Tour Driving Distance Watch Vol. 2

Thanks to reader Steve for reminding me to check the updated PGA Tour driving distance stats. On August 29, this site speculated that we might see 25 players finish the season averaging over 300 yards this year despite the first half of the season having been played under water.

Well, that was August 29 and there were 17 over the 300 mark. On September 5 it climbed to 20 over 300 yards.

After the 84 Lumber Classic, the drive to 300 continued with 24 players reaching the 300 plateau. Will Mackenzie and Jason Allred are closing in on 300, and if Dennis Paulson, Tag Ridings, J.J. Henry and Geoff Ogilvy would just hit the gym a little harder ;), we could see 30 players over 300 for 2005.

I point this out to remind you that we've heard how laws of physics and the "S Curves of invention application" would take hold and that we would no longer see significant jumps in driving distance.

Ah but you say, what's a few more yards? 3, 4, yards, that's not significant! Perhaps at this poing with things so far gone. But just remember, in 2004, 14 players averaged over 300 yards. 9 players averaged over 300 yards in 2003. Optimization works!

John Daly was the only player averaging over 300 yards for the 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons.

Oh and one more bit of perspective: Dan Pohl led the Tour in 1980 at 274.3 yards. In 1995, Pohl's total would have landed him 16th in overall distance average. In 2000 Pohl's 274.3 would have been 84th on the list. And his 274.3 would put him 195th on this year's list, ahead of only nine others.