What are the most relevant statistics to track for a 20 handicapper?

[Wormkiller]

12 hours ago, Krt22 said:

The goal is to get the ball into the hole with the fewest strokes possible. Sacrificing a ton of distance off the tee simply to improve fairways hit does not help you to accomplish that goal in any way since GIR probability drops as you get further and further away . If anyone wants to get significantly better at golf, they  need to hit the ball better, period. Not hitting longer clubs to avoid penalties will inherently limit someone's ability score. It only makes sense to lay up if a decent shot will still land you trouble.

A stroke and distance penalty off the tee from a lost ball will cost a golfer more than hitting a fairway with a club with 40m less distance on almost every occasion I reckon.

 

And a shot deviating 10 degrees left/right from the tee with the driver will cost more shots than a 4 iron deviating the same angle on almost every occasion too. Playing where I do anyway.

 

In fact, I've learnt the hard way this is the case when playing comps at my club, on several occasions now. 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Wormkiller

[Justsomeguy]

16 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

At that level, I'd probably be tracking wasted shots.  I'll explain what I mean.

 

There are 4 general phases on each hole, except par threes.

 

Tee

Approach (Tee on par threes)

Chipping

Putting

 

You can break approach out to account for laying up on par 5s or long par 4s with forced carries of bunkers or penalty areas to the green. Can also break out purring for putting if you're leaving yourself 3+ foot second putts a lot.

 

A wasted shot, including penalties, are shots that didn't advance you to the next phase of the game. Say if you're 190 out and you chunk/top your approach and you have more than 40yards left to the green, it's a wasted shot as you're still in the approach phase.

 

The more you can get that wasted shot number down to 0, your scores will reflect it.

 

 

 

This.

I was going to say count your fats, thins, absolute mishits, and treat it as a scalar you intend to go down, but this answer is better.

[ezpz]

I wouldnt track anything considering at this level you should be worried about making any type of solid contact, subsequently your shot pattern with atleast the driver and learning how to not turn a lost stroke into 3 lost strokes. ( if you chunk 3 chips in 3 round and skull 4 pitches, do you need stats to tell you what to work on?). If you are hellbent on tracking someting you should track lost shots. 3 putts, double chips, double bunker shots, penalty strokes and where they occur. Again at this level I would just work on all areas of the game to figure out where you are uncomfortable and to figure out what your strenghts are so you can play to them.

 

Also, don't forget to have fun 🙂

Edited April 20, 2021 by ezpz

[GolfTurkey]

On 4/19/2021 at 4:35 PM, Wormkiller said:

Hello all.

 

Ive recently invested in Shot Scope V3, and I reckon its awesome for stats nerds like myself.

 

Just looking for advice and opinions on what are the most relevant stats to track for someone like myself who isn't necessarily tying to make gross par every hole. For example, at my home course, which is tight and lined with trees and bush there are quite a few holes that I aim for bogey by clubbing down off the tee and laying up off the fairway. I simply don't have the skill set to approach these holes with longer clubs like driver and approach the holes with long irons. 

 

 
I have a couple of things to add since I also play on a very tight tree-lined course in Australia,

 

1. Invest in a strategy system like Decade and then use it to analyse each hole to determine the optimum strategy. Generally hitting your 4 iron is only going to be optimum on a hole if it can’t reach trouble that driver can reach (even then 3 wood or whatever may be better) or the landing area for the 4 iron distance is wider than driver’s landing area.
 

The worst case scenario on any hole is when you take the shorter club off the tee and hit it into trouble anyway e.g. the example you gave of hitting the 4 iron 133 metres into the trees on a par 5. 
 

2. You absolutely have to (not negotiable) get out of trouble in one shot. You can’t be playing pinball in the trees or taking 2 out of fairway bunkers. Don’t try anything unnecessarily heroic, get the thing back in play.

