We’ve been talking a lot on these forums about looking at the data of our game and making decisions based on that. To that end, I feel like fairways hit and GIR aren’t great measurements or at the very least aren’t telling the whole story.
Looking over my round from yesterday where I played really well for me, I hit 9/14 fairways (pretty good) and 7/18 greens in regulation (not that great). Really though, two of my drives were in the right rough, good distance and completely playable, it was a very good driving round. For the greens, I had four approaches finish on the fringe, still very good 2 putt opportunities (1 from the fringe and one on the green). Even made one of these for birdie (so my putting stats looked fantastic).
Instead of fairways and GIRs, I’m thinking I might start tracking “successful shots” for myself (I probably need a better name). A successful shot will be one that’s within my expected shot dispersion and kept me “on track” for par. Is there something out there similar that already exists?
I think strokes gained is fantastic as a comparative measure, but I would see this more as a personal measure.
I like this concept… Maybe a different take on it, but assess the result of your shot and it’s impact towards your chance of making par (or better).
Improved Par: Big driver down the middle of the fairway, Iron shot inside your dispersion circle, sticking a long chip close
Neutral to Par: A decent drive in play, a good drive in the light rough, hitting a green in regulation, a good recovery shot.
Decreased Par: Penalty strokes, shots that need to be punched out, missed fairways, missed greens…
I think this can bring some negative thoughts into play, but maybe a better way to track the round overall… Eliminate the shots that are decreasing your chances of making par (or practice them) and focus on the good from the round at the end of the day…
I track NGIR - nearly green in regulation
Anything within 20 yds of green (exclude bunkers or really heavy rough I am trying to avoid)
The pros hit more greens but the big difference is that when they miss they are usually right next to the green
Lowest Score Wins goes into this with some depth
Agreed that straight fairways and greens stats can be misleading. The first cut or light rough with a clear line to the target isn’t the same as woods off the tee, and fringe is not the same as greenside bunker or rough, and fringe 15 ft from the hole is better than on the green 50 ft away (probably a .2-.5 SG difference). And while putts from the fringe aren’t technically putts, sometimes they kinda are.
I’d go with some sort of strokes gained approach. How well does your drive position you for the next shot? If you miss the green, did you give yourself a good chance at par? did you get up and down?
Biggest thing killing my score is:
Errant tee shot
Big miss with an iron (blade, fat or dead pull)
NGIR captures both of these and is most indicative of whether I had a good ball striking day
Yes - I kinda do that, but very informally and I’m not trying to aggregate data over multiple rounds. Right now I’m focusing on tee shots and approach shots (of any distance, any club - did I hit the green when intended?)
I’m a recreational bogey golfer, so I’m generally playing for bogey, and sorta look at my shots in those two broad groupings …
(1) getting into the “scoring zone” (for me is about 130 yds but slowly extending further over time)
and
(2) how many shots to finish out once inside the scoring zone?
I’m really happy that strokes gained data is becoming more accessible to recreational golfers. Even my Garmin watch gives me (very light) data on it. I think what makes fairways and GIR so common is that they’re so easy to count, basically just check the box. I’d like to figure out a “check the box” measurement for me that adds a bit more context.
Do you journal your rounds?
I prefer this to keeping a multitude of stats. I keep score only on my card. After the round, I sit down and write out caddy notes on every hole.
The only stat I keep for every single hole and mark down in a spread sheet is NGIR and putts
I then total up “driver errors”, # of double bogeys, par 5 scoring, 3 putts
Will post a sample page but I usually know what I need to work on after going through that excercise
Strokes gained is the best way to do it. I compare to PGA Tour (which I’m nowhere close) so have to reset expectations since a shot with negative strokes gained isn’t necessarily a bad shot for me, just bad compared to tour (ex. off the tee i don’t hit it as far as them so for me if I’m about -2 SGOTT for a round I feel like that was a good driving round)
I agree, these kind of “binary” statistics (did I, or did I not?) don’t really tell the whole story. A popped-up drive that goes 200 yards is WAY worse than one that’s 250 and a foot off the fairway, but the pop-up gets a fairway hit checkmark. I don’t keep statistics long-term, but I do review my round most days. I use something like the valuations you use, successful shots, mediocre shots, unacceptable shots. If I’m aiming at the edge of a fairway (due to OB on the opposite side), and hit it 10 feet in the rough, that’s successful. A sand wedge that I pull 40 feet wide of the target but on the green is unacceptable, a 5-iron I pull 40 feet wide is at least mediocre and quite possibly successful.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing!
I like those classification categories, add a bit more differentiation without getting too complicated.
I agree about NGIR. For us mere mortals that seems to be an equally valuable stat to consider along with GIR.
I like what I’ve read here in this post. I tend to be a stats geek who gets too caught up in GIR’s and fairways hit. I really like the NGIR and “improved par” ideas.
I’ve started tracking “good” drives. Basically if a drive goes far enough and gives me a unobstructed line into the green its good.
I also track GIR+1 which is simply whether or not I’m own the green in one more than regulation. Basically if my GIR+1 is high and I don’t 3-putt I shouldn’t make very many doubles.
I think ultimately golf is both fun and frustrating because it’s process driven, but the only thing that “matters” is the number of shots hit… holing 2 putts from 8 feet one day and missing them both the next day wouldn’t change your overall putting average, but I bet you’d remember one day over the other.
My personal key for growth is making sure I’m following good processes across the course, and then shore up the weakness that appear when good process isn’t leading to overall better results. It’s a journey I’ve been iterating on all season.
I think the key is to track the statistics, understand what they mean and understand that one shouldn’t make or break your overall goals… but I also say that as a guy who literally figured out today that my putter was significantly off in loft and lie, and it was killing my putting.
More information is always good, but make sure you are using it improve your name and not to justify your narrative!
I get that strokes gained is not an easy thing to integrate into most peoples “fun” hobby, however I believe it accomplishes exactly what you are looking for. Yes it is a comparative measure but by using it you can determine what area that you need to focus on.
No only that, but see how you are progressing in those areas.
If I’m -5 SG off the tee and I practice it (or in my case buy a new driver and pick up some distance), and now I’m -3, that’s progress and very quantifiable.
If I’m -1 putting and I go to -2 then I know I need to work more there.
You can’t do this analysis on a round by basis to see progress. I try to track what I’m working on over 3-5 rounds and see if there is improvement.
Agreed! Just to be clear, I’m not looking for a simple measure to use instead of strokes gained, but something to use in addition to strokes gained. Something that I can keep track of in round even, forming mini goals for motivation outside of score (which I don’t like to think about in round).