USGA and R&A's 2016 distance report published

[nevets88]

There are dozens of charts and tables to mull over. I  thought launch angle would have increased over the years, but it stayed pretty much the same. Looks like average driving distance is about the same too.

Quote

Key facts noted in the paper include:

• Between 2003 and the end of the 2016 season, average driving distance on five of the seven tours has increased by approximately 1.2%, around 0.2 yards per year.
• For the same time period, average driving distance on the other two tours studied decreased by approximately 1.5%.
• Looking at all of the players who are ranked for distance on the PGA TOUR and PGA European Tour, the amount by which players are “long” or “short” has not changed – for instance, since 2003 the 10 shortest players in that group are about 6% shorter than average, while the 10 longest players in the group are about 7% longer than average. The statistics are not skewed toward either longer or shorter players.
• The average launch conditions on the PGA TOUR – clubhead speed, launch angle, ball speed and ball backspin – have been relatively stable since 2007. The 90th-percentile clubhead speed coupled with the average launch angle and spin rate are very close to the conditions that The R&A and the USGA, golf’s governing bodies, use to test golf balls under the Overall Distance Standard.

http://www.randa.org/News/2017/02/Research-on-Driving-Distance-in-Golf-Published

 

[iacas]

Yup. Pretty much what I thought it'd say.

[Piz]

If that trend continues; I'll have to move back one set of tee markers 80 years from now...to preserve the integrity of the game.

[boogielicious]

18 hours ago, Piz said:

If that trend continues; I'll have to move back one set of tee markers 80 years from now...to preserve the integrity of the game.

[nevets88]

21 hours ago, iacas said:

Yup. Pretty much what I thought it'd say.

With all the talk about angle of attack, how come launch angle has stayed the same? I thought it would go up a little? Its actually gone down a little.

[Groucho Valentine]

What the hell happened in 2012? lol

[iacas]

2 hours ago, nevets88 said:

With all the talk about angle of attack, how come launch angle has stayed the same? I thought it would go up a little? Its actually gone down a little.

I don't know. Honestly I'm not entirely sure where their data comes from… ShotLink has data on this type of stuff, too.

I was speaking only to the distance numbers, the top-level stuff, when I said it was about what I suspected.

[DeadMan]

I'm looking at the whole report right now, and the distance jump from 1993 to 2003 is 25 yards. This is page 3 of the report. So basically, this study concludes that since multi-layer balls and better club technology were introduced, driving distance has been pretty steady.

Isn't that entirely meaningless for people who think we should roll back the ball? That chart on page 3 shows that the distance increases for PGA Tour players were before the years this study looked at.

I do note that the chart for amateurs from 1996-on shows only negligible distance increases. That's a pretty big contrast from the jump the professional tours took around the same time.

[iacas]

More than the ball changed between 1993-2003. Plus pros could always have played a "distance ball" back then if they wanted to.

[DeadMan]

19 minutes ago, iacas said:

More than the ball changed between 1993-2003. Plus pros could always have played a "distance ball" back then if they wanted to.

Right. The chart has notations for what was introduced. Broadly, club innovations took place from 1992-2000, and ball innovations from 2000-2003. Distance went up 10-15 yards from 1992-2000, and then another ~10 yards from 2000-2003.

People generally talk about the ball as opposed to clubs, but this study really doesn't prove that distance isn't a problem. That's the point I was trying to make.

For reference, here is that chart:

 

For what it's worth, I'm conflicted about the distance issue. On one hand, more distance is probably bad for the golf industry, given that you need longer courses, which are more expensive (more land, more maintenance). On the other hand, you can have my multi-layer tour ball and oversized driver when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.