Tour Pro Driving Distance

[clevited]

How about they change NOTHING.

[Ashley Schaeffer]

That seems to be the plan thus far. The USGA conducted a years-long "study" and chose to do absolutely nothing in conclusion.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

Thank goodness!

[Tasals]

If you read the distance report (p18/24) the longest drive in those groups the <6 has drives in the 319 yard range, the 6-12 have drives in the in 371 yard range. Averages are horrible for this measurement in the amateur bracket. My regular group im the short hitter with a ~121 mph swing speed with the driver, all four of us were former D1 - D2 college athletes, 2 rugby players, 1 pitcher, and I played football. We also have a buddy, in the military, who probably averages 240 with the driver and legitimately plays with a 50 yard slice.

 

Then you get older guys who have low caps and just plod the ball around the course, down the middle, never losing a ball, and only hitting it 210 yards, and hoping to get a bunch of roll.

Id have liked to see the median drive by the age group, and not average.

[dubbelbogey]

I agree that using median values would be better. This is one of my pet peeves of data analysis as often represented in mainstream material.

That said, if we assume the distribution of data has a relatively symmetrical (or better yet, normal) distribution, it's probably not unreasonable to assume the median and average are pretty close.

[fowlerscousin]

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1436743453179912&extid=jfTntn84pkP9qWWp

 

according to this video cameron champ doesnt even carry the ball 270 yards (if you pause in the :10 range).  I know this is wrong data, its amazing we struggle to get this carry distance data. is radar tech a scam?

[Titleist99]

You get carry distance on PGATOUR LIVE. You'd be surprised at how many players carry the tee shot 280 yards and get 30 yards roll.....

[Shilgy]

1 hour ago, Titleist99 said:

You get carry distance on PGATOUR LIVE. You'd be surprised at how many players carry the tee shot 280 yards and get 30 yards roll.....

A cursory look found Gary Woodland averaged 308 last year and 284 carry average. That 24 yards roll was the longest I found. Who hits 30?

[Joe Smoeter]

I'd like to add I see a number of discrepancies on the TV coverage. As example, I am watching the European feed of the tournament, the USA goes to commercial but in Europe we get a broadcaster who comes on and continues coverage. Rahm hits a drive and it comes up on the screen clearly at 289 yards. USA comes back from commercial and they show Rahm getting ready to hit approach and up pops a screen showing Rahm hit it 307 off the tee... 

 

this happens frequently ... 

[Jc0]

6 hours ago, Joe Smoeter said:

I'd like to add I see a number of discrepancies on the TV coverage. As example, I am watching the European feed of the tournament, the USA goes to commercial but in Europe we get a broadcaster who comes on and continues coverage. Rahm hits a drive and it comes up on the screen clearly at 289 yards. USA comes back from commercial and they show Rahm getting ready to hit approach and up pops a screen showing Rahm hit it 307 off the tee... 

 

this happens frequently ... 

 

Carry vs total distance. The pro tracer distances only take carry into account. 

[Titleist99]

12 hours ago, Joe Smoeter said:

I'd like to add I see a number of discrepancies on the TV coverage. As example, I am watching the European feed of the tournament, the USA goes to commercial but in Europe we get a broadcaster who comes on and continues coverage. Rahm hits a drive and it comes up on the screen clearly at 289 yards. USA comes back from commercial and they show Rahm getting ready to hit approach and up pops a screen showing Rahm hit it 307 off the tee... 

 

this happens frequently ... 

Here in the USA the golf media wants everyone to believe that the Pros hit every tee shot 320 yards (exaggeration)....and it's working, just look at all the people that want to roll the ball back with that nonsense. Golf coverage is in partnership with the manufacturers......they have $500 drivers and distance balls to sell.

Edited September 14, 2020 by Titleist99

[JDCON]

All these hacks need to go back to the gutta-percha. They only break par because they be using those suped-up balls. Balls too dang hot!

[Lark]

8 hours ago, Titleist99 said:

Here in the USA the golf media wants everyone to believe that the Pros hit every tee shot 320 yards (exaggeration)....and it's working, just look at all the people that want to roll the ball back with that nonsense. Golf coverage is in partnership with the manufacturers......they have $500 drivers and distance balls to sell.

There are probably at least 30-40 PGA Tour pros who could ramp up a 320-yard drive in normal course when circumstances warrant.

