By Mike Stachura
While Wednesday’s announcement that the USGA and R&A have narrowed their focus on ways to dial back distance at the elite level might have gotten all the attention, the ruling bodies also issued their annual Distance Report at the same time.

In its simplest interpretation, the Distance Report has been used to chronicle the imbalanced role distance is playing at the elite level. At first glance, this latest report may not have been the most convincing document. Year over year, driving distance on the PGA Tour, the European Tour (now DP World Tour), the Korn Ferry Tour and the Japan Golf Tour decreased in 2021 compared to 2020. And while average distances on the PGA Tour Champions, LPGA Tour and LET showed increases, each was below or just fractionally above their respective all-time highs.

But the point the ruling bodies want to make with the document is the overall trendline, which clearly has been much more upward than stable over the last 30 years. The reports use 2003 as a benchmark since that marks the first full year after the ruling bodies issued a Joint Statement of Principles that put elite driving distances on notice.

Since 2003, according to their research, the average driving distance has increased 3.2 percent from 2003-2021. Moreover, the document makes the case that the PGA Tour statistic measuring all drives (compared to the metric that only accounts for two measured holes) was up 1.5 yards to an all-time high of 289.9 yards. Still, on the measured holes on the PGA Tour, 97 percent of the shots were hit with a driver, validating that number as the best indicator of where distance truly stands.

Also, not surprisingly, the bulk of drives are getting longer, according to the report. Since 2003, the percentage of drives less than 280 yards has decreased on both the PGA Tour and European Tour, while the percentage of drives greater than 300 yards has increased. In 2003, about 40 percent of drives recorded on the PGA Tour and European Tour were 280 yards and less, while slightly more than a quarter of drives exceeded 300 yards. By 2021, those percentages had more than flipped. In 2021, less than a quarter of drives didn’t reach 280 yards, while about 43 percent were longer than 300.

The Distance Report also details data on PGA Tour clubhead speed, ball speed, launch angle and distance. Since 2003, average clubhead speed is up two mph, ball speed is up five mph, launch angle is slightly down and average spin rates also have decreased. In 2021, the average launch angle (10.5 degrees) and spin rate (2,527 rpm) were close to USGA golf ball testing averages (10 degrees, 2,520 rpm). While the average clubhead speed was 115.1 mph—about five mph short of the current clubhead speed used in the ball test—the 90th percentile for clubhead speed (120.1 mph) is now right in line with that test speed.

The Distance Report also tracks the changes in scoring average across all tours. While it, too, reflects improvement in the last 40 years, the report characterises scores showing a “slow creep downward” of .04 strokes per year since 1980. Since 2003, it shows the scoring average on the PGA Tour is essentially unchanged.  

The ruling bodies’ announcement on Wednesday of new “areas of interest” included the idea of raising the test swing speed of the golf ball’s Overall Distance Standard to “at least” 125 mph in order to more closely reflect tour player swing speeds. Data from the PGA Tour may indicate that 125 is about as rare as when the ruling bodies chose to update the test to a speed of 120 mph in 2004. This year, the average of the fastest swing speed each player on tour has recorded is about 119 mph.

Thomas Pagel, the USGA’s chief governance officer, said the Overall Distance Standard has adapted to the landscape of the elite men’s game as it has developed.

“We reflected on the intent of that rule to replicate the longest-hitting golfers at the time,” he said. “We just stepped back and observed what we’re seeing at the highest level today with the longest hitters, and recognized that 120 is no longer the number that replicates that. It was really, frankly, a reflection on history, and saying, ‘Are we at another moment in time where we need to go back in and revise this?’

“As for whether 125 is enough, we may find that 125 is not enough, or we may find that 125 is a good number. But 10 years from now, we need to plan on researching and looking at further change so that we can evolve and ensure that the rule continues to model or mirror what we’re seeing the longest hitters in the game doing.”

While the trend in driving distance is clearly upward historically, the rate of increase doesn’t seem out of whack with past numbers. The PGA Tour players may be hitting it 3.6 percent farther in 2021 than in 2003, but when compared to any other similar stretch of time, that rate is nowhere near the highest. In fact, it was the lowest ever recorded in any 18-year span and has been trending downward since 2012.

Then again, there is a fundamental difference between looking at the rate of growth in distance compared to the actual growth. In the last five years, distance on the PGA Tour is increasing at a rate of about a yard per year. That’s less than half what it was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but more than double the rate from 1980-95. And when those increases are coming on top of a driving distance average that is in the mid-290s now compared to the low 260s then, that’s what has the ruling bodies concerned. It’s not the size of the distance gains, it’s that, at least to the ruling bodies, they don’t appear to be leveling off, despite all the equipment regulations. That’s especially concerning to them at a time almost two decades removed from their Joint Statement of Principles that declared “any further significant increases in hitting distances at the highest level are undesirable.”

