As golfers, we find ourselves in the constant pursuit of increased distance off the tee. You might have spent time having lessons on how to create the optimal launch angle for your driver, or perhaps your athletic posture and powerful swing gives you the natural ability to step up and crush it. Either way, we can't help but compare ourselves to others.
There are few better feelings than being the longest driver in your social group, but are you in the top 1% for distance off the tee? Thanks to the latest Arccos data, we can go even deeper than that and reveal how far you need to drive the golf ball in order to be longer than 99.7% of male amateurs...
Arccos data suggests that if you have a median driving distance of 284 yards, you are longer than 99.7% of male amateur golfers. Let's not pretend that number isn't enormous, but if you want to be included in the top 0.3% you need to be one of the best drivers around.
Interestingly, not only would that figure put you in the upper-echelons of the amateur golf driving world, but it would also make you 4 yards longer than the average tour pro off the tee. Let that sink in for a moment.
For most golfers those figures might seem unattainable, but it's clear that there is a correlation between your driving distance and your handicap.
Driving distance by handicap – how do the numbers compare?
It will comes as no surprise that driving distance tends to increase as your handicap decreases. We know that increasing your distance off the tee is great tool to help you shoot lower scores, but how many of those precious extra yards do you need to gain?
How much of an impact does driving distance have on your handicap?
According to the data, a scratch golfer drives the ball around 259 yards on average, whereas a 20-handicapper drives the ball around 213 yards. The trend is quite stable as you move through, increasing from 222 yards for a 15-handicapper to 233 yards for a 10-handicapper, and finally to 245 for a 5-handicapper.
Only 1.6% of amateur male golfers have an average driving distance of over 280 yards, so if that isn't you then the pursuit for longer tee shots continues. See you on the driving range.
