Why should I use the golf statistics part of the website ?
One of the key features and benefits provided to members of the Worldwide Golf Society is the ability to analyse your golf game. The main purpose being - to find out how and where you can save yourself some valuable strokes and lower your handicap.
The Facts
The importance is to use the right statistics, the ones that really matter. You can buy books about golf statistics which allow you to enter just about every possible detail or shot. You could perform some kind of statistical analysis right down to the last few feet or centimetres of where the golf shot was played from, be it a full blooded drive or a putt from a few inches away.
Let us face facts though:
1. You will in most cases not know the exact distance you hit a drive or an iron.
2. How many yards (or meters) you carried your drive and
3. How much of it was roll (that is if you possess an expensive rangefinder which will be accurate enough).
To be honest, except if you are a golf pro out on tour these kinds of detail have little or no importance. Your handicap will not improve by knowing if you carried your 7 iron 125 or 130 yards. We, as amateurs, even low handicap ones, do not have the information or expensive tools that are available to the professional golfer. Even if the average player had the resources, he or she would not be consistent enough in distance control as a professional.
The Good News!
The good news however, is that there are statistics that can help the amateur golfer, no matter if he or she plays of 36 or scratch.
Hit the Fairway
It does matter to know if you only hit 1 fairway in 5 or 6 instead of 3 fairways out of 4. The lie on the fairway is always better than the one in the rough. Even though you might not have a golf pro's distance control, you can control your distance much better playing from the fairway than from the rough.
Hitting the Greens in Regulation (GiR)
The same goes for G.i.R. (Greens in Regulation). A chip shot from heavy rough onto a fast green which is running away from you is always more difficult than a putt, even if it breaks a lot. Just go to a green and drop a few balls in the rough and chip them to a specific hole. Then put a few balls on the green coming from the same line. Except if you have serious putting problems you will make the up and down more often with a putter in your hand than coming out of the rough with a pitching wedge or similar.
Putting
This brings us to the most important part of our golf game namely the putting statistics. If you use nothing else we would always recommend entering your putts per green. This is where the vast majority of amateur golfers could better their golf handicap dramatically.
You should never average more then 36 putts per round or 2 per green.
Everybody 3 putts from time to time, even the best in the world, however they do make up by also having a lot of single putts. These could be for birdies or with a chip and a putt. Don't we all remember a certain Spanish golfer who in his prime was capable of getting up and down from anywhere? How exciting it was to watch and what a joy on his face when he did it! Wouldn't it be nice to have that same smile on your face? One of the founders of this golf site played in many tournaments around the world. The most noticeable problem with higher handicaps in a pro/am tournament was seldom their swing, but the average of putts they took per round. With few exceptions all could have been able to lower their handicaps by at least 3 strokes just by improving their putting.
In Summary
We are not here to give you golf lessons. The aim is not to give lessons through this part of the website programme. However, members of the Worldwide Golf Society can help themselves by pinpointing which area of their golf game needs improving, they can even identify which part is the most urgent. Most golfers go to their golf professionals to improve their swing. This is important to do, but maybe a lesson or a series of lessons on your iron play or putting would be money much better spent.
How to use the Golf Statistics Program
Let us start at the beginning of a round of golf you are going to play.
How can I remember the shots I have played?
If you are fortunate enough to have a caddy or are driven in a buggy you have plenty of time to write down what happened on the last hole. Similarly, if you walk the course, there is always enough time to write the information down when your playing partners are tee off. We would suggest you take one scorecard if you are playing with friends and extra scorecard in case you are playing in a competition. Mark one column for "Fairways hit" and one for "Greens in Regulation". Just remember which sign you used for a good shot and which one for a bad one. One more column will be needed to enter the number of putts. Do not worry about slowing down play. This really will only take a few seconds to write down your score at the same time.
Fairway hit or tee shot:
The first part of the golf statistics starts under the line where you enter your strokes taken per hole and is entitled 'Fairways hit'. Choose between "Yes" for hitting the fairway and "No" for missing the fairway. Remember that even a ball that hit the fairway but rolled into the rough is considered as a missed fairway. It does not matter which club you used off the tee.
PAR 3's are not part of the statistical analysis.
Green in Regulation (GiR):
This is found underneath "Fairways hit". In case you do not know how to determine when you hit a Green in Regulation use the following formula:
Deduct 2 shots from the par of any hole. This then leaves you with the number of strokes allowed to hit the green. For example: Par 5; so 5 -2 = 3. So 3 is the maximum number of shots allowed to be on the green.
Choose between "Yes" for Green hit in regulation or "No" for missing the green. There are 2 ways you can use this part:
a) You play according to the Par of the hole according to the card
b) You play according to your handicap: this means you add a shot (or 2 depending on your handicap) on every hole you receive a shot.
