The Distance Debate, Average Schmo Edition

No time for a full stroll through the golf world, as Bobby D. has a fiver he needs to hand over to me on the 18th green in a few hours.  But this one item is worth a moment of our time.

Mike Stachura, Golf Digest's resident gearhead, takes a look at some recent data, and notes that we really suck.  No, seriously, we're not very good at this golf thing:

While the golf world contemplates the “unusual and concerning” findings of the 2017 Distance Report from the USGA and R&A about driving distances on golf’s professional tours, a new study from Arccos, the GPS round-tracking golf-statistics app, says the rest of golf just might be going backwards when it comes to driving distance. 

According to the study of Arccos users’ driving habits since 2015, driving distance across all age groups and all handicaps is at best flat and in many cases declining. In short, and perhaps not surprisingly, the data suggests that the only distance problem for the more than 99 percent of golfers who are not getting paid to play is a lack of it. 

Arccos recently examined driving-distance data from 2015-2018 and the trend showed no real increases in driving distance for average golfers over that timeline. The Arccos data shows the average drive for the average golfer so far is 217.1 yards in 2018, down from the 220.6 yards in 2015. At best the number is flat when you compare full-year data: The average for 2017 was 220.0 yards.

For those of you that learn visually, here's what you like out there:

I know, another reminder that you're getting older isn't necessary, especially when every joint in your body reports thereon on a daily basis.  So, wassup with this?

That data does not entirely surprise Nick Clearwater, who is the vice president of instruction for Golftec, the chain of nearly 200 worldwide golf instruction and club-fitting studios that has provided more than seven million lessons. Average golfers are using ill-fitted clubs and, well, swinging like a tour player is not easy. He said most average golfers mishit the ball, especially with the driver, adding loft and creating too much spin. That’s inefficient energy transfer.

Moreover, Clearwater says, a lot of new golf technology might not be helping average golfers problems. 

“The average golfer uses too much spin loft with all of their clubs, so increases in tech still show minimal improvement in the quality of the shot,” he said. “The shots still start to the right, spin too much and are mishit.

I'm not terribly surprised by this, but one quick note about the source of the data.  Arccos is a GPS based system, as distinct from a launch monitor or Trackman.  So it knows where you're standing to play your second shot, but it can't diagnose what went wrong with the drive.

But, as explained to me by a couple of clubfitters, recent gains in driver technology are almost exclusively the result of reducing spin.  That's great, as long as you find the sweet spot of the clubface...  But when you miss, you quickly morph into Phil Niekro.

So read this with that in mind:

Golftec’s Clearwater believes getting golfers in properly fitted clubs leads to distance gains. 

“It’s likely that many golfers used in the data are still using five-plus-year-old drivers as well and most don’t get fit for their equipment to benefit from the advancements,” he said, noting that Golftec fitters have found distance gains by fitting players with one-inch shorter driver shafts (44.5 inches) that are more in line with lengths being played on the PGA Tour. Clearwater said those fittings have increased driving distance by almost 21 yards while producing shots that are eight yards closer to the center line.

As noted in the story, the only group to consistently improve are the low, single-digit handicaps, which makes sense:

I also feel compelled to add a minor cautionary tale about the fitting process.  I do believe in it in general, though at our level we don't always show up with the same swing.  I happen to have a new Ping G400 driver in the trunk of my car, for the simple reason that every time I've hit drivers with my fitter I've been unable to get the ball airborne, and it fails to exhibit my natural draw.  So when he puts me in an "L-shaft", who am I to complain?

Now something like a shorter driver shaft just can't be a bad thing for a player,lending itself to more consistent contact.  

One last thought on this subject.  A couple of months ago in discussing the forthcoming USGA/R&A distance report, Mike Davis explicitly noted that the distance gains weren't limited to the men's elite game.  I'm curious what data he was looking at, because Martin Slumbers of the R&A wasn't in agreement.