2016-17 PGA Tour Distance Average Up 2.5 Yards To 292.5

One key crime of the wraparound: not getting to disgest, analyze and celebrate the many fun stats produced by the players and documented by the ShotLink system.

Thanks to the crack crew at ShotLink I just started looking over the 2016-17 stats as we roll into week two of 2017-18. Naturally, I went to the distance numbers first and the overall average spiked from last year's 290.0 number.

I'm fairly certain the 292.5 yard average for 2016-17 makes it a record year, proving yet again that core work and heavy use of foam rollers can pay dividends.

All drives in '16-17 averaged 285.1, but the records do not go back as far to put that number into perspective.

(Just a reminder here that the USGA and R&A Joint Statement of Principles was issued in 2002 suggesting  significant increases would set off alarm bells. The PGA Tour Driving Distance average in 2002 was 279.5 yards, meaning a 13-yard increase since then.)

As for 2016-17...check out the interval chart:

Note that 43 players averaged over 300 yards, compared to 27 in 2015-16. That's also a new high mark for 300+ average. Just one player (John Daly) averaged over 300 yards in 2002 when the Statement of Principles was issued.

Do I need to keep going?

Comments

[munihack]

No tees- play all shots from the ground. That would help a little but until the ball is revised the course is at the mercy of the players and their engineered equipment.

[Johnnnycz]

PT: It's great to be in shape. No doubt about it. I was clocked at123mph SS a few times with those primitive radar contraptions. Averaged around 118mph. Body wise...Was a fairly solid 187 at 6foot1. I did a general whole body workout with a high focus on lengthening and keeping my muscles flexible 4-5x per week plus tons of walking and ball hitting.

That said...it's 20yrs after my time chasing the dream. I'm about 30-40lbs heavier...don't stretch nearly as much. I avoid the gym in winter in favour of the curling rink. Yet with my speed topping out at 110-113 these days depending on how my shoulder feels...I'm longer than ever!!!!

But it can't be these turbo charged implements....cry these post modern pros...it just can't be because don't all my media followers see how good I look without a shirt on??

Phew...rant over.

Bifurcate already!!! The OEMs will probably sell MORE overpriced pellets anyways. Win/win/win!

[Johnnnycz]

Oh...forgot one teeny tiny detail:

I'm straighter on all full shots too. These new pellets just don't want to curve compared to what I learned with. You just bash it through the wind. The old skill of knowing how to take spin off the ball is dying. The equipment does it for you to a large extent. And that's not a good thing.

[chico]

I fully accept that modern pros are better trained, better swingers,more athletic etc. They deserve reward for that. Reverting to a shorter, more spinny ball and possibly a smaller driver would not negate that. The best players would still be the best players but the courses would play more as they were designed and provide a better, more varied spectacle. I don't know what the present players and coaches have to fear-unless it is finding out they are not as superior to previous generations as they think? My brother has been a very successful Formula 1 designer. They issue new regulations every 2 years to stop the cars going too fast. They just get on with it and see it as a challenge rather than a retrograde step.

[Johnnnycz]

Chico nailed it...as per usual.

[JS]

What is the upside to any single party if equipment were rolled back?



I suspect “the integrity of classic courses” is a leading answer to this; why do those courses need the equipment to protect them? How about they stop inviting the Tour?


I’m not opposed to a roll back and agree with all of the arguments on both sides of the issue. I just want to point out that the individual courses are the only beneficiaries and they have a much easier, and more practical solution.

[JS]

RGW,

Acushnet has spent 60+ years earning its place at the top of the food chain. A roll back would be equivalent to a start over. They may sell as many balls, but’s it’s likely they would have a smaller share.

[Spoilt]

Yup he is reflective of the tour
And I'd imagine even john has more optimized equipment btw

[chico]

JS- I think the whole game would benefit. Players, pros, golf course members and owners, manufacturers and in particular spectators and viewers, But its bed time here-playing my annual game at Muirfield tomorrow-lucky me-and it would require an essay to explain all those points!

[Johnnnycz]

JS: Forget a rollback for everyone....just specs that Tour balls and clubs must meet. Like in Baseball.

