How much driving distance golfers lose as they age, according to new data

By: Alan Bastable Follow on Twitter March 24, 2023 As , at least one thing became very clear: the game’s overlords had no interest in dialing back distance for the vast majority of amateurs.Good thing, because…well, you and your weekend golf buddies probably don’t feel like you’re overpowering most, if any, courses. If you’re like most amateurs, you don’t need less pop, you could do with far more of it. We know this truth to be self-evident from the Distance Insights Report, which the USGA & R&A published in 2019. According to data in that study, the average driving distance for amateur male “club” golfers in 2019 was 216 yards; for female club players that figure was 148 yards. With those distances — forget 7,000-yard courses, even 5,000-yard courses would be under no threat of extinction.The data in that report, which also included other years dating to 1996, was collected in the UK, with roughly 1,700-2,000 drives measured annually for male amateurs and 200-300 for females.But now t...