Distance and accuracy: Inside the numbers in 2011

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J.B. Holmes was the biggest basher of an unprecedented year off the tee on TOUR.

The 2011 PGA TOUR season is in the books, and the team at ShotLink -- having evaluated the statistics -- has come up with some interesting numbers. Here's a look at some key statistics off the tee this year.

DRIVING DISTANCE

For the first time since 1980, when the TOUR began tracking driving distance, the TOUR average cracked the 290-yard mark. This year's average was 290.9 yards.

J.B. Holmes led the TOUR with an average of 318.4 yards per measured drive. Holmes also led in all drives (306 yard average) and percentage of drives at 300 yards or more (60.03 percent).

On the flip side, Brian Gay had the worst average in those three categories. He averaged 269.8 yards per measured drive; 266.8 yards for all drives; and his percentage of drives at 300 yards or better was just 4.66 percent.

The table below shows the number of players in various driving distance intervals in four select years. The numbers show the significant increase in length since 1980 when drives on TOUR were first measured. Back then, no player averaged more than 280 yards; in fact, no player in 1990 averaged more than 280 yards.

But in 2000, John Daly led the TOUR in driving distance, the only player to crack the 300-yard average barrier.

This year, 21 players averaged more than 300 yards off the tee -- and five of those players averaged 310 yards or better (Holmes, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Robert Garrigus and Gary Woodland, unofficially known as the Big Five). Last year, the only player to average more than 310 yards off the tee was Garrigus at 315.5 yards per measured drive.

Here's a look at some driving distance categories:

Longest average in an event (all drives) -- J.B. Holmes averaged 321.6 yards with every drive at the Valero Texas Open. He finished tied for 11th that week, failing to break 70 in any round.

Longest average in a round (all drives) -- Bubba Watson averaged 332.6 yards with every drive during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He shot 68 that day, his low round of the week as he finished tied for 21st.

Most drives over 300 yards in an event -- Of Rory McIlroy's 56 drives at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitional at Firestone, 51 of them were measured at 300 yards or longer. McIlroy tied for sixth that week.

Most drives over 300 yards in a round -- Not surprisingly, McIlroy also led in this category, hitting each of his 14 drives during his final round at Firestone at 300 yards or longer. McIlroy shot a 3-under 67 in that round.

Longest drive of the year -- Dustin Johnson had a 463-yard drive on the par-5 seventh hole at TPC Boston during the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Johnson's tee ball bounced off the cart path several times before coming to rest. Incidentally, Johnson ended up with par on the hole during a round in which he shot 75.

Winners and driving distance -- Bubba Watson was the only 2011 winner to lead the field for driving distance (measured hole). In fact, in both of Watson's wins this year -- the Farmers Insurance Open and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans -- Watson led the field in driving distance.

DRIVING ACCURACY

No surprise that Joe Durant led the TOUR in driving accuracy in 2011, hitting 75.65 percent of fairways -- more than 14 percent higher than the TOUR average of 61.33 percent. This is the third time in the last six years that Durant has led the TOUR in that category; he has never finished outside the top 10 during that span.

Unfortunately for Durant, all that accuracy did not translate into success. In 25 starts, he produced just four top-25 finishes and none in the top 10 while missing 14 cuts. He did not qualify for the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, finishing 149th in the points standings.

Durant, also deadly accurate with his irons -- he was third in greens in regulation -- is hampered by his shortcomings on the greens, where he ranked 184th in Strokes Gained-Putting this year.

Anthony Kim had the worst driving accuracy percentage in 2011, hitting just 46.99 percent of his fairways.

Here's a look at some driving accuracy categories:

Highest percentage of fairways hit in an event -- Three players this year hit 93 percent of their fairways for the week. Aron Price and David Toms both did it at the Travelers Championship, while Bryce Molder did it at the Reno-Tahoe Open. None of those three players ended up winning their respective events.

Numbers of players to hit every fairway in a round -- A total of 70 players did it at least once this year, with Joe Durant achieving the feat four times.

Lowest percentage of fairways hit by a winner in 2011 -- Darren Clarke hit just 41 percent of his fairways at Royal St. George's but that didn't prevent him from winning his first career major, the British Open.

Most consecutive fairways hit -- John Merrick hit 36 consecutive fairways during one stretch.

Winners and driving accuracy -- Sorry, none this year. No winner in 2011 led the field in driving accuracy that week. Brandt Snedeker at the Heritage and Steve Stricker at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance came closest -- both were ranked third in driving accuracy en route to winning the respective events. Meanwhile, David Toms (at THE PLAYERS Championship) and Kyle Stanley (at the John Deere Classic) finished second in their tournaments while leading the field in driving accuracy those weeks.

Toughest fairway to hit (over 400 yards) -- Just 27 percent of the field managed to hit the fifth hole at Royal St. George's during the British Open.

Course with the toughest fairways to hit -- At the North course at Torrey Pines, the percentage of fairways hit was just 39.80 percent during the Farmers Insurance Open.

Course with the easiest fairways to hit -- At Silver Rock, one of the four courses in the rotation of this year's Bob Hope Classic (now the Humana Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation), the average percentage of fairways hit was 81.37 percent.