From
The Editor
Bill Cromwell, Editor-in-Chief TEE TIMES GOLF GUIDE™ Magazine
Hit It on the Screws
I thoroughly enjoyed watching some exceptional golf during July, starting with The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England. The course looked overcooked, and with short, dry rough and low winds that presented little challenge to golfers, but it was fun watching them hit 425-yard drives on some holes. I couldn’ t stop thinking that if golfers in our area played a course in that brown condition, they’ d quickly label it a“ Goat Ranch.” But this was The Open, so conditions are expected to be firm, fast, and challenging for the world’ s best golfers.
It was nice to see 39-year-old Ryan Fox hold off Scottie Scheffler and Tommy Fleetwood, then birdie the 72nd hole to win The Open Championship. It’ s really fun to watch a player like Fox, who had won only two PGA TOUR events before, play four amazing days of golf and beat the best players in the world to win a major like The Open. He must like Opens. He also won the 2025 RBC Canadian Open.
My favorite to watch had to be the 3M Open, July 26th, when 21-year-old Jackson Koivun shot 25-under— three strokes better than Scheffler. What a great story. Koivun turned professional just 24 days earlier, after earning his TOUR card through the PGA TOUR’ s University Accelerated program, skipping the Korn Ferry Tour. Right out of the gate, he won his first PGA TOUR event.
Koivun said in a post-win interview about one of his better shots,“ Yes, I hit that one on the‘ Screws.’” I thought, how in the world does this 21-year-old kid, born in 2005, even know that 1960s-70s golf term?
It got me thinking—“ that’ s always dangerous,” as my wife,
�The Screws
Victoria, would say. Nevertheless, after watching Koivun launch 302-yard drives on average, I was curious about the evolution of club technology since the 1980s, which enables the powerful long drives we witness on the PGA TOUR today.
Thankfully, pga. com collects every stat you can imagine on tour pros. Koivun is certainly not the longest driver on tour, averaging 302 yards, but he’ s young and will get stronger and longer. Greens in regulation, putting, and his metal game were what won the 3M for him. He had a hiccup on the 18th tee but hung on and made the final putt when it counted the most. According to pga. com, Aldrich Potgieter ranks as the longest driver, averaging 330.0 yards. Second to Potgieter is, of course, Rory McIlroy, averaging 328.5 yards. Among all PGA TOUR players, the average drive is 305.2 yards, according to the stats list, but there is a long list of players hitting it closer to 314.
In 1980, the average driving distance for a PGA TOUR professional using“ Persimmon woods” with“ screws” on the face was 256.89 yards. Dan Pohl led the tour in driving distance, averaging 274.3 yards. Yes, Pohl regularly“ Hit it on the Screws!”
In 2000, the average pro’ s driving distance was about 273 yards. Continued on page 31 ►
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6 September 2026 TEE TIMES GOLF GUIDE