 

3. (I got this tip from an ex Australian tour pro) practise punch outs, particularly if you play on courses like we do. Go to the range and pick a narrow gap you have to hit it through, a max height that it’s allowed to go and a final target and hit these shots. Helpful if you can bend it both ways. If you get good at punch outs then the penalty for hitting driver in the trees reduces

[Itsjustagame]

Not sure what you would do with any of the information about GIR, fairways hit, number of putts etc. except drive yourself nuts. Everything has room to improve- you already know this and the numbers aren't going to help you get better at everything.

Just keep playing/practicing and use your scores as a goal.

 

 

[AndersUK]

You need to track everything at this level to determine your primary weaknesses.  

 

Putting - are you 3 putting all around the course and/or missing too many short putts?

Can you chip or are you chunking/thinning around the green?

Are your approach shots on or around the green or too often wayward/coming up short etc.?

Are you keeping the ball in play off the tee or losing and dropping too many balls?

 

Finally are you taking too many risks?  This is very important at this level.  Track how many "risk" shots you play and how many you pull off.  Are you shooting at flags or middle of green etc.?

 

I don't care much for the fairways hit stat.  If the ball went a reasonable distance in relation to the club I took and it is "in play" with a shot to the green then that is good enough at 20hcp.  I don't consider thick rough in play though!  An approach shot that lands on or around the green that results in a putt as the next shot is also good enough for a green in reg at this level.

 

 

[SNIPERBBB]

Just a note about driver and banishing from the bag.

 

If it's misbehaving for you at the range and in the course, put it in timeout. However, it should be priority #1 to get it back in play for you in your range sessions. Unless you can put yourself in wedge to 7i range with 3w or less off the tee on most par 4s.

 

[forrester_fire]

Number of Putts:  You can putt well at any handicap level

Errors:  Number of greens missed from ~25 yards.  Putting the ball (anywhere) on the green from ~25 yards should be doable for any handicap

Penalties:  These are score killers

 

This are the three biggest leaks of strokes for higher handicap players.  If you can avoid 3 putts and put the ball on the green from ~25 yards, you'll quickly shave strokes while your full swing improves.  I play to a ~12 and these are the three areas that kill my scores.  I shot an 84 last Saturday with 3 penalty strokes, one error, one three putt (bogey), and three missed birdie putts inside 7 feet (ouch!).

Edited April 20, 2021 by forrester_fire

[Krt22]

10 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

A stroke and distance penalty off the tee from a lost ball will cost a golfer more than hitting a fairway with a club with 40m less distance on almost every occasion I reckon.

 

And a shot deviating 10 degrees left/right from the tee with the driver will cost more shots than a 4 iron deviating the same angle on almost every occasion too. Playing where I do anyway.

 

In fact, I've learnt the hard way this is the case when playing comps at my club, on several occasions now. 

If you blasted every single drive OB, then yes that is the case, but I am sure some are in play and not every 4i is perfect. As you posted earlier, you still sent one into the trees for a net sub 130m shot that still needed a punch out. But the main point is you can't look at just one hole, you need to look at the average over the entire round of essentially never reaching a GIR vs learning to hit driver and occasionally taking a penalty. Avoiding penalties is very important, simply hitting fairways is not. If your goal is play around your index so you can do decent in club net events, it's a good strategy. If the goal is to drop your index and become a better golfer, you are going to need to address the root issue and learn to keep driver in play. Most high index players cannot reliably hit long irons, so if you can do that, find a good pro and get to the bottom of your driver issues. 

[FirstFlight]

No matter what the feedback loop is to your game, try it.

Scrambling: tracking your scrambling from rough, trees, OB, H2O, bunkers, fringe, 3rd putt, etc... can all be inferred from your scorecard, but, you have to track putts, FIRs, GIRs, and penalties.

 

I played matches with a -1.5 hcap and a +1 hcap in 2020. I watched each player have to scramble at least a half dozen times each, in each of those matches. Beautiful scrambling! My goal...be an awesome scrambler when I have too. Everybody scrambles, but how well is your scrambling lately?

Cheers,

[bortass]

Well I just lost the post I was typing, so here goes attempt #2

 

I skimmed through this quickly and saw a stat not mentioned, first putt distance.

