Arccos’ 2023 Distance Report: Over 1 Billion Shots Analyzed

Many amateurs are (frustratingly) aware that the USGA and R&A have long focused on golf ball distance, with the rollback initiative being announced about a year ago and set to go into effect in January 2028.

 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by United States Golf Association (@usga)

While the USGA and R&A’s decision places an emphasis on professional (PGA TOUR, LPGA Tour, DP World Tour, etc.) driving distance, the report disclosed that the average driver distance for male golfers in 2019 was ~215 yards (with average driver distance for male golfers with handicaps 6 and below was ~239 yards), while female golfers averaged 148 yards off the tee (with average driver distance for female golfers with handicaps 6 and below was ~197 yards).

Well, someone needs to sound the alarms because Arccos—the leader in AI-powered golf performance tracking and the official game tracker of the PGA TOUR—just announced the release of its annual Distance Report (2023), showcasing insights drawn from the company’s unrivaled on-course dataset that includes more than 1 billion total shots and 180 million driver shots from male and female golfers.

During 2023, Arccos saw nearly 4 million rounds played with its award-winning system by hundreds of thousands of golfers in 162 countries. For that period, the average driving distance for men was 225 yards, while women averaged 178 yards. Arccos’ 2023 data shows a 10 yard improvements over the USGA/R&A’s 2019 reported averages for men, and, unfortunately, no change for women.

When compared to Arccos’ internal data from the past six years, distances have remained quite stable; men increased only 1.0 yards while women decreased 1.1 yards when compared to 2018 Arccos data.

As in previous years, the Arccos Distance Report also explores the impact of age and skill level. While not isolated in this report, other factors likely to significantly impact driver shot distance include course set-up, weather conditions, player fitness, and equipment.

Cover Image via The Wandering Golfers