Average LPGA swing speed

[JB]

I would argue that without their driving distance, neither Bubba or DJ would be in the top 50...Might even be top 100. Neither offer much with the flatstick in crucial moments. Heck much of the top 10 listed there are doing rather well with wins throughout the early part of the year.

 

[kapsularian]

I played some golf with Gerina Piller back when she was in college and she bombed it out there; she is maybe 5'7". Most of the time she played the back tees with us at 6800 and no problem keeping up.

I found this interesting. The ladies play a tee game that is at least in the same area code as myself

AVERAGE DRIVING DISTANCE 2015
RANK NAME AVERAGE DISTANCE
1 Ariya Jutanugarn. 273.327
2 Yani Tseng. 270.222
3 Brittany Lincicome. 268.000
4 Carlota Ciganda 266.679
5 Sadena Parks. 266.056
6 Joanna Klatten 265.464
7 Gerina Piller 264.607
8 Charley Hull. 264.250
9 Paula Reto 263.833
10 Lexi Thompson. 263.646
...#25 is in the 253 yard range

 

[CBaker]

I would argue that without their driving distance, neither Bubba or DJ would be in the top 50...Might even be top 100. Neither offer much with the flatstick in crucial moments. Heck much of the top 10 listed there are doing rather well with wins throughout the early part of the year.

Well lucky for them we'll probably never know haha

 

[Wake]

Didn't feel attacked haha, just super confused.

Here is a list of top 50 on tour in terms of driving distance and their corresponding top 50 scoring rank if they are in there as well. Most in the top 50 driving distance aren't in the top 50 scoring average, so I'd say based on that driving distance doesn't have a lot to do with scoring, but people can make their own conclusions. You might be able to make an argument for DJ and Bubba, but I'd say that's more just them being better overall players, not necessarily because they hit it further. Stenson and Spieth aren't in the top 50 driving distance and they are #1 and #3 in scoring. But, at the same time they also aren't short hitters in the realm of golf either. Just not top 50 PGA.

		Ave. Driving Distance	Top 50 Scoring Average
1	Dustin Johnson	318.8	4
2	Bubba Watson	309	2
3	Tony Finau	308.7	#N/A
4	Brooks Koepka	307.8	8
5	Charlie Beljan	307.5	#N/A
6	Ryan Palmer	306.1	5
7	J.B. Holmes	305.3	#N/A
8	Patrick Rodgers	305.2	#N/A
9	Jason Day	305.1	9
10	Gary Woodland	305	#N/A
11	Jason Kokrak	304.1	24
12	Keegan Bradley	302.8	#N/A
13	Daniel Berger	302.3	21
14	Brendan Steele	302.2	19
15	Andrew Loupe	301.9	#N/A
16	Graham DeLaet	301.6	#N/A
17	Jimmy Walker	301.4	6
18	Jhonattan Vegas	300.5	#N/A
19	Aaron Baddeley	300.4	#N/A
20	Morgan Hoffmann	300.1	#N/A
T21	John Daly	299.8	#N/A
T21	Charles Howell III	299.8	46
23	Justin Thomas	299.4	37
24	Robert Garrigus	299.3	#N/A
25	Sergio Garcia	298.8	11
26	Charl Schwartzel	298.3	#N/A
27	Steven Bowditch	298.2	#N/A
28	Harris English	298.1	10
29	Martin Laird	297.7	17
30	Carlos Ortiz	297.4	#N/A
31	Paul Casey	297.3	13
32	Charley Hoffman	297.1	#N/A
33	Justin Rose	297	#N/A
34	Billy Horschel	296.9	#N/A
T35	Hideki Matsuyama	296.7	20
T35	Hudson Swafford	296.7	#N/A
37	Phil Mickelson	296	#N/A
38	Scott Piercy	295.8	38
39	Russell Henley	295.6	39
40	Robert Streb	295.5	31
T41	Lucas Glover	295.3	#N/A
T41	James Hahn	295.3	49
43	Martin Flores	295	#N/A
44	Alex Prugh	294.9	#N/A
45	Kyle Stanley	294.8	#N/A
T46	Max Homa	294.6	#N/A
T46	Shawn Stefani	294.6	18
T48	Louis Oosthuizen	294.5	40
T48	Andres Romero	294.5	#N/A
50	Roger Sloan	294	#N/A

50% of the top scoring averages are in the top 10 in driving distance, I would call that a pretty strong correlation myself.

