Girls Driving Distances

[JuniorGolfParent]

Just curious as to what people think average and very long (exceptional) Girls driving distances would be for various ages, starting from 8 and going up from there (9, 10, 11, 12, 13+yo).

Also, at what age does being able to hit it long really start to differentiate the girls in high level tournament play? When they start playing 18 holes?

My 8yo daughter is just starting to get the concept of swinging hard while still being able to maintain balance and hold a controlled finish - it is like a switch went off in her head.

[Golfingdawg19]

I would say the average driving distance at 12 is around 200 yds. When I say average, that is referring to the girls who play in tournaments. At 10 years old it is around 165. I know that for a fact because my daughter played in a US kids regional and they had trackman out there checking numbers. They sent me the data with my daughter’s numbers compared to the rest of the field. So here is my best guess based on the above data:

 

9- 150

10- 165

11- 180

12- 200

13- 215-220

 

My daughter is 12 now and is playing with a D1 college player on Wednesday. The girls dad told me her average drive is around 240. She is average in college and the longest girls are 260-270.

[leezer99]

 

[JuniorGolfParent]

Interesting...if true, it looks like she matured early?https://www.lpga.com/statistics/driving/average-driving-distance

She's #75 on Tour in driving distance, averaging 253.25yds.

[darter79]

Not the norm no where near it.

I would say @Golfingdawg19 has a pretty good gauge of girls golf distances. 9 might be a little high on averages I would guess it closer to 140.
In terms of very long that's a tough one. At girls 8 I saw a few girls that hit it 175+ but she looked 12. I know another girl who is 9 who hits it 200. Another kid I know of is around 11 or 12 hits it 250. Those would be on the more extreme side of things and very few between. Most under 12 yardages are the bigger the kid the further they hit it. Less about technique to a point more about just being a huge kid for their age. Those distances posted above are in my opinion +/- 10 yards.

[MB19]

Both kids have their first-ever tournament on Sunday, and I'm really interested to see how far all the 8-9 girls are driving for sure. There are a couple of very good Palm Beach-area players driving two hours to play in this local event, and it will be good for us to see that level of player.

[leezer99]

If you can, try and remember to have fun. You'll likely run into these same families for the next decade so make some friends and enjoy the day.

[MB19]

Fantastic advice for sure, and thanks. It looks like there will be a nice variety of skill levels in her field, which seems like more of a gentle break-in than seven girls shooting 41 or better (which happened in the other local tour championship this winter).

I'm sure my daughter is looking forward to seeing some girls her age again, so I'm excited for her on that level for sure. Meeting other youth golfing families will be good for us.

My son is the lone kid signed up in 6U, and I hope he at least gets someone to play with by Sunday.

[JuniorGolfParent]

Interestingly, my daughter is much more likely to be friendly with and try to establish relationships with her competitors

My son just see them as competitors to beat

 

 

[heavy_hitter]

They will pair him in a 7 yo group but he will play the 6 yo distance.

[darter79]

My daughter is 9, I can speak first hand on that division but each tour is different. We have two around us one has better players the other does not. The lower scale of 8/9 you could see 115-130. As they develop 8/9 you will get 130-145 range. Bigger and more skilled kids hit it further 165-180. I do know a few 9 year old girls who hit it 200.

[MB19]

That certainly works, and thanks for the scoop.

He turns 7 on Friday, so no big deal. He's been playing 1400+ yards with his sister when we've gone out since the first of the year.

[MB19]

My daughter should hold her own with driving distance, even as an eight-year-old. Putting is a different story entirely. No four-putts for the day will be a win! :)

The goal for her Sunday: leave the course wanting to try it again.

[MB19]

It seems to be the direction my kids go.

During a local golf day camp this past summer, when both had only been swinging the club for a month, my son was already trying to be competitive with this similar-aged kid whose swing looked like Freddie Couples' mini-me.

My daughter was obsessed with the sandhill cranes on the course and made fast friends with an older girl with "a lot of clubs in her bag" (AKA, full set of TM Kalea).

Thank goodness for the lighter side.

