How Far Should You REALLY Hit Your Driver in 2025?

On social media it seems almost everyone is driving the ball in excess of 300 yards with Tour level swing speeds.

But what's the reality?

In this video we get to the truth based on the most comprehensive study of driver distances ever conducted by Arccos - golf’s first Artificial Intelligence system - and take a look at average driving distances overall, by age, by handicap as well as confirming why the upcoming golf ball rollback has got nothing to do with amateurs!

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
0:55 Average Drive Distances
2:04 % Of Male Golfers By Distance
3:20 Distances By Age
4:34 Distances By Handicap
6:36 Pro Distances & Ball Rollback

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Disclaimer: This video may contain affiliate links. Golfing Focus is a trading name of Golfing Focus Limited (Company no. 0949960), a private limited company registered in England and Wales.

[chrisbrimhall]

I’m 64 and on a good day it’s 240 but I am very consistent, mostly hit fairway. I hate YouTube videos that say if you do this maneuver you will gain 30 plus yards….all BS

[prairiehills]

I'm age 80 with a 11.4 Index. My drives are shorter than even 10 years ago. I focus on keeping the ball in the Fairway, and a good Short Game. Inside 100 yards, chipping and putting.

[TheMcGoat]

This is fairly interesting, as I'm 40 yrs old, just started golfing in July of 2023. I played twice a week until October 30th. Using 18 birdies I kept track of my handicap and total distance of all clubs. I started as a 60 handicap, and dropped to a 30 by October, but my average drive is 243 total distance.

I think this shows that I have alot of room for improvement in other areas, mainly wedges and putting, I'd say.

[leeloopatsy]

Many golfers are obsessed with distance while in fact the most important is 1) to be consistent 2) to always be more or less straight and more or less in the middle of the fairway or the green. Then it is also important to know the average distance of each of your clubs. It doesn’t matter if to do 150 yards you need a 7 iron or a 8 iron or a 6 iron. What is important is to know which iron you need to make this distance. Who will ask you at the end of the game what iron did you used on the second shot of hole 14? At the end of the game only the score at the bottom of the card is important. So good for you if you can hit 250 yards + with your driver, but I will not be able to count the number of times during my 35 years of golf, I’ve seen many of these long hitters players who couldn’t break 90 because they were going all over the place.

[samcho]

I am 60 years old and average between 220 and 240 yards on most rounds. Once in a blue moon, I hit 260 yards. I have had many encounters where they claim they hit 280+ yards on their best days, but they are having a bad day today. The truth is that I don't see too many amateurs hitting over 220 yards straight.
I was a scratch golfer in early 2000 and have a 5.2 hcp today. However, my average driving distance didn't change much due to the fantastic golf technologies. I lost about 20 yards over the years but gained 10-15 yards with a new high-tech driver with a very expensive state-of-the-art shaft. ($300+) I had to fit it multiple times to get the right combination.

[MrLuigiFercotti]

When I started driving it over 250, I realized length was not the holding me back, it was consistency that was holding me back from scoring better.

[rosskennedy]

I just turned 75 my driver is ping g25 used for over 10 years my distance is + or - 5 yards off 200 yards but it 99 percent in middle fairway, never tried to get more yardages consistently is game.

[donsmnc]

Hank Haney has said for years and I agree distance off the tee (driver) determines potential, the farther you can hit the potentially lower the score, I have been keeping stats for nearly 4 decades to back it up and it’s true . As I have lost tee shot distance particularly in my late 50’s in my 60’s my scores have suffered from it.

[anyoldphilip]

As a 70yo, 8 Hcp golfer, my average is around 200m, occasionally hit a few 220+m but rarely. My local course has 5 Par 4s at between 390 and 420m and I need Driver, #4 Wood and Gap Wedge / PW / #9 Iron to make the distance to reach the green, depending on conditions. I agree, so many players say they hit their Driver 240+m and if / when you play in their group you find they are only a little longer than me and often shorter.

