How Far Do Male Amateur Golfers Hit Their Drives?

A lot of club golfers are probably guilty of thinking that they hit the ball a little further than they actually do.

This is not to say some us aren't capable of hitting long drives - somewhere in the region of 290 yards (maybe a little further with a bit of ground help).

However, we can sometimes get a little carried away with how far we think we've been driving the ball, especially after a few post round drinks.

To find out how far male amateur golfers actually hit their drives, we asked our data partner, Shot Scope, to run some numbers - and these are displayed in the table below.

It's no surprise to see that the 'Performance Average' - which is the average without any significant mishits (outliers) - for the scratch handicap golfer is a healthy 285 yards.

This number might still be a little way short of the 300-yard average, or thereabouts, on the PGA Tour - but most of us would be happy to consistently drive the ball this far. Very happy.

As the handicap level increases, the average driving distance comes down - which, again, is something you'd expect to see.

We also asked Shot Scope to provide the averages for female golfers - and these can be viewed in the table below.

Again, we have displayed the 'Performance Average', as this gives a true representation of a well struck shot, removing outliers such as tops.

Although these numbers give a good idea of how far different handicap players drive the ball, it should be noted that there is no breakdown of age group with this particular set of data - the figures include players of all ages.

You would expect a 25-year-old to hit a slightly further ball than a 60-year-old in the same handicap category, which is worth bearing in mind with these numbers.

If this has got you thinking that perhaps you could do with adding a few yards to your game, our panel of Top 50 Coaches can offer you plenty of driving tips to help you hit longer drives.

And although you can't rely solely on the latest equipment to boost your game, it might be that one of the best drivers for distance can give you that little bit of extra help off the tee that you need.