 

[wedgeworker]

Well, 7 of the top 10 scorers are on the top 50 in driving distance and 5 of them in top 10 driving distance.


But I'm still interested in comparing how far the top scorers on the two tours are driving it in relation to how far their course plays.

 

[jhoefer99]

Forgot who I was talking to, could've even been you JB(sorry if I'm wrong), but somebody told me they find the women's game fun to follow since you can actually relate to the distances/clubs/hole length. I see that, somebody hitting 305 on a 470 yard par 4 isn't even playing the same game as me

 

[JB]

Forgot who I was talking to, could've even been you JB(sorry if I'm wrong), but somebody told me they find the women's game fun to follow since you can actually relate to the distances/clubs/hole length. I see that, somebody hitting 305 on a 470 yard par 4 isn't even playing the same game as me

Not me brother, I cant relate to their game either.
Play with them quite a bit, as I have local friends on that tour, but they are playing a different game than I am. To give you an example, just played with one recently. She beat me by 14 strokes. I shot 82.

 

[jhoefer99]

Not me brother, I cant relate to their game either.
Play with them quite a bit, as I have local friends on that tour, but they are playing a different game than I am. To give you an example, just played with one recently. She beat me by 14 strokes. I shot 82.

Whoa. To be fair when you started like -1 through 8/9/10 at eagles I thought we were playing a different game too haha

 

[hcopenhagenh]

Enjoyed reading this thread.
I take from it that the majority of men play from the wrong tee box. 1-9 handicappers should play from 6,200 +. 10+ should be playing 5,600 to 6,100.
I see guys on our course shooting 100 all of the time playing from 6,400 yards. I can't understand why they put themselves through the pain. If they played the forward tees from 5,000 yds they may break 90 and actually have fun doing it.

 

[JB]

Whoa. To be fair when you started like -1 through 8/9/10 at eagles I thought we were playing a different game too haha

Then reality set in. You would have liked my 35 and then 57 recently too.

 

[Hawk]

At least you didn't try to scramble with them.

 

[JB]

At least you didn't try to scramble with them.

Greatest golf moment ever was you and I vs two LPGA players. That was a hysterical day....Good lord we got murdered.

 

[Hawk]

Greatest golf moment ever was you and I vs two LPGA players. That was a hysterical day....Good lord we got murdered.

I think that qualifies for running into a buzzsaw. I knew we were toast after the first putt.

Then later - You hit it to 10 feet. Kris hits it to 5 feet.

 

[JB]

I think that qualifies for running into a buzzsaw. I knew we were toast after the first putt.

Then later - You hit it to 10 feet. Kris hits it to 5 feet.

After that round, I knew that hearing "I play a similar game" was a bit overstated.
Nothing about our game translates to what they are doing.

 

[CBaker]

50% of the top scoring averages are in the top 10 in driving distance, I would call that a pretty strong correlation myself.

Hard to take just 10 spots and compare. If you look at the differences between the top drivers vs. top scorers and look at how many spots they differ +/-, most of the longer hitters drop spots in scoring while a lot of the shorter hitters gain spots in scoring. A couple examples:

Chalie Beljan - 5th in driving, 188 in scoring.
Andrew Loupe - 15th in driving, 167 in scoring.
Jim Furyk - 190th in driving, 23 in scoring.
Henrik Stenson - 122nd in driving, 1st in scoring.

Not to say that "proves" anything either way, but that's how you typically see those numbers go when you calculate it out. Sure half of the top 10 are also great scorers, but for the PGA as a whole, driving distance doesn't seem to correlate to better scoring average. I'd say for those 5 in the top 10 that it has more to do with their pedigree as a golfer in general than it does to how far they hit it. You can argue that they wouldn't be as good if they didn't hit it that far, but I slightly disagree. Sure it helps, but what then does that mean for Beljan or Loupe? If driving distance correlates, then they should score better, but they don't. Basically 50% of the top 50 drivers are outside the top 50 scoring, and vise versa....that to me just numbers wise tells me it doesn't have a positive correlation between the two.

