Pro vs scratch vs 5HC dispersion patterns

Does anyone know what the average dispersion patterns are for different handicaps? I’m learning the decade program. I’m going to get some time on a trackman to figure out what mine are, but would like to know how I compare to ball strikers at various levels.

Honestly, Tiger's dispersion was really bad. His driver failed him a ton. He's done his say. Ball striking only matters if it's somewhere in play. Might be better off getting your short game dialed in, as an errant drive won't cost you if you figure you can get up and down all the time. You won't really pick up strokes with dispersion, it's just a selling point for Trackman.

Broadie has some stuff in dispersion in every shot counts and a paper on golf metrics. Table 1 in paper. He give STD deviation in degrees of drives for various skill levels - would need to do some math to figure numbers - he has a formula.

Yes. Get on trackman and check it out. Still, your targets don’t change in DECADE. One of the best things you can do is figure out your distances. Hit 20 shots on something like Trackman. Delete the shortest 5 and whatever your average carry is is your distance. Game changer for a lot of people.

I'm not sure I follow. If a pro has half the dispersion, wouldn't they be able to aim half the distance to the hole?

How far are you in DECADE? Scott gets into it. Targets don’t change based on skill or even shot pattern. Everyone has a shot pattern. And mathematically it works out best to pick the same target because even someone with half the shot pattern still has a big miss. They’re just going to be closer to the targets more often.

Where it more comes into play is realizing you hit a 5 yard draw on average (center of your shot pattern) and you need to aim 5 yards right of your target to try to get the ball to finish there.

Do you care to explain this in more detail, because I was thinking similar to the graphic above, that a pro would aim closer to the hole than the am with a bigger dispersion? I have watched some of Scott's stuff but haven't paid for the Decade system. I would love to understand this more. Thanks

I’ll do my best. The simplest way to put it is yes their shotgun pattern is bigger, but when they move their targets farther away from the hole we just start to bring other trouble into play. The closer you are to the hole the lower your scoring average will be. Make your target (center of your shot pattern) as close to the hole as possible. It will give you the lowest possible scoring average. The question is how much do I not want to be short sided? Based on that and how far away you are from the hole dictates how far away you need to aim from the edge of the green or how far away from OB/water you need to center tee shots.

So just trying to understand more, and thanks for the post, do you want to adjust your center of your pattern to fit the least amount of trouble, including short siding yourself? And that is most likely near the center of the green for both the pro and the am?

Yeah so I assign values to certain spots around the green. For example water is 3. If there’s water I’m going to add 3 yards to whatever my base number is. Whether it’s center or green or not depends on the course. Smaller greens like Pebble MAY be, but if you’re playing St Andrews probably not. If you want my advice drop $200 for 6 months of access and binge it like it’s a Netflix show. Amazing content for the money.

That May be a bit wordy. But yes. Depending on how much I don’t want to be short sided I will move the target farther away from the edge of the green.

Might have to quit being a tightazz and join.

I’m happy to answer questions, but I’m not Scott and you’ll get WAY more from watching the videos.

To me I think it is more than dispersion that differentiates a pro/Scratch and a lower handicap player. I’m a low handicap player and I always reference the rounds I got to play with an aspiring mini tour player and I gotta tell you it’s the consistency and the belief that is different. He has the ability to pull off the shot to get him to the spot he needs to be for his next shot. His ability to know he is gonna fire at the ball with 100% confidence behind that ball. He isn’t trying to figure things out, he has figured it out. What’s crazier is that for me, I can have a pretty tight dispersion but even if we flip that chart to where I am more consistent or tighter in dispersion, the pro wil take that net shot, and still give himself a chance at birdie, eagle, whatever it may be. It’s like saying a 120+ mph swing is gonna guarantee you get you a long drive. Same can be said about having tight dispersion. It’s a good thing to note for sure but show me the other numbers as well, GIr, up/down percentage. It’s crazy how good these guys are. It’s a humbling experience and one that I strive for each round I go out. Focusing on a tighter dispersion but on top of that knowing that ifI have off grid day, I can still put up a great score.

Yeah tour players are going to have tighter patterns and they just strike the ball better overall. And it’s definitely a good thing to get a tighter dispersion. It’ll lead to lower scores. Still, targets don’t change :).

Yeah just watching the youtube pro guys play against tour pro's, it's pretty obvious why each is in their spot. Tour pro's are so used to scoring. They miss, they recover (also don't get into bad spots). They can hit that 200 yard shot on the green with pretty good regularity. Not every shot is close but some will be. Shorter shots it's a ton of birdie chances.