Long Driving Distance in Golf Facts

25 Comments

1. Mark the question about if tech is improving would be answered in a test of
   1996 club vs. 2013 club. If we keep the player’s ability the same why not
   test 2 clubs head to head? It would be interesting to see if ballspeed
   stays the same as the MAX cor has been limited, it would be interesting to
   see if older clubs were built to provide different launch and spin over
   time as well. The average distance data provided maybe indicating that the
   average golfer is getting worse therefore limiting the technological gains.
   The data is definitely counter intuitive given the marketing we the general
   public are seeing.?

2. Hi Mark I am a 14 year old boy who started playing golf last year. As you
   would expect I am terrible, (My average score is +40, don’t even start
   calculating the handicap) but one particular ‘flaw’ (as if there aren’t
   enough flaws in my game already) is my driving. I have tried things like
   aligning my left foot just past the ball, bending my knees and hips, but it
   just doesn’t work. I played today, and my driving was horrible. The ball
   kept going left, along the ground and they travel about 10-20 yards. Sure,
   I provided a bit of a comedy show for my peers, but Mark, I need help. I
   warmly welcome anyone else’s reply. Thanks a lot!?

3. Hi Mark, i’m a masters student studying biomechanics and Performance
   analysis and also a member of st.mellion golf course in cornwall. I am
   interested how the R and A have come up with this statistic i’d be very
   interested to read there study. Some uni friends and i decided to test this
   with trackman at the local golf driving range. There was 5 of us all
   hitting our drivers we have in the bag at the moment and some old
   taylormade’s from 1998 borrowed from the club pro with differing shaft
   flex’s. We all practised with the old clubs for a considerable time. We all
   hit 20 balls 5 with the new, 10 with the old and 5 more with the new. We
   removed the worst 5 strikes from the data to allow for human error. We
   entered the data from the shots into spss and it clearly showed a
   significant difference of over 0.05. All our numbers were much lower from
   the old clubs. One of the students a 17 handicapper his mean driver length
   hit the ball 32.7 yards further with the new clubs. I as a two handicapper
   hit the ball 16.2 yards further. 3 or us were single handicappers all found
   over 10 yards the other two were +15 handicappers both found over 25 yards.
   The old drivers numbers were also much less forgiving and distance from
   target was much greater. This was much less noticeable for the lower
   handicappers as would be expected but the higher handicappers really found
   it hard to keep it on target the distance from target was 23.6 yards great
   with the old clubs than new. Obviously what you say about lessons is true
   the more lessons people get the more there numbers will improve and
   understand the biomechanics of the golf swing but the new equipment surely
   gives them more assitance and greater confidence and the more they improve
   with a combo of the two the more likely they are to continue playing golf
   and likely to carry on with there lessons as there seeing the improvements
   on the course. Be interested to hear your thoughts on the test we carried
   out. Love the videos ?

4. Mark
   I agree with the R&A assessment on driving distances, however having spent
   my hard earned cash on lessons rather than the latest “have to have” driver
   my distance off the tee has remained virtually the same with the additional
   bonus playing my second shot from the fairway as opposed to playing find
   the ball in the deep rough or trees. Lessons over new equipment every time.
   Love the video clips. Keep up the good work.
   Paul Toal Co. Antrim?

5. Numbers aren’t going up because golf tuition is based largely on a 60 year
   old book, and a swing which was used to cure a hook.

   If everyone understood range had no effect on accuracy.. accuracy is the
   result of alignment (importantly spine angle), and everyone worked on
   sequence and seperation, you would see numbers go way up.?

6. You mention that more people are playing driver more often, which to me is
   less an indication of driver forgiveness than it is an indication that if a
   person pays $400 for a single golf club, it’s not to leave it in the bag.
   But as my coach says, driver is your swing amplified, including its flaws.
   So with that being said, and knowing how many golf balls I donated to
   forest gnomes, desert coyotes, and fish, before I got lessons, how is the
   R&A accounting for drives that go OB? Because if we’re accounting for such
   a long period of time and as much technology, I think we’re also accounting
   for a longer period of time where people got into golf later in life,
   without taking lessons, using drivers that hit the ball farther…and more
   often into the woods.

   I think if we’re talking about drives that only stay in the fairway/rough,
   and accounting for all OB drives as being, say, 100 yards, than 3 yards
   gained with the driver is probably about right. ?

7. Hello Mark, thanks for starting the conversation… The distance at which the
   ball flies as an average, has nothing to do with the equipment and is more
   inline with the amount of new golfers entering the sport compared to the
   amount of old continuing golfers. The driver is the hardest club to hit in
   the bag, and when you are just starting out playing the game, especially at
   an advanced age, it is effectively hard to use the club. Today, a three
   wood, which is much easier to hit then a driver, has a shaft length equal
   to yesterdays drivers. A three would flies the ball similarly to
   yesteryears old drivers, so if you are measuring average distance, you
   probably will get similar numbers as 20 years ago. Moreover, as older, more
   experience golfer age, they can take advantage of longer drivers, but their
   distance does not inherently increase. You say more lessons, I say we need,
   ” golf, ” inclusively to attract more people to the game, and find ways to
   keep them. Pros on the other end of the spectrum can take advantage of
   technology, which means that they see remarkable results from new
   materials, shafts, etc.. ?

