I've been working on my flexibilty steadily now for 3 months. When I started I measured how far away from the floor my hands were while bending over with feet shoulder width and legs straight.
Believe it or not, I was 17inches from the floor when I started. I'm sure that's the worst case you've ever heard of!
I have reduced that to 13 inches. It still feels like I'm a mile from the floor but I'll take the 4 inch improvement.
I am working mostly hamstrings and I guess I need to add in some other muscles that might be limiting my progress. I think my calves are definitely a culprit.