PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Vol. 8

Looks like the boys are back in the weight room (well maybe not David Duval), as the PGA Tour driving distance average jumped nearly two yards last week, to 287.8 yards following the WGC Match Play and Tucson.

39 drives were added to the 350 and over club, bringing the season tally to 532. There were no 400 yarders last week, so the season total remains stuck on 15 (4 shy of last year's total).

And even though I don't really know what to make of the percentage of drives over 300 stat (without past comparisons), right now, the PGA Tour average is 27.2% of drives finishing over 300 yards.

Comments

[Ned Ludd]

This is getting ridiculous. 15 400+ drives and we are only 3 shy of last years total?? How can anyone defend that? Pure athletisism? Grooves? Better manicured courses?

What are the chances that certain Tour player use steroids? I would have thought nil, but with these statistics I wonder if I am naive. I MUST be naive.

If so, how can anyone think of measuring current player performance against the greats in the past? Jack, Greg and whomever have every right to try and "protect their legacy." Even on just equipment issues alone.

We need to see the equipment rolled back and, God forbid, urine checked to make sure we are measuring apples to apples and to assure the legacy of the game. I, for one, would love to see a tournament at Merion where players are hitting 1 iron approach shots to the home hole.(They don't need to be recuperating from a near fatal accident and still wearing bandages on their legs...) Bet it would make old Ben smile. LeAnne Hardin was probably the last competitor to hit a 1 iron or its equivalent into 18,

[Geoff]

Ned,
Not three shy of last year. Four! Don't get carried away! :)

I'm thinking Bubba and J.B. are good for 20 at The International alone.

[Smolmania]

Yes, but I just read the link from Frank Thomas's analysis of the increase in distance on the PGA Tour (it's in his Ask Frank column on tgc.com). All of our concerns are irrelevant, and everything's okay guys, because technology will limit any further increases in distance. No need to worry. The game's in the USGA's good hands.

[Ned Ludd]

Certainly our good friends at Comcast...er.. I mean the Golf Channel have no interest in the technology/equipment debate.

When Sean Murphy talks about the "nepotism" of ANGC, USGA,PGATour and Fortune Brands, perhaps we should also include the Public Relations arm of this happy little club, aka The Golf Channel.

Didn't Arnie use to own a piece of TGC?

[Smolmania]

As I recall the King was one of the original investors, which gave it some credibility. . . and he's been outspoken about the ball needing to be rolled back (tho I wonder how that squares with his endorsement of the ERC).

[Ned Ludd]

I assumed he sold his share, and had the same thoughts about the ERC. As I recall, his endorsement of the ERC was to make golf more enjoyable for Everyman. My rule of construction in such matters is that all ambiguities are construed in favor of Arnie.

[Sean Murphy]

Gentlemen,

We're down to the two-minute warning, and this little group has called for a timeout. They’re huddled up behind closed doors, tweaking their rhetoric.

It's all about athleticism today! Even though John Daly was a freak of nature 10 years ago averaging 283yrds off the tee. We've hit the wall, and the ball and driver can't go any further! No chance of that happening even as Phil and Vijay have increased their club (force) lengths to 47 and 48 inches. (Look for some harder core golf balls coming soon). And with out making a big deal out of this, yes, the urine most definitely should be scrutinized. Even Congress doesn’t consider golf a sport. Maybe they think it’s a long drive contest.

Scott S posted on this site somewhere and commented about what doctors might be prescribing those at the PGA Tour, and how their speech reminded him of a drunk. Scott could be on to something here. These groups that are so perfectly intertwined with one another might not be able to be construed as nepotism after all. Maybe I've been aloof to the facts, and it just very well could be incest instead.