Ahead of the 2025 Masters, the tournament announced some truly delightful news for golf nerds: That every shot every player hits on Augusta National’s driving range over the course of the week would be logged on the Masters app.
And even though Monday’s practice round was largely a washout, there were still enough shots clocked on the range before the rain rolled in to churn out some interesting stuff.
JD Cuban
According to the data, 33 players hit golf balls on the driving range at various points on Monday morning. The rain cut a majority of these sessions short, so instead I was curious about the first few golf balls each of these players hit. How these players started their range sessions. So, I looked at the first five shots each of these players hit on their range session—165 shots in total.
A few takeaways you can learn from, about how players start their range sessions:
Start with a pitch shot
The average of every player’s first shot on the driving range came in at 63 yards. Essentially, a slight pitch shot.
The takeaway: So next time you grab and go with a full-send pitching wedge to start your session, remember that pros are starting with a shot much shorter than that.
Ben Jared
Steady 20 percent ramp up
The average distance increase between their first five shots was 13 yards—meaning the fifth shot players hit was 13 yards longer than the first shot they hit.
The takeaway: Ramp up slowly. The difference between their players’ first shot and fifth shot is only about 20 percent. So, if the first shot you hit is 70 yards, you should slowly ramp up so the fifth shot you hit should be about 85 yards.
Are you a short, medium or long starter?
Even though the average of all players’ first five shots was 72 yards, players tended to fall into three different groups, based on the distance of the first shot they hit.
The most popular distances of first shots, in order:
- 35-60 yards (43% of players)
- 60-80 yards (38% of players)
- 90-110 yards (16% of players)
The takeaway: Each distance gap is about 20 yards, and picking your preferred one really just comes down to what you’re most comfortable with. Either way, a snapshot into this Masters data shows the pros start small—and amateurs should probably do the same.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
