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Stats Stink

Posted in: General Golf Discussion

scottiegee Professional Champion
Go to Last Reply 109 Views 9 Replies 1 Like
Alright, it may be I just have too much time on my hands at the moment, but: I have finally started keeping stats on my game, track progress and the like, this being the first time in my life I'm going to establish a USGA handicap... but certain things are eating at me a bit. it started when I was putting in driving distance stats, not necessary for the handi, i know, but they track them for you, I might as well keep track, right?... I am one who hits a lot of 4-irons off the tee, is this included in my driving distance? Do I only include drivers? I mean, what would this stat even tell you if you include every first shot... not much. Well, that was just the beginning of my troubles, because later I got to putts. Do I count all putts? I feel like putting stats should only be based on greens hit in regulation. then run your percentage from there... I don't want to one-putt every green if I hit them all in one-over par. you with me? what about a shot to a green that is in the fringe... you can't call that a green hit, but then you bump it close with your putter and get it up and down. One putt? Eh... doesn't seem right to help out your putting stat with a green missed. I'd like to use stats that I can track that will show me progress in my game. GIR definitely is useful. I guess 3-putts would be good to track/eliminate, no matter how many shots it took to get up there. Any other thoughts from folks who are equally geeked about stat-keeping?
aumurray Legend
# 1 4/22/2010 8:41:44 PM
Driving distance is quirky when looking for an average. I don't record driving distance because it becomes a hemi engine type stat. If I did it would be only for 4 or 6 holes per round that favored a driver off the tee or the club of choice. That should be good enough sample to find an average of some meaning. To me the putts mean a little more when you look at putts per GIR versus putts per round. Also when you combine that with the length of the first putt it gives you an idea of how close you are on your approaches in GIR as well as scrambling when greens are missed. Stats can mislead if you look at them wrong and especially when they don't suit how you feel about your game. In the stats that I have on Stracka it gives the difference between GIR putts and all putts which shows how good of a putter you are in all situations.
GreenReader GolfNet Administrator
# 2 4/22/2010 10:09:27 PM
Here's a tip when keeping these stats on Stracka: Drives: only input the drives that you want to record. Don't record your 4-iron off the tee. If you enter a 0 in the stat field, it won't be calculated or factor into your driving average. GIR Stats: You should enter all of your putts. When you enter all of your putts, we automatically calculate the GIR. With that, we also calculate your putts per GIR. We've also recently updated the Course Stats. When you input your scores HBH, the course stats will show you which holes give you trouble, and which holes you are better at.
scottiegee Professional Champion
# 3 4/23/2010 12:50:27 PM
the automatic calculation is fantastic... love that! happy to be here.... i guess length of 1st putt would help things... i'll keep give that a try... I don't want to get too hung up with how far i hit that drive, etc... but i do think it's worth it... thanks for the input. can't they just track every golfer in the world here: http://espn.go.com/golf/statis..
Spiko Professional Champion
# 4 4/23/2010 1:33:51 PM
Acoording to what I have read, the driving distance is supposed to be calculated on two hole per 18 of play, these holes need to run opposite each other to compensate for the wind, and the distance is measured whether the ball ends up in the fairway or not, so just pick two holes on the course you play and enter zero on the rest of them.
MikeNomgi Professional Champion
# 5 4/23/2010 2:04:50 PM
Acoording to what I have read, the driving distance is supposed to be calculated on two hole per 18 of play, these holes need to run opposite each other to compensate for the wind, and the distance is measured whether the ball ends up in the fairway or not, so just pick two holes on the course you play and enter zero on the rest of them. Just a slight correction, this isn't always the case that I've seen personally when I Caddie. True, TWO holes are used to calculate driving distance but it's usually a long par 4 or par 5 on the FRONT nine THEN a long par 4 or 5 on the BACK nine. At the LPGA Kraft Nabisco and the now called Farmers Torrey Pines (South) the calculating driving holes are far from each other. How are they measuring driving distance now? Is it by ShotLink?
Mark Simmons Legend
# 6 4/23/2010 9:17:28 PM
Hope I can get an answer to this one too. Stracka includes a pull down for tracking Up & Downs and Sandies. Question: If you make or miss a sandie do you just fill in the hit or miss there or do you also fill in the Up & Down? Some would argue a Sandie is one type of Up & Down, so its not clear what is intended.
ArizonaBlue Professional Champion
# 7 4/24/2010 12:34:49 AM
You can have both a successful sandie and an Up & Down. A sandie is par or better with a bunker shot included ... and an Up & Down is a par or better without a GIR. Let's say you are in the greenside bunker on a par 4 with your second or third shot. No GIR. You hit a perfect shot from the bunker that goes in ... for birdie or par, respectively. This would be a successful sandie as well as an Up & Down.
GreenReader GolfNet Administrator
# 8 4/24/2010 4:02:17 PM
Up/Downs are a statistic that can be interpreted differently by members, which is why we auto-calculate scrambles. A successful scramble is a par or better without a GIR. This is the same definition of an Up/Down, but some of our members also use the Up/Down to track this scenario: Par 5: Near the green in 2. Chip On. 1 Putt. This would be a GIR and a scramble would not be calculated, but as I said, some users like to track this as an Up/Down.

scottiegee

Professional Champion

Go to Last Reply

109 Views 9 Replies 1 Like

Alright, it may be I just have too much time on my hands at the moment, but:

I have finally started keeping stats on my game, track progress and the like, this being the first time in my life I'm going to establish a USGA handicap... but certain things are eating at me a bit. it started when I was putting in driving distance stats, not necessary for the handi, i know, but they track them for you, I might as well keep track, right?... I am one who hits a lot of 4-irons off the tee, is this included in my driving distance? Do I only include drivers? I mean, what would this stat even tell you if you include every first shot... not much.