You may ask yourself why choose "Option b"? It really depends on you. Most golfers will not be able to reach a scratch handicap due to very different reasons. These reasons could range from having physical disabilities like back problems, they may not be flexible or strong enough to hit a drive 300 yards or metres. The beauty of the game of golf is that you don't have to; this is what the handicap system is for, and why we all have a handicap.
Remember, the handicap system allows everybody to play to their potential and to play a course in NET par or even under net par. If you use "Option b" above and you improve your handicap you will at the same time lower the strokes (or shots) you receive per round, so the data entered in the statistics program will automatically be adapted. "Option b" will however, allow you to see how you are doing according to your handicap. If your percentage of Greens hit in Regulation (GiR) is low, it will still show you that you might benefit from a lesson in that area.
You might on the other hand just want to have a bit of fun with the statistics and compare yourself to the pros. Or maybe you are now getting down to a single figure handicap and want to see if this is where your weakness lies then by all means using "Option a" could be very useful indeed.
Number of Putts:
This is the part found underneath "Greens in Regulation"
Just count the number of putts used till the ball is in the hole.
There are just 2 important things to remember:
a) if you play with "GIMMES" remember to count the "GIMME" as well. Even a one inch putt still needs another stroke to be in the hole, so you need to count it even if your playing partner gave you that putt.
b) If you use your putter off the green it does not count as a putt. This also means that if you would hole it and the ball was not lying on the green you enter 0 (ex.: an iron shot from the fairway). You can have 0 putts (hopefully you have many).
How to interpret the results of the statistics program
Fairways hit:The best drivers on the pro tour average about 80% of fairways hit. The leading player averages about 85%. The average on the pro tour lies around 75%.
We advise you to take a serious look at your driving if you average about 25%. It would be well worth your while to take a couple of lessons with your pro!!!
If you average about 60% it depends on how you are doing in the departments GiR and Putts per round if your priority should be a lesson here. Remember: an iron or fairway wood shot is easier to control and make good contact with than a shot from the rough.
The distance you hit your tee shots is not as important as the direction the ball is going for the average amateur golfer. If you have improved and you are now getting around the course in single figures, then distance your ball has gone and has to go becomes more important.
GiR:Here again the percentages on the pro tour is around the 80% plus mark for the leading player, other top players range about 75% and the majority of players hit about 70% of Greens in Regulation. Those players with lower percentages than this often struggle on tour.
No matter which option you choose (with "Option b" the lower your handicap gets the less strokes you receive, thus adapting automatically giving you less shots to reach the green on higher stroke indexed holes), if your percentage lies under 50% - 60% we would recommend a few lessons here with your local pro. It is recommenced that you compare your percentage here with your percentage of "Fairways hit". As mentioned above, if you miss a lot of fairways it is difficult to control your shot to the green.
Putting:This is without any doubt the most important part of your statistics programme.
As mentioned previously, higher handicap players could lower their handicap considerably by improving their putting. Most of the time you will not even need a lesson for this. Assuming you have had a couple of lessons on the basics of putting this remainder is all down to practice. Of course there is a difference between a great putter and a good putter (which often lies in his ability to read a green), but this is really a part of the game where you don't need the strength of a young fit man or woman to get results. This is a part of the game where you can get as good as a pro.
Again on tour the best players average around 25 to 26 putts per round, the worst around 34. This means that with the best players, if they miss the green he or she will need to make a chip and a putt to hole out. If you then add to this the occasional single putt for birdie when hitting the green and generally you have the making of a good or even great round.
For the pro this is important especially if his driving or iron play is off on during the round. This often makes the difference between still making the cut and missing it. For you it means the difference between a great round if the other parts of your game worked well and a very bad one if the others parts did not. Please do not be pessimistic, you too could and should be under an average of 34. If you never make an up and down there is something very wrong with your chipping and a lesson here will serve you much better than one on driving. Even if you end up hitting a + 300 yard or meter drive onto a par 4, what good is it if you end up 3 putting. People often lose confidence which then ends up adding pressure to their drives and irons. Only if you chip and putt well should you look at the other parts of your game. Most likely they will have improved a bit as well.
On the pro tour the saying: "You drive for show but you putt for dough" is not quite true anymore because of other developments. However, in the amateur game it is as important as ever!
We know if you take the time to use these statistics and practice accordingly your game will improve. You might not become the new Tiger Woods, but you will certainly become a better player and add to your enjoyment of the game!
At the Worldwide Golf Society, we believe the most important ingredient of all, is to have fun. We shall certainly do our outmost for you to have as much fun as possible.
