Launch It Like a Firework: 3 Driving Distance Insights You should See
With July 4th around the corner, a celebration built on going big and lighting up the sky, it feels like the right time to check in on how our own fireworks stack up off the tee. How far are we really hitting it? How often are we keeping it on the planet? And what happens to that big swing as the years roll by?
Here are three insights from the 2025 Arccos Driving Distance Report that might make you look twice before teeing it high and letting it fly.
1. Most Golfers Are Shorter Than They Think
The Fourth of July is a time for grand stories, and plenty of those stories get told on the first tee. Arccos data, though, has a way of cutting through wishful thinking. Among men, the average driver distance is about 225 yards. For women, it is around 176 yards. That is a long way off from the 280 yard hero shots that sometimes make their way through the clubhouse.
Low handicap players do stretch things out. Men with a handicap below five average closer to 250 yards, while higher handicaps hover near 185 yards. Among women, lower handicaps can get beyond 210 yards compared to about 140 for higher handicap players. It is a reminder that distance takes both skill and speed, and that on average most of us are shorter than we like to imagine.
2. Accuracy Improves With Age
There is a lesson in the data that feels worth celebrating on a holiday about resilience and independence. As players age, they tend to lose distance but they gain control. According to Arccos, men in their seventies hit drives about 51 yards shorter on average than teenagers and young adults. Yet they find fairways far more often, hitting 56 percent of them compared to 39 percent for players in their twenties.
The same trend holds for women. Those in their sixties see accuracy climb to more than 62 percent, the highest among any age bracket. There is something reassuring about that shift. Experience brings a better sense of how to keep the ball in play, even if it does not travel as far.
3. Longer is Not Always Better
Fireworks are all about going big. Golf does not always work the same way. The data shows that high handicap players who try to chase distance too aggressively often end up in trouble, losing fairways and adding penalty strokes. Across the Arccos sample, players with handicaps above 30 averaged the shortest drives and the lowest accuracy, hitting under 41 percent of fairways.
It suggests there is more freedom in hitting a controlled tee shot than trying to overpower the ball. The best players combine moderate distance with reliable accuracy, a pattern that holds true across skill levels and ages. As you stand over your next drive, there is no shame in choosing a smoother swing to keep your ball in play.
The Fourth of July is all about freedom, and golf has its own brand of it. Nothing feels quite as liberating as stepping up, giving it a fearless rip, and seeing your ball rocket down the center like a firework with perfect aim. For golfers, that is about as close to a grand finale as it gets.
If you are curious to dive deeper into how your own numbers stack up, the full Arccos Driving Distance Report is available to explore. You can access the complete data and see how distance and accuracy trends break down across age, gender, and handicap.
