2021 Goals/Targets

[AAC]

Got to focus on that distance myself. Too often careless from this distance with sloppy shots missing green and making things hard for myself - it drives me nuts yet I haven't bothered trying to sort it out. Mind you one reason is that I have been more focussed on not doing an unmentionable from that distance. So anything that isn't one has often been acceptable...

Oh how i know that feeling

 

[Imurg]

I find absolute number of putts as a stat tells me nothing about my putting. Probably tells me more about the quality of my chipping or accuracy of my irons.

Putts per GIR is a good stat.

Up to a point...
If the pin is at the back and you, literally, make the green by an inch - that's a GiR and you're in 3 putt territory.

 

[AAC]

I would be delighted if I could have a round and keep a 6 off the card, I didn't play much in 2020 but 2019 I failed to do this for the first time in a good many years, its not a major achievement but for me it reminds me that on the odd occasion I can play reasonable golf still.

 

[sunshine]

Up to a point...
If the pin is at the back and you, literally, make the green by an inch - that's a GiR and you're in 3 putt territory.

Exactly. If you hit GIR your first putt is likely to be longer, so putts per GIR is a better indicator of your putting.

 

[Curls]

Break par in a comp.

Why not?

 

[Imurg]

Exactly. If you hit GIR your first putt is likely to be longer, so putts per GIR is a better indicator of your putting.

3 putts from 30+ yards doesn't necessarily make you a bad putter but it doesn't improve your putts per GiR....

 

[Orikoru]

Exactly. If you hit GIR your first putt is likely to be longer, so putts per GIR is a better indicator of your putting.

3 putts from 30+ yards doesn't necessarily make you a bad putter but it doesn't improve your putts per GiR....

You're both proving my point when I said "To get any benefit from focussing on stats you have to really dig deep and get bogged down in it". Any stat in isolation is simply a point of interest - to get the real application out of it you need to cross reference it with one or two stats at the same time.

 

[Imurg]

You're both proving my point when I said "To get any benefit from focussing on stats you have to really dig deep and get bogged down in it". Any stat in isolation is simply a point of interest - to get the real application out of it you need to cross reference it with one or two stats at the same time.

Absolutely.
If your putts per GiR is 2.2 do you work on your putting or do you work on being closer to the hole in the first place..?

 

[Orikoru]

Absolutely.
If your putts per GiR is 2.2 do you work on your putting or do you work on being closer to the hole in the first place..?

Best to do both. Last year I was recording fairways hit, GIR, number of putts, up&down % - but all it did was give me something to look at it really. There wasn't even much correlation between those stats and making a good score sometimes. I don't really have the time or the nous to look deeper at what it all means.

 

[BiMGuy]

Absolutely.
If your putts per GiR is 2.2 do you work on your putting or do you work on being closer to the hole in the first place..?

Exactly. But you then start the cycle of how to get closer to the hole in the first place.
As far as I can work out. Everything stems back to hitting drives further. So, the answer is. Buy a new driver ?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

I would be delighted if I could have a round and keep a 6 off the card, I didn't play much in 2020 but 2019 I failed to do this for the first time in a good many years, its not a major achievement but for me it reminds me that on the odd occasion I can play reasonable golf still.

Not sure that keeping a 6 off your card is that easy (handicap dependent of course) - back in the day the Sunday Express I think it was that had that as a thing for which you could win a box of balls. It is something I still have in the back of my mind every time I play any old round.

 

[BiMGuy]

Definitely putting because 2.2 is poor.

There's no argument to say "well what if you're always 50ft away" because in reality nobody would ever average that far away.

I'm not sure that is true.

Looking at the PGA tour stats for last season. Average proximity to the hole is 36'. The best is 32" 1' the worst is 45' 3".
Tommy Fleetwood averaged 40'

Now I know these guys are playing on tour setups. But they're also a bit better than your average golfer.

There are some interesting stats for the PGA tour, which could help us amateurs re-evaluate what we consider to be successful shots.

 

[Imurg]

Definitely putting because 2.2 is poor.

There's no argument to say "well what if you're always 50ft away" because in reality nobody would ever average that far away.

It can be as little as 5 GiR and 1 3 putt
I'd suggest that fits an awful lot of people.
So now do you work on putting, proximity to the hole or hitting more GiR..

 

[SteveW86]

At what level do we think we need to look into stats properly. I would say that for the average golfer the best thing to work on is just hitting the ball better, you can probably get to a 15 handicap by cutting out terrible shots. I would then start to look at where I am weak to improve further, say to get below a 15 handicap.

For me, I can hit the ball a decent distance, but I know I need to hit more fairways which will then make hitting more greens much easier. If I improve off the tee and improve my iron striking, so dispersion improves I would say my scores would come down close to single figures. From there I would switch my focus to be on putting, cutting out the 3 putts and getting the total number of putts down towards 30.

 

[sweaty sock]

Actually I got my units of measurement mixed up, my bad. ?

2.2 is still poor though, and if a player averages 5 greens then obviously there's lots of room for improvement in every area.

Total distance of putts holed is the stat I'd measure, that combined with your gross score is a good insight into your putting and approach play.

After that its strokes gained and probably a paid app...

 

[Oddsocks]

1. Play
2. Enjoy
3. See 2022.

Anything else is a bonus.

Pretty much this.