Data shows distance is name of the game
IT’S debatable whether the phrase “90th-percentile clubhead speed coupled with the average launch angle and spin rate” crops up over a pint and bag of crisps in the clubhouse after a Saturday stableford but talk of auld Davy getting more length with his new driver certainly does.
The R&A and the USGA yesterday released their annual report on driving distances, an epic assembly of words, charts, graphs and stats that was greeted with a few dismissive snorts about alternative facts and fake news.
The technological debate about the distance the ball now travels, while propelled by drivers with heads the size of Frank Sidebottom’s bonce, continues to rage as countless, cherished courses get stretched and altered.
The basic finding from the game’s governing bodies is that distance growth off the tee has been relatively steady since 2003. The study examined data from seven professional tours, creating a sample size of approximately 285,000 drives per year. Of the seven tours, five have seen average driving distance increase by approximately 1.2 per cent (0.2 yards per year), while the other two decreased by about 1.5 per cent.
This minimal growth can make for head-scratching stuff. On last year’s PGA Tour, for instance, a total of 27 players produced an average clatter off the tee of 300 yards or more compared to just nine back in 2003, the year the R&A and the USGA began gathering these statistics. On the over-50s Champions Tour, there has been a five-yard increase over the seasons.
Anecdotal evidence, at all levels of golf, tends to highlight the fact that folk are hitting it further, whether it’s the handy young low handicapper or the sturdy 68-year-old veteran. A collated set of results from club golfers, for example, suggested that the average length off the tee in 1996 was 200 yards compared to 213 yards in 2016.
“In the interests of good governance and transparency, it is important that we continue to provide reliable data and facts about driving distance in golf,” said the R&A chief executive, Martin Slumbers.