How Far Do You Really Hit It?

Well that’s a great question. How far do amateur golfers really hit their driver? I guess it depends on who you talk to, and even when you talk to them. If you talk to your playing partner at the local establishment after a round of golf, he may even tell you he crushed his ball 300 yards on Hole 7 today. But is that really the truth? New data recently released would beg to differ with your friend, no matter how adamant her or she claims to be.

The publisher of this new data is a company called Game Golf. Game Golf is a wearable device that tracks all of your shots over the course of a round. It tells you how many fairways you hit, how many greens you hit, and it even tells you how far you hit it. Game Golf is becoming increasingly popular. I use one, and recently multiple members at our club added me into their network, as they too are using Game Golf. In fact so many people across the globe are using it, Game Golf has now tracked over 1.5 million rounds. That is quite the number, so imagine the number of shots tracked by the company!

Breaking it down in two divisions — age and handicap — here are the median driving distances from golfers across the world according to Game Golf…

If you take the average driving distance across all handicap’s you get a distance of 214.2. That number is small in comparison to what most people would think of as a good drive. The PGA Tour is partly to blame for that as drives over 300 yards by Rory McIlory and Dustin Johnson are now commonplace. The guy’s on the PGA Tour even makes the largest number (250) look tiny!

My point is that many golfers get down on themselves when they hear that they only hit their driver 220 yards. When in reality, that would be above the average! Remember the old adage “drive for show, and putt for dough?” That saying still rings true today. Now that we know realistic driving distances, let’s celebrate what a “crushed drive” truly is. Finally let’s also keep in mind that the numbers in the chart truly are for show, as it is the number at the end of the scorecard that counts!