So How Far Do Average Golfers Really Hit the Ball?

[juststeve]

It is better to be long than short but distance is only decisive when the other aspects of the games are relatively equal. What a lot of distance obsessed golfers forget is that it is much more feasible to master other aspects of the game than to become a really long hitter. As a result they spend their limited time working on the wrong things.

 

Steve

[596]

I'm all over that chart. I'm over 60, hit the ball 220 carry and am under a 5 handicap from the regular men's tees.

 

Distance....it ain't about how far you hit each club. It's how well you control that club for a particular distance. I can hit a 9 iron 150 yards. I hit it from 130 for more accuracy. I hit a pitching wedge 135 but am deadly accurate with it from 100 yards. Yes, distance is an advantage, but most people have no idea how to actually use it to their advantage. I play with a guy who can hit the ball well over 300 yards but I beat him every single time we play. He has no idea how to hit a club from under 250 yards... :cheesy:

[PowderedToastMan]

Why the obsession with distance?

 

The same reason people worry about... um "shoe size"

 

Insecurities. I know there are guys out there with longer drives, but how many shots does it take them to get in the hole. That's what matters. #winning

My shoe size is 300 yards.

 

Is that in Canadian?

I was going to make a disgusting joke, but decided a fact would be more interesting. Oddly enough, we use US shoe sizes in Canada, even though we use the metric system and UK English.

 

Also, the XXXL t-shirts you guys sell at Target come in handy for Canadians, as we use them as enclosures for our entire families to keep warm during winters.

[Ghost of Snead]

Why the obsession with distance?

 

The same reason people worry about... um "shoe size"

 

Insecurities. I know there are guys out there with longer drives, but how many shots does it take them to get in the hole. That's what matters. #winning

My shoe size is 300 yards.

 

Is that in Canadian?

I was going to make a disgusting joke, but decided a fact would be more interesting. Oddly enough, we use US shoe sizes in Canada, even though we use the metric system and UK English.

 

Also, the XXXL t-shirts you guys sell at Target come in handy for Canadians, as we use them as enclosures for our entire families to keep warm during winters.

 

Are moose considered part of the family ?

[PowderedToastMan]

We accept everyone, including moose. Except rats. You're likely to get a longer prison sentence for smuggling a rat into Canada than cocaine.

[statmagic]

I think a more important question may be, "Do YOU KNOW how far YOU hit the ball with most of your clubs"?

[rcain1us]

I used game golf all last year, it was a useful tool to really learn my distances to the point where I do not feel the need to use it again this year (plus I beat the s*** out of it last year and don't feel like buying another one).

 

According to this article I am longer than the average 20 year old < 5 hcp

 

Woo hoo, I'll be 49 this year and would love to even sniff 5 by the end of the year

[Sean2]

I have NEVER told people what tees to play (ask any of the golfers I play the game with).

 

I have made suggestions and offered my opinion, but would never tell anyone what tees to play. I have seen many golfers struggle and get frustrated from playing longer tees and have suggested on this site that golfers in general might enjoy the game more by moving up. That's it.

 

The person who calls himself "DavePelz" continues to misrepresent what I say, sends me unwanted PM's, trolls my threads, despite saying, "My parents bestowed upon us the gifts of morals, ethics, values and taught us to respect others."

 

I don't bother you, I don't comment on your posts, I don't send you unwanted PM's. So please, stop stalking me.

[North Butte]

My own Game Golf stats say I drive it a couple yards less than the GD chart would indicate for my age and almost exactly what the chart would indicate for my handicap index. Pretty cool. I'm soooo average, among old sucky golfers.

[Sean2]

I tried to cut and paste the article, but was unsuccessful. Here is the link:

 

http://www.golfdiges...ll-surprise-you

 

80% has a handicap between 18-36.

they hit on average 195 yards.

I also played with kids that can hit it long but also loose the ball really often due to some wild hook or some other thing.

normal over the top young kid, 220 or so yards on average.

on a good swing.

 

yea thats golf instruction median value all over the world.

it shows how good your pga instructors are.

 

That's an interesting point.

[North Butte]

population averages aside. how do they measure each golfers average distance? if you put them on a monitor hitting 10 balls, the handicap golfer hits so many flubs that their "average" distance is not really a true reflection of the expected distance output from their swing.

 

The chart was based on Game Golf's dataset of the total straight-line distance that driver shots traveled, as measured by GPS.

