Meters to Yards conversion

Meters to yards

Converting meters to yards comes up when a metric distance has to be understood in an imperial setting: a European golf course played by an American visitor, a metric running race described for a US audience, or a length of cloth bought abroad. A meter is 1.09361 yards, so multiply meters by 1.09361, or divide by 0.9144.

Quick estimate

Add 10 % to the meters: 100 m ≈ 110 yd (109.4 exactly), 400 m ≈ 440 yd (437.4). The true factor is a touch under 1.1, so the estimate runs slightly high.

• 1 m = 1.09 yd
• 5 m = 5.47 yd
• 10 m = 10.94 yd
• 25 m = 27.34 yd (a short-course pool)
• 50 m = 54.68 yd (an Olympic pool)
• 100 m = 109.36 yd
• 400 m = 437.45 yd (one lap of a track)
• 1000 m = 1 093.61 yd
• 1500 m = 1 640.42 yd (the "metric mile", 120 yd short of a real one)

Golf and shooting

Continental European and many Asian golf courses mark distances in meters, and a 150 m marker is 164 yards — a full club's difference for most players. Shooting ranges are similar: a 100 m range is 109 yards, so a rifle zeroed at 100 yards will hit slightly low at 100 m.

Yards, feet and inches

If the result needs to be in feet, multiply yards by 3; 100 m is 109.36 yd or 328.08 ft. A cubic meter is 1.308 cubic yards, the unit US concrete and gravel are sold in.

Worked examples

A 150 m golf marker. 150 × 1.0936 = 164 yd. If your 7-iron carries 160 yards, that is a 6-iron shot on a metric course.

A 25 m pool. 25 × 1.0936 = 27.3 yd. A 1 500 m swim (60 lengths) is 1 640 yards — about 66 lengths of a 25-yard American pool.

A 3 m rope. 3 × 1.0936 = 3.28 yd, or 3 yd 10 in. Buy 3.5 yards.

Frequently asked questions

How many yards are in a meter? 1.0936, so a meter is about 3 % longer than a yard — or, the other way round, a yard is 91.44 cm.

Why do the numbers look so similar? Both units are roughly one human stride. The yard was a body-based unit; the meter was defined from the Earth's circumference, and they happened to land close together.

Is a "metric mile" 1 600 m or 1 500 m? Track and field calls the 1 500 m the metric mile even though a real mile is 1 609.34 m — 109 m, or 120 yards, longer.

Related conversions

Three feet make a yard, so meters to feet gives three times the answer; for long distances, kilometers to miles is the natural pair.

Good to know

Track and field records make the metre-to-yard history visible. Until the 1970s American high schools ran the 100-yard dash, 220, 440 and 880 yards and the mile; the switch to 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1 500 metres left "converted" records that are still argued over. A 9.1-second 100-yard dash corresponds roughly to a 9.95-second 100 m. In American football, the field is 100 yards (91.4 m) between goal lines; a Canadian field is 110 yards (100.6 m); a rugby pitch is 100 m between try lines — 109 yards.