my understanding is that it's less about raw strength and more about having the skill to know how hard and what angle to hit the ball at.
Probably the biggest difference is that women's tees are significantly closer to the flag than men's tees are, therefore they don't need to be able to drive as far.
That said, the further and more accurately you can hit your first shot(s), the easier your next shot will be. And men are, unsurprisingly, able to hit farther and more accurately than women.
There is around a 50-60 yard difference (around 26%) difference in length for men vs women. When you combine this with the women’s tee boxes being significantly closer to the hole, allowing a man to play on the women’s tour would be a massacre.
For those who don’t play golf, the longer you hit your tee shot on any hole that isn’t reachable in 1 shot (which is basically just the par 3 holes, and a few short par 4’s), the shorter your second “approach” shot into the green (that’s where you see people putting the ball into the hole) is. This makes a huge difference because the longer a shot has to be, the less accurate it will be.
It gets even worse when you consider the following. On a 420 hard hole, If I am 320 off the tee, and that leaves me a 100 yards to the hole, and a woman is 250 off the tee, leaving 170 to the hole, we are now looking at: me pitching (a closer range, more accurate style of shot) a wedge close into the hole, vs a weaker woman still having to cover 170 yards, which is not only longer in general, but also takes her way more club to cover. She’d need something like a 4 or 5 iron (significantly more club, to hit a significantly less accurate) full swing to land the ball somewhere (probably not close), on the green.
Basically, being long confers tremendous advantage, not just in being able to hit the ball further, but in making all subsequent shots closer, and thus allowing you to be more accurate. Here’s a chart of how much longer men are than women.. For the
layman, just look at the last “carry” column. That will be how far the ball is moving in the air, before striking the ground, and rolling.
TLDR, as with almost everything else, natutre/God has provided men with bodies that are dramatically more adept at anything physical. It’s not anything to be “sad” about, as nature is not concerned with our concept of “fairness” at all. It just is what it is, and we separate our sports for good fucking reason.
Probably the biggest difference is that women's tees are significantly closer to the flag than men's tees are, therefore they don't need to be able to drive as far.
That said, the further and more accurately you can hit your first shot(s), the easier your next shot will be. And men are, unsurprisingly, able to hit farther and more accurately than women.
This.
There is around a 50-60 yard difference (around 26%) difference in length for men vs women. When you combine this with the women’s tee boxes being significantly closer to the hole, allowing a man to play on the women’s tour would be a massacre.
For those who don’t play golf, the longer you hit your tee shot on any hole that isn’t reachable in 1 shot (which is basically just the par 3 holes, and a few short par 4’s), the shorter your second “approach” shot into the green (that’s where you see people putting the ball into the hole) is. This makes a huge difference because the longer a shot has to be, the less accurate it will be.
It gets even worse when you consider the following. On a 420 hard hole, If I am 320 off the tee, and that leaves me a 100 yards to the hole, and a woman is 250 off the tee, leaving 170 to the hole, we are now looking at: me pitching (a closer range, more accurate style of shot) a wedge close into the hole, vs a weaker woman still having to cover 170 yards, which is not only longer in general, but also takes her way more club to cover. She’d need something like a 4 or 5 iron (significantly more club, to hit a significantly less accurate) full swing to land the ball somewhere (probably not close), on the green.
Basically, being long confers tremendous advantage, not just in being able to hit the ball further, but in making all subsequent shots closer, and thus allowing you to be more accurate. Here’s a chart of how much longer men are than women.. For the layman, just look at the last “carry” column. That will be how far the ball is moving in the air, before striking the ground, and rolling.
TLDR, as with almost everything else, natutre/God has provided men with bodies that are dramatically more adept at anything physical. It’s not anything to be “sad” about, as nature is not concerned with our concept of “fairness” at all. It just is what it is, and we separate our sports for good fucking reason.