I read a great article on a golf blog recently about what distance people think they hit their drivers versus how far they actually do, and it made me think… what is the reality of the 100- and 150-yard shots for the average player? How does this compare to a Tour Professional hitting from the same distance, with the same target, under the same conditions?

So I enlisted the help of a buddy of mine, William McGirt, who finished 85th on the 2014 PGA Tour’s Money List making just over $1.25 million (Hey, William, can you throw me a few bones, pards!?).

For the test, I asked three golfers to hit 100- and 150-yard shots, then charted their CARRY distance results. I know this is a very small sampling of players, but I just wanted to show you the basic idea of what I see on a daily basis with amateur golfers.

Below is the Trackman Analysis of the four players:

William McGirt, PGA Tour Player

Tom Stickney, Teaching Professional/Scratch Player

John, 10-Handicap

Howard, 15-Handicap

William McGirt (100.6, 98.6, and 103.6 yards)

The Tour Player was much more consistent with his average shot at 100.9 yards, and his “big miss” was only off 3.6 yards. This puts William next to the hole and on the correct tier more often than not, unless he gets unlucky or spins the ball too much once it lands.

Tom Stickney (100.0, 101.2, and 94.2 yards)

The teaching professional did fine, but his “big miss” was off 5.8 yards. This is what we tend to see with the single-digit players. They can hit all the shots, however, their consistency lacks when compared to the Tour Professional.

Howard (93.5, 104.3, and 100.2 yards), and John (102.1, 102.9, and 107.7 yards)

As your handicap goes up, so will the variance of the shots hit from this distance. Both Howard and John hit the ball around 100 yards, but not consistently. Howard had an average of 99.3 yards and John had an average of 104.2 yards. But it’s not the average that is the issue here; it’s the lack of distance control with both short and long shots by both.

Howard’s shortest shot went 93.5 yards and longest went 104.4 yards, giving us a gap of 10.9 yards or 32.7 feet!

John’s shortest shot was 102.1 and his longest was 107.7 giving us a gap of 5.6 yards or 16.8 feet.

Now if the pin was always in the middle of the green, it would not be that big of an issue. But when the pins are in the front or back, which shot is going to show up? This is the difference between chipping on and having a long two putt for par.

For the single-digit player, you must not lose your focus when you have the feel. If you lose your focus, you have the big miss potentially taking away a good birdie chance. For the average player, grooving solid contact is the key. Hitting the ball solid will help you to accurately predict what shot you’ll hit and how far it will go.

Now let’s examine the 150-yard shot from each group of players.

William McGirt (151.4, 149.9, and 151.0)

As a PGA Tour Professional, you would assume that the yardages would again be perfect — and they’re close, with an average of 150.8 yards. But one thing I want to point out is how TIGHT the dispersion is from this distance. You can see his blue dots are clustered very tightly around the 150-yard target. Once again, this gives him the best chance to be around the pin with the most accuracy. Also look at what club he hit versus the other players.

Tom Stickney (151.9, 150.7, and 149.8 yards)

As a scratch player, the talent is there to hit the shots but the dispersion is not even in the same ballpark as the Tour Player. This shows us once again why I should teach golf for a living! I get strokes from the pro, but never enough.

Howard (141.5, 141.3, and 145.9 yards), and John (143.2, 151.9, and 139.6 yards)

With the handicap golfers, we saw a large difference between the shortest and longest shot. However, as the distances get longer, you will see that most players base their 150-yard shot on the one out of “X” that they hit that yardage, not their average!

Howard’s closest was 145.9, but the actual average was around 141, if you took out the last shot. John indeed hit his best one 151.9, but his other two were around 141 as well.

Now let’s look at carry vs. total yardage for these two players.

Howard’s TOTAL distance was 147.4 yards while John’s TOTAL was 152.7. And these are what most average golfers depend on — the total yardage to get the ball to the distance they want it to go. Sometimes this works, but other times it does not. I will say that it is very difficult to judge what is going to happen once the ball hits the ground and it’s best to understand your carry distances. Sadly, most amateurs do not.

So what do I want you to take from this article?

Tour Professionals carry the ball the same distance every time with the same club within reason.

Tour Professionals have tighter dispersion patterns than all of us with each club.

Single-digit players can have flashes of brilliance as it pertains to distance and dispersion control, but the “big miss” is always lurking. It could be due to a lack of focus or a swing flaw that creeps up. It’s your job to figure out what it is so you can be better in the end.

Average players are OK with shorter clubs in regard to carry distances, but once they get outside 100 yards they focus only on total distance.

Average players based their overall distances on the one perfect shot they hit out of “X” number of shots instead of the real averages.

Average players have huge swings in distance due to unsolid shots (fat and thin) that can hamper their distances.

Average players try and hit the same club as the Pros with little success. Both Howard and John needed one more club to actually carry the ball 150 yards in the air, but never did so on average.