Do you hit it as far as you think you do?

The 2024 averages are out, and like every year, not much has changed. Let’s start with the most obvious club everyone wants to look at the most.  How far does the average PGA Tour Professional hit a driver?  I’ll pause while you think about it.  The problem with the media and the scope of coverage on tour is that its limited to a very small select grouping of players, mostly and only when they are playing their best golf.  What about the average player?  The less known name? The guy hardly anyone recognizes in an airport? What number did you come up with? The current answer is 282 yards.  I can hear the gasps and oohs. That is correct.  Not many are hitting it 340 like Rory and Bryson.  In fact, they don’t do it very often either.  

What amazes me is when players who are 30 to 5 handicaps somehow all hit it 300 no problem when asked how far they hit the ball.  Over 20 years of golf evaluations and thousands of players interviewed, it is rare that the average male player walks in the door and says, “No, I only hit it about 230 or 250.”  250 yards off the tee is a huge accomplishment because that is only 32 yards shy of the tour average, yet those guys are basically all fine-tuned athletes now.  So as a weekend warrior, smacking 250 off the tee you are doing great.  What I don’t understand is how most of the others are stating they hit it 300, no problem.   

The problem lies within the scope of measurement.  Not many players consider their drives across the entire season, and most will discount the missed shots.  Those 30% of drives where you miss hit it of center and lose 40% of energy transfer.  All of a sudden that 300-yard drive is 220, but the player shakes it off like that is rare and never happens.  Using history as my reference, the player does this way more often than they think.  

The other problem is sample size.  Maybe the player gets 5-7 rounds per year.  They swing freely and give it all they have and hit some booming drives.  This player doesn’t care about statistics and wants to use the one biggest shot of the year as the marker of reference.  One day, downwind, downhill I smashed it and it went 315.  They leave out the downhill downwind part, however.  The key missing element to all of this is all drives measured over the entire season, and most importantly, using proper tech devices.  Trackman is the most accurate by far and the rest come in 2^nd place at best. Not many come close to the level of precision trackman gives.  So, I always default back to their data to be sure the machine isn’t wrong.  

I challenge everyone to take regular data measurements every month or two over the course of an entire season.  Run the averages and see where it comes out.  This is important because knowing your range of realistic ability helps to navigate the golf course much more effectively.  Playing to your one biggest shot of the year is the worse way to go about playing this game.  

Let’s drop down to 7 irons now.  176 yards.  This is where the tour pro gains the biggest jump by far.  Here is why: they know how to put the club into the correct dynamic position, it’s designed use. Plus they deloft the club a little more often than not.  Add to it that today’s current 7 iron loft is more like 6 iron lofts from 20 years ago, and they are simply playing a 7 Iron in a very different way.  Basically, they are hitting a delofted 6 iron with higher club head speed.  So, it is very close to turning a 7 iron into a darn near a 5 iron.  

Here is the most important thing.  Understand the reality of the tour pro first and then consider if you are as skilled and capable as them.   If you think your numbers are well above them, I suggest you get an assessment done and find a way to accurately measure it to figure it out.  You might be shocked to find out what your averages really are.