The OEMs would love to offer TWO versions of everything...and I bet there'll be folks who will have two sets of equipment depending on the nature of their round that particular day.

With no restrictions on Amateurs...club/ball fitting can REALLY take off and scary good optimization #'s from a Doppler box.

[LA John]

RE Tennis: If televised tennis reflected weekend tennis, then we would see a lot more doubles tennis on TV, where there volley has not died.

RE PGA Tour pros: Their game is not my game. The orgs that should be against the long ball are the course owners that turn over their property to the professional tours 1 week/year. Their property is at risk. My local golf course property is at risk only if people stop playing golf, mainly because golf is too slow. I appreciate the technology that ends up in my bag these days, and it does help, but it's not making me choose a longer tee box, or complaining the course is too short.

[P Thomas]

Johnny,
Of course the implements are part of it. Lighter overall, longer shafts, different weighting, and completely different laugh characteristics compared to what I played 10 years ago. Ridiculously different than 20 years ago.

Who has said the equipment doesn't NOT impact the distance? EVERY player I know is looking for distance.

Dismissing the work and abilities of tournament golfers is disingenuous. People basically are mad, because better players (including you apparently) are better able to take advantage of all the technology. And yes, even you and I assuming we are playing the newer, better designed equipment. I'm 55, hit it as far int he air as I used to at 30. My driver is also 2 inches longer, significantly lighter, and launches at least 3-4 degrees higher than the Great Big Bertha I played the tour with.

IS it going too far? not for me!!

BTW, as the tar and feather crowd warms up, I'm for a roll back, but not bifurcation.

[Hardy Greaves]

So Rory McIlroy was the longest driver this year? This is Rory McIlroy who was injured early in the year, and had to stop working out. An injured guy, not working out, is the longest driver in 2017.

OK, we know that Rory has always been freakishly long for his size, but if injured he should have been shorter this year. So do we attribute his increased length to his new Tailor-made M2 and his new ball, the TP5X? I would.

The equipment has gotten too hot.

And with a COR of .83, the high speed players benefit proportionally more than the lower speed guys. So, first thing, they should decrease COR to .75. And, by the way, the USGA changed the measurement from COR to Characteristic Time. I got a funny feeling that CT doesn't do as good a job at measuring fast faces as COR - but it is easier in the field. So the faces are even faster.

[KLG]

Chico the Wise, FTW.

Anyway, I'm right at the edge where I can (still) take advantage of titanium trampoline-faced drivers and the domesticated Pinnacle. I'm not fooled. 30 years since I started playing seriously, a comfortable 6500 yards is still a reasonable 6500 yards when that should be unreasonably long. When I channel Don Quixote and play a state amateur qualifier at 6950, I can usually keep it below 80, depending on Mr. Vokey and Mr. Bettinardi, and not because I'm in better shape than when I was 32. I'm pretty sure it's the EPIC and the B330S. Plus walking rather than riding ;-)

[JS]

And because you can keep it below 80, we should knock 10%, 15% or more off the distance you can hit it???

[stymie]

@Digsouth: You've created many words in your posts. Most of them, though. can be spelled correctly.

[LMFAO]

--They clearly demonstrate that some people have the ability to see the big picture and some don't. --

[Patches O'Houlihan]

The distance train has left the station. The conversation should be about a cap and soon. That's something all parties could likely live with.

[Pops]

Stymie, when he gets excited (and rolling back the ball usually does it), he types with his toes and occasionally his left earlobe. Those of us who are regulars have no trouble reading it.

[JS]

Patches, would you deem Rory cannot strive for additional distance? The clubs and balls have been capped for 15 years...

[Pops]

And PS stymie, there should be no period after the word "though" in your post...

[Easingwold]

JS - the answer is yes, because the courses can then retreat back 10% and sanity will return. You might even see the driver return to a risk and reward choice of shot for the pros.right now, it's almost a no brainer off the tee and that is what is killing the game slowly but surely.

[JS]

Easingwold,

How would you address my statement that we ought not worry what the pros do?

