The Best Golfers Who Are Not Big Hitters

There is an obsession within our sport relating to distance from the tee. Aldrich Potgieter leads the PGA Tour driving distance table for 2025 with an AVERAGE of 326.6 yards. It is a mind-boggling statistic. 

At the other end of the scale, Brian Campbell is the shortest hitter, averaging 275.8 yards. That means Potgieter outhits Campbell by an average of more than 50 yards. It is a huge advantage. Or is it?

It is easy to believe that distance is everything but there have been many shorter hitters who have achieved plenty of success over the years. It is a fact that golfers who do not hit the ball as far tend to find more fairways. Yes, they will be going in with bigger clubs than the likes of Rory McIlroy and Bryson Dechambeau but they will be doing so from the middle of the fairway.

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Here, we look at some of them.

Brian Campbell

Campbell made headlines in February 2025 when he came from nowhere to win the Mexico Open. In an era of players who routinely smash the ball 300+ yards, the American is a breath of fresh air. Why? He has a driving dfstance average of just 275 yards but he hits an awful lot of fairways.

Calvin Peete

Arguably the straightest hitter the PGA Tour has ever seen. He won 12 times on the PGA Tour. In 1985 he won the Tournament Players Championship and finished the season in the top five on the money list three times - 1982, 1983 and 1985. And the key to it all was his accuracy. He didn’t take up the game until he was in his 20s and the reason for his accuracy was a broken arm suffered earlier in his life that dictated his swing plane.

Corey Pavin

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

You have to be a decent golfer to win 15 times on the PGA Tour, including a US Open - and Pavin was certainly that. Standing just 5ft 9in, weighing little more than 140lb and looking like a one iron, he shrugged off being outdriven by 50-70 yards by the likes of Greg Norman. He was a wonderful long iron player and could make his fairway woods talk.

Bernhard Langer

The German made his farewell appearance at The Masters in 2025, citing the length of the course. He said that he was simply finding it too tough, going into most par fours with a fairway wood. The truth is that Langer was never a bomber. And when you take into account his travails on the greens over the years it is quite remarkable that he won The Masters twice, three times on the PGA Tour, 42 times on the DP World Tour and 47 times (and counting) on the Champions Tour. What he lacked in distance he made up for with his laser-like accuracy with irons.

Nick Faldo

Despite standing 6ft 3in tall, Faldo was one of the shorter hitters when in his prime. His main focus was to keep the ball in play, something he did with great success. It is well documented that he changed his swing because he did not feel he could win majors. But he was never obsessed with distance. He was a brilliant iron player, had a great short game and a fabulous touch on the greens. And it served him pretty well - just to remind you, he won The Masters three times and The Open three times.

Lee Trevino

Trevino was an extraordinary shotmaker who moved everything from left to right. Nowadays they call it a power fade but Super Mex sliced the ball. With every club in the bag. I once watched Trevino on the range at The Open when players used to bring their own practice balls and the caddie would fetch them. Trevino’s bagman was Willie Aitchison and he did not have to move an inch as he caught Trevino’s shots. It was incredible. His slice meant he lacked distance but he was yet another with a wondrous touch around the greens.

Bob Charles

The New Zealander was the first left-hander to win The Open. Like Faldo, he was more than six feet tall and, like Faldo, he knew that golf was an easier game when played from the middle of the fairway. He was the greatest putter I have ever seen and used the same club on the greens throughout his career. He didn’t do too badly either, winning a total of 80 tournaments.

Gary Player

Player completed the career grand slam and maintained his place at the top of the game for the better part of 30 years. He won nine majors and a scarcely credible 159 tournaments worldwide. He was a wondrous bunker player and a fabulous putter. And he had to be - Player was just 5ft 6in tall and was regularly outhit by a country mile by the likes of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

Bobby Locke

Locke was a portly South African who won The Open four times. His swing was not the prettiest and he did not hit it terribly far but he struck every single shot with a low draw, which goes some way towards explaining his success on links courses. He won 15 times on the PGA Tour, claimed the South African Open an incredible nine times and secured a total of 94 professional titles. Like so many others on this list, Locke made up for his lack of distance with a short game to die for.

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