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- Lou Stagner's Newsletter #21
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Will Adding Distance Make You Less Accurate?
“The woods are full of long hitters!”
“You will ruin your game if you try to gain distance!”
“Even if you do add distance, you will just hit it further into trouble and have more penalty strokes!”
Those are some of the responses you might hear if you talk about adding distance to your game. But are they true?
I wanted to answer this question so I did a DEEP DIVE into the Arccos Golf database to find golfers that gained a lot of distance year-over-year (Use code DATALOU15 to save 15% on Arccos).
Requirements for a golfer to be selected for the analysis:
Hit at least 200 shots each calendar year with driver.
Median distance with driver increased at least 5.0% compared to the prior year.
For example, if median distance with driver in 2021 was 230.0 yards, in 2022 the median distance would need to be 241.5 yards or more.
We are going to look at several stats, comparing a player’s numbers in their longer year (after they gained distance), to the numbers in their shorter year.
Remember, the only golfers in this analysis are the ones that added at least 5% to their median driving distance compared to the prior year (there are thousands of golfers in this data set).
Let’s dive in!
Penalty Shot Percent
Penalty Shot % = Total Penalty Strokes / Total Tee Shots
51.4% of players had a lower penalty shot % after gaining distance
(lower = they got better)
48.6% had a higher penalty shot % after gaining distance
(higher = they got worse)
9.4% lowered their penalty shot % by at least 5.0%
9.1% increased their penalty shot % by at least 5.0%
Fairway Percent
I have written before how fairways are overrated, but still including this one for those interested. 😀
52.5% of players had a lower fairway % after gaining distance
(lower = they got “worse”)
47.5% had a higher fairway % after gaining distance
(higher = they got better)
Recovery Shot %
Recovery Shot % = Total Drives Hit Into Recovery Situations / Total Tee Shots
53.4% of players had a lower recovery shot % after gaining distance
(lower = they got better)
46.6% of players had a higher recovery shot % after gaining distance
(higher = they got worse)
Offline Standard Deviation
This is the offline (left/right) standard deviation of tee shots. Standard deviation just tells you how spread out the data is. A low number means you hit the ball straight. A high number means you are wild.
64.1% of players had a higher offline standard deviation after gaining distance
Higher means they were not as straight after gaining distance... or were they???
Before we look at this, we need to adjust for the player hitting it longer. The image below shows you why. The yellow triangle is the “short” hitter. The blue triangle is the “long” hitter. The top of the blue triangle is wider than the top of the yellow triangle.
Even though the top of the blue triangle is wider, the blue player is actually hitting the ball straighter. The only reason the top of the blue triangle is wider, is because the ball is going farther. If the blue triangle stopped at the same place the yellow one does, the blue player would be much straighter than the yellow.
The angle down at the bottom is what we can use to measure how straight a player is. The smaller the angle, the straighter the player. The blue triangle has a smaller angle.
So what happens when we use offline angle to measure how straight a player is?
65.9% of players have a smaller offline angle after gaining distance!
2 out of 3 players hit the ball straighter after gaining distance!!!! This one made my eyes pop out!
It gets even crazier…
For players that increased their distance by at least 10% from the prior year (which was 11% of the players in this data set)
69.0% of those players had a smaller offline angle after gaining distance! If you gained A LOT of distance you were even more likely to get straighter!!!
Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee
This one is also eye-popping. 👀
94.0% of players had a higher strokes gained off-the-tee after gaining distance.
Of the players that improved their strokes gained off-the-tee, 75.2% of them improved by at least 0.70 strokes per round.
For players that increased their distance by at least 10% from the prior year:
99.8% of them improved their strokes gained off-the-tee.
My Thoughts
If you have not yet tried to add distance to your game, I hope the numbers above convince you to start down that road.
There is simply a MASSIVE benefit to gaining distance. Plus, outdriving your friends is always fun. 🤣
The next time someone tells you that you will get wilder if you try to add distance, please tell them that you are actually more likely to get straighter!
Check out The Stack System. The guys behind it (Sasho and Marty) are two of the very smartest minds in all of golf. Their program will help you.
Finally...