Well, that was just the beginning of my troubles, because later I got to putts.

Do I count all putts? I feel like putting stats should only be based on greens hit in regulation. then run your percentage from there... I don't want to one-putt every green if I hit them all in one-over par. you with me? what about a shot to a green that is in the fringe... you can't call that a green hit, but then you bump it close with your putter and get it up and down. One putt? Eh... doesn't seem right to help out your putting stat with a green missed.

I'd like to use stats that I can track that will show me progress in my game. GIR definitely is useful. I guess 3-putts would be good to track/eliminate, no matter how many shots it took to get up there.

Any other thoughts from folks who are equally geeked about stat-keeping?

aumurray

Legend

# 1 4/22/2010 8:41:44 PM

Driving distance is quirky when looking for an average. I don't record driving distance because it becomes a hemi engine type stat. If I did it would be only for 4 or 6 holes per round that favored a driver off the tee or the club of choice. That should be good enough sample to find an average of some meaning.
To me the putts mean a little more when you look at putts per GIR versus putts per round. Also when you combine that with the length of the first putt it gives you an idea of how close you are on your approaches in GIR as well as scrambling when greens are missed.
Stats can mislead if you look at them wrong and especially when they don't suit how you feel about your game. In the stats that I have on Stracka it gives the difference between GIR putts and all putts which shows how good of a putter you are in all situations.

GreenReader

GolfNet Administrator

# 2 4/22/2010 10:09:27 PM

Here's a tip when keeping these stats on Stracka:

Drives: only input the drives that you want to record. Don't record your 4-iron off the tee. If you enter a 0 in the stat field, it won't be calculated or factor into your driving average.

GIR Stats: You should enter all of your putts. When you enter all of your putts, we automatically calculate the GIR. With that, we also calculate your putts per GIR.

We've also recently updated the Course Stats. When you input your scores HBH, the course stats will show you which holes give you trouble, and which holes you are better at.

scottiegee

Professional Champion

# 3 4/23/2010 12:50:27 PM

the automatic calculation is fantastic... love that! happy to be here....

i guess length of 1st putt would help things... i'll keep give that a try... I don't want to get too hung up with how far i hit that drive, etc... but i do think it's worth it... thanks for the input.

can't they just track every golfer in the world here:

http://espn.go.com/golf/statis..

Spiko

Professional Champion

# 4 4/23/2010 1:33:51 PM

Acoording to what I have read, the driving distance is supposed to be calculated on two hole per 18 of play, these holes need to run opposite each other to compensate for the wind, and the distance is measured whether the ball ends up in the fairway or not, so just pick two holes on the course you play and enter zero on the rest of them.

MikeNomgi

Professional Champion

# 5 4/23/2010 2:04:50 PM

Just a slight correction, this isn't always the case that I've seen personally when I Caddie.
True, TWO holes are used to calculate driving distance but it's usually a long par 4 or par 5 on the FRONT nine THEN a long par 4 or 5 on the BACK nine. At the LPGA Kraft Nabisco and the now called Farmers Torrey Pines (South) the calculating driving holes are far from each other.

How are they measuring driving distance now? Is it by ShotLink?

Mark Simmons

Legend

# 6 4/23/2010 9:17:28 PM

Hope I can get an answer to this one too.

Stracka includes a pull down for tracking Up & Downs and Sandies. Question: If you make or miss a sandie do you just fill in the hit or miss there or do you also fill in the Up & Down? Some would argue a Sandie is one type of Up & Down, so its not clear what is intended.

ArizonaBlue

Professional Champion

# 7 4/24/2010 12:34:49 AM

You can have both a successful sandie and an Up & Down. A sandie is par or better with a bunker shot included ... and an Up & Down is a par or better without a GIR. Let's say you are in the greenside bunker on a par 4 with your second or third shot. No GIR. You hit a perfect shot from the bunker that goes in ... for birdie or par, respectively. This would be a successful sandie as well as an Up & Down.

GreenReader

GolfNet Administrator

# 8 4/24/2010 4:02:17 PM

Up/Downs are a statistic that can be interpreted differently by members, which is why we auto-calculate scrambles. A successful scramble is a par or better without a GIR.

This is the same definition of an Up/Down, but some of our members also use the Up/Down to track this scenario:

Par 5: Near the green in 2. Chip On. 1 Putt. This would be a GIR and a scramble would not be calculated, but as I said, some users like to track this as an Up/Down.

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