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By Scott Michaux
María Fassi and Anne van Dam have often found themselves paired together at tournaments since they debuted as LPGA Tour rookies in 2019. The two longest drivers on tour last season sometimes can’t help but create a little competitive rivalry on the tee box.
“Catch that one, María,” van Dam, a tall 25-year-old Dutch golfer, challenged after mashing a 300-yard drive the last time they were paired together a few weeks ago. Fassi, a 22-year-old from Mexico, dutifully proceeded to rip one of her own.
As they approached their drives in the fairway, van Dam (above) confidently kept walking to the ball resting 20 yards further in front.
“Hey,” Fassi shouted from the first ball. “This is your ball here.”
Welcome to the distance chase on the LPGA Tour, where a trio of emerging young stars are pushing the boundaries of how far women can bang the ball in much the same way the men have been going since John Daly brought the grip-it-and-rip-it mantra to the PGA Tour. Led by 23-year-old Filipino rookie Bianca Pagdanganan – whose average driving distance of 288.76 yards is nearly identical to the 288.9 that made Daly a power-hitting icon as a rookie in 1990 – these young athletes have separated themselves from even the established big hitters such as Jessica and Nelly Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome, Angel Yin and Brooke Henderson.
“It’s exciting to see and fun to watch them play and drive the ball,” said Heather Daly-Donofrio, the chief of communications and tour operations for the LPGA.
Of course, golf always has had its power players in every generation, and the top of the women’s game is no exception. Before they started measuring such things, Babe Zaharias and Joanne Carner were notorious power players. Mickey Wright and Nancy Lopez were no slouches themselves. Laura Davies was 20 yards longer (258.87) on average than the second longest driver (Juli Inkster) the first year the LPGA started charting driving distance in 1992, and Davies topped the driving charts a record five consecutive years from 1992-96. Sophie Gustafson, Caroline Blaylock, Vicky Hurst, Lorena Ochoa, Michelle Wie and Yani Tseng all thrived on their ability to hit it further on average than most of their peers.
“Regardless of what era we’re in, distance has always been the holy grail in golf,” said swing instructor David Leadbetter, whose client list has included Fassi since the start of 2019. “Now you’re getting long hitters who can actually play now. It’s progress. At the highest level, these players are maximizing what they can do through exercising and diet and equipment and technique. You put all those elements together you’re going to get a player who can hit it out there.”
Daly-Donofrio, who won twice in 11 LPGA seasons from 1998 to 2008, has been watching the evolution accelerate for more than two decades.
“Historically, we’ve always had a group of players who could stretch it out when they wanted to,” she said. “I’d play with Sophie Gustafson and I could keep up occasionally, but when she really wanted to hit one far she could outdrive me by 40 yards.
“(Pagdanganan) can regularly create drives in that 300 range and with accuracy. That may be a little bit of a change.”
“Players feel more confident swinging it 100 percent where even 10 years ago players were a little bit more reluctant to go full bore because there was much more chance of hitting it offline.”
David Leadbetter
The consistency of power is indeed a change, brought on by a combination of factors including, most notably, equipment. The percentage of drives longer than 300 yards recorded by LPGA players has been increasing through the years from the mid-1990s to present. While the pandemic-hampered 2020 is a relatively small sample size, still more than 100 drives longer than 300 yards have been recorded through 14 events compared to less than half that number in the entire 1995 season.
Nearly one in every three measured drives by Pagdanganan (30.95 percent) travels at least 300 yards. Fassi (21.05) and van Dam (19.77) also generate 300-yarders in volume.
“The equipment is so much better now and the margin for error is not nearly as great,” said Leadbetter. “Players feel more confident swinging it 100 percent where even 10 years ago players were a little bit more reluctant to go full bore because there was much more chance of hitting it offline.”
The average driving distance for LPGA Tour players has increased by more than 25 yards in the past 25 years since it was 231.46 yards in 1995. The 2019 average of 258.45 yards was the longest in tour history, even closing the gap on the PGA Tour average to 36 yards from a 42-yard difference in 2015.
Modern equipment obviously plays a huge role in that, but it’s the caliber of athletes taking advantage of fitness and nutrition to hone their bodies as well as technology to sharpen their techniques and maximize their strengths that make the incremental advances.
Fassi, for instance, is a natural athlete with the lower body strength of a cyclist or soccer player, which helps her generate swing speeds of 111 mph and carries of more than 290 yards on the range without the adrenaline that competition brings. Leadbetter says his focus with her is now on improving her iron game to score better and teaching her to harness her power in different ways.
“María almost has two swings now – a safe-drive swing to get it in play with lower trajectory she can get 260-270 yards,” he said. “And then the full-blown rip.”
The only thing missing from Pagdanganan, Fassi and van Dam are the other essential elements that will turn them into LPGA winners – but they’re closing in on that. Pagdanganan has posted consecutive top-10 finishes including a third at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Reynolds Lake Oconee. Fassi has started to consistently make cuts since the LPGA restarted in July. Van Dam is steadily transitioning after winning five times on the Ladies European Tour and competing in the 2019 Solheim Cup.
As they grow more prominent, their skills become more marketable and influential.
“When you couple long hitters with top performances and winning tournaments and top-10s, that’s really when I think young people take notice and will strive to do that as well,” Daly-Donofrio said. “My 14-year-old daughter is playing on the high school team for the first time, she wants to hit it far. As young players see LPGA players hitting it longer and straighter at the same time, they’ll aspire to do the same thing. Once they see it, they know it can be done.”
Leadbetter says “the future is right now,” noting that the top 10 average LPGA drivers are all about 270 yards now and “in five years time the top 30 or 40 are going to be that way.” Eventually, someone on the LPGA will push a 300-yard average driving distance, as Daly did for the first time in 1997 on the PGA Tour.
“The way the men’s game is going, there’s no question that the women’s game is going to follow,” Leadbetter said. “You’re going to get more athletes coming into the sport. … Once Roger Bannister broke that 4-minute mile suddenly there was a rush of people who broke that 4-minute barrier. Once people believe they can do it, there’s no handcuffs anymore.”
Daly-Donofrio believes the current influx of talented and dynamic young bombers will draw more attention to the LPGA.
“I don’t know too many fans who don’t like seeing players, either on the men’s tour or women’s tour, hit the ball far,” she said. “Fans like that ‘Wow’ factor. … For many years, female players weren’t always seen as athletes and that’s important to attracting a fan base. Our players are being seen as athletes now and they deserve to be, and I do think that will attract more fans to the game.”