 

Why does it matter? Context. There are very few stats you can look at by themselves, penalties are one, GIR is probably another.  @Krt22 and I think another poster mentioned fairways. I can probably hit every fairway if I just hit a partial PW off every tee. It may look impressive but it'll kill my scores in the long run.

 

Total putts tells you how many but doesn't really give an indication of how good your putting is. Take this real life example of my putting.

 

4/16 played 9 and had 17 putts.

4/17 played 18 with 33 putts and 17 on the front.

 

Did I putt the same each round? Is one better than the other?

 

4/16 I had 135 feet for my first putt: 33, 33, 18, 12, 10, 9, 8, 6, 6

4/17 I had 230 feet for my first putt on the front: 58, 44, 38, 33, 26, 12, 9, 6, 4

 

My putting was much better on 4/17. There's a difference between the guy the has 36 putts a round because he's not near the hole versus the guy with lead hands when he's holding a putter and two putts from 3 feet all the time. A 3 putt from 90 feet isn't bad, a 3 putt from 12 feet is.

 

You can't always look at stats in a vacuum, so I'd track both # putts and the how far your first putt is from the hole.

[SNIPERBBB]

13 minutes ago, bortass said:

Well I just lost the post I was typing, so here goes attempt #2

 

I skimmed through this quickly and saw a stat not mentioned, first putt distance.

 

Why does it matter? Context. There are very few stats you can look at by themselves, penalties are one, GIR is probably another.  @Krt22 and I think another poster mentioned fairways. I can probably hit every fairway if I just hit a partial PW off every tee. It may look impressive but it'll kill my scores in the long run.

 

Total putts tells you how many but doesn't really give an indication of how good your putting is. Take this real life example of my putting.

 

4/16 played 9 and had 17 putts.

4/17 played 18 with 33 putts and 17 on the front.

 

Did I putt the same each round? Is one better than the other?

 

4/16 I had 135 feet for my first putt: 33, 33, 18, 12, 10, 9, 8, 6, 6

4/17 I had 230 feet for my first putt on the front: 58, 44, 38, 33, 26, 12, 9, 6, 4

 

My putting was much better on 4/17. There's a difference between the guy the has 36 putts a round because he's not near the hole versus the guy with lead hands when he's holding a putter and two putts from 3 feet all the time. A 3 putt from 90 feet isn't bad, a 3 putt from 12 feet is.

 

You can't always look at stats in a vacuum, so I'd track both # putts and the how far your first putt is from the hole.

You can take that a step further by breaking it out for first putt approach and first putt scrambling as a metric to analyze your approach and l scrambling. 

[BigTerp1524]

On 4/19/2021 at 8:45 AM, SNIPERBBB said:

At that level, I'd probably be tracking wasted shots.  I'll explain what I mean.

 

There are 4 general phases on each hole, except par threes.

 

Tee

Approach (Tee on par threes)

Chipping

Putting

 

You can break approach out to account for laying up on par 5s or long par 4s with forced carries of bunkers or penalty areas to the green. Can also break out purring for putting if you're leaving yourself 3+ foot second putts a lot.

 

A wasted shot, including penalties, are shots that didn't advance you to the next phase of the game. Say if you're 190 out and you chunk/top your approach and you have more than 40yards left to the green, it's a wasted shot as you're still in the approach phase.

 

The more you can get that wasted shot number down to 0, your scores will reflect it.

 

 

 

I agree with this. I'm a 30+ handicap. Have never broken 100 but have spent the better part of the last 4 months rebuilding my swing and taking golf more seriously than before. Previously was just a hack who played a few times a year. Had fun, and that was fine. But now I'm highly focused on improving my swing and scores to increase the fun factor. I mean, it's just way more fun to hit better shots. I've only gotten one round in this year, but starting using Golf Pad GPS mostly to help dial in my club yardages, but found the tracking features helpful as well.

 

Here's a post from my swing rebuild thread addressing the same as @SNIPERBBB said with my first round of the year. 

 

Quote

I went back to every hole to count the terrible shots. Not bad shots, but chunks, skulls, duffs, etc. etc. Below is what I came up with.

