How far do the top pros throw?

[foxdawg10]

Pepperidge Farm remembers when it was 350' and automatic inside the circle.

Help me out here Hamp--all the pros were dropping 350' on the circle?

Thus, they stretched the holes and distance became qing?

Yes, it was about the same time that the Pepperidge Farms commercials were relevant, around the 1970's - 1980's.

 

[Hampstead]

Yes, it was about the same time that the Pepperidge Farms commercials were relevant, around the 1970's - 1980's.

More recently than that thanks to the irreverent animated series Family Guy!

 

[foxdawg10]

More recently than that thanks to the irreverent animated series Family Guy!

Dang, how could I forget that? I loved Family Guy.

 

[gammaxgoblin]

Big Jerm also said in the BSF skins match that he throws "a lot more" backhands now and that his forehand is now, compared to where it was and, I think, elite forehand players, "trash".

But Jerm also does a lot of negative self talk, so I'm not sure how truly accurate that is. Nonetheless, the man can bomb, at least until his body falls victim to Father Time.

Poor guy grew up in a hippie commune without a name...he seems to have some unresolved developmental trauma unfortunately.

 

[gammaxgoblin]

I think Proctor is gonna be in the 500 or 550 set, maybe sneaky 600

 

[disco40]

Nice list. I'd bump down Drew and bump up Gannon.

 

[TiltedFlipCurves]

I captured golf throwing distances (lasered) on a flat, open (no trees) bomber hole longer than anyone could reach at Am and Pro Worlds in 2002 for all divisions. Of the top 36 in MPO, the 22 air drives ranged from 324' to 459', the 14 roller drives ranged from 300' to 477'. All 36 were righthanders throwing backhand and the field average distance was 378'.

For some reason averaging 378 with fairway drivers sounds far easier than averaging 500 with modern distance drivers.

 

[@CD-]

Strictly backhand distance groupings (mostly from memory of recent rounds from past couple years) -
610
Garrett Gurthie
Simon Lizotte
Drew Gibson
Eagle Wynne McMahon
Anthony Barela

580
Ezra Aderhold
Cole Redalen
Thomas Gilbert
Corey Ellis

550
Richard Wysocki
Kevin Jones
Aaron Gossage
Gannon Buhr
Matthew Orum

520
Calvin Heimburg
Chris Dickerson
Paul McBeth
Kyle Klein
Jeremy Koling
James Proctor

490
Emerson Keith
Nikko Locastro
Joel Freeman
James Conrad
Andrew Presnell
Scott Withers

460
Adam Hammes
Mason Ford
Isaac Robinson
Alden Harris
Bradley Williams
Andrew Marwede

430
Chris Clemons
Gregg Barsby
Nathan Sexton
Cale Leiviska

Unknowns Haven't seen on coverage in a while + injuries + regional/international
Gavin Rathbun
Dallin Blanchard
Lauri Lehtinen
Cameron Colglazier
Niklas Anttila
Austin Hoop
David Feldberg
Marvin Tetzel
Manabu Kajiyama

https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/51685 - 2021 Pro Worlds distance competition in Utah + going for distance instead of golf line.
https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/52439 - 2021 Master Pro Worlds distance competition in TN

Probably should drop anyone who isn't a propagator (under 8 rated rounds used for latest rating) from your list:
Darrell Nodland
Brock Jensen
Eric McCabe
Jake Hussein
Joe Akhavan
Andrew Simmons
John Bean III (rating dropped to 985 since you pulled the list)

Would be a fun exercise to rank by combined FH + BH golf distance as well.

 

[ChrisWoj]

I'm looking at golf distance and what you might anticipate a player to be able to do on a regular basis. I pulled the top 50 rated MPO players from the PDGA website and I've assigned them to categories based on 50' increments. This is a rough approximation--I could certainly be off on a few of these.

Looking at this, I'm trying to figure out what kind of shot you're talking about.

Like - is this a 15ish foot high straight to fade with a stable distance driver? Is this a big distance curl at 30' in the air? Is this a 20' shot that rides anhyzer to straight before getting finish?

I feel like if its a shot with less side to side movement a few names at the top need to be dropped. But if its more of a distance curl or with some significant anhyzer ride some names at the bottom need to be moved up.

 

[ChrisWoj]

His shot on Hudson Mills original #18 is an example, a big sky anny over the woods that nobody else on Earth was doing from that tee. He turned around and said with a smile, "Fooled you!" He was a joy to watch. And Climo won all the titles with his little bit less distance.

