This is the fourth annual distance report issued by the game’s governing bodies, completed in an effort to monitor current trends in driving distance.


The 2018 data show that driving distances on these seven tours increased by an average of 1.7 yards, beyond the previous year’s gain of more than 3 yards.


The full report (randa.org) summarises data provided by the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, PGA European Tour, Ladies’ European Tour, Japan Golf Tour, Web.com Tour and PGA Tour Champions, based on available data at the time of publication. Introduced in 2015, the report includes data starting with the 1968 PGA Tour season.


The average driving distance is typically measured on two holes at each tournament and usually results in nearly 40,000 shots being measured over the course of a season on some tours.