There are two types of golfers: those chasing more distance and those craving more accuracy. Aaron Rai is firmly in the second camp.
At the time of writing, he’s hit 653 of 890 fairways this season, good for a 73.37 percent driving accuracy rate. For comparison? The least accurate driver on the PGA Tour (Frankie Capan) finds the fairway just 42 percent of the time.
What makes Rai’s driving stats so interesting isn’t just how accurate he is, it’s what he’s using to do it.
Aaron Rai’s driver setup: Not what you’d expect
Aaron Rai is still gaming a 2019 TaylorMade M6 driver with a Mitsubishi Diamana BB 73 TX shaft.
For context, the M6 won “Best for Distance” in MyGolfSpy’s 2019 Most Wanted Driver Test. It didn’t finish top of the charts for forgiveness but its blend of speed and consistency works for Rai.
What’s even more telling is that Rai is not afraid to replace and upgrade equipment. He plays the modern Qi10 fairway woods. He is testing what’s out there but has had no reason to change to something other than the M6.
Longest versus most accurate: How their seasons compare
The next obvious question that comes to mind is how important it is to hit fairways on the PGA Tour. We took the longest driver on Tour, Aldrich Potgieter, and compared him to Aaron Rai to see what their seasons look like.
Obviously, there’s a lot more to it than distance versus accuracy off the tee but it’s still interesting to take a look.
Aaron Rai (Most Accurate)
- Driving Accuracy: 73.37%
- Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 0.390 (22nd)
- Club Head Speed: 113.38 mph (145th)
- Average Driving Distance: 284.5 yards (162nd)
- Official Money: $2,771,710 (50th)
- Top-10 Finishes: 1
- Wins: 0
Aldrich Potgieter (Longest)
- Driving Distance: 327.6 yards (1st)
- Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee: 0.686 (2nd)
- Club Head Speed: 125.77 mph (2nd)
- Driving Accuracy: 55.21% (137th)
- Official Money: $2,950,266 (47th)
- Top-10 Finishes: 3
- Wins: 1
So what do we learn?
Despite Rai’s elite accuracy, Potgieter’s power game has translated into a stronger season overall. He had more top-10s, more prize money and a Tour win. That’s not to say Rai’s strategy doesn’t work (his consistency off the tee is still among the best in the world) but it does highlight a truth most pros know well: hitting fairways is valuable but distance wins more often.
Look at Rory McIlroy, the second-longest driver on Tour. He ranks 171st, five from the bottom, for accuracy.
Final thoughts
Aaron Rai might be one of the few players on Tour still gaming a six-year-old driver but there’s a good reason: it performs for him.
If a club gives you confidence and control, it doesn’t need to be the newest model. However, it probably makes sense to test it and see what the differences in stats would look like. It’s something that Aaron Rai has likely done every season.
Andrew
11 months ago
what about Paul Peterson on 73.88%? … No story because his gear is much younger? A more interesting story might be why current players are far less accurate with modern equipment than say Calvin Peete who AVERAGED 82% over 9 seasons. Was it because older equipment was more accurate, or was Calvin just exceptional.
RPD3
11 months ago
Calvin Peete was just exceptional. Did a quick search online and in 1980, the PGA tour average for driving accuracy was 59.0% and average distance was 256.89 yards. In 2024, the PGA tour average for driving accuracy was 59.38% and average distance was 301 yards.