How far do PGA Tour players hit the golf ball? It’s a common question — one of the most common GOLF Magazine readers ask me — and the answer, of course, is that it depends. Every player is different. They all swing the club at different speeds, with different attack angles and spin rates that result in all kinds of different Trackman stats.
But thanks to the bright minds over at Trackman, now we can at least try to answer that question somewhat definitively.
Below is a list of PGA Tour averages for every club in the bag. As you can see, the club speed for the average PGA Tour pro is 113 mph with driver. Cameron Champ currently leads the club-head speed charts this season with a 129.72 average.
You’ll also notice that the average PGA Tour player hits down on their driver (attack angle -1.3 degrees), resulting in a launch angle of about 10.9 degrees.
You might look at those Trackman stats and quickly deduce that you, too, should begin hitting down more on your driver.
But not so fast!
Remember, these are PGA Tour players. The reason their Trackman stats look like this are because they are swinging the club so fast, and the ball is coming off the face even faster — see their average ball speed of 167 mph.
Apply these numbers to an average golfer’s swing speed, and they’d struggle to get the ball in the air long enough for maximum distance. So unless you have a comparable swing speed, chasing these PGA Tour-style figures might not be the best thing for your game.
That’s why some instructors look toward LPGA Tour players’ Trackman stats as a better reference point…
The LPGA Tour’s 94-mph average driver swing speed is closer to the speed many golfers swing the club. And notice how the the attack angle has turned positive along the way — it’s now 3 degrees up. It also brings the launch angle up to 13.2 degrees.
So, the takeaway? That your optimal launch Trackman Stats are dependent in part on the way you swing the club — how fast, and in which direction. So don’t go blindly chasing PGA Tour numbers just yet.
