40% Increase In 300+ Drives In Last Three Years

Kris McEwen at Golficity broke down the** USGA and R&A’s annual distance report and with only 1 m.p.h. of clubhead speed gained over the last decade, this stat stood out:

In 2015, 29% of drives on the PGA TOUR traveled 300 yards or farther. In 2018, that number went up to 41%. That’s a 40% increase in three years. Now, extrapolate that and it isn’t long before half the tour is hitting it over 300 yards on average.

Also, in 2015, 7.63% could hit over 320 yards. Three years later, that number has doubled. Imagine if that trend continues over the next ten years.

But he discounts how many golfer-athletes will defect to the NFL or NBA given those numerical expressions of athleticism.

**And the link was disabled just hours after highlighting the piece here. It had been up since the day of the report’s release. Hmmm…