You are correct, and the subsequent poster confirms this with his observations of the 6 yard measurements.pudge said:
Am I right in thinking each segment, or shade of green, is 6 yards?..
So on that basis, the shortest distance from the kick to the goal line is 48 yards. The ball goes in the centre of the goal, and the shortest distance to the centre of the pitch is 16 yards. So the distance between the kicker and the point where the ball crosses the goal line is the square root of (48 squared plus 16 squared), which is 50.6 yards.
If the BBC would give the maximum height of the arc of the ball, I could get my 14 year old lad to calculate the approximate distance travelled also.