[Sean2]

Haven't read the OP but have guessed the article. Yesterday in a 25 MPH wind, I hit a 56 degree wedge 137 yards.

 

Why the obsession with distance? It makes no difference. I don't care if you hit it farther than me, shorter than me or exactly the same as me. It's irrelevant. Play your own game, don't listen to what Sam Snead is purported to say.

 

Have fun, keep on pace and respect the other golfers and the course.

 

Distance is very important. There is a strong mathematical correlation between handicap and club speed/distance.

 

What's irrelevant is people who don't understand how short they hit it. If they have a disillusioned idea of how far they hit the ball it will take them longer to improve.

 

 

RH

 

No doubt about it. I am very realistic about how far I hit my clubs, if not how would I know what club to hit into a green...and actually reach the green? After all, which I have said multiple times before, the game is about scoring. In addition, if a golfer is hitting fairway woods and hybrids into most greens then he doesn't give himself much chance to score.

[Sean2]

I found the article interesting from a club marketing standpoint. For the average amateur, distance is what's marketed to sell clubs. When I first started playing as a youth in the late 70s and into my teen and in even through college years, distance was swing driven, not club driven. Some people had it, most didn't. This seems to have changed with the invention of the "metal" wood - when Aoki and Jack were playing the J driver, Taylormade came out with Pittsburgh Persimmon, followed a few years later by Callaway's Big Bertha. Since then, all you hear is about distance gains with each successive model.

 

True, and every new iterations seems to offer more yards...if that were the case we would all by hitting the ball more than 300 yards. :-)

[North Butte]

I'd be a lot happier if I were one of the "disillusioned" (great malaprop!) golfers Richie talks about. It's my unhappy lot in life to absolutely have to know how far I hit each shot, each club. Knowing the true pitiful distances I hit the ball might make me better informed than the next guy but certainly no smarter. I'd just as soon think I was longer than that, to be honest.

[Sean2]

It is better to be long than short but distance is only decisive when the other aspects of the games are relatively equal. What a lot of distance obsessed golfers forget is that it is much more feasible to master other aspects of the game than to become a really long hitter. As a result they spend their limited time working on the wrong things.

 

Steve

 

I agree. Instead of working with what they have, and working on improving, they swing for the fences and get frustrated when things don't work out as hoped, get tense, maybe swing even harder, and pretty soon they have trouble scoring.

[Argonne69]

population averages aside. how do they measure each golfers average distance? if you put them on a monitor hitting 10 balls, the handicap golfer hits so many flubs that their "average" distance is not really a true reflection of the expected distance output from their swing.

 

Oy. The thread title may use the word "average", but the chart is using median, not mean (i.e. average). If I hit 9 balls with distances of 10, 10, 10, 10, 230, 230, 240, 250, 260, the mean median is 230 yards.

 

Edit for brain cramp.

[Sean2]

I think a more important question may be, "Do YOU KNOW how far YOU hit the ball with most of your clubs"?

 

No doubt about it.

[Argonne69]

I found the article interesting from a club marketing standpoint. For the average amateur, distance is what's marketed to sell clubs. When I first started playing as a youth in the late 70s and into my teen and in even through college years, distance was swing driven, not club driven. Some people had it, most didn't. This seems to have changed with the invention of the "metal" wood - when Aoki and Jack were playing the J driver, Taylormade came out with Pittsburgh Persimmon, followed a few years later by Callaway's Big Bertha. Since then, all you hear is about distance gains with each successive model.

 

True, and every new iterations seems to offer more yards...if that were the case we would all by hitting the ball more than 300 yards. :-)

 

Frankly, it's a lot of hogwash. I was looking at driving distances on the LPGA a week or so ago. In 2017, the median driving distance is 250 yards. A decade ago it was 248 yards. Whoop de doo. Twenty years ago it was 237 yards. 13 yards in 20 years, but only 2 yards in the past 10 years.

 

Somebody got an A+ in marketing.

[Golfer from MO]

Interesting. These figures are taken from all around the country so elevation isnt even a factor. I am very shocked at how low the stats are but this is everyone so low caps and club golfers being my perspective it seems VERY low to me.

Ive also played with a few older muni guys who play with their groups mainly say they have never seen a 280+ shot in real life without a ton of roll so people are mostly lying....just different spheres of influence and positioned perspectives

[glk]

We accept everyone, including moose. Except rats. You're likely to get a longer prison sentence for smuggling a rat into Canada than cocaine.

