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Drive Distance

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See how the PGA Tour’s driving distance leaders have skyrocketed since 1980

Bryson DeChambeau, pictured above, is currently leading the PGA Tour in 2020 with 323 yards driven per shot on average.

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There’s nothing more captivating than being cooped up in front of your television, watching with listless anticipation as a golfer steps up to the tee and, with all their force, strikes the ball and sends it screaming into oblivion. The smack, whoosh, and fizz of the ball all merge into a beautifully synchronized chorus. GOLF.com has tracked the players, since 1980, who led the PGA Tour in driving distance — and picked out the most interesting storylines, most dominant runs, and most unusual tidbits.

1980: Dan Pohl, 274.3 yards

We begin our journey in 1980, with Dan Pohl, otherwise known as the “Pohlcat.”  Pohl led the tour in driving with a respectable 274.3-yard average and accruing over 51,000 yards driven. Pohl, unfortunately, would not pick up a win on Tour in 1980 — or ’81, when he led the Tour again in driving distance with 280.1 yards. However, the Pohlcat’s place in golf’s distance history can never be questioned. 

1981: Dan Pohl, 280.1

1982: bill calfee,  275.3, 1983: john mccomish, 277.3, 1984: bill glasson, 276.5, 1985: andy bean, 278.2, 1986: davis love iii, 285.7.

1987: John McComish, 283.9

1988: steve thomas, 284.6, 1989: ed humenik, 280.9, 1990: tom purtzer, 279.6, the decade of daly.

From 1980-1989, eight different golfers led the Tour in driving distance. From 1990-1999, there were only three — and for eight of those years, Daly was the top dog in the clubhouse. The enigmatic Daly — known for his long backswing, erratic play, and aversion to typical golf wardrobe selections — was truly groundbreaking in his driving distance accomplishments. In 1997, he was the first golfer ever to average more than 300 yards per drive — beating out a 22-year-old Tiger Woods, who finished with 294.8. Daly would last lead the Tour in distance driven in 2002, he continued to place near the top until 2007, where he posted a 312.9-yard average. There’s no question about it: John Daly is the king of driving distance.

An unbelievable John Daly shot once ‘freaked out’ a 13-year-old Tiger Woods

1991: John Daly, 288.9

1992: john daly, 283.4, 1993: john daly, 288.9, 1994: davis love iii, 283.8, 1995: john daly, 289, 1996: john daly, 288.8, 1997: john daly, 302.

1998: John Daly, 299.4

1999: john daly, 305.6, 2000: john daly, 301.4, 2001: john daly, 306.7, 2002: john daly, 306.8, kuehne unseats daly, in style.

John Daly had complete control over the title of the PGA Tour’s driving distance leader for eight consecutive years until Hank Kuenhe burst onto the scene. While Kuenhe’s best tournament finish in 2003 was T-2 at the Shell Houston Open, he completely blew the previous driving record out of the water. Kuehne averaged 321.4 yards, almost 15 more yards than the previous record (set by Daly in 2002). 

2003: Hank Kuehne, 321.4

2004: hank kuehne, 314.4, 2005: scott hend, 318.9, 2006: bubba watson, 319.6, 2007: bubba watson, 315.2, 2008: bubba watson, 315.1.

2009: Robert Garrigus – 312

2010: robert garrigus, 315.5, 2011: j.b holmes, 318.4, 2012: bubba watson, 315.5, 2013: luke list, 306.3, 2014: bubba watson, 314.3, 2015: dustin johnson, 317.7.

2016: J.B Holmes, 314.5

2017: rory mcilroy, 317.2, 2018: rory mcilroy, 319.7, 2019: cameron champ, 317.9, bryson’s dominance.

Since 2003, no golfer has been able to best Kuenhe’s illustrious record. Until Bryson DeChambeau in 2020. The five-time PGA Tour winner has undergone a highly publicized body transformation , gaining over 20 pounds in muscle in the past three months alone. As GOLF.com’s Kevin Cunningham noted, “the purpose of his body transformation is simple; DeChambeau is trying to get as strong as possible to hit a golf ball as far as possible.”

So far, it’s paying off. Not only is DeChambeau currently breaking the Tour record for distance driven — 323 yards — but he is consistently smashing the ball over 400 yards . However, most importantly, DeChambeau is winning; DeChambeau recently won the Rocket Mortgage Classic with a score of 23 under.

2020: Bryson DeChambeau, 323*

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USGA/R&A release latest Distance Report: Here's what the numbers mean

Andrew Redington

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.

MORE: The first step in a rollback? Governing bodies announce plan in curtailing distance

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 characterizes 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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Year - average distance (yards) | leader - leader's average.