What a different world. Having first played Original in 2005.... I literally can not imagine a world where Hudson Mills Original #18 doesn't have giant trees right next to the teepad that you'd need to be 50' tall to throw anhyzer over/around.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I think distance with a mid-range/putter is an unrecognized, difficult to get any measurements, parameter for every player that's just as important as open field golf distance. My guess is that the list posted above might shuffle a little bit if we had those rankings although we know that Gannon, Drew and Simon in particular might still be at the top.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

What a different world. Having first played Original in 2005.... I literally can not imagine a world where Hudson Mills Original #18 doesn't have giant trees right next to the teepad that you'd need to be 50' tall to throw anhyzer over/around.

Here it is, cued up. Slightly before that is Climo's good drive and Russell making the crowd scatter straight ahead. "Fooled you guys" is what he really said.

https://youtu.be/aQN0VlxOD_Y?t=1396

 

[txmxer]

I'll provide a little additional explanation as to what I'm trying to evaluate with this thread.
Hypothesis: Distance vs. Rating has a STRONG correlation

In a very general sense, golf distance is clearly a factor: D(800) < D(900) < D(1000) rated players.

But, when we look closer within the groupings of players, how important is distance to actual performance?

The groupings I posted and the actual distance thrown are less important than trying to group/rank players distance in a logical order and then compare that order to player ratings.

Thanks for all of the input.

I would suggest that the correlation between "distance" and performance on the course is only moderately or even weakly correlated.

 

[ChrisWoj]

Here it is, cued up. Slightly before that is Climo's good drive and Russell making the crowd scatter straight ahead. "Fooled you guys" is what he really said.

https://youtu.be/aQN0VlxOD_Y?t=1396

Absolute wow.

I do definitely recall the halfway point between that and now, but even then that didn't exist. That's neat. Did it actually go over top of 17's teeing area or is that area spacious enough that he was well to the side of that?

 

[Cgkdisc]

I would suggest that the correlation between "distance" and performance on the course is only moderately or even weakly correlated.

If you can't reach the hole in regulation, you can't birdie no matter if you're the best putter in the world. If you can reach a hole in one less than regulation, you have the chance to eagle or birdie at minimum, even if you're just an average putter. All it takes is a few holes like this for the longest throwers to gain a stroke for the win, especially when the holes are played over 3 or 4 rounds on mostly open ball golf layouts.

Hole/course design comes into play for defeating elite distance or at least giving others a chance and that's shorter holes overall where everyone with 425 ft distance at a 980-1000 rating can reach par 3s or can reach up to 800 ft par 4s on wooded courses. Those are the courses where dark horses have a chance to emerge.

 

[Monocacy]

. . . But, when we look closer within the groupings of players, how important is distance to actual performance?

It probably depends very much on the type of course. On wide-open courses the main thing that matters is where the disc lands and how you play the wind. On those courses I would expect big arms do better than similarly-rated shorter throwers. Wooded courses where the over-the-top option is usually available are probably similar.

In contrast, woods courses with a canopy require the ability to shape lines, land softly, and scramble out of trouble. All else equal more distance is always better, but hitting the first available tree at 70 mph isn't much of an advantage.

At a distinctly sub-pro level, I have seen big-arm players who could destroy an open course but who completely lacked the skills necessary to play in the woods.

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Absolute wow.

I do definitely recall the halfway point between that and now, but even then that didn't exist. That's neat. Did it actually go over top of 17's teeing area or is that area spacious enough that he was well to the side of that?

As I recall, it didn't quite flip like he wanted it and it was a bit short and left. He had a 100-foot upshot. I think everybody took threes. At least I don't think anybody deuced.

The Stokely drive was well away from #17. I remember having to walk way in there to film his upshot, with the serious-looking camera guy there. I wonder if they ever made a video?

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Most of the players in the top 36 measured finished in the top 36 in the final results since I measured in a later round. Notably absent in this Worlds data set was Scott Stokely who had bowed out after 2001. https://www.pdga.com/tour/event/3063

I remember reading in his book that both his back was killing him and his daughter was born, so he bowed out of the tour at that point, and for a long time too.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I remember reading in his book that both his back was killing him and his daughter was born, so he bowed out of the tour at that point, and for a long time too.

Yep. My girlfriend I just finished reading it. I was surprised it stopped in 2002, but then we realized it's when he stepped away.

 

[Smigles]

i played a tournament in Austria this weekend. Leon Sonnleitner was there and also Robin Soederling.

I saw Leon throwing 680 on Instagram. I saw him hitting metal on an ace run on a 450 foot hole ( plus 10 feet uphill) with an MD.

Robin has to throw sky high distance control hyzers with super beefy Heimborg Halo Destroyers on 400 foot holes to not overshoot.

Looking at these kids (some of europes finest, but not yet quite on the level of the USA superstars) it is obvious that the times of winning tournaments with driving 350 feet and putting are long over.