Many people seem to think that the recent increases in the distance tour players hit the golf ball is something completely modern and something akin to the end of the golf world as it's currently known. But what do the statistics and facts show?
1. What was the distance increase when the game switched from wooden ball to feathery?
From THIS website, I have since found that feathery balls traveled roughly double the distance of wooden balls, 170-200 yards in perfect conditions
Based on THIS site, the feathery went 170 yards, if using a "modern club." Unsure if that means a then-modern club, or current-modern model. It likely means a then-modern club.
2. What was the distance increase when the game switched from feathery to gutta percha balls?
From the SAME site as above, the Gutta Percha traveled 200 yards under the same conditions described above.
3. What was the distance increase when the game switched from gutta percha to Haskell wound ball?
Just saw at THIS that going from the Gutta Percha to the Haskell wound ball yeilded 20 yards of improvement off the tee.
The SAME site said that this ball went 225-250 yards.
4. The Haskell wound ball was developed in 1898, from what I know, there was no great improvement from that ball to the Titleist Professional (what most consider to be the peak of wound ball development). The ProV1 was introduced in October 2000. What was the distance increase over that 102 year span?
If the numbers above of 225-250 yards are correct and given that the PGA Tour driving average for the top 25 players was 280.19 yards in 1997, that's a 55 yard increase using the low end above. The 1980 driving average for the top 25 was 268.66 yards. Stats don't go back any more than that. This increase is likely due, in part, to improving fitness measures and improvements in shaft and club technology.
5. The distance increase from Wound to the new Solid ball (Pro V1) type has been roughly 25 yards at the top end. Driving average for the top 25 went from 280.19 in 1997 to 304.66 in 2012
So, if all those numbers are believed...
Wood to Feathery= 50% increase
Feathery to Gutta Percha= 17.64% increase
Gutta Percha to Haskell= 12.5% to 25% increase
Haskell 1898 to Professional 1997= 24.5% increase.
Professional 1997 to Pro V1 2012= 8.5% increase.
Them dang statistics. Sky falling with the Pro V1? No, the statistics don't show that. It seems the distance increase at the top end on the Tour is actually not that high. I would assume those other figures are Tour figures as well, or at least elite players. It's kinda hard to get driving distance figures from all golfers.
BTW, it adds up to a +/- 13% increase in average driving distance from 1980 to 2012. Hardly a "sky is falling" amount.
according to your calculations the increase in distance to the feather ball from the wooden ball was 50%. However the comments from the quoted sites suggest that the distance was double which would represent 100% increase. Have you taken the other factors such as clubs and conditions into consideraton to reduce to 50% .
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