[stevefowler]

I'm a 45 year old Aerospace Engineer who doesn't play but about once a week at most but I have short range practices several times a week and I am a 4 handicap who has shot under par once. i'm 5'8" 158 lbs. I once played a round with an unknown Sr. Tour player once who told me, If you can hit your driver 250 in the short grass you can shoot par golf. I think that is still a very good yard stick. I can hit it longer than 250 if I really need to but I have learned over the years to find a driver swing that you know you can put in play; for me it's a high baby fade of about 250 yards. If I want to try and hit it farther I can swing harder and hit a draw (a draw was my normal swing before I settled on a high baby fade as my go to driver swing, but it carries more risk so as I said above I almost always hit a high baby fade and just fashion it to the hole rather than trying to hit draws on holes that go left) or just swing out of my shoes and try nd hit my baby fade as far as I can. P.S. fitness as in high intensity functional strength/fast twitch muscle workout regimens cannot be overlooked. I coincidentally started in crossfit at about the same time I got serious about my golf game and becoming very physically fit and felxible and strong with great cardio from all the Workouts and running helped EVERYTHING, even including my putting.

[MrDionp]

I am 69 years old with a 13 handicap. I long ago stopped trying to kill the ball, and concentrate more on hitting fairways and greens in reg. I consistently hit my driver between 235 and 250, with 250 being maybe 2 or 3 out of 10. However, slowing my swing down just a little in favor of control has made a night and day difference.

[Bart-rndp]

66 y/o 20 Handicap hitting it about 200. I am glad to see I don't suck as much as I thought (~ average it seems) thanks for the breakdown!

[AussieBob]

Excellent summary of the realities of driving distances. I learned a long time ago that distance is good, but accuracy is more important. Plus it is always chipping and putting that decides how good my score is. The male ego thing is bad when you are trying to become a better golfer - that is why so many male golfers are much better in their 50s and 60s than when they were in 30s

[WayneCarter-xd]

This is the most informative clip I've seen in a long time. There's lots of videos telling me I could/should be driving the ball 250+m (I'm in my late 50s). Having picked up the clubs again after 7 years away from a course, I'm certainly not doing that. I used to be on a 10 h'cap, although I'm realistically around 14-16 at the moment. So I will feel more relaxed with my 220-230m drives now, rather than feeling frustrated & feeling like I'm under-performing.
Ironically, it's my short game that I'm struggling with after a long layoff. I've forgotten what distance I hit my short irons & my short putting is dreadful at present :(

[mikecoughlin]

I am 62. Handicap now is 8.5. Average carry on my driver is 230 so at my course with roll, 245. 16 years ago at 46 yo, my handicap was 2.5 and if I took the week off prior to an amateur tournament, I could play to scratch as I could spend time working on pitching and putting and did take that much off my game. Did not hit it that much further than today but was more accurate with all clubs - carried the driver back then about 240 so with roll 255 - but, that was hitting a consistent fade - if I really went after it with a draw, I could fly it 255 and roll out to 270. The only reason I still kind of close to my old distances is technology - I think this adds about 10 yards. Due to my old back and loss of flexibility, I have lost accuracy and distance.

[Jack-xyfy]

These number are still inflated, because not everyone has arcos sensors. Arcos sensors + app fee is expensive AF, in total is costs the same as my annual membership. The only people who have that are people who have been playing the game a while and take the game super seriously. So clearly the true average is much lower than this. Id say 200 yards or slightly less is more likely the true average.

[tor-Norge]

What I get from this is, 85% of golfer should move up one tee. I have two groups of friends, one group plays about 6500 yard, the other about 6100 yard. I always enjoy the game more when playing around 6100 yard.

[Avan-Golf]

I am 42 years old and haven’t played golf (never touch even one ball) for ten years. I just returned to golf a little over two years ago.I just tested my driver distance using the GC3, and my total distance including mishits was around 260 yards and Carry 240. I posted the evidence on my channel but the content is in Chinese, only graphic is English.

My handicap more than thirteen years ago was around 10. Two years ago was 36+, In the beginning of last year was 20-25, and now it might be around 15. I call myself a semi-beginner 😂

[thehairygolfer]

I recently did a video about seniors losing distance. I got 2 replies. I guy of 72 who claimed to still hit it 280 to 290 yards and another of 65 who claimed to still hit it 330 yards. Rory McIlroy averages 319 yards. I asked both why they hadn't joined the Champions Tour at age 50 as they had missed out on earning tens of millions of dollars in prize money and endorsements. They never replied.

[mrmoke]

All this jives with my experience. I’m male, 64 years old, 24hdc, averaging about 160 off the tee. The problem in not my ego, the problem is the golf courses don’t have a greater selection of tees. When I explained this to the manager of the course I play he looked at me like I was crazy. Nope it’s the golf establishment, culture, course designers, and management. Screw them, in a few years I’ll be creating my own tee boxes in the fairways.