How Far Tour Pros Hit Driver and What It Means For Your Drives

When you watch the PGA or LIV Tour it’s hard not to be amazed how far the pros hit their driver.

The incredible distances today’s top players achieve – 300.2 yards on average on the PGA Tour and 305.5 yards on LIV – can seem almost superhuman to the average golfer.

But knowing how far Tour pros hit a driver isn’t just interesting.

Understanding how and why Tour pros hit it so much further than regular golfers can actually help you improve your own drives.

So let’s dive into the numbers and, more importantly, what they mean for your game.

Golfing Focused Takeaways For Time Pressed Golfers

  • PGA Tour pros drive an average of 300.2 yards (274 metres) ‘total’ driving distance with an average ‘carry’ distance of 286.6 yards (262 metres)
  • LIV Tour players hit their driver an average total distance of 305.5 or 279.3 metres
  • Bryson DeChambeau remains the longest driver in the men’s game averaging a total distance of 323.5 yards or 295.8 metres
  • These distances compare to average drives of 225 yards (206 metres) for the average male amateur – a 75+ yards difference that results from swing speed and strike quality differences.

How Far Do Tour Pros Hit Their Driver? The Numbers

Let’s start with the headline numbers.

According to official Shotlink data the average ‘total’ drive distance for a pro golfer on the PGA Tour is 300.2 yards (274.5 metres) with an average ‘carry’ distance of 286.6 yards (262 metres).

Rival LIV Tour players meanwhile drive slightly further on average – 305.5 yards or 279.3 metres – in total.

To put these distances in context, the average male amateur achieves a total driving distance of just 225 yards – an enormous 75 yards shorter than PGA Tour pros!

But these headline numbers only tell part of the story,

To really benefit from the answer to how far the average pro golfer drives the ball we need to understand the factors that determine driver distance – most importantly ball speed, launch angle and spin rate.

And thanks to Trackman, arguably the leading launch monitor in the market today, we also know the following PGA Tour averages:

  • Club speed: 115 mph
  • Ball speed: 171 mph
  • Smash factor: 1.49
  • Launch angle: 10.4º
  • Spin rate: 2545
  • Attack angle: -0.9º

These numbers reveal the foundation behind the average drive distances of Your pro golfers and as we understand these more we can benefit from them ourselves!

TOUR PRODRIVER
(Average TOTAL distance)
DRIVER
(Average CARRY Distance)
Scottie Scheffler303.8 yards (277.8 metres)291.8 yards (266.8 metres)
Justin Thomas309.1 yards (282.6 metres)297.1 yards (271.7 metres)
Brooks Koepka312.6 yards (285.8 metres)302.6 yards (276.7 metres)
Dustin Johnson314.4 yards (287.5 metres)300.9 yards (275.1 metres)
Rory McIlroy320.2 yards (292.8 metres)306.1 yards (279.9 metres)
Jon Rahm318.7 yards (291.4 metres)301.2 yards (275.4 metres)
Shane Lowry300.4 yards (274.7 metres)289 yards (264.3 metres)
Ludvig Åberg310.1 yards (283.5 metres)301.2 yards (275.4 metres)
Jordan Speith306.9 yards (280.6 metres)295.9 yards (270.6 metres)
Collin Morikawa296 yards (270.7 metres)285.6 yards (261.2 metres)
Xander Schauffele308.5 yards (282.1 metres)297.2 yards (271.8 metres)
Tommy Fleetwood300.4 yards (274.7 metres)290.3 yards (265.4 metres)
Wyndham Clark314 yards (287.1 metres)304.6 yards (278.5 metres)
Tiger Woods303.6 yards (277.6 metres)291.9 yards (266.6 metres)
Bryson DeChambeau323.5 yards (295.8 metres)318.6 yards (291.3 metres)
Sources: PGA Tour Shotlink, LIV Tour.

Who Has The Longest Drive On The Tour? Bryson or Rory?

While averages tell us a lot, golf fans are often most curious about who hits it the farthest.

And nobody has done more to push driving distance discussions than Bryson DeChambeau.

After adding significant muscle mass a few years back, DeChambeau’s driving distances increased dramatically.

But is he the longest on Tour? Or is it Rory McIlroy?