The R&A’s Steve Otto, executive director-chief of technology, thinks any ideas about change aren’t simply a reaction to thwart new club and ball developments.

“It’s a recognition that the longest players on which we base the testing speed are getting faster, a recognition of the athletes improving,” he said. “I think that’s why we spent so long on the Distance Insights project. Because if you look year on year, it doesn’t seem to be an issue, but it’s taking that really long-term view.

“This is about where the future of the game is going to be 10 years out, 20 years out, 50 years out.”

The problem may be as simple, or as complicated, as this: Of the 30 longest hitters currently on the PGA Tour, only two (Luke List and Scottie Scheffler) have recorded victories this year and more rank outside the top 100 in FedEx Cup points than inside the top 30. But not one player in the top 30 in FedEx Cup points is hitting it shorter than the tour’s current average driving distance. That number, 296.7, would set an all-time high.

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By Joel Beall
The USGA and R&A released their long-awaited Distance Insight Project report on Tuesday, analysing the long ball’s influence—in the past, present and projected future—on the sport. The summary and its associated papers serve as a conversation starter rather than a bill of solutions, but their tone is quite clear: The increases must stop.

“We believe that golf will best thrive over the next decades and beyond if this continuing cycle of ever-increasing hitting distances and golf course lengths is brought to an end,” the report’s 16-page “Conclusions” document reads. “Longer distances, longer courses, playing from longer tees and longer times to play are taking golf in the wrong direction and are not necessary to make golf challenging, enjoyable or sustainable in the future. In reaching this conclusion, our focus is forward-looking with a goal of building on the strengths of the game today while taking steps to alter the direction and impacts of hitting distances in the best interests of its long-term future.”

To drive home this sentiment, part of the evidence the governing bodies pointed to was the driving distances on golf’s professional tours over the past two decades. More specifically, the surge in those figures.

And just what were those specific gains that tour pros made?

Since 2003—the year after the USGA and R&A released the Joint Statement of Principles as a notice that they would be monitoring more closely the effects of advancing equipment technology on the game—distance on the PGA Tour has jumped 7.6 yards. On the Korn Ferry Tour, the rise has been 10.5 yards spike, while the European Tour has seen an 8.5-yard increase.
The Conclusions document further explains that the driving distance average for the 20 longest hitters on the PGA Tour and European Tour had reached 310 yards, and that the average driving distance overall for the combined tours was 294 yards. Since 2013, that average has increased “at a rate of about one yard per year.”

Also of note is the increase in ball speed. Since 2007, ball speed has jumped 4.9 mph, with average clubhead speed rising 1.7 mph.

What the professional circuits do with this information is speculative, although the PGA Tour told Golf Digest’s Mike Stachura on Tuesday that, “The R&A and the USGA are our partners, and the PGA Tour will continue to collaborate with them. We believe the game is best served when all are working in a unified way. … The PGA Tour is committed to ensuring any future solutions identified benefit the game as a whole without negatively impacting the Tour, its players or our fans’ enjoyment of our sport.”

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By Mike Stachura
TaylorMade Golf, whose drivers are the most played brand on the PGA Tour, is the latest manufacturer to question the need for any distance rollback.

The company asserted its position following the March 5 release of the 2017 Distance Report, which called the driving distance gain on the professional tours over the last year “unusual and concerning and requires closer inspection and monitoring to fully understand the causes and effects.”

The statement from TaylorMade CEO David Abeles said the company’s study of the same numbers suggests no cause for new restrictions. Abeles tone was similar to that voiced by both the PGA Tour and PGA of America in the wake of the report. 

“We have meticulously reviewed the USGA and R&A’s 2017 Distance Report and discussed its findings with key stakeholders,” Abeles’ statement reads. “Additionally, we have carefully considered the inferred implications that the study may have on the game moving forward. The TaylorMade Golf Company firmly opposes any potential rollback of product performance or bifurcation of the rules in any form as we believe these movements will be detrimental to the game at every level.”

Abeles, whose company joins Acushnet among companies to caution against action based on the 2017 Distance Report’s numbers, said that any restrictions on distance could harm current efforts being made to grow the game.

“We are optimistic about golf’s future and we believe that the growth initiatives our industry has invested in are beginning to drive participation momentum in our sport. Any separation from the rules or any step backward in performance would be disadvantageous to the growth of the game,” Abeles said. “For millions of golfers of all skill levels, we believe innovation and technology lead to better performance, and better performance brings more joy to the game for all who play it.”

