This is 1 of the biggest differences between good and bad golfers

Low wayward drive percentage is one of the biggest indicators of a low-handicap golfer. Getty Images Welcome to Play Smart , a regular GOLF. com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.

Everyone wants to get better at golf. Even the best players in the world are always looking for any edge they can find to shoot lower scores. The problem with most recreational golfers is that they don’t fully understand why they shoot higher scores than better players.

Sure, they recognize the macro-level differences — longer drives, closer approaches, fewer putts — but they don’t always understand how better golfers consistently put themselves in position for success. The latest Arccos Annual Distance Report shed light on this topic, and it all starts with accuracy off the tee. 1 big difference between good and bad golf As you might expect, low-handicap golfers are more accurate off the tee than their high-handicap counterparts.

But the gap between the two is smaller than you might think. According to Arccos’ data, low single-digit handicaps (0–5) hit 50 percent of fairways across all age groups, while high-handicap players (30+) hit 40 percent. So, over the course of an average round, a low-handicap player will hit only one or two more fairways than a high-handicap playing partner.