NCG’s Golf Glossary: What is carry?
Here at NCG we pride ourselves on being the publication for the everyday player, so we’ve taken it upon ourselves to delve into the wonderful world of the golfing lexicon.
Sometimes the most obvious terms have the most interesting story, so you might find yourself an interesting conversation starter…
What is carry?
Carry is the distance that the golf ball travels from the club face to when it first touches the ground again.
How would I use it in a sentence?
“There is water in front of the tee and you will require 210 yards of carry to get over it”
What are the origins?
Well, carry in golf will have been around since the first ball was hit but back then it won’t have been known what carry was as it’s unknown when the term entered the golfing world.
Back when the game was first started they’ll have most likely just have referred to it as distance.
Any other business?
The improvement in Trackman and other ball flight trackers have helped us keep a record of how far golfers are hitting the ball.
The carry distance stat was first introduced in 2007. Bubba Watson led the stats that year with an average carry distance off the tee of 300.6 yards.
On the 2017 PGA Tour, Rory McIlroy led the carry distance stats with an average carry of 305.1 yards.
Click here to return to NCG’s Golf Glossary