Golf Digest South Africa — January 2018

THE 10 MOST

IMPROVED DRIVERS

ON THE PGA TOUR

ore distance. It’s what every player craves.
That’s particularly true at the elite level
of the PGATour, where distance is an
important part of remaining competitive.
Golf Digest analysed ShotLink’s driving-distance
statisticsfromthe2015-’16and2016-’17seasonsto
seewhichplayersboostedtheirdistancethemost.
Therewere141playerswhoqualifiedforthedistance
rankinginbothseasons,and75playersproduced
gains.Whether it’s Rory McIlroy seeking another gear
to separate himself from the field or Zach Johnson and
KJ Choi trying to stay relevant,the quest for more
distance is on the minds of tour pros.
“Players seek distance,” says Keith Sbarbaro,
TaylorMade’s vice president of tour operations.
“Why wouldn’t they?The closer to the green off the tee,
statistically speaking,the better the chance of getting it
closer to the hole on the next shot. Everyone wants to
hit it as far as their ball speed will allow.”
There are several ingredients to distance:equipment
technology, clubfitting, fitness and technique.
Sometimes it’s a change in mind-set or the comfort of
being familiar and confident with equipment and swing.
We reached out to players, tour reps and instructors
of the top-10 most improved in driving distance this
past season to find out what allowed them to hit it
further.As to whether there will be more improvement
going forward, Sbarbaro is unequivocal.“No one on
tour is maxed out in terms of launch and spin,” he says.
“Dustin Johnson is very good, but he has another
10 yards. I don’t know where it ends.”▶▶▶

M

DRIVING

|

The Golf Life

GOLFDIGEST.CO.ZA / JANUARY 2018 / 21

And what they did to gain an advantage

BY MICHAEL JOHNSON

▶ clockwise from top left

Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka,

Billy Horschel and Hideki Matsuyama.