Distance Insights: Robust Survey Of Fans Suggests Long Ball Prioritization Is Overrated, Especially On TV

I’ve jumped ahead in the Distance Insights Report released this week based on the responses this week suggesting distance is something cherished above all else by fans and recreational golfers.

The USGA and R&A’s “online attitudinal survey” received 67,862 responses from 115 countries over two months and while I’d urge reading the report, a few numbers stood out.

Contrary to the players and manufacturers responding to changes in course length, “98% golfers attribute changes in their hitting distance to their skill, fitness or equipment. Only 2% believe that the golf course they played contributed to the change in distance.”

Of those who drive longer (12,867 respondents), clubs and ball were cited as primary factors (Fig. 65):

As to whether distance is an issue in the sport, 17% of the “stakeholders” surveyed said it’s a major problem, while 31% called it a minor problem. And 36% said no problem, meaning 48% of respondents see it as some form of problem for the sport (Fig. 67).

Recreational golfers also placed “hitting a long drive” lower on their overall list of priorities, again, contrary to the fairly consistent narrative that gaining distance is a primary motivation to play golf (Fig. 70). Only 6% disagreed with the idea that accuracy should be a more important factor. A whopping 60% said the sport should be more about accuracy than distance:

And the global survey’s most powerful slide of all: what elements golf fans find most interesting.

Figure 73, supported but a healthy number of respondents (29,448), shows that there “there is a low level of interest in the elite/professional game being dominated by any one element.”

Most votes for what makes things “interesting” went to tracer (45%), recovery shots (44%), stars (42%) and venues 39%), while long drives (10%) and golf history (10%) drew the same level of “interesting.”