You're Not Doing What You Think You're Doing

As a golfer who currently spends a lot of his time hovering around 100 and fretting about forced carries, I read everything I can not only about lowering my scores but raising my knowledge about how well most hackers truly play. At the public courses I frequent--almost 80 in the greater DC region--not too damn well if you ask me. Also if you ask The Golf Channel's Chief Technical Adviser Frank Thomas, who I see has his own website and an emailed newsletter. In an April New York Times Op-Ed about reigning in length on the PGA tour with a standard golf ball, he mentions the following  in passing:

This idea is wrongheaded in several ways. To begin with, mandating such a ball would affect all players, and the vast majority of golfers don't hit the ball too far. (Nor do we hit the ball nearly as far as we think we do; well-supported data indicates that the average golfer hits a driver 192 yards — while thinking that he hits it  approximately 230.) It's safe to say that for most of us the  great layouts created a century ago still provide plenty of challenge.

I'm often vexed by a buddy of mine who outdrives me by a mile all day long, but if this is true I'll be fine when I'm swinging it well. My longest measured drive is 224 yards, shorter than many guys out there but no reason to hang my head. Either that or Thomas is crazy.