Average Driver Distance by Age 2021

There are a lot of people in golf that are constantly trying to up their game. Golf is not a game for kids and requires a lot of dedication and practice. So, there must be a lot of players who must wonder about the average driver distance by age.

Knowing about this metric will help them in figuring out their performance and where do they stand. The average distance that you can achieve by a driver varies a lot due to certain factors and one of them is the person holding it.

As you get older and older, it becomes hard to swing the golf club in a really fast manner. So that is why a lot of golfers start to lose the distance that they can achieve previously with a driver. If you are a young golfer then you will be able to get the most distance out of your driver.

Average Driver Distance:

When it comes to the average driver distance by all golfers then it stands at 219 yards. This is the average of all of the distances. If you are a golfer under 30 years of age then it is most probable that you will hit the ball farthest at about 238 yards. The distance that is decreased is about 10 yards every decade. There is a massive decrease in the swing speed of a person as they get older and that is the reason that the yards achieved also decrease. Also, I recently reviewed the best driver for average golfer you can read it as well.

The shot tracking companies such as Game Golf & Trackman have collected a lot of information over the years. The below-mentioned numbers are what golfers would be able to hit at a certain age period.

It mainly depends upon the driver; these are just an average of all the yards covered by people of different ages. There is the possibility that a person 50-year-old might be crushing the 250-yard mark. But it is not very normal and a lot of people see a decrease in the distance that they can achieve.

On the Basis of Handicap:

Having taken a look at the average driver distance in comparison to age, it is also necessary that we further narrow it down to handicap as well. A handicap is basically your average score to pot 18 holes. The average driving distance for a golfer that has a 5 handicap is about 250 yards. The first thought that would’ve come to your mind when seeing this number might be that it is really low. Well yes, when talking in practical terms, a non-professional will only hit this number.

You should keep in mind that we are not talking about professionals here and referring to the more average golfers. If you are hitting the ball at an average distance that you are actually not far from the average distance of a player who is new to golf. The average distance for a golfer that has a handicap of about 5 to 10 is 231 yards. Now you are getting closer to the average distance of all the golfers. You shouldn’t be ashamed if you are putting out these numbers.

The average driving distance for a person with a handicap of 10 to 19 is 215 yards. This number is less than the average distance for all ages. But it is still enough to get you some good scores. The average driving distance of a golfer with a handicap of 19 to 28 is 195 yards. The reason for this type of score will most probably be due to the curve shots.

A golfer of handicap above 28 will have an average driving distance of 177 yards. If you are in this realm then you should really improve your game so that you can achieve more distance. Another thing is that you might be a beginner then it is fine.

Think about the Fairway:

You should keep in mind that you can actually put up very decent scores even if you are hitting the average driving distance. 220 yards is a good amount of distance for a beginner. It is most obvious that if you hit longer, you will be rewarded but you have to be careful to hit the fairway. If the ball is not hitting the fairway, then there is no point in achieving a lot of distance. Accuracy matters a lot in golf. Your main focus should be to hit more fairways.

You might have seen a lot of people who hit the ball 200 yards but it is in a straight line. Most probable chances are that he will end up with really good scores. It is better to hit like 70% of the fairway with a distance of 200 yards rather than miss most of it but hit 250 yards. You should mainly work on your accuracy then you can further finetune your skills.

Improving Distance:

Every golfer wants to hit as much distance as they can. That is only possible if you can regularly hit the fairway. If you miss the fairway a lot then you shouldn’t directly go for improving your distance. The first thing is accuracy and if you have good accuracy, only then you should work on improving the distance. The most common practice that you should do is to work on hitting the fairway. When you starting hitting it regularly, you will actually start to see improvement in your average drive distance.

As you have dialed in your accuracy, you can start to work on improving the distance. There are a lot of things that you can do to improve your average distance.

Hitting Straight Shots:

The first and most important thing to do is to learn how to hit straighter shots. If there is a little bit of curve in your shots then the ball will fly off in the wrong direction and you will lose a lot of yards. You will be surprised to see the amount of distance that you can achieve if you learn to hit the ball straight. There should be no curve in your shots. You can only improve this if you practice your shots again and again.

In order to hit more straight shots, you also need to check whether your club hits the ball. In order to determine this, you can put tape on the ball, and then you will be able to see where the driver hit the ball. For the ball to go in a straight line, you need to hit it dead center. If there is a misalignment then the ball will curve in a weird direction. You need to focus on hitting the ball in the center so that it goes in a straight line and covers a lot of distance.

Correcting Posture:

Golf is a game where little things like your posture matter a lot. If you are standing in the wrong posture then it will drastically affect your shots. Most of the beginners tend to swing their elbow out when taking the shot and this is what causes the ball to slice most of the time. If you just focus on keeping the lead arm in a straight position and your elbow tucked in, you will be able to hit much better shots. The right posture with a focused center shot will lend you a lot of distance.

Using the Right Ball:

There is a lot of variety when it comes to balls in golf. There are a lot of people who don’t care about the ball that they use. There are others who just use the ball which appears online. Well, both of these people are doing wrong. Different golf balls are suited for different types of swing speeds. You should never just use any golf ball. The ball that is suited for the professional player won’t be that much use for a beginner. This is due to the difference in their swing speeds.

For a scratch golfer, a ball with a good amount of spin would be useful. This will help them in controlling the trajectory of the ball in a better way. If you are a beginner then you would want to use a golf ball that has a really low spin and compression rate. This will help you a lot in keeping your shots straight.

Conclusion

So, when it comes to a game like golf, the average driving distance varies a lot by age. Generally, the older players with their slow swing speeds won’t cover that much distance. While the younger players with their fast-swing speeds would be able to achieve over 250-yard distance. This is all based upon average scores and even an old player can hit more than 250 yards but it is quite rare. if you are a beginner then you can also achieve more than 220 yards but you need to work on your shot-taking skills and choosing the right ball.