 

#1 - OB on drive (2 shots) duffed SW (1 shot) 3 putt (1 shot)

#2 - Duffed SW & LW (2 shots)

#3 - Skulled PW (1 shot) 

#4 - Topped 4i (1 shot)

#5 - Topped drive (1 shot) duffed SW (1 shot)

#6 - 3 putt (1 shot)

#7 - Topped 5W x 2 (2 shots) 5W OB (2 shots) duffed SW (1 shot)

#8 - None

#9 - 4 putt!! (2 shots)

#10 - None

#11 - None

#12 - None

#13 - 3 putt (1 shot)

#14 - Duffed SW x 2 (2 shots) 3 putt (1 shot)

#15 - Duffed LW x 2 (2 shots) 3 putt (1 shot)

#16 - 3 putt (1 shot)

#17 - Duffed LW x 2 (2 shots)

#18 - None

 

Now if I eliminate half of these shots above, not including any putting, I save 7 shots on the front and come out at 51. For the back I save 3 shots and come in at 50 for a 101. I think eliminating half of these bonehead shots is a good goal for me at this point. 

 

Now If I eliminate half of my 3 and 4 putts, another realistic goal, I save 4 more shots and break 100 for the first time with a 97. 

 

You can see from the above how much just the terrible shots shoot scores through the roof. I'm not talking about general bad shots like missing the green on a makeable approach shot, or hitting my drive off the fairway into the trees, but straight up duffs, chunks, skulls, OB's, etc. etc. Just cutting the REALLY REALLY bad (wasted) shots in half I automatically cut my score by 10. Putting would be the next thing on my list. But really working to eliminate the majority of these laughable shots will do wonders for my score. For me, at least, GIR, Fairways hit, etc., etc., are nice to see and keep track of, but ultimately those stats won't do me much good until I get my swing and ball striking more consistent and stop hitting SO many of the wasted shots above.   

[Krt22]

@bortassgood point on first putt distance. That stat also typically scales with GIRS. It can help you segment between poor ball striking and poor short game

[betarhoalphadelta]

I'm thinking more on it and I really like the idea of strokes to hole from 100 yards and in. 

 

I don't like counting putts. For example in my last round I hit shots (not GIR lol) onto the fringe, relatively near the hole, on 17 and 18. I putted both of them, but those don't count as putts. Both got within a few feet and I made the putts, so I 1-putted the greens. Is that because I'm a good putter? No, it reduced my putting stats by two strokes even though I putted both of those strokes from just off the green. 

 

Likewise my shot hitting a green from 130 yards is likely to be significantly farther from the hole than my pitch from 10 yards off the green that I missed from 130 yards, so I'm much more likely to 1-putt (or avoid a 3-putt) with the ball I pitched than what I hit from farther out.

 

My game is inconsistent enough that GIR is a crapshoot. I doubt there is enough consistency round to round to see that much improvement there. That inconsistency is also such that it means that whether I hit GIR and I'm left with a 40 footer vs whether I miss GIR and put myself within 10 feet with a pitch means that my putting statistics could be inversely correlated to my GIR statistics.

 

But within 100 yards is the scoring zone. How do you improve your score? Well, if you're off the green, the goal is to get up and down in 2, but never to take more than 3. If you're on the green, the goal is to be in the hole in 2, with the sometimes acceptable 3-putt if you're left far from the hole. Any hole you take more than 3 shots from within 100 yards to get into the hole is likely one of those shots was a wasted shot and an error. 

 

My last round I averaged over 3 shots per hole from within 100. I count 8 of those strokes that are completely wasted strokes, and a 5-stroke improvement in my score would have gotten me to bogey golf. 

 

I think total strokes per round from 100 and in would be a good thing to measure and should overall correlate to final score improvement more directly than any individual other stat.

[SNIPERBBB]

For improvement purposes, count putts off the fringe as putts. You're not winning anything for keeping those putts off your stats, so unless you're playing a california scramble or have bets that involves putting stats, count em. We wouldn't know the difference anyways unless you say something.

Edited April 20, 2021 by SNIPERBBB

[Curmudg3on]

1 hour ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

My last round I averaged over 3 shots per hole from within 100.