[oikos1]

16 hours ago, Lark said:

There are probably at least 30-40 PGA Tour pros who could ramp up a 320-yard drive in normal course when circumstances warrant.

Yep.  101 PGA Tour pros at the Safeway Open last week had at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  In the 2020 season, 398 PGA Tour pros hit at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  Tour average was 296.4 yards in 2020.

 

https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.159.y2021.html

[Shilgy]

8 hours ago, oikos1 said:

Yep.  101 PGA Tour pros at the Safeway Open last week had at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  In the 2020 season, 398 PGA Tour pros hit at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  Tour average was 296.4 yards in 2020.

 

https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.159.y2021.html

Good post. Our tendency when looking at pros driving average, especially the lady pros, is thinking that that is “all they can hit it” when actually it is the average as you noted. Meaning many drives are longer and many shorter. 
 

As example, I am older, 63, and shortish off the tee. About 240-245 average if honest(and probably ignoring the really bad ones lol). 
 

That is a long winded way of just agreeing with you. For instance, Webb Simpson averages 295+ bit annoyingly can put it out there approaching 320+ occasionally.

[Lark]

13 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Good post. Our tendency when looking at pros driving average, especially the lady pros, is thinking that that is “all they can hit it” when actually it is the average as you noted. Meaning many drives are longer and many shorter. 
 

As example, I am older, 63, and shortish off the tee. About 240-245 average if honest(and probably ignoring the really bad ones lol). 
 

That is a long winded way of just agreeing with you. For instance, Webb Simpson averages 295+ bit annoyingly can put it out there approaching 320+ occasionally.

Don't sell yourself short- 245 off the tee is not shortish at all.

[Shilgy]

8 hours ago, Lark said:

Don't sell yourself short- 245 off the tee is not shortish at all.

I am a little hitter in a big hitters world...but have learned to live with it. Scary to know some pros can  FLY IT 100 yards further than I do.

[Titleist99]

53 minutes ago, Shilgy said:

I am a little hitter in a big hitters world...but have learned to live with it. Scary to know some pros can  FLY IT 100 yards further than I do.

What's really scary is that 240-245 yards off the tee is only 30-35 yards longer than Ol' Tom Morris with a gutta percha golf ball and hickory shafts......LOL!

[Lark]

20 hours ago, Shilgy said:

I am a little hitter in a big hitters world...but have learned to live with it. Scary to know some pros can  FLY IT 100 yards further than I do.

245 is longer than probably 80% of all recreational golfers.

[Lark]

On 9/15/2020 at 10:51 AM, oikos1 said:

Yep.  101 PGA Tour pros at the Safeway Open last week had at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  In the 2020 season, 398 PGA Tour pros hit at least one drive of 320 yards or more.  Tour average was 296.4 yards in 2020.

 

https://www.pgatour.com/content/pgatour/stats/stat.159.y2021.html

Difficult, imposing Winged Foot gave up scores today just as low as any other regular Tour event. It is the equipment that is the reason for the monster distance of players today, and only strong winds can keep scores low, even at a US Open.

[Shilgy]

1 hour ago, Lark said:

Difficult, imposing Winged Foot gave up scores today just as low as any other regular Tour event. It is the equipment that is the reason for the monster distance of players today, and only strong winds can keep scores low, even at a US Open.

That is a bit, well a lot really, of an exaggeration. 7 guys under par in the morning wave. Just three better than -2. Most weeks has that many in the first three groups.  Let the whole week play out and see what happens. 

[Lark]

3 hours ago, Shilgy said:

That is a bit, well a lot really, of an exaggeration. 7 guys under par in the morning wave. Just three better than -2. Most weeks has that many in the first three groups.  Let the whole week play out and see what happens. 

20 players under par, with the leaders at 65 and 66. Not really different from a regular event. Let's see if the USGA goes crazy with the greens in the next few rounds.

[Shilgy]

4 minutes ago, Lark said:

20 players under par, with the leaders at 65 and 66. Not really different from a regular event. Let's see if the USGA goes crazy with the greens in the next few rounds.

Pins may be a bit tougher tomorrow. 10-15 mph winds could be a huge detriment to low scoring on this course. Today was perfect for golf. It is hard to slow these guys down with absolutely no wind and soft greens.