• 2023 - 297.2 | Leader: Rory McIlroy - 326.6
• 2022 - 299.8 | Leader: Cameron Champ - 321.4
• 2021 - 295.3 | Leader: Bryson DeChambeau - 320.8
• 2020 - 296.4 | Leader: Bryson DeChambeau - 322.1
• 2019 - 293.9 | Leader: Cameron Champ - 317.9
• 2018 - 295.29 | Leader: Trey Mullinax - 318
• 2017 - 292.79 | Leader: Rory McIlroy - 316.7
• 2016 - 291.06 | Leader: J.B. Holmes - 314.5
• 2015 - 290.21 | Leader: Dustin Johnson - 317.7
• 2014 - 289.85 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 314.3
• 2013 - 288.00 | Leader: Luke List - 306.3
• 2012 - 290.07 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.5
• 2011- 291.14 | Leader: J.B. Holmes - 318.4
• 2010 - 287.49 | Leader: Robert Garrigus - 315.5
• 2009 - 288.07 | Leader: Robert Garrigus - 312
• 2008 - 287.74 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.1
• 2007 - 289.08 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 315.2
• 2006 - 289.35 | Leader: Bubba Watson - 319.6
• 2005 - 288.88 | Leader: Scott Hend- 318.9
• 2004 - 287.32 | Leader: Hank Kuehne - 314.4
• 2003 - 286.30 | Leader: Hank Kuehne - 321.4
• 2002 - 279.84 | Leader: John Daly - 306.8
• 2001 - 279.35 | Leader: John Daly - 306.7
• 2000 - 273.18| Leader: John Daly - 301.4
• 1999 - 272.45 | Leader: John Daly - 305.6
• 1998 - 270.63 | Leader: John Daly - 299.4
• 1997 - 267.67 | Leader: John Daly - 302
• 1996 - 266.49 | Leader: John Daly - 288.8
• 1995 - 263.55 | Leader: John Daly - 289
• 1994 - 261.84 | Leader: Davis Love III - 283.8
• 1993 - 260.36 | Leader: John Daly - 288.9
• 1992 - 260.52 | Leader: John Daly - 283.4
• 1991 - 261.44 | Leader: John Daly - 288.9
• 1990 - 262.75 | Leader: Tom Purtzer - 279.6
• 1989 - 261.81 | Leader: Ed Humenik - 280.9
• 1988 - 263.50 | Leader: Steve Thomas - 284.6
• 1987 - 262.50 | Leader: John McComish - 283.9
• 1986 - 261.58 | Leader: Davis Love III - 285.7
• 1985 - 260.18 | Leader: Andy Bean - 278.2
• 1984 - 259.61 | Leader: Bill Glasson - 276.5
• 1983 - 258.65 | Leader: John McComish - 277.4
• 1982 - 256.89 | Leader: Bill Calfee - 275.3
• 1981 - 259.66 | Leader: Dan Pohl - 280.1
• 1980 - 256.89 | Leader: Dan Pohl - 274.3

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How Far PGA Tour Players Carry Their Drives

What's the average carry of a PGA Tour player's drive, and how might that change in the future?

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The driving distance debate is one that stubbornly refuses to go away… although that’s something governing bodies the USGA and The R&A are probably hoping will change within a few years.

That’s because they have confirmed golf ball rollback plans that will see driving distances reduced at every level of the game, starting in 2028 in the professional game and from 2030 elsewhere. But how far do PGA Tour players currently carry their drives, and how will the changes affect the numbers?

Carry distance is an important stat to know, but why? Well, it’s one thing to know how far your drives have travelled after the ball has come to a stop, but if you’re weighing up potential problems ahead from the tee box, such as water, bunkers or rough, carry distance is the priority.

According to figures released by Trackman, which also show how far PGA Tour players hit every club in the bag , players on the circuit carry their drives an average 275 yards. 

That's over nine yards more than in 2007, when the PGA Tour began keeping carry distance records. Back then, the average carry distance was 265.7 yards. As with driving distances on the PGA Tour , that has increased over the years, but it won't stay on that trajectory indefinitely, because of the changes coming in 2028. 

That will see the game’s longest hitters lose between 13 and 15 yards of their total driving distance. However, the average elite male player will not be as affected and can expect a reduction of between nine and 11 yards. Naturally, this will have an effect on carry distance, too. 

Of course, the very longest hitters and average elite players are all part of the overall Trackman average, but it’s probably safe to assume that the average carry distance after the rollback will be around 10 yards shorter, or approximately 265 yards - in other words, somewhere close to the 2007 level.

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But what about the biggest hitter? After all, the further a player drives the ball, the more distance he will lose after the rollback. According to the PGA Tour website, Rory McIlroy , a key figure who supports the change , is at the top of the list for the 2022/23 season with an average driving distance of 326.3 yards.

Rory McIlroy supports the golf ball rollback plan

Let’s say that average comes down by the top figure given by the governing bodies once the change comes in – 15 yards. That will reduce his average driving distance to 311.3 yards, or a 4.5% hit.

McIlroy’s average carry distance for the same season is 307.4 yards and 4.5% of that is 13.8 yards. That means his carry distance could come down to around 293.6 yards after the rollback.

How Far PGA Tour Players Carry Their Driver

• Club speed (mph): 113
• Attack angle (deg): -1.3
• Ball speed (mph): 167
• Smash factor: 1.48
• Launch angle (deg): 10.9
• Spin rate (rpm): 2686
• Max height (yards): 32
• Land angle (deg): 38
• Carry (yards): 275

Numbers: Trackman

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

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