 

Maybe you need to check your expectations here.    The pros average a little over 18' from 100 yds and they don't hit putts from that distance very often.   If you averaged over 3 shots per hole from within 100, that's real good.   

 

What @bortass commented upon is realistic.   Total putts by themselves are worthless.    His statement is on point.

[SNIPERBBB]

26 minutes ago, DennyJones said:

 

Maybe you need to check your expectations here.    The pros average a little over 18' from 100 yds and they don't hit putts from that distance very often.   If you averaged over 3 shots per hole from within 100, that's real good.   

 

What @bortass commented upon is realistic.   Total putts by themselves are worthless.    His statement is on point.

Yep. Outside 5 yards a three stroke avg is good. Need to be closer to 2 than 3 from inside 5 to fulfill aspirations of singles digits.

[betarhoalphadelta]

12 minutes ago, DennyJones said:

 

Maybe you need to check your expectations here.    The pros average a little over 18' from 100 yds and they don't hit putts from that distance very often.   If you averaged over 3 shots per hole from within 100, that's real good.   

 

What @bortass commented upon is realistic.   Total putts by themselves are worthless.    His statement is on point.

 

I'm not saying average from 100... I'm saying average from any place within 100. 100 is just the outer limit.

 

So 99 yards from the pin, my average will undoubtedly be more than 3. Making a 3 from that position is totally respectable. 

 

Hit a green on a 150 yard approach shot where I'm 25' from the hole. My average had BETTER be below 3. Three-putting from 25' is bad, but 4-putting from there is a catastrophe.

 

Miss the green hooking an 150 yard approach shot and I'm 15 yards left of the left edge and 25 from the pin? Getting up and down in 2 is a great goal, but anything more than 3 means I've wasted a shot. Anyone with a competent short game should be able to hole out within 3 strokes from 25 yards.

 

So unless you're constantly finding yourself 90-100 yards from the pin, where I completely agree averaging less than 3 strokes into the hole is completely unrealistic for a golfer of my skill, I do think it's a realistic goal. The times you're 90-100 from the hole will be balanced by the times you actually have hit a green from farther out or you've missed the green from farther out but you're <30 yards from the pin.

[BogeyParBogey]

If you're going to count anything maybe keep track of where you gave strokes away and why then work on how to eliminate those.  Truly though, scoring better means meaningful improvement which will take a while.  Improving your short game gives away strokes that may be the easiest way to gain strokes quickly.

 

Dave

[Wormkiller]

On 4/21/2021 at 2:57 AM, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

I'm not saying average from 100... I'm saying average from any place within 100. 100 is just the outer limit.

 

So 99 yards from the pin, my average will undoubtedly be more than 3. Making a 3 from that position is totally respectable. 

 

Hit a green on a 150 yard approach shot where I'm 25' from the hole. My average had BETTER be below 3. Three-putting from 25' is bad, but 4-putting from there is a catastrophe.

 

Miss the green hooking an 150 yard approach shot and I'm 15 yards left of the left edge and 25 from the pin? Getting up and down in 2 is a great goal, but anything more than 3 means I've wasted a shot. Anyone with a competent short game should be able to hole out within 3 strokes from 25 yards.

 

So unless you're constantly finding yourself 90-100 yards from the pin, where I completely agree averaging less than 3 strokes into the hole is completely unrealistic for a golfer of my skill, I do think it's a realistic goal. The times you're 90-100 from the hole will be balanced by the times you actually have hit a green from farther out or you've missed the green from farther out but you're <30 yards from the pin.

Shotscope tracks shots to finish from within 50 yards.

 

My personal average is 2.96. Not sure where that stands exactly, but my strokes gained is best for my short game (-3.88).

[Luv2kruz]

I posted this in another thread, so some cut and paste and additional comments added.

