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USGA Course Length Recommendation

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While the majority of golfers do not generally know how far they hit the ball on average off the tee, more data is available than ever from devices such as Shot Scope and their popular V3 watch.

According to the USGA, if you average 225 yards with the driver, the recommendation is to play a course between 5800-6000 yards.

When we talk about handicaps not dropping in large amounts (they are dropping) despite better equipment available, its also important to note how much agronomy plays a role here as courses have become longer, faster and more difficult than ever before.

Going back to that note from the USGA, it simply isn’t happening. The majority of rounds for those in that driving distance are played from 6325 yards or longer based on our research of multiple data device companies.

When we want to look at times on the course increasing, while nobody thinks they are actually slow or deliberate, this is something to consider. What yardage do you play from and what do you believe you average off the tee?

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Based on my Shot Scope stats 240yd avg off the tee. Typically I like to play from 6400-6500yds, but do not have issues pushing it back to 6900+ like we do on occasion. Scores will go up a few shots when do that.
 
I prefer to play from right around 6500 yards every once in a while I’ll play from 6900-7100 if the course has that length. I probably average right around 280 off the tee now. Maybe a little farther
 
According to Garmin, I average 220. I play 5700-6000 yards about 95% of the time.
 
I average 256 with driver (279 p-avg) and play most of my rounds from ~6,400 yards.
 
My course and driving distance seems pretty on par with their recommendations. Play a course that measures about 6100 and my average driving distance is probably about 235 total yards. Sure, I get a few out there that are 250 or 260, but I heal, toe or hit off the bottom of the club face more that are closer to 210.
 
I average about 225 and I play from 6000-6500. I would love to play shorter distances, but any competition I could enter I would be woefully unprepared for as the tees competitions play from force FW's and Hybrids into my hands on every approach. Gotta hit those shots a lot to be comfortable over them when something is on the line. I don't play slow and I pick up when I'm on my way to a triple so no big deal there. I'm not holding anyone up.
 
I’m around 230-240 off the tee, and normally play my rounds from 6,300 yards or so. I’ll move back anywhere from 6,500-6,700 on occasion without too many added strokes: finally being able to solidly hit hybrids/FW helps me out with longer courses.
 
It makes sense. I've been playing rounds using a 6-iron as my longest club. I average 180 off the tee. Typically play from 6000 yards. Trying to get to an 18-handicap doing this.

In my experience, 6000 is a bit too long for 180 yard driving distance if I am trying to shoot par. I'd say that 5800-6000 is a very manageable distance if you have 225 yard drive to contend with par.

As far as pace of play, I feel wayward / poor shots (duffs / shanks) slow things down way more than playing a tee box that is a little too long for you
 
5700-6100 (I'm guessing here.) Average drive? Eh, 170, maybe. Yeah, yeah, I know, forward tees. I will say in my defense, I play quickly, so my shot count, even though high, goes by in short time frames.
 
Shot Scope says my P-average is now 212 off of the tee, my average with how off my driver swing has been the past couple weeks is 197. My usual course is 6100 yards and change.

Here's the rub though - my driving distance says I should move up a set of tee's, however league is on the white tee's at 6100 and if I am ever fortunate enough to go to another event will I be allowed to play from 5500-5700 or whatever my driving distance would suggest? I highly doubt it, so why disillusion myself into thinking I should be scoring better than I am if what I am playing is what my league and experiences are set at?

That's one reason why my handicap is what it is.
 
I guess I’m a big proponent of tee it forward then. I like playing at 6000-6400. My average driver distance is 258 including tree and OB shots (287 P-Avg). Numbers may be a little skewed with the new setup, but I play for a 272 driver distance. I don’t have the mental game to play longer than 6400. I start trying to kill the ball more and it never ends up well.
 
I average around 215 with the driver currently. My Wednesday league we play from 6100 yards, the Sunday group I've been getting in rounds with play one tee back going around 6500. It is definitely the difference between hitting some mid irons into greens, and hitting mainly hybrids and woods into greens. I don't think it significantly slows us down but does lead to a few more chips, scores aren't wildly different for me.

Of course the not thinking it significantly slows us down is hard to judge as the Wednesday league play is horribly slow, and the sunday group is just one guy making three tee times back to back to back and splitting our group of 12 into three separate groups that morning. If comparing apples to apples scenario it might but scores are only a few strokes higher so don't think it adds much.
 
I've seen this recommendation before and overall I just still think it totally depends on how you play, and what approach you like best. I'm not sure a course recommendation should ever be based off of a average driver distance, there's just too many factors at play.

