The argument that golf governing bodies have not expressed so subtly in recent years is that distance has become a distortion of the game. There are plenty of PGA Tour stats to make this case, whether it’s the increase in average driving distance, the number of trips longer than 320 yards, or the average clubhead speed on the tour.
But if these stats mean longer hitters are dominating the game in a distinctly different way than they have in the past, well, that’s a different question. And a different set of numbers shows that the big hitters are starting to count more than ever. Or at least until this year. In 2020, the numbers say that great distance is generally as relevant to success on the PGA Tour as it always has been, no more, no less.
Governing bodies have stepped up their study of distance over the past five years, including a comprehensive investigation into the subject called the Distance Insights Project which ultimately concluded that elite-level driving distance needed to be curbed. The USGA and R&A have presented specific recommendations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and are currently expected to announce further research topics for potential action next spring. But as an advantage over what might fuel the ongoing debate, here’s what we looked at.
Since the PGA Tour began compiling the stats in 1980, we have tracked the top 10 players on each season’s money list and where each of those players ranked in the four “skills” that generally matter most in golf performance. : driving distance, driving precision, greens in regulation and setting. So we looked at the average position of the top 10 players in each of those skill categories and compared those numbers over the course of history. The chart below shows how the top 10 players in the world have performed in terms of driving distance and other key stats over the years. The lower the number, the better the ranking in that category and the more that skill determined financial success.
As you can see in the graph, the numbers generally fluctuate up and down over the past 40 years in the same range for each statistical category. There have been years where driving accuracy has dropped dramatically and that specific time has clearly fueled the changes to groove equipment rules that went into effect in 2010.
From 1980 to 2019, the average annual ranking of the top 10 was divided as follows:
Driving distance: 61
Driving Accuracy: 81
Greens in the regulation: 45
Put: 38
In 2020, more specifically, the 2019-2020 PGA Tour season, the averages are quite close to the normal range.
Distance: 54
Accuracy: 90
GIR: 62
Put: 21
In fact, if you only focus on the modern era since 1995, which includes titanium-coated drivers and solid-core multi-layer golf balls, the numbers for 2020 seem to be within the normal range again.
Distance: 58
Accuracy: 98
GIR: 49
Put: 41
Now, there is a way to delve a little deeper and see the trend that governing bodies are most likely carefully studying as part of their Distance Insights research. In the five years leading up to 2020, bombers seemed to have started to play a much larger role in the success matrix than in years past. Furthermore, accuracy continued to decline in relevance at the highest levels of success.
Here are the averages for the top 10 on the money list from 2015 to 2019:
Distance: 38
Accuracy: 109
GIR: 51
Mass: 31
For example, in 2018 only one player in the top 10 on the money list ranked outside the top 40 in driving distance. In 2019 there were only two. In 2018, the average degree of driving accuracy for the top 10 players was 122, and it hasn’t been in the top 100 since 2015, until this year when it closed at 98. By comparison, in 1994, the last year before Titanium drivers were introduced, the average driving distance for those in the top 10 on the money list was 76. When Tiger Woods won his first major in 1997, the average driving distance was 87.
All distance, of course, is relative. Ahead of this week’s Tour Championship, 74 players measure an average of 300 yards from the tee. The player ranked 100th in driving distance, Matt Jones, has a driving distance average that would comfortably lead the tour every year until 1997 and would rank in the top five until 2002. Meanwhile, the distance leader driving in 1985, Andy Bean at 278.2 yards, would not be in the top 200 this year.
Do the 2020 numbers suggest the run of the mighty has eased, despite Bryson DeChambeau and his current all-time high of 323.9 yards? Well, it’s true that five of the top 10 on the prizes list are out of the longest 60 hitters on the tour and three are out of the top 100. Of course, it’s been a shortened season and many of the tournaments have been played since the restart on courses where accuracy was perhaps more of a reward than distance. However, the average driving distance for the top 10 players on the money list is 305 yards, or about nine yards more than the tour average this year. There are also five times more players averaging 300 yards or more off the tee among the 30 heading to East Lake than those averaging under 290.
On the other hand, it is also true that one of the three players who did not rank in the top 100 at driving distance but still ranked in the top 10 of the current money list is Collin Morikawa, the guy who won the only major played this year.
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