 

My personal opinion is that the traditional stats that most golfers have tracked forever (i.e. FIR, GIR, U/D and #putts) are actually less than satisfactory at helping the average golfer improve their game. Here's why:

1. FIR - on par 4&5s the objective of the tee shot is to set you up for then next shot, which is either the approach to the green or to advance it down the fairway. So long as you hit the ball where you have an open shot at the green/fairway from a reasonable lie, then that achieves the purpose and so we consider that 'good enough'. The traditional FIR stat doesn't differentiate a tee shot that is in the rough vs. one that is out of bounds, both of which are missed fairways but obviously can not be treated in the same manner. So FIR is too precise for the average golfer and doesn't help separate the little misses from the big ones.
2. GIR - GIR is a hybrid stat where the approach shot is highly dependent on the quality of the tee shot. It does not isolate your ability to hit approach shots on their own. If you are constantly hitting your drives in bad spots, your approach shot ability will appear weaker than it is. So if this stat is improving or declining, what is really causing it to go up or down, your drives or approach shots?
3. U/D - this is another hybrid stat where two golfing skills (chipping and putting) are being measured together. You can be a great chipper and crappy putter or vice versa and have the same U/D stats. So these skills should be measure separately.
4. Putting - total putts is also not a very meaningful stat since it doesn't take into account the starting point of your average putt. Those that typically hit a lot of greens in regulation can have higher total putts since they are starting from farther away from the hole vs. someone who misses a lot of greens and then chips it on the green and starts from closer to the hole. The former may be a better putter, but the stats may not show it. Studies have shown that the key differentiator between high skill and low skill golfers is their ability to hole short putts consistently (<5ft) and lag putting capabilities from farther distances (i.e. less three putts). Surprisingly, there isn't a meaningful difference in putting for the in between distances. 

So again, the traditional stats provide some insight but not enough to see each golfing skill separately. The stats that I would recommend for a 20 handicap would be as follows (with targets):

1. Good enough drives - the percentage of the time that you hit the ball in the fairway or light rough where you give yourself an open shot to advance the ball down the fairway (par 5s) or to the green (par 4s) - target 70% or greater. That's 'good enough' for the average golfer. 
2. Par 3 GIR - use GIR% on par 3s as a proxy for approach shot capability. This eliminates the dependancy on the tee shot result. On par 3s, you have a perfect lie, no obstructions and no excuses. Great way to just measure iron capabilities. Target 50% or higher. 
3. Big Misses - As mentioned above, capture shots lost due to big screw ups like skulls, flubs, chunks, hitting it OB, water, etc. 20 handicappers lose a lot of shots this way. Establish a baseline and then try to reduce based on biggest issue. Target here is personal best. 
4. Short Game - measure proximity to the hole after a chip from all lies/distances under 50 yards. Target of under 15ft avg from under 25 yards and under 25 ft from 25-50 yards. You can also break this down into sand and non sand play.
5. Putting - measure number of putts <5ft missed. Target less than 5%.
6. Putting - measure lag putt proximity from putts great than 25 ft - target less than 5ft.

*SG putting is fairly easy to do with some free online calculators. That would be good to measure putting skills for all distance ranges if you have access. But the short range and lag putting skills are the two most important putting skills for higher handicappers. 

 

Lastly, try to keep it simple by tracking only a handful of stats like the ones above. You can easily get lost in some apps/programs where they give you 50+ stats. Which of those are really relevant and meaningful? Hard to tell sometimes.

 

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by Luv2kruz

[me05501]

I don't track a ton of stats, but I do keep this little matrix in one of the extra boxes on the scorecard. 

 

First, I rate my drive on a scale of 1-10. This is almost totally subjective, and I'm rating my results vs. both my ability and my intent. Over time I've fallen into some habits with it. I can't rate a 7 or better unless I'm in the fairway, for example. But if I choose less than driver and execute the shot perfectly, that can still be a 10. 

 

Second, I circle the drive rating if I hit the green in regulation. Finally, I put a dot in a corner of the box for each putt. 

 

At the end of each round I can quickly assess GIR and putts, and average my subjective performance from the tee. 

[betarhoalphadelta]

14 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

Shotscope tracks shots to finish from within 50 yards.

 

My personal average is 2.96. Not sure where that stands exactly, but my strokes gained is best for my short game (-3.88).

