Golf’s governing bodies have seen it fit to bifurcate the game of golf through equipment, namely a rollback of ball technology, in an attempt to reel in the incredible distances elite professional players hit the golf ball.
We’ll attempt to remain somewhat impartial on the matter… although it is our view that golf’s professional tours are failing to understand that they’re selling an entertainment product and that non hardcore fans typically enjoy the spectacle of watching Bryson attempt to drive the green on a par 5 at Bay Hill. Furthermore, rolling the ball back isn’t going to drive parity between the long and short hitters across professional tours… it’s more likely to exacerbate the disparity that already exists. If protecting par is the goal, surely there are other more simplistic approaches such as increasing mow heights across the board. Should drives really roll-out 50yrds at non-links courses? And why isn’t there a penalty for missing fairways and greens at non-Major tournaments? The perfectly manicured and uniform bunkers at your average PGA tour venue simply aren’t penial. Conversely, greenside run-offs and inconsistent bunker conditions at Southern Hills gave us a memorable PGA Championship in 2022.
We digress! But what about the everyman, are amateurs hitting the ball increasingly further? According to Arccos’ 2021 distance report, the answer is a resounding NO. From 2019 to 2021, the average male golfer’s drive actually decreased from 219.5yrds to 219.0yrds. If you look at the 20th percentile and 80th percentile the results are the same (decreased from 192.8yrds to 190.7yrds and from 240.9yrds to 241.0yrds, respectively).
Arguably more importantly, do you know how much more accurate your drives need to be as your distance increases? After dusting off our collective trigonometry skills here in our shop, every 10yrds of additional distance your ball flies necessitates an apx. ~5% increase in accuracy using a 40yrd wide fairway as our target. Extrapolating this math, the accuracy premium placed on the 80th percentile golfer above that hits their drives an average of 241.0yrds has to be 21% more accurate off the tee compared to the 20th percentile golfer who hits their drive 190.7yrds. The accuracy premium placed on someone that can hit the ball 300yrds vs. someone that hits it 200yrds is a whopping 33%.
Knowing this, what can players do to balance the strokes gained upside of chasing distance with the corresponding accuracy premium it requires? Getting properly fit for your clubs and shafts is a great place to start. Further, the best amateur golfers use their equipment to help their course management by managing their misses, i.e., eliminating 1-side of the golf course. Did you know that your margin of error is 100% wider if you can consistently play a 1-way miss vs. a 2-way miss? Now instead of aiming down the middle of a 40yrd fairway (i.e., 20yrds of fairway to “miss” on either side of the center line) you can aim just inside the left or right edge of the fairway thereby giving yourself the entirety of the 40yrds to “miss”.