8. Drop the covert , you hit that persimmon so much nicer !!?

9. I think this is a statistics question, and its about the distribution (the
   Bell Curve thing). The average distance hasn’t moved (still ~200yds), but
   the distribution is flatter ie there are more golfers of different
   abilities generally ALL hitting better drives…?

10. One thing I want golf to be is a game purely on skill. I don’t want it to
    become like every other sport has, full of roid heads who have no
    personality and just use their physical prowess to do well. If golf becomes
    like that it will be sad.?

11. What you are saying about lessons is absolutely true. Someone who
    struggles to break 100 is not going to see any improvement from technology.
    At that level, a person is FAR better off taking lessons compared to
    purchasing equipment. As a person’s skill improves though, the technology
    has a greater impact. I contend that if they collected stats for players
    with a 10 or lower handicap, the distance increase would be more
    significant. Accuracy improvements are perhaps an even bigger result of
    technology.?

12. Agree Mark regarding lessons. Physique makes a huge difference to the pga
    distances. The club doesn’t make the player spin faster. The aerodynamics
    of clubs haven’t changed appreciably. The ball doesn’t make as much
    difference as the old cynical pros would like us to believe. Physical
    trainers gave probably nade the biggest difference. The weather makes a
    massive difference too!?

13. 205 yard drives?? That just proves that people don’t hit with an ascending
    blow… ?

14. I bought new TM clubs 2 years back thinking my “golf set in a box” from
    academy (~100 USD) was my problem. I took a couple of lessons and gained
    10-20 yards of distance per club, but more importantly more control over
    direction and trajectory.

    So, I took my old clubs out to the range one day for fun. After some
    adjustments, I was hitting nearly identical type shots to my new clubs. It
    really opens your mind to how much we get SOLD on marketing tactics rather
    than factual data.?

15. Good info Mark ?

16. Had a taylormade burner, and it was not working. I’ve only started playing
    in june and I was averaging 180 with it. Got fitted and I hit the G25
    better than an Xhot, RBZ, SLDR, i20, g20, covert, amp cell. All ranging
    about 200 between 9 and 10degrees, all regular flex shafts, standard
    length. G25 I’ve averaged at 230. Not sure why this is the case, but I also
    FEEL like it hit the G25 better than all of the other drivers.

    Guess there are anomalies ?

17. The average handicap hasn’t changed much either?

18. Excellent video.
    Perhaps the driving distances are not greatly improved because golf is far
    more accessible to the average person now rather than being more exclusive
    as it was in the past. Its now possible for Mr couch potato to go and buy
    his set of discounted slazenger “clubs” and go and hack around the local
    golf club without any tuition what so ever.
    I agree with some quality tuition the average driving distance and accuracy
    would definitely go up.?

19. Did the R&A report the standard deviation (variability) of drive distance?
    I think we’d see that technology increases consistency (lower standard
    deviation).?

20. Keep in mind Mark that an average yardage value doesn’t have to increase or
    decrease with an increased amount of people hitting the driver.

    Since 1996 what has changed in terms of golf club composition? Driver heads
    are being made of materials much lighter than steel such as titanium,
    composites, and even carbon fiber. Driver shafts are longer and made of
    more advanced graphites. And finally golf balls are made of more advanced
    materials. Arguably, these three advances have the greatest influence on
    ball and club-head speed. Things such as driver head size and and structure
    primarily influence forgiveness.

    However, these things being said, to truly unlock the extra yardages out of
    these technological advances, players need very fast swing speeds. On
    average, pro golfers have much higher swing speeds than amateurs, because
    they know to generate high club-head speeds efficiently. This is the main
    reason why pros benefit the most in terms of distance from these equipment
    advances and not much increase is seen on average among amateurs.?

21. There’s just too many variables that have to be considered to validate the
    results of the R&A. You would have to check the ages, skill levels, etc.
    apart from the technology used. Also golf was more popular in the 90s than
    it is now, although they say there’s a resurgence. If we want to test
    performance based on equipment alone then just test the equipment using the
    same set of players. Maybe you can show the numbers on equipment from
    different eras, Mark.?

22. Great comment Vesa, I agree I would love to see the comparison. Maybe with
    clubs 5,10 and 20 years ago.?

23. I love how all the people below (you kmow who you are), say there handicap
    is 0 or 2. Yet they need to watch Mark videos which cover the golf basics.
    What a fucking joke. FYI handicap is average score above par. On a normal
    course playing 50 rounds and counting ALL shots I would bet it would be 8
    or 9. Thats like saying your a pro biker but you have training wheels on
    your bike. Get real.?

24. R&A’s number must be averaged from all level golfer’s’ numbers. For the
    question about taking golf lessons, I would say golf lessons from a
    teaching pro is first, exercise to have the ability to execute good swing
    is second(I hear you Gorilla James) and get custom fit is the last. Of
    course, before all these, have an ok golf club set is the prerequisite.
    Took lesson dropped my score from high 80 to low 80(about 8 storks
    improvement). Got custom fit doesn’t actually gain me any yardage but make
    my ball flights, spins and shot shaping better. As Mark always say “See
    your local pro, get lesson, get fitted, and let’s get stuck in.?

25. very good point!
    andrew rice (he has youtube channel as well) mentioned that the ball or the
    changes of ball compounds, structurs, … had the biggest influence of the
    increasing distance.
    and when you take a look at the pros from 1996 and compare them to todays
    players it would guess they are much more athletic than the players in ’96.?

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