[ncalgolf]

My daughter started playing just before she turned 7 and now recently turned 8. She will play her first 8 year old tournament this saturday or maybe its sunday have to check on that. Try to have fun. The kids playing at that age are all so nice. The kids don't really care if you shoot 2 under or 20 over - usually the parents make a mess of everything. Also my daughter was often the only girl when we played at 7 under and she would often get paired with boys 6 and boys 7. All those kids were super nice as well. My daughter has made a lot of golf buddies so its been fun - what you really want at this age is for them to have fun and want to do it again and again - driving distances seemed accurate.

[tiger1873]

When it comes to distances what matters more then peak drives is a kids average distance. There is a huge difference between average drives over the course of 36 holes. Most girls or women can not sustain 230 yards of the tee for most drives

The LPGA is 250 yards +- 10 yards on Average and some farther. Late take Lexi Thompson she something like 275 yards average on the tee but in some cases she can hit over 300 yards and in other cases it might be 250 yard. Most men can not do that but will claim they can go 280-300 yards.

The same thing I see with juniors especially girls between 11-13 you might see a 230 yard drive once a round but generally those same girls are only hitting it 200 yards.

If you have a girl who is long you almost certainly know it or people will tell you about it. Once thing that I have been told is that at 15 or 16 the bigger stronger girls start to really take over at the highest levels. Some the girls you see in the younger ages are really small. They are good players and usually they do everything they can to make out their distance. You can spend money of equipment lessons and change technique and it will go a long way but eventually height and weight and strength catches up especially when they optimize equipment and techniques. In the PGA you see the stronger players dominate. In the LPGA not as much but eventually it will change too.

[killer21]

My daughter is 11 and carries her driver 150 yards. Which I am guessing is average.

[heavy_hitter]

I would say that is well below average. Golfingdawg19 averages in this thread are pretty accurate. A 150 carry isn't going to produce 30 yards of roll out.

[MB19]

Our 8-9 girls group was squarely in the 130-170 range yesterday. The nine-year-old girl hitting it in the upper-part of that range didn't even have a huge swing, and was maybe 55"/65 lbs.

I'm not sure how old the second girl was, but she was like 51" 50 lbs and belting it out in the middle of that range and maybe 3-5 yards better than my 55" 78 lb 8 year old.

Technique seems to make up for size at this age, at least a little.

[heavy_hitter]

Chest strength in girls and juniors is a huge indication to how far they can hit the ball. Anything pushing will increase distance with the driver.

[Kcct82]

I think size is still the most important factor for driving it far. It doesn’t take a lot of practice to get a “good enough” swing to surpass the smaller kids. While the smaller kids have to work MUCH harder just to keep up.

[MB19]

That makes sense.

[Golfingdawg19]

Weight is a huge factor in junior golf when it comes to distance. In juniors, the extra weight equals strength. The kids hitting it the furthest are the bigger ones who weigh more. My daughter is small for her age and her technique has to be more sound than the bigger kids to make up for the lack of power. That stuff will even out over time but it’s hard to make kids understand that when they are going through it.

[leezer99]

I still think the Callaway XR is the best driver for kids.

[heavy_hitter]

GolfingDawg texted me this morning this chart. I since have discussed with Darter, Bloton, Golfingdawg, and Leezer. We had questions, but did come to the conclusion that it was pretty spot on. There are definitely variables to take into account, however, because not every kid grows at the same pace.

 

[JuniorGolfParent]

Those heights are close to 90th percentile (and in some cases above)

[heavy_hitter]

It still doesn't devalue the target speed. I know an 11 year old that isn't 60" and is swinging it 85.

 

There are definitely variables within. Growth being a big factor in the equation. Bigger/Heavier kids are generally stronger and swing it faster. These are just target numbers for competitive golfers.

[Kcct82]

Good stuff, those are some good numbers to shoot for. It’s a pretty good baseline speed for competitive juniors as far as I know.

[Golfingdawg19]

For my daughter the height matches up with with what her expected clubhead speed should be. Her age doesn’t match up with the height because as someone mentioned earlier, those heights are at the top of the bar for those age groups. My daughter is 58” and is 12. That is around middle of the pack. She hasn’t hit puberty yet where some of the girls in her age group have. Big difference there. I think it’s accurate for the height but I would ignore the ages .

[JuniorGolfParent]

Taking another look, I think you are right

I was just initially thrown off by the age/height - but when you just look at height/speed it matches up a bit better and are useful targets

I wonder if there is something out there for older ages and taller heights as well?