 

If they track from within 50 automatically, then use that. No need to move out to 100 and track it yourself. 

 

Is the SG for "short game" inclusive of putting or exclusive? If exclusive, what is your SG for putting? And is that strokes gained vs scratch?

[Wormkiller]

8 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

If they track from within 50 automatically, then use that. No need to move out to 100 and track it yourself. 

 

Is the SG for "short game" inclusive of putting or exclusive? If exclusive, what is your SG for putting? And is that strokes gained vs scratch?

SG for short game is exclusive of putting against scratch. My SG for putting is -5.35.

[betarhoalphadelta]

10 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

SG for short game is exclusive of putting against scratch. My SG for putting is -5.35.

 

Got it. So short game + putting means you're giving up 9.5 strokes vs a scratch golfer. That's basically half your cap. 

 

Average of 2.96 over 18 holes is 53.28 strokes spent within 50 yards. Removing 9.5 from that number gets you to 43.78, which would be an average of 2.43 strokes within 50 yards for a scratch golfer.

 

IMHO bringing down that average will correlate very strongly to scoring improvement and bringing your cap down overall. It will correlate more strongly than the variables of SG-short game and SG-putting, but of course those are worth tracking to see where your improvement is--and needs to be--made. I.e. if you get your SG-putting down to -2 but your SG-short game stays constant at about -4, then you know you need to devote more practice time to short game relative to putting because it has now become the big number. 

 

[Wormkiller]

14 hours ago, betarhoalphadelta said:

 

Got it. So short game + putting means you're giving up 9.5 strokes vs a scratch golfer. That's basically half your cap. 

 

Average of 2.96 over 18 holes is 53.28 strokes spent within 50 yards. Removing 9.5 from that number gets you to 43.78, which would be an average of 2.43 strokes within 50 yards for a scratch golfer.

 

IMHO bringing down that average will correlate very strongly to scoring improvement and bringing your cap down overall. It will correlate more strongly than the variables of SG-short game and SG-putting, but of course those are worth tracking to see where your improvement is--and needs to be--made. I.e. if you get your SG-putting down to -2 but your SG-short game stays constant at about -4, then you know you need to devote more practice time to short game relative to putting because it has now become the big number. 

 

Thanks, this is an excellent post and I appreciate the analysis. And the good thing is I think improving these two areas is realistically achievable for a high handicapper compared to refining the technical skills required to smash long, straight drives and nail long approaches. Not that I will stop working on these.

 

i played a 9 hole round yesterday and shot 43, ‘upgrading’ from the 4 iron using 5 wood off the tee and being more aggressive off the fairways. I hit 5/7 fairways averaging 191m with it. Still only gave me a realistic shot at the green twice for the second shot.

 

Within 50m I averaged 3 shots to finish, 19 putts total, one 3 putt.

SG - short game: -2.53

SG - putting: -5.35

Plenty of room for improvement here.

 

Ive also just bought a taylormade aeroburner mini driver second hand. Hope I can get this going to give me a bit more distance off the tee and looks at the green.

 

 

Edited April 24, 2021 by Wormkiller

[betarhoalphadelta]

12 hours ago, Wormkiller said:

Within 50m I averaged 3 shots to finish, 19 putts total, one 3 putt.

SG - short game: -2.53

SG - putting: -5.35

Plenty of room for improvement here.

 

 

And this bit here explains how to analyze the four stats (shots from 50 in, total putts, SG-short game and SG-putting).

 

You can clearly see that if you averaged 3 strokes from 50 and in, but only had one more putt than "expected", i.e. 2 putts per hole, that you missed a lot of greens on approach. Which of course is normal for high-caps like us.

 

But if you're regularly 50 and in, you should be having more one-putts. If your SG-putting is only -2.53, I'm assuming that means proximity to hole wasn't that bad while scrambling, but SG-putting suggests that you were two-putting more often than you should with makeable first putt opportunities. 

 

Does that track with how you remember the round? 

[tastywaves]

Seems like my friends that are high handicappers seem to focus on balls lost in a round as their main stat, does that count? 😂

[nitram]

Lost Balls