The statement concludes with Abeles calling for further collaboration between the ruling bodies, equipment manufacturers and other leaders in golf.

“As the discussion around bifurcation and rollback formalizes, we look forward to having a seat at the table to lend our voice.”

The USGA and R&A released the distance figures from seven professional tours that saw a three-yard gain in average driving distance, a dramatic jump from the 0.2-yards-per-year gain seen for the preceding decade. The ruling bodies asserted in the preamble to the report that the distance issue would be under an extensive review.

“We remain open-minded and our absolute priority is to ensure that all key stakeholders are involved in an open and inclusive process, and that we move forward together in the best interests of golf at all levels,” the preamble reads. “There is no fixed timetable, but we will commence this process immediately and endeavor to reach a conclusion as promptly as possible.”

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By Mike Stachura
Acushnet, the No. 1 ball company and parent company of Titleist and its Pro V1 and Pro V1x, the most played balls in professional golf, weighed in Monday night on the USGA’s annual distance report, maintaining its long-held position that current equipment rules are effective and that recent distance increases are not cause for new restrictions.

While most manufacturers stayed on the sidelines since the distance report was released Monday morning, Acushnet released its own assessment of the study and suggested the comparative one-year gains need to be viewed in a context that goes beyond the numbers listed in the ruling bodies’ presentation released Monday morning.

“As a leader in the golf equipment industry, our team is conditioned to evaluate data to best understand contributing factors and root causes,” said David Maher, Acushnet CEO and president. “It is with this intent that we analyzed the 2017 Distance Report, and our findings continue to support the fact that equipment regulations have been effective.   “A closer look into the numbers in the Report underscores the complexity of making any meaningful year-to-year comparisons. There were several contributing variables in 2017, including course selection and set-up, agronomical conditions and weather, which need to be considered when assessing the data.”

Among the observations in the Acushnet statement:

Driving distance at the 33 PGA Tour events conducted at the same venue in 2016 and 2017, “the average driving distance increased only 0.5 yards” (the overall increase in the average cited in the USGA report was 2.5 yards). The Acushnet statement notes that at the eight events held at new venues in 2017, “the average distance increased 8.0 yards.”

The Acushnet statement also highlights that of those 33 PGA Tour events, “15 tournaments had a decline in average driving distance with one event flat to prior year. This highlights the year to year variability in distance.”

The Acushnet analysis also said that driving distance at the major championships “represented one-third of the total average driving distance gained in 2017,” noting a 20.4-yard year-over-year increase at the U.S. Open, an 8.1-yard increase at the Open Championship and a 7.0-yard increase at the PGA Championship. It also pointed to a 0.4-yard decline in the driving distance average at the Masters. The Acushnet review cited weather as a factor overlooked in the USGA’s distance study.

The Acushnet study also raised a deeper clarification of the driving distance increase on the PGA Tour’s Web.com developmental tour. In 2017, the Web.com Tour became the first professional tour tracked in the ruling bodies’ Distance Report to crack the 300-yard barrier in its year-end average. The 302.9-yard average in 2017 was a 6.9-yard boost compared to 2016.

The Acushnet report notes that “of the 25 Web.com graduates in 2016, 24 had shorter average driving distance on the 2017 PGA Tour, with an average decrease of 6.6 yards. For the years 2015 to 2017, 74 of the 75 graduates had shorter average driving distance on the PGA Tour the following year. This can be attributed to course set-up.”

While the USGA’s Distance Report cites record-setting average driving distances across all men’s tours and states “this level of increase across so many tours in a single season is unusual and concerning and requires closer inspection,” Acushnet’s Maher said when viewed in context, the numbers in 2017 across all tours are not a cause for alarm.

“In any given year there are variables that impact distance, and any movement as in 2017 is not suddenly indicative of a harmful trend,” he said. “We continue to believe equipment innovation has benefitted golfers at all levels, and our analysis of the 2017 Distance Report affirms that the USGA and The R&A have effective regulations in place to ensure the game’s health and sustainability. We look forward to continued dialogue with the governing bodies and stakeholders as we seek to position the great game of golf for future success.”

Acushnet has consistently argued for restraint and more open dialog between the ruling bodies and manufacturers over equipment rules-making for the last two decades. Its position is even detailed through a 58-page “Tradition and Technology” document posted on its website. Among its main points is the idea that, “Technology has always been part of the game’s enduring traditions. The growth of the game has been a byproduct of the continuing and ever-present balance between tradition and technology.”

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