How Far Do Amateur Golfers Hit the Ball?

[Mavric]

According to the data collected and analyzed, the average driving distance for male amateur club golfers in 2017 was 208.1 yards. (This number was 200 yards in 1996.) Players with a handicap of 6 or better averaged 226 yards off the tee, handicaps of 6-12 averaged 212 yards, 13-20 handicaps averaged 198 yards and 21 handicaps and higher averaged 188 yards (89 percent of the total shots were hit with a driver).

This information was measured at male and female clubs in the U.K., and as many as 2,000 men's drives and 300 women's drives are used to collect each season's data.

Golf.com

 

[JJ Husker]

I can hit 250+ most of the time. Now ask me if it's straight down the fairway...

 

[BigRedBuster]

Well....that’s based on the bloody British. 

What do do you expect?

 

[BigRedBuster]

What I find interesting about the chart is....think about the technology advancement since 1996 compared to the improvement in distance actually experienced by amateurs. 

 

[Mavric]

I can hit 250+ most of the time. Now ask me if it's straight down the fairway...

I pretty much always hit it in the fairway at my local course.

Now, whether it's the CORRECT fairway is a different matter.

 

[NUance]

I generally hit it 220 to 230.  I can wind up and give a mighty slash and get it out there 250+.  But it's not likely to find the fairway.  OTOH, during the hot summer months I loosen up a bit and get perhaps another ten yards or so.  

Edit:  I went back and looked at some Gamegolf rounds.  I was hitting it around 220 or so off the tee early last year.  But then around early July the wheels fell off the wagon.  I struggle with my driver and lost both distance and accuracy.  I ended the season hitting only around 205 off the tee, and missing the fairway a lot.  Ouch!    

 

[BigRedBuster]

I'm going to be fitted for a new driver this year.  There is something funky with my drives now.  When I first got my driver, I could hit it around 250 on a decently hit ball.  How, my ball takes off the same way and I think it's going to be a hell of a drive....then it dies and drops way short of that.  I even have people comment on it that I play with.  There's something funky about the spin of my ball.

 

[The Dude]

I've gone 300 on a driving range.  About 225 if I'm trying to hit a fairway.

 

[Hooked on Huskers]

Probably 200 yards average.  Sometimes I hit >250 but very rare.  Like 20 holes apart.

The best was 18 handicap in circa 1990 year.  Starting golfing, 1984.  Quit golfing, 1995 or so (R.I.P. ---- thank god).

Never broke 80.   BTW, in the first swing in my first golfing round (1984),  I got a birdie score ... easy-peasy, natural, I thought.  Next hole, quintuple bogey.  Back to earth.

I played in Lincoln - BTW, prior to 1992 year,  $10 fees or less per round. How much today?

• Holmes Lake
  
• Pioneer Park .... many times
  
• Mahoney
  
• Across the street from Mahoney .... 9 holes executive course.  EDIT: According to Google map, no longer exist.  Now Subway franchise.
  
• Outside Lincoln city limits (east).  I forgot course name.  I remember poor maintenance.
  
• About 10-15 miles east from Lincoln.  Again I forgot course name.  Fairly new course I think (1990).
  

In Norman:

• OU golf course .... before vast layout.   Old OU GC: $8 fees per round with unlimited holes.  New OU GC: $30+ per round .... too much for me
  
• Westwood.  Public.  Very easy layout and totally flat.  However, a couple of small ponds.
  
• The Trails.  Used to be semi-private.  Now, totally private
  

One time event:

• Elmwood GC in Sioux Falls (my dad's hang-out).  And outside US country, Panama Canal zone.
  

Adjacent to OU campus

.  OU Jimmy Austin GC  =  NU Warren Buffett GC !!!!

 

[BigRedBuster]

I'm going to be fitted for a new driver this year.  There is something funky with my drives now.  When I first got my driver, I could hit it around 250 on a decently hit ball.  How, my ball takes off the same way and I think it's going to be a hell of a drive....then it dies and drops way short of that.  I even have people comment on it that I play with.  There's something funky about the spin of my ball.

Well....Last week (when the weather acted like Spring) I spent some time on the range.  I got some advice on my swing from a friend who gives lessons.  Hmmm....who would have thought, my issues are in my swing.

I went through two buckets of alls over two days, went out and played 9.  My first tee box, I had a drive I hadn't seen from a club I was holding in probably 18 months.

I need way more time on the range to make it more natural.  Of course.......I haven't been out since middle of last week.