Once upon a time 300 yards was a magical driving distance figure.
John Daly was the first player to average over 300 yards in a PGA Tour season in 1997 and he would achieve that seven times between 1997 and 2008 – his career-best average was 314 yards in 2003.
This season the Tour average is 302 yards with 110 players all sitting on 300 and above. We know all about the original proposals that a ball struck at a laboratory-controlled swing speed of 127mph must not travel more than 320 yards – that was supposed to come in this year – and we will now have to wait until 2030 for the expected ball roll back.
But to average 362.5 yards, which is what happened on day one of the Masters, seems ridiculous. Which it is, but there are some circumstances to consider.
Firstly driving distances are only measured at certain holes. At Augusta this takes place at the 5th and the 15th. These are two holes where it’s likely that the players will be hitting a driver.
If, for example at 3rd or the 7th, some players will try and play for position and that would skew the figures.
The player in question is Chris Gotterup, who has a fairly individual and impressive swing, and he is making his Augusta debut this year despite having already won four times.
The 26-year-old was victorious in Scotland last summer, was then third at Portrush and this year he has already prevailed twice in Honolulu and Phoenix.
On Thursday the American, who is fourth on the driving distance stats this term with an average of 319, launched one 365 yards down the 5th at the 495-yard par 4. The hole that ranked second for difficulty was reduced to a wedge from 129 yards – Gotterup actually fanned his approach short to spin off the front edge but he was able to get up and down for par.
Ten holes later Gotterup smashed his tee shot 361 yards (we’re not sure why the average isn’t 363) to leave an approach of 188 yards across the water.
Again, he played an ordinary second shot, leaving himself what looked like a horrible chip across the par-5 green, but he was up to the task with a brilliant up-and-down.
Coming into his first Masters Gotterup explained that he would be nervous on the 1st tee – incidentally he nudged what looked like a 3-wood or mini driver a moderate 276 yards.
“I don’t think anything about the course makes me nervous. I think I’m going to be nervous on the 1st tee for sure just because it’s something different that I haven’t experienced before.
“I’m going to try to treat it as much of a normal week as I can even though I don’t think it is a normal week.”
Rory McIlroy was next on the list, at an impressive 341, but that was still 20-plus yards short of Gotterup, who will likely be using a Ping G440 LST driver this week.
In contrast 55-year-old Mike Weir was averaging 271 yards.
Read next: How much does the Masters winner earn? 2026 prize money revealed
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Article Link: How far do pros hit it? Augusta driving distances and PGA Tour averages