Long ago in a Boy Scout trip to to Quetico provincial park, one of our adult members was stupid enough to try to bring live bait with him. Thankfully I was not sharing that ride. He avoided jail but the fine was substantial - were talking 4 figures.

 

In our 60 mile canoe trip (which I've done numerous times) I recall meeting t so brothers while waiting for an unexpected backup at a portage. Fun talk and according to them all of Canada appeared as in the park. - rocks, water, birch or pines. I thought it more like legends of the fall or the unforgiving - that western Rockies look better than the us ones, IMO - though river runs through it gives them a good run. Been past Yellowstone and Missoula man times but have failed at getting up to glacier. Some day. Nothing like shooting by Brent musburgers old stomping grounds of big timber. Or that horse whisperer guy.

[Sean2]

We accept everyone, including moose. Except rats. You're likely to get a longer prison sentence for smuggling a rat into Canada than cocaine.

Long ago in a Boy Scout trip to to Quetico provincial park, one of our adult members was stupid enough to try to bring live bait with him. Thankfully I was not sharing that ride. He avoided jail but the fine was substantial - were talking 4 figures.

 

In our 60 mile canoe trip (which I've done numerous times) I recall meeting t so brothers while waiting for an unexpected backup at a portage. Fun talk and according to them all of Canada appeared as in the park. - rocks, water, birch or pines. I thought it more like legends of the fall or the unforgiving - that western Rockies look better than the us ones, IMO - though river runs through it gives them a good run. Been past Yellowstone and Missoula man times but have failed at getting up to glacier. Some day. Nothing like shooting by Brent musburgers old stomping grounds of big timber. Or that horse whisperer guy.

 

I spent two weeks in Quetico, canoeing, portaging, camping, fishing...wonderful place.

[chrisronline]

It's not ground breaking, but I always find I play better towards the beginning of the year when it's a little colder and I'm clubbing up and not worrying about if my 8iron goes as far as a tour pros. But of course, summer comes and I start thinking I can hang with the big boys and the scores go up :(

[Shilgy]

I tried to cut and paste the article, but was unsuccessful. Here is the link:

 

http://www.golfdiges...ll-surprise-you

 

80% has a handicap between 18-36.

they hit on average 195 yards.

I also played with kids that can hit it long but also loose the ball really often due to some wild hook or some other thing.

normal over the top young kid, 220 or so yards on average.

on a good swing.

 

yea thats golf instruction median value all over the world.

it shows how good your pga instructors are.

 

That's an interesting point.

It is also anecdotal. Of Game golf users about 25% are 18+ and they average less than 195. The instructors are likely not responsible for the poor play. Most 18+ do not take instruction and if they do they take one lesson and think they should be magically "fixed".

[596]

Just as an example that the vast majority of golfers over estimate the distance they can hit each club......

 

I watch golf on the course 40 hours a week, well until 2 months ago when I retired, and I can tell you the safest place to be when people hit to the green is in the middle to the back of said green. 90% of ALL golfers are short of the green with approaches. I had NO fear of being hit by a golf ball as long as I was standing on the back fringe. Then, if the ball did actually make it to the green 50% of those where already rolling on the ground. Very few golfers hit greens on the carry. I know it sounds bad but for the average Joe golfer it is true. I was asked all the time if I feared being hit by a ball and I always laughed and explained the above. People have egos that they can't deal with. BTW - The ladies were just as bad as the guys when estimating what club to carry onto a green.

 

The closet I ever came to being hit was today. I was playing golf!! We were headed up the middle of our fairway when ball hit the front of our cart on the fly. It came from a tee box on an opposing fairway. We never saw it coming, no "FORE", no nothing. Just a bunch of stupid people playing the tips that had no business being there. Sorry....rant over.

[Shilgy]

population averages aside. how do they measure each golfers average distance? if you put them on a monitor hitting 10 balls, the handicap golfer hits so many flubs that their "average" distance is not really a true reflection of the expected distance output from their swing.

 

Oy. The thread title may use the word "average", but the chart is using median, not mean (i.e. average). If I hit 9 balls with distances of 10, 10, 10, 10, 230, 230, 240, 250, 260, the mean median is 230 yards.

 

Edit for brain cramp.

In other words they are more the "good hit" average? Makes more sense.

