Ranking the 10 Best Drivers of the Golf Ball on the PGA Tour
As we have heard over the years in baseball and golf, chicks dig the long ball.
Especially in golf, the long ball may be entertaining but it's not a guaranteed gateway to victory.
Which leads to the reality that the best drivers on the PGA Tour are more likely than not, the guys who are much shorter than the long bombers.
That's why in this ranking, a guy like Rory McIlroy, who ranked third in driving distance and 16th in total driving wasn't the top-ranked driver. This despite him driving it better than anyone else from July through the end of the season.
No, the statistics tell me the best driver was Henrik Stenson.
Check out the list and see how many of my picks you agree with.
10. Ryan Moore
1 of 10
Driving Distance: 129th
Driving Accuracy: 9th
Total Driving: 38th
What it means: Ryan Moore hasn't averaged over 290 yards off the tee since the 2011 season. But his driving accuracy has gotten better each year since then, absolutely qualifying him as one of the best drivers in the game.
Moore had one of the great amateur years ever in 2004 but problems with his wrist curtailed his progress in terms of multiple wins, although he has three tour victories to his credit.
Moore is a grinder but grinding is a lot easier when playing from the fairway.
9. Boo Weekley
2 of 10
Driving Distance: 100th
Driving Accuracy: 10th
Total Driving: 15th
What it means: The vision of Boo Weekley riding his driver down the fairway in the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla remains vivid.
Whether you consider the man unorthodox or not, the man can flat-out drive the ball. He doesn't necessarily drive it far, but you rarely have to look far afield to locate his tee shots.
If he didn't have to putt the ball this year, he would have no doubt made a bunch of money because he hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens but then couldn't find the bottom of the cup.
And one other thing is for sure: he's always entertaining.
8. Zach Johnson
3 of 10
Driving Distance: 141st
Driving Accuracy: 6th
Total Driving: 51st
What it means: In short, it means he's short, averaging 282.2 yards off the tee. It also means he rarely misses fairways, hitting 70.51 percent. He, too, has become a valuable commodity for Ryder and Presidents Cup teams because of his driving excellence although that hasn't yielded much in the way of wins.
His accuracy has always been thought to be an advantage for him in the game's biggest tournaments, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Johnson had a good year, winning once, finishing second and third and making five top 10s. He made over $3.3 million.
And he can thank his accuracy with the big stick for much of that.
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7. Matt Kuchar
4 of 10
Driving Distance: 136th
Driving Accuracy: 20th
Total Driving: 57th
What it means: Matt Kuchar's flat swing doesn't allow him to create a lot of air time off the tee which explains to some degree his shortness off the tee. That swing doesn't keep him from being accurate, however. As a matter of fact, it probably helps.
He's won seven tournaments on the PGA Tour, most of those on the strength of his driving. He's not won a major yet, a glaring omission on the resume of a player as talented as Kuchar.
Kuchar is always coveted for team competitions where straight drivers are always a big asset.
6. Chris Kirk
5 of 10
Driving Distance: 80th
Driving Accuracy: 66th
Total Driving: 49th
What it means: As you can see by the numbers above, Chris Kirk was a very good driver of the golf ball in 2014. That wasn't the case a year ago, however. His numbers in 2013 in the same categories were 83rd, 115th and 122nd.
Kirk won twice this year and earned $4.8 million and found himself in the middle of a race to secure a spot on the United States Ryder Cup team. He won the Deutsche Bank Championship and finished 14th on the Ryder Cup points list.
Continued improvement with the driver will make him a stalwart on the PGA Tour very quickly.
5. Billy Horschel
6 of 10
Driving Distance: 18th
Driving Accuracy: 100th
Total Driving: 144th
What it means: Billy Horschel became the most popular golfer on the PGA Tour in September and not just because he won two of the last three FedEx Cup events to win it all. He was also the guy who wasn't chosen for the United States Ryder Cup team.
His fiery personality was in control as the season ended and he just pounded the ball off the tee. Was he the most accurate guy off the tee? His ranking of 100 would tell you absolutely not.
He's on this list because of what he showed in September when he was one of the best drivers on tour and because of the potential that play showed for him moving forward.
4. Jim Furyk
7 of 10
Driving Distance: 155th
Driving Accuracy: 4th
Total Driving: 62nd
What it means: In 2014, Jim Furyk put on a clinic for aspiring superstars who can't bomb it out there with the big bombers. The veteran PGA Tour player averaged just 279.3 yards off the tee.
In a game where players are averaging higher and higher yardages above 300, Furyk appeared to be at a disadvantage. But when you hit 68.75 percent of the greens in regulation, being short isn't all that big a deal, thanks to hitting fairways off the tee at a 73.18 clip.
As a result, Furyk had a marvelous year, finishing fourth four times and earning $5.9 million.
Fairways and greens, always a good thing.
3. Adam Scott
8 of 10
Driving Distance: 13th
Driving Accuracy: 80th
Total Driving: 10th
What it means: The man with the sweetest swing on tour has made that part of his game a very big weapon.
All you have to do is look at his numbers above to see just how much of a weapon.
When he drives the ball as well as he has been, it's easy to understand why he was 10th in greens in regulation last year.
As it has been with Scott for a number of years, he's been held back by his putter. He's won 11 times on the PGA Tour and 13 times internationally.
But his driver and how he makes that club work have put him in position to win many other times.
2. Rory McIlroy
9 of 10
Driving Distance: 3rd
Driving Accuracy: 108th
Total Driving: 16th
What it means: In the simplest of terms, Rory McIlroy was a beast from the middle of the summer to the end. The stats above suggest that he didn't drive the ball very accurately, but keep in mind those were the numbers from the entire season.
When he got hot, however, nobody was driving the ball longer or straighter that McIlroy. His season-long statistics aren't nearly as impressive as they were as he went about the business of winning two majors in three starts.
There's no more of that talk about how changing clubs was such a bad idea. The talk now is whether he'll win the career Grand Slam in April at Augusta National.
1. Henrik Stenson
10 of 10
Driving Distance: 64th
Driving Accuracy: 14th
Total Driving: 2nd
What it means: Amazing, isn't it, that a guy who averages 293.2 off the tee ranks 64th on the PGA in that category? But such is the game as it's played today.
But in Stenson's game, his distance off the tee works well, especially since he's so accurate. That accuracy allows him to put his irons to work and they do just fine, getting him to eighth on tour in greens in regulation.
That was his formula in 2013 when he got hot in the FedEx Cup playoffs, winning the Deutsche Bank Championship and the Tour Championship.
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