On the PGA Tour in recent years McIlroy and Cameron Champ have traded the longest drive spot, averaging upwards of 320 yards (292.6 metres) total distances and between 306 and 311 carry yardages.

But since DeChambeau was longer than both according to Shotlink data prior to his LIV Tour move and still tops LIV’s driving charts with his average drives of 323.5 yards (295.8 metres) it seems clear he remains the longest on Tour.

Given he also finished second at the 2022 Long Drive World Championship his status as golf’s longest hitter seems secure for now.

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    The 2 Key Reasons Tour Pros Hit It So Far (And What That Means For You)

    While Tour pros use carefully customized equipment, their highly custom clubs are actually only a minor factor behind their impressive drive distances.

    The 2 key reasons that really explain how far Tour pros hit their driver are:

    1. They are highly skilled athletes, and
    2. They play on the best conditioned courses.

    The first factor especially offers crucial lessons for amateur golfers.

    Looking at those PGA Tour averages we discussed earlier, the most obvious difference is swing speed – PGA Tour pros average 115 mph versus 93.4 mph for male amateurs.

    And that difference matters because:

    • Swing speed is the key factor for determining a golfer’s ‘potential‘ distance
    • Each 1 mph of club speed can add up to 3 yards of distance according to Trackman.

    But even more important is ball speed and how efficiently pros convert swing speed into ball speed through superior ball striking.

    While pros do swing faster than amateurs, what really sets them apart is their consistent, centre-face contact that transfers the energy of their swings to the ball.

    A Tour Pro’s ball striking pattern after 10 shots
    A 15-handicapper strike pattern after only 5 shots (Source: Swingman Golf)

    Strike the ball badly by comparison – out of the heel of the club for example – and your ball speed, and as a consequence the distance you hit the ball, will suffer.

    So in short the element which has the single biggest influence and impact on driving distance is skill.

    Indeed it’s so important that in the most comprehensive study of amateur driver distances ever conducted by Arccos, golf’s first Artificial Intelligence system, skill was found to x2 as impactful as age.

    Improving first and foremost how consistently well you strike your drives with whatever swing speed you already have will therefore make the biggest difference to how far you hit the ball.

    You can’t do anything about the conditions of the course you play in, which is second key factor helping to explain why pro golfers hit the ball so far, but you can work to improve your ball striking.

    The ‘launch conditions’ you hit the ball with – in other words launch angle and spin rate – are also key factors in determining driver distance.

    But to keep it simple for now we would just leave the last words on this topic to Rory McIlroy himself – “The one thing I focus on more than anything else is just good contact. Strike it solid because if you strike it solid obviously more times than not it’s going to work out in your favour”.

    Focused Fact: Ball speed is the single biggest factor in how far a golf ball ‘ACTUALLY‘ carries and is not to be confused with swing speed which is the key factor for determining a golfer’s ‘POTENTIAL‘ distance. Ball speed is often judged by ‘smash factor’ which is calculated by dividing ball speed by swing speed. The closer the smash factor to the perfect score of 1.5 the better the energy transfer from the club to the ball.

    Golfing Focus chart of the average driver smash factor for male amateur golfers broken down by handicap (#golfingfocus)

    They’re Rolling Back The Golf Ball Because of How Far Pros Hit Their Driver

    The current average driver ball speed on the PGA Tour today is 173.63 mph, up a massive 8.27 mph from 165.36mph in 2007.

    And as a result the average driving distance on Tour has also risen to an astonishing 300.2 yards!

    So concerned are the game’s governing bodies about the distances the best players in the world are now driving the ball that they are ‘rolling back’ the golf ball – in other words changing the way golf balls are manufactured and tested – from January 2028 in an attempt to reduce them.

    As the driving data for amateurs highlights however amateur driving distances are static and haven’t changed for years.

    That doesn’t mean it can’t change though in the future if we take the right lessons from how far the Tour pros hit their driver!

    Before you go …

    When it comes to driving distances it is the PGA Tour and LIV Tour players typically grabbing the headlines. Hence the Golfing Focus of this very post.

    But to find out how far ‘Tour’ pros on the Champions and LPGA Tours drive the ball by comparison check out these articles.

    Champions Tour Club Distances – Lets Take Stock!

    How Far Do Pro Women Golfers Drive The Ball?

    And for the complete guide for how far pros hit each club across the major tours read this.

    Other great posts related to this topic:

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