I'm exactly the guy you talk about with my last 10 rounds averaging 229, but usually that is a result of 1 topped drive, 1 sliced right, 1 big pull left or a combo of all, that I maybe don't drop accurately and so they come out to 150 or less. If I end up having a good driving day, you eliminate those outliers, I'm averaging 250, but if I started on 5800 I'll be playing wedges all day which sucks.

And I still don't buy into the idea that closer is ALWAYS better. My 75-100 yard game is just so bad. My average distance to the green is way down this year but my handicap is up.
 
Daluteh said:
Shot Scope says my P-average is now 212 off of the tee, my average with how off my driver swing has been the past couple weeks is 197. My usual course is 6100 yards and change.

Here's the rub though - my driving distance says I should move up a set of tee's, however league is on the white tee's at 6100 and if I am ever fortunate enough to go to another event will I be allowed to play from 5500-5700 or whatever my driving distance would suggest? I highly doubt it, so why disillusion myself into thinking I should be scoring better than I am if what I am playing is what my league and experiences are set at?

That's one reason why my handicap is what it is.
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Handicap adjusts based on tee box as slope rating changes.
 
Very interesting data points. I’m averaging about 235 of the box and play 6000 to 6300. It seems pretty accurate. But I could go Forward a little it seems
 
I don't really track my driver distance, but I estimate that I average between 200-220 yards. Most of my rounds are at 6,000 yards or less.
 
I am usually between 250-265 off the tee. Launch monitor would say the higher side of that number. I normally play 6,300-6,500 yards but once or twice a year I push it back to 6,700-6,800 yards. I would probably say I'm playing the right tees most of the time.
 
V14_Heels said:
I've seen this recommendation before and overall I just still think it totally depends on how you play, and what approach you like best. I'm not sure a course recommendation should ever be based off of a average driver distance, there's just too many factors at play.

I'm exactly the guy you talk about with my last 10 rounds averaging 229, but usually that is a result of 1 topped drive, 1 sliced right, 1 big pull left or a combo of all, that I maybe don't drop accurately and so they come out to 150 or less. If I end up having a good driving day, you eliminate those outliers, I'm averaging 250, but if I started on 5800 I'll be playing wedges all day which sucks.

And I still don't buy into the idea that closer is ALWAYS better. My 75-100 yard game is just so bad. My average distance to the green is way down this year but my handicap is up.
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There's no possible way to factor in all the variables, all anybody can do is make recommendations on the most solid data they can accumulate. I can stretch to 6200-6300, but put me on a course with long forced carries and it's going to be an ugly scorecard. Put me on a 5500 yard course with tight fairways, tall rough, lots of OB and a lot of doglegs and it'll probably be just as ugly. There are some longer courses that would be a lot easier for me to score on than tight, technical courses, but that doesn't mean I should always be playing from 6200-6300. There are a lot of other ways besides yardage to make a golf course easier or more difficult, but you can still come up with an "average" appropriate distance. It's up to the golfer to factor accordingly from there.
 
Snowman said:
There's no possible way to factor in all the variables, all anybody can do is make recommendations on the most solid data they can accumulate. I can stretch to 6200-6300, but put me on a course with long forced carries and it's going to be an ugly scorecard. Put me on a 5500 yard course with tight fairways, tall rough, lots of OB and a lot of doglegs and it'll probably be just as ugly. There are some longer courses that would be a lot easier for me to score on than tight, technical courses, but that doesn't mean I should always be playing from 6200-6300. There are a lot of other ways besides yardage to make a golf course easier or more difficult, but you can still come up with an "average" appropriate distance. It's up to the golfer to factor accordingly from there.
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Correct. And nearly all data suggests that the closer to the hole you are, the better your scoring will be. The idea that because one slices a few, tops a few, etc that it skews the results. Exactly, its suppose to, that is why its an average :ROFLMAO:
 
I dont use any distance monitoring device so I can not with any absolution say what I average off the tee, but I like playing courses at 7k+ many times. Two courses I play very regularly are ~7100 and ~7300 yards.
 
I range anywhere from 6400-7200, but I’ll also use a bit of common sense on what tees I should use based on the course. If it’s absurdly tight, I want no business from the longer tees. Hell I may not even like the shorter tees either haha. If it’s wide open like a Grand Cypress New Course? The distance doesn’t super matter as much, cause I can swing as hard as I want off the tee and you’re not exactly punished minus a couple of holes.
 
According to Shot Scope my P-average driver distance is 286 yards, average is 250 (3 rounds) and at my home course the tees we play are 6,366 yards.
 
My Arccos smart distances are 232-248

I like to play 6200 yard courses. Played 6700 yards Wednesday and it was a challenge!
 
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