Beneficial statistics?

nowtfancy

nowtfancy

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With a heavily numeric academic background, I tend to agree with the philosophy that statistics are like a lamppost to a drunken man – more for leaning on than illumination.

I have now obtained ‘scoresaver2’, mainly to manage handicaps for our little society, but am getting sucked into all the bells & whistles – I have printed off the detailed sheet for this weekends round, and am likely to collect all the FIR GIR no. of putts sand saves driving distance etc…

I would be interested if anyone thinks this level of analysis has really helped anyone progress over a more intuitive / common sense approach?
I now have targets of a sub 25 hcp & breaking 90 this year, and I know I need to improve all round but particularly the 40-80 yard approach shots. I like the thought of record keeping, but am concerned that it could start to steer focus in one particular area or worse up a blind alley?!
 
I did do this in some depth for a few years and they are interesting and do give some interesting pointers. Overall though, I don't think the benefits outweigh the (considerable) time spent doing this type of thing. So if it's your bag, go ahead but don't expect any eureka moments when you look back over a season. We all have a pretty good idea of how bad we are and where the faults lie.
 
All I can tell you is from my own experience of Scoresaver2 when I used it religiously. It can give you confidence or highlight an area of the game you need to practice.

Say, for example, your driving stats are great but your greens in regulation are rubbish. You wonder why your scores are high? