Data on Golf Improvement?

General Discussion
#21

Thanks Jon. Appreciate your thinking about this with me.

  1. Just to play it out: Let’s say 10 of 50 “Just play” golfers improved by a few strokes. And 18 of 50 “Practice” golfers improved by same. That would be statistically significant.

  2. I agree that golfers have a large range of needs. But research is done on “practice” and “coaching” in other domains across very different people.

See for example the research on CBT (cognitive behavior therapy). People show up with all kinds of mental issues and areas where they need to get better.

  1. I agree that Big Golf Companies have little incentive to fund this. Same with Big Pharma. Their job is to sell products. But there is a separately funded batch of basic science research.

Perhaps that falls to the USGA? They’ve got ~200 million/year. Not much! But they have, for example, $2 million for turf experiments. Maybe same amount for outsourced “practice experiments” and we could learn a lot. First Tee is $96 million. Nice! But gee, there’s gotta be $ out there for real research in this area.

The hypothesis might be - if golfers get better, they buy more tee times and equipment purchases. Yes, while “Quick Fix” lovers are a big part of our business, “Practical Golf” type tribe members (genuinely willing to practice and trying to ascertain how) is a meaningful segment, too.

2 Likes
#22

There has got to be some masters students out there who like golf [email protected] need to complete a research project for their degree requirements.

#23

I would love to see it happen for a number of reasons. An organization like the USGA (from what I am told) is very disorganized, and I don’t think ideas like this really come up on their radar.

I’ve always believed that in golf there is so such thing as “you do X and you can expect Y” in terms of your scoring. So let’s say we did have a study amongst 50 golfers, and the average handicap dropped 5.6 strokes with the prescribed methods. I don’t think it would be reasonable for a golfer to expect to do the same exact thing, and get the same exact results. Averages can be misleading in this game. As I said before, certain golfers (for whatever reason) just need to play more and adjust their approach to the game whereas others could use more intense practice sessions to work on technical flaws that are holding them back. Knowing what you need is a more nuanced answer.

Either way, these are interesting thought experiments and I know @Adamyounggolf has done smaller versions of these with various practice methods he’s tried when he used to do more group coaching.

#24

I thought I saw somewhere recently, in response to all the hand wringing over distance and advances in equipment, that handicaps of all golfers all over the world over the last twenty years have hardly gone down any, if at all. It’s an incredibly difficult game with often tiny advances. If I could knock off half a stroke to one stroke a year, I’d be happy. And I think most of that improvement will just come from experience and learning more about the game, rather than obsessively grinding over some major “swing change.”

#25

On the handicaps remaining the same, I think it shows people don’t actually spend much time truly improving at golf… the older guys I play with basically work to maintain what they have with one guy who watches YouTube videos and does lots of block practice trying to learn new techniques…

I think overall, golf improvement requires a methodical plan built for a specific person and then the time and dedication to actually achieve it…

I don’t think there is one specific source of improvement (though is buy an argument that club head speed alone can improve a handicap) for everyone… I think it’s why the decade system works and why places like this forum are important. The first step to improving at golf is figuring out what you need to improve. Then how to improve it… then actually do it.

I also think what you need to improve is a moving target.

I don’t know! I’ve never been below a 4 handicap and am sitting at a 6 right now… I’m hoping to get down to a 2 next season. We will see if I can do it.