Leverages data from 25 million rounds to deliver 8-year trend analysis across age, gender and skill level
STAMFORD, Connecticut — Arccos Golf, the world’s largest on-course tracking system and leader in connected AI golf products, has released the 2026 edition of its Annual Driving Distance Report.
Now in its eighth year, the report is the most comprehensive to date, drawing on more than 5 million rounds and nearly 10 million driver tee shots from 2025 to deliver an eight-year trend analysis of amateur driving distance and accuracy across age, gender, and handicap.
Among the report’s key findings: a recovery or penalty situation on 45% of all driver tee shots for the highest-handicap players, compared to just 12% for low-handicap golfers.
While the 2026 study draws on a single year of play, the full Arccos dataset now includes over 1.5 billion shots across 25 million rounds played in more than 160 countries, a scale of real-world data that supports conversations and decision-making across the golf ecosystem. The 2026 study findings highlight:
- Driving Distance Remains Stable: Average driving distance for men shifted by less than one yard since 2018, while women’s averages remain within four yards of their original baseline.
- The Penalty of Wayward Drives: Low-handicap players (Scratch-to-4.9) keep their tee shots in play 88% of the time. The rate drops sharply as handicap rises, with 30+ players in penalty or recovery on 45.1% of drives.
- Accuracy Improves with Age: While younger players hit it farther, accuracy improves dramatically with age; fairway hit percentages climb by 18 points for men and 17 points for women as they move from their 20s into their 70s.
- Skill, Not Age, Drives Distance: Skill level remains the greatest predictor of power, evidenced by a massive 63-yard distance gap between elite amateur men (Scratch-to-4.9) and those with a 30+ handicap. Women show the same pattern with a smaller gap.
- The Altitude Advantage: Environmental factors play a meaningful role in distance, with 10-handicap golfers gaining an average of 19.2 yards (an 8.3% increase) when playing at elevations of 5,000+ feet compared to sea level.
“Better data leads to better decisions, in every part of the game,” said Sal Syed, Arccos CEO and Co-Founder. “Our goal is to make sure golfers, coaches, and the industry as a whole have elite-level intelligence on how golf is actually played. That’s what eight years of real-world data, at this scale, makes possible.”
You can read the full report for free at: https://bit.ly/4n9dd93.