[Tom Morris]

We must never forget the young who generation after generation have made the golf an wold wide game.
They want to play on the courses their hero’s play upon when he/she won this or that Championship. They want to try to compare their score with those they noted during the Championship to see how close or far they are from that winning score.

What about the future generations, how much golf do you want them play, to the point that our great, great grandchildren may no longer play golf or are unable to compete because we have allowed the game to mutate into an elite sport that is only affordable by the superstars of the day or the very rich.

We have to take control of the ball and it has to be one standard game using one standard ball, on courses that reflect the honesty of the equipment. We can't keep wanting to change the game because we can or some think it’s only for the Pros. Golf is for everyone and courses should have wide fairways if we want to attract new life into the game, because narrow fairways only promote elites/Pro game and not general club golf which is what is required to keep the game going.

Yes, ball roll back is a must, but not by 10% but by a whopping 40%, if we are serious in keeping Golf for everyone. As for the rest of the equipment we need to control technology to serve golf not to reduce our scores and finally we need to get to grips with out courses - super smooth courses and greens with shallow hard compact bunkers need to be scrapped because golf is not easy, it’s a game to combat the terrain. It’s not about making course easy to allow us to achieve low scores, where is the fun, the challenge in that – course need to challenge and fairways do not need to be finished like greens. Golf is about competing against the course not the other player unless you are in Matchplay game.

Easy is not the way forward, neither can we leave the ball to travel even longer distances. Simple common sense dictates that, problem is there any common sense left within the powers that be?

[Reaper]

Anyone else wonder if the new anti doping rules will affect distance over the next few years, if the TOUR actually enforces it openly as they claim they will as all other major league sports do?

Is it coincidental that Tiger's body quickly deteriorated after his name was linked to the Canadian doctor who was supplying HGH to many professional athletes. Yes, Tiger was never officially proven to have taken HGH from that doctor, but with all the great medical options, doctors, trainers available in the US, why do you go to Canada to see someone that no one ever heard of before?

Now the other workout fanatic who tried to bulk up like Tiger is showing signs of his body falling apart, that would be McIIroy. Maybe I'm crazy, and I probably am, but I am starting to think that doping has been more prevalent on the PGA TOUR than many of us fans ever realized. Lack of steroids and HGH just might start curtailing some of this.

[Easingwold]

JS...simple. pro golf is becoming boring to watch. If the next generation of golfers are going to emerge, they need to be excited about taking the game up. Otherwise golf will shrink to a level of sports like table tennis and squash. It's ok for us established players, we don't need to watch the pro game. We are already hooked.

[munihack]

@ P Thomas
We already have bifurcation with grooves. That is why a tourney ball as part of the conditions of competition is the easy answer. The makers of the ball can then get a charity writeoff when the balls are donated to various first tee facilities to be uses as range balls. Every sport has adjusted to the various equipment and athletic changes - men's pro golf has not kept the same skill set balance it had prior to the distance boom. The result is weekly monotony. It isn't compelling to watch and once the audience is gone the checks get smaller. I'd like to see the top players have to deal with fear over a shot again instead of the driver-wedge-putt repetition that currently exists.

[JS]

Easingwold,

If you think 275 yard drives, missed greens with 6 irons and up and down pars are going to attract more people that 330 yard drives, wedges from 150 and 8 footers for birdie I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.

I’m not suggesting that I prefer either, Just that the notion of seeing these guys struggle (relative to today) is a complete non-starter. The number of people looking for a more sophisticated viewing experience totals in the hundreds, maybe thousands...

[chico]

JS-the best players in the world unable to hit the green with a 6 iron? are you serious!!! To suggest that par can only be broken with a wedge in your hand is laughable!!.
I seem to remember Nicklaus, Hogan Snead, Faldo Ballesteros, Player Palmer, Woosnam ,Norman, Locke, Armour, Hagen-hell-even Dernie get under par from time to time!!!!

[Easingwold]

JS- that's when you would see real skills getting the ball on the green, like the players Chico has mentioned above, the last one too :-)

The game you are talking about, hitting wedges into greens means less chipping, less great bunker shots and even faster greens to stop scores in the 50's. Watch a video of Trevino or Seve and see what I mean.