[Shilgy]

I found the article interesting from a club marketing standpoint. For the average amateur, distance is what's marketed to sell clubs. When I first started playing as a youth in the late 70s and into my teen and in even through college years, distance was swing driven, not club driven. Some people had it, most didn't. This seems to have changed with the invention of the "metal" wood - when Aoki and Jack were playing the J driver, Taylormade came out with Pittsburgh Persimmon, followed a few years later by Callaway's Big Bertha. Since then, all you hear is about distance gains with each successive model.

 

True, and every new iterations seems to offer more yards...if that were the case we would all by hitting the ball more than 300 yards. :-)

 

Frankly, it's a lot of hogwash. I was looking at driving distances on the LPGA a week or so ago. In 2017, the median driving distance is 250 yards. A decade ago it was 248 yards. Whoop de doo. Twenty years ago it was 237 yards. 13 yards in 20 years, but only 2 yards in the past 10 years.

 

Somebody got an A+ in marketing.

Yeah but....with the new equipment giving extra yards every year and this RBI guy giving everyone at least 30 more yards...phewww!!!

[Sean2]

I found the article interesting from a club marketing standpoint. For the average amateur, distance is what's marketed to sell clubs. When I first started playing as a youth in the late 70s and into my teen and in even through college years, distance was swing driven, not club driven. Some people had it, most didn't. This seems to have changed with the invention of the "metal" wood - when Aoki and Jack were playing the J driver, Taylormade came out with Pittsburgh Persimmon, followed a few years later by Callaway's Big Bertha. Since then, all you hear is about distance gains with each successive model.

 

True, and every new iterations seems to offer more yards...if that were the case we would all by hitting the ball more than 300 yards. :-)

 

Frankly, it's a lot of hogwash. I was looking at driving distances on the LPGA a week or so ago. In 2017, the median driving distance is 250 yards. A decade ago it was 248 yards. Whoop de doo. Twenty years ago it was 237 yards. 13 yards in 20 years, but only 2 yards in the past 10 years.

 

Somebody got an A+ in marketing.

 

They sell hope Argonne, and that is what people are buying...hope. And yes, they market their products very well.

[larrybud]

As a short knocker, relatively speaking (230 average), I'd KILL for another 20 yards. I have no doubt I'd be a + handicap if I retained my current accuracy (about 80% fairways hit).

[glk]

We accept everyone, including moose. Except rats. You're likely to get a longer prison sentence for smuggling a rat into Canada than cocaine.

Long ago in a Boy Scout trip to to Quetico provincial park, one of our adult members was stupid enough to try to bring live bait with him. Thankfully I was not sharing that ride. He avoided jail but the fine was substantial - were talking 4 figures.

 

In our 60 mile canoe trip (which I've done numerous times) I recall meeting t so brothers while waiting for an unexpected backup at a portage. Fun talk and according to them all of Canada appeared as in the park. - rocks, water, birch or pines. I thought it more like legends of the fall or the unforgiving - that western Rockies look better than the us ones, IMO - though river runs through it gives them a good run. Been past Yellowstone and Missoula man times but have failed at getting up to glacier. Some day. Nothing like shooting by Brent musburgers old stomping grounds of big timber. Or that horse whisperer guy.

 

I spent two weeks in Quetico, canoeing, portaging, camping, fishing...wonderful place.

Highlight of all my trips ( aside from burning the outfitters Hudson Bay bread in the campfire - an annual ritual), was spending a day on an island in batchewaung lake with a damp eaglet - he or she apparently got a bit wet fishing and could not fly. Attempted it but crashed again. I stood on shore and watched it breast stroke to the rocks about 10 feet from me. When mom showed up the show was over and we left them to their half of the island. Heard some real sad tales of accidental deaths in the park. Mostly from people doing stupid things down rapids or not being aware of waterfalls.

[verderraul]

I'm all over that chart. I'm over 60, hit the ball 220 carry and am under a 5 handicap from the regular men's tees.

 

Distance....it ain't about how far you hit each club. It's how well you control that club for a particular distance. I can hit a 9 iron 150 yards. I hit it from 130 for more accuracy. I hit a pitching wedge 135 but am deadly accurate with it from 100 yards. Yes, distance is an advantage, but most people have no idea how to actually use it to their advantage. I play with a guy who can hit the ball well over 300 yards but I beat him every single time we play. He has no idea how to hit a club from under 250 yards... :cheesy:

 

Given your 9 iron and PW yardages...you should be hitting the driver much further