 

[Hawk]

After that round, I knew that hearing "I play a similar game" was a bit overstated.
Nothing about our game translates to what they are doing.

Nothing.

You can try to compare distances, but there's also the part where Kris hit that distance in the center of the fairwy 14 times or so. Hell, I watched her hit a shot to some close number from a fairway bunker at 150 yards once another time.

Zero comparison.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

I can't understand why they put themselves through the pain. If they played the forward tees from 5,000 yds they may break 90 and actually have fun doing it.

Based on my round on Saturday, it's because they like causing a massive back-up behind them on the course. Not that I was annoyed or anything...

 

[wedgeworker]

but what then does that mean for Beljan or Loupe? If driving distance correlates, then they should score better, but they don't.

Better than what? Better than they would if they drove it 20 yards shorter? I'm sure they do.

 

[CBaker]

Better than what? Better than they would if they drove it 20 yards shorter? I'm sure they do.

That's hypothetical. You can only go based off the actual averages of the 200+ guys that play on tour. And as a whole it doesn't correlate.

 

[Hawk]

That's hypothetical. You can only go based off the actual averages of the 200+ guys that play on tour. And as a whole it doesn't correlate.

Read Every Shot Counts by Mark Broadie.

Distance does matter and the stats you are using are poor at illustrating why that is or isn't the case.

 

[Wake]

Hard to take just 10 spots and compare. If you look at the differences between the top drivers vs. top scorers and look at how many spots they differ +/-, most of the longer hitters drop spots in scoring while a lot of the shorter hitters gain spots in scoring. A couple examples:

Chalie Beljan - 5th in driving, 188 in scoring.
Andrew Loupe - 15th in driving, 167 in scoring.
Jim Furyk - 190th in driving, 23 in scoring.
Henrik Stenson - 122nd in driving, 1st in scoring.

Not to say that "proves" anything either way, but that's how you typically see those numbers go when you calculate it out. Sure half of the top 10 are also great scorers, but for the PGA as a whole, driving distance doesn't seem to correlate to better scoring average. I'd say for those 5 in the top 10 that it has more to do with their pedigree as a golfer in general than it does to how far they hit it. You can argue that they wouldn't be as good if they didn't hit it that far, but I slightly disagree. Sure it helps, but what then does that mean for Beljan or Loupe? If driving distance correlates, then they should score better, but they don't. Basically 50% of the top 50 drivers are outside the top 50 scoring, and vise versa....that to me just numbers wise tells me it doesn't have a positive correlation between the two.

We are just going to have to disagree on correlation. Sure there are some guys who can hit it far but the rest of the games don't stack up, but the guys who struggle distance wise and maintain a spot near the top are way more the exception than the rule. While I understand a guy like Stenson isn't the longest, he still averages around 290 and hits his irons a mile. Your Luke Donald or Stricker come up every now and then, but the vast majority of the top golfers will hit it a very long way.

Look at the current top 10 in the WGR, Furyk is the only guy up there who isn't a long hitter, and he still averages 275.

 

[hcopenhagenh]

Based on my round on Saturday, it's because they like causing a massive back-up behind them on the course. Not that I was annoyed or anything...

And what these men don't understand is that you can take average girl junior golfers and they will beat them bad from the same set of tee boxes. I am talking 13-15 year old girl's.

I really think when you walk into a clubhouse there should be posted what set of tee boxes to play from. I hate waiting on people because they are bad.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

Those averages look rather short.

And, a whole lot closer to most of us everyday players, than anyone on the PGA Tour..........

A lot of men could learn a lot watching the ladies more.

 

[mancest]

This thread has been a fun follow, and I think those numbers should say two things to most of us hackers:

1. 99% of us don't carry it as far as we think we do (I realized this when I went to Florida for the Bridgestone Championship...)

2. a proper swing will let you maximize what swing speed you do have. the angle of attack charts are absolutely mind blowing. Having recently received some lessons and trying to improve my swing, I have seen a huge difference on swings where I make a decent swing vs a terrible one. (I don't often have a good one as of yet).

 

[greggdrews]

Part of the reason I love watching the LPGA is I can relate a little more to their distances with clubs and the distance of the courses they play. Put me on a 5000yd course and I'm still not shooting under par though. They are still really good!