Super Scorecard: Tips and Tricks

Golfbit2X · February 5

As part of my quest to get better at this crazy sport, I've meticulously kept track of my metrics including FIR (with direction and distance from tee as well as distance to hole), GIR (with direction) and Putts on my scorecard (see below).

As a high handicapper currently at 18.7 from a previous best of 15.5, I think that the highs and lows in a typical round are a bit volatile compared to single digit handicappers so having a "super scorecard" is really helpful for me to quickly determine deficiencies and concentrate on fixes to get better.

I've also swallowed my ego and always play a mix of middle and forward tees to try and replicate the minimum of 6,200 yards total distance in a round from my golf league.

Recently, I've decided to further enhance my super scorecard by adding first and second putt distances using my rangefinder.

Due to technical limitations, my rangefinder can only measure in yards so I have to visually estimate distances from 6 feet or closer. I know that disc golf rangefinders include the ability to measure in feet as well as yard units so an equipment upgrade may be an option for me depending on how it impacts my pace of play.

I'm also aware that using rangefinders without the slope calculation is acceptable in tournament play so I think that it would also be acceptable for measuring putt distances.

In addition to helping me improve my game, a super scorecard can also provide comfort by showing good metrics like driving distance, FIR and GIR percentages, etc. so the impact of a bad round is not always painful.

Please share your own tips and tricks with your super scorecard so that we can continue to get better at this game.

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Hawkeye77 · February 5

You can measure feet with ….. your feet. LOL, at rangefinder for putts - folks in the fairway behind you may be having a chuckle but joke’s on them!

Common way of keeping stats so not sure of the “super” aspect. I do it sometimes when I’m playing alone but since I don’t track every round it’s not all that useful. I know what needs work in my game but I’m not a numbers guy.

How do all the numbers translate to improvement for you?

Edited February 5 by Hawkeye77

jvincent · February 5

6 hours ago, Golfbit2X said:

Please share your own tips and tricks with your super scorecard so that we can continue to get better at this game.

Thanks in advance for sharing.

Looking at your card, my first observation is you are tracking too many things. You're going to get analysis paralysis.

Unless you want to do a formal strokes gained analysis, which several apps will do for you if you want, I would suggest simplifying what you track for now.

Off the tee I track in play vs not-in play. At your level that is a much more important metric than fairways hit.

Also track penalty shots and the reason for them.

The last thing I would track are your terrible shots, i.e. fats, chunks, etc. and the situation you were in.

All of the above will give you a quick picture of where you are losing strokes, i.e. negative strokes gained, and tell you where you need to focus your practice.

Golfbit2X · February 5

2 hours ago, jvincent said:

Looking at your card, my first observation is you are tracking too many things. You're going to get analysis paralysis.

Unless you want to do a formal strokes gained analysis, which several apps will do for you if you want, I would suggest simplifying what you track for now.

Off the tee I track in play vs not-in play. At your level that is a much more important metric than fairways hit.

Also track penalty shots and the reason for them.

The last thing I would track are your terrible shots, i.e. fats, chunks, etc. and the situation you were in.

All of the above will give you a quick picture of where you are losing strokes, i.e. negative strokes gained, and tell you where you need to focus your practice.

I agree, jvincent. I need to focus more on tracking the bad shots but I'm also a guy that likes to track these other things as it kinda gives me other positive things that I'm doing right to soften the blows from bad rounds.

Golfbit2X · February 5

4 hours ago, Hawkeye77 said:

You can measure feet with ….. your feet. LOL, at rangefinder for putts - folks in the fairway behind you may be having a chuckle but joke’s on them!

Common way of keeping stats so not sure of the “super” aspect. I do it sometimes when I’m playing alone but since I don’t track every round it’s not all that useful. I know what needs work in my game but I’m not a numbers guy.

How do all the numbers translate to improvement for you?

Lots of ways... for example, in this particular scorecard I included in the original post, I had six one-putts which was a result of good chips so I know that my short game is above average.

However, I do see your point about using the rangefinder on the greens as a bit strange but I don't really care of what other golfers think as long as my pace of play is not impacted and it is acceptable in tournament play.

I must admit that I'm a stat nerd as I also keep track of other stats just for my amusement like the driving distance but will also include specific notes on bad shots.

