Average driving distance by age and handicap

Asking a golfer how far he drives the ball is like asking a fisherman the size of his latest catch. Embellishment is a foregone conclusion.

Even so, it seems golfers have been wildly over-estimating their powers. 

REVIEW: GAME GOLF LIVE

Game Golf have crunched the numbers, and delivered some home truths. The brand’s wearable real-time tracking device allows them to see the average driving distance of its users from April to September last year – and it's sombre reading for most.

The median driving distance is 219.55 yards, while the average for a three-wood is 186.89 yards, a seven iron 133.48 yards and pitching wedge 73.97 yards.

It also showed users found the fairway 46.46% of the time.

On the PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy was the longest driver in 2017 averaging 317.2 yards, while the Tour average was 293 yards.