees anyway..."!!!!)     I must agree though that there are some holes where the ladies tees would be advantageous enough that some guys land their drives not too far from our tee off area... "Hey dude, it's ok... at least it went past the ladies tees!" (snicker, snicker......)

So anyway I did some research on typical yardages for both men and women. According to Brent Kelley who writes for Golf guide, the yardages in the chart below covers the typical average male and female amateur. It represents a large range from the short hitters, mid range all the way to the long hitters. But not to worry if you don't fall in any of the numbers below  (you can always change sport...maybe badminton???) There will always be those who hit it much longer and those who just hit it shorter.  And for those who hit it shorter, it shouldn't be such a big deal.  It doesn't necessarily follow that if you hit it longer, you score better.  Or that if you hit longer, that you hit it straight. Right?

Club                Men                        Women

Driver           200-230-260         150-175-200

3-wood         180-215-235         125-150-180

5-wood         170-195-210         105-135-170

2-iron           170-195-210         105-135-170

3-iron           160-180-200         100-125-160

4-iron           150-170-185          90-120-150

5-iron           140-160-170          80-110-140

6-iron           130-150-160          70-100-130

7-iron           120-140-150           65 -90-120

8-iron           110-140-150           60 -80-110

9-iron             95-115-120           55-70-95

PW                 80-105-120           50-60-80

SW                 60- 80-100            40-50-60