Hawkeye77 · February 5

2 minutes ago, Golfbit2X said:

Lots of ways... for example, in this particular scorecard I included in the original post, I had six one-putts which was a result of good chips so I know that my short game is above average.

However, I do see your point about using the rangefinder on the greens as a bit strange but I don't really care of what other golfers think as long as my pace of play is not impacted and it is acceptable in tournament play.

I must admit that I'm a stat nerd as I also keep track of other stats just for my amusement like the driving distance but will also include specific notes on bad shots.

Just curious if it pays dividends - not being a stat guy I like to read about what those who are use them for. I still joke that the reason I quit using Game Golf tracking was because I didn't like what it was showing me for my actual driving distance, lol. In reality, I just didn't like what was involved in tapping and so forth and when I did it, got just as much out of GIR/Up and Down/Fairways Hit/Number of Putts on a scorecard. I play as much with other folks as by myself and just don't pay attention to recording things when I'm with a group.

Golfbit2X · February 5

1 hour ago, Hawkeye77 said:

Just curious if it pays dividends - not being a stat guy I like to read about what those who are use them for. I still joke that the reason I quit using Game Golf tracking was because I didn't like what it was showing me for my actual driving distance, lol. In reality, I just didn't like what was involved in tapping and so forth and when I did it, got just as much out of GIR/Up and Down/Fairways Hit/Number of Putts on a scorecard. I play as much with other folks as by myself and just don't pay attention to recording things when I'm with a group.

I always do a post mortem whether I play a good or bad round as I consider it as another game within this game.

I also feel bad like you when I see my actual driving distance when I try to focus on my FIR percentages so sometimes I'll work on just ripping it during non-tournament rounds knowing that I'll be spraying it a little bit more but I still get my kicks out of hitting the occasional 300+ yards once in a blue moon.

RSLP · February 6

I like to keep stats also! I was using an app, but have thought about going to a system like yours. I have seen a guy print the course from google maps, and plot his shots on that.

My scores got better when I specifically tracked and worked to fix: no penalties, no three putts, and no 2 chips. Credits to Hank Haney.

if you enjoy it, keep doing it.

Golfbit2X · February 6

1 minute ago, RSLP said:

I like to keep stats also! I was using an app, but have thought about going to a system like yours. I have seen a guy print the course from google maps, and plot his shots on that.

My scores got better when I specifically tracked and worked to fix: no penalties, no three putts, and no 2 chips. Credits to Hank Haney.

if you enjoy it, keep doing it.

I actually make my own yardage book with custom distances based on my average club distance. For the most part, I use a free app from Bluegolf's Yardage Book but I'll also use Grint as it has more updated SAT images. If it's a mountain course I'll also use info from Google Earth to factor in elevation changes.

bortass · February 6

I wouldn't track something unless you have a reason to/use for that data. Back in the day aka over ten years ago and pre stokes gained, I tracked:

distance I hit my drive w/ gps.
Fairway/Playable, two separate Y/N
Distance of approach into green and club used
Hit green, or miss direction
Distance of putts by pacing them off, this doesn't need to be an exact science. Assuming you keep your paces around the same length the distances will remain consistent over time.
number of chips and putts on a hole
Number of penalties

All that stuff was entered into OOBGolf and I could look at the stats/trends over time, which I almost never did. The info was mainly used for post round recaps, not actual practice since it wasn't granular enough/I was too lazy to try to figure out what it was telling me. I used my index as the actual tracker for my improvement since we could post solo rounds back then. I had every round posted to GHIN.

One problem I had because I didn't link certain stats together was a delusion around putting. I thought I was a decent putter because I averaged about 1.9 putts/hole. Problem is I missed most greens so I needed at least one chip and almost two putts to hole out most of the time. Some of the greens were tricky but they ran slow and true and were not what I would call huge.

Today I use Arccos and it's cleaned up my scorecard a lot. I track penalties, putt distances, and number of chips and putts. I let the app/sensors deal with everything else. The app gives me useful data some of which may be obvious like my approach game sucks but some I wouldn't have thought of based on prior history. Turns out driving and short game are my strengths, while putting and approaches are my primary weakness.

So keep any and all stats you want, just have a reason/use for them and don't track something just to track it.