[munichop]

It was mentioned many times that the usga set the course up easier due to daylight issues. But the soft greens were a surprise. Now that they chose this for the first round to be equitable tomorrow’s round should be set up the same way.

[Shilgy]

30 minutes ago, munichop said:

It was mentioned many times that the usga set the course up easier due to daylight issues. But the soft greens were a surprise. Now that they chose this for the first round to be equitable tomorrow’s round should be set up the same way.

Why? I get what you are saying but neither early nor late times had an advantage today. No wind and soft greens all day. So unless the wind is not scheduled to start until noon or so tomorrow what needs to be fairly balanced?

[OrangeGravy]

2 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Pins may be a bit tougher tomorrow. 10-15 mph winds could be a huge detriment to low scoring on this course. Today was perfect for golf. It is hard to slow these guys down with absolutely no wind and soft greens.

This is the problem the USGA has. If you firm the greens up enough and speed them up enough to not need wind, then it comes everyone's pissed. If you keep it reasonable in case the wind comes, you get what we have today. I personally would rather suffer the occasional disaster vs what this might end up being. A disaster is at least interesting in car wreck kind of way. Benign conditions, course and weather are a total letdown for major tournaments. I know the Open lives and dies by the weather or no weather, but they have a better excuse not take the chance. Their winds/weather are much more reliable (much rarer to have no weather than weather) than most US courses.  

[gvogel]

8 hours ago, Lark said:

245 is longer than probably 80% of all recreational golfers.

Much more like 90%.  Only on WRX would 20% of all recreational golfers be longer than 245.

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

On 3/22/2020 at 9:40 PM, dalehead said:

Like everyone else I have time on my hands and the question about the golf ball being too long has heated up again. So I decided to do a little research.

I went to the Tour website and found their list of top 70 drivers for distance. The median (half were longer, half were shorter) was 279 yards. So do we really have a distance problem?

Oh, I forgot to mention these stats are for the Champions tour. But these guys are still pretty good. They might even give a WRX’er a game.

Got me wondering if we really have a distance problem anywhere except the most elite levels.

Distance isn’t a problem even for the best players.

 

I’m a bit on the shorter side of that statistic you showed at 275, and further, I play terribly for my distance. Definitely not a problem for me as well. Glad to have the distances I have, otherwise I’d play astonishingly bad. Lol.

[Shilgy]

20 hours ago, OrangeGravy said:

This is the problem the USGA has. If you firm the greens up enough and speed them up enough to not need wind, then it comes everyone's pissed. If you keep it reasonable in case the wind comes, you get what we have today. I personally would rather suffer the occasional disaster vs what this might end up being. A disaster is at least interesting in car wreck kind of way. Benign conditions, course and weather are a total letdown for major tournaments. I know the Open lives and dies by the weather or no weather, but they have a better excuse not take the chance. Their winds/weather are much more reliable (much rarer to have no weather than weather) than most US courses.  

Everyone gets pissed when the USGA decides to make a golf course into a freeway. Shinnecock(twice!) is the prime example of manufacturing a score with negligence. Why anyone would lend their club to the USGA for a week only to get it back in that condition is beyond me. If what I have read of late they may be finally getting the right idea. Develop a small rota of courses to return to and stop with the Erin Hills/Chambers Bay cute selections. Stick with the courses that do not need the defense of concrete greens. The greens today are still very receptive. But just a small amount of wind is making the fairways very difficult to hit and positioning on the green with approach shots a challenge as well. These are the beat players in the world. If they play well they should be under par.

[Lark]

12 hours ago, Shilgy said:

Everyone gets pissed when the USGA decides to make a golf course into a freeway. Shinnecock(twice!) is the prime example of manufacturing a score with negligence. Why anyone would lend their club to the USGA for a week only to get it back in that condition is beyond me. If what I have read of late they may be finally getting the right idea. Develop a small rota of courses to return to and stop with the Erin Hills/Chambers Bay cute selections. Stick with the courses that do not need the defense of concrete greens. The greens today are still very receptive. But just a small amount of wind is making the fairways very difficult to hit and positioning on the green with approach shots a challenge as well. These are the beat players in the world. If they play well they should be under par.

Round 2 was good with the challenge, but mainly due to the wind. 

The courses with sub-air systems in the greens, like Winged Foot, give the USGA much greater ability to adjust the greens last minute based on weather conditions. I think this will be another factor in the shorter rota the USGA is going to for the future.