[ElChapin]

All those that are against the R&A and the USGA doing something about the equipment should look at Davis Love III stats. Can anyone explain to me how being 30 years older help him increase his driving distance stats? I really doubt that he is "fitter" at 50 than he was in his 20's yet he outdrives his younger self at an age where he plays in the senior tour. That is all the evidence needed to do something about the equipment. Although some distance increases may be due to fitter pros it is ridiculous to see that there are more pros with driving distance average over 300 than there were under 250 in the 1980's.

[digsouth]

It would seem that the scores from The Golden Age of Golf, and IMO there have been 3, 4 if you bring in Tom Morris to comment, but IN THE MODERN AGE, steel shafts on, I would say 3, and the third - we are living in the last 20 or so years, the score have remained relatively stable, with all te modern tech, spiking the low numbers recently. So, it would seem thaqt all is well, even with the newest equipment. I don't know if the aqllure of golf would remain with 6 irons instead of wedges, but I do know some other sports to compare the current situation to, and other factors that roll into why we are where we are. More on all tis later... I a writing it on wordd, and using spel chick. :)


@stymie & LMFAO

Come on- are you the same person, or troll, as it would be? I wasn't aware we had any speling(sic) police among us. As it is, I have issues with my fingers and keyboard - they don't always comply with one another. However, as Pops indicated, my left ear does a heck of a job, when I fall over face down on the keyboard, and roll my head to the left...

Anyway , I DO have a question in the LMFAO comment- am i the guy who sees the big picture, or the guy who doesn't? I gots to know!

Pops- tqanks for having my back.

@Tom Morris -- very well stated, IMO, your best post ever.

dig

[JS]

Chick and Easingwold,

Please read my last sentence.

You guys are barking at the moon.

[chico]

I did read it. I believe you are wrong.

[Easingwold]

JS- so what you're saying is that golf is better "dumbed down" so to speak. In other words, smash it 350 yards and wedge it in. Might as well have robots playing the game.

[digsouth]

JS

Do you watch tennis?

Would you prefer a volleying score, or a point from a serve? the service score is exciting every now and then, but the volley builds excitement, and the crowd misses it.

Golf is not drive, chip, and putt. No wait- pro golf IS drive, chip, and putt. Yawn. The volley is exciting. The most thrilling shot in golf now days is the recovery shot, not the 338 yard drive. No one wants to see fairways that look like walking paths, except a few oversize drunks. more later- may have to wait until another thread for all my commnts on this.

dig

[JS]

I believe golf is local and individual.

Roll back the ball/clubs 20% and the vast majority of us see zero difference.

[JS]

Also, Chico, I was auto-corrected to Chick. My apologies.

What percentage of paying golf spectators want a ball roll back to improve their viewing experience?

[KPK]

Justin Thomas is a physical specimen. What is it, 5' 7", 140 soaking wet? And Fowler, now he is one physically fit dude.

Players on Tour are definitely more athletic and fitness is important, but it has very little to do with across the board longer driving stats.

[Johnnnycz]

JS: a 6iron IS a birdie/scoring club...at least it used to be. DJ called a 7i "long iron for me"..whatta sissy boy. ;-))

PT: I totally acknowledge being fitter and stronger allows for more potential speeds. That's just common sense. I guess I should have stated that what the ruling bodies are doing about distance is "laughable". If the equipment was in fact "capped" WTF does Titleist release different versions of the ProV1 every 2yrs? And they have the gall to say "longer than ever!!" Really?...why bother if your previous version was already maxed out?

And what about Football/Baseball/Basketball/Squash ball tech?

As you said...there have been caps in place for 15yrs and these distances gain FACTS are swept under the rug and attributed to "increased fitness". And I call BS. Same with Geoff. They're basically saying the pre-solid core/toaster sized driver generation were slow swinging round bellies. Laura Davies swing speed back in the day was slower than what her modern peers today are achieving??! Snead and Jack couldn't sniff 115-120mph?? HA!

Come on USGA...just admit you pooped the sheets when metal woods started to appear 30+ yrs ago.