Par4QC Donāt forget the average is for all tees minus the Par 3, so when a guy is leading the tournament and goes to driving iron or 3 wood to play safe vs having to chase and risking driver, those average can be very deceiving. Itās not just āaverage when hitting driverā. Bryson is hitting the ball plenty long, thereās no argument there and Rory is also a beast off the tee, no argument there either. Tee average is not really a fair statistic to judge ones length as strategy can very much dictate that.
Example, I play a course where I hit driver at most 4 times per 9, also hit a 23* hybrid, a 6 or 7 iron twice, and depending on tee placement 2 of those drivers may get cut to a 3 wood or 18* hybrid. So my average for the day may be around 225 yards and by that number it may appear Iām not longer off the tee than 95% of golfers. Yet I would assume there are very few on this forum that would be willing to risk their wallet in a long drive contest against me. Same thing applies to the guys on tour, most can bomb it, many will play to spots, rather than take risks.
Bryson also hits the ball extremely high and gets less roll, a huge advantage in most conditions as carry is really king in terms of predictable outcomes. Hence Tigerās long time obsession with carry, with little roll out.
One question is, does Bryson have the low flighted shot in the bag? I believe he does, but itās a lot more risk to run the ball into trouble than to fly the ball to a spot and know where it will be. I believe heās giving up a little distance with his current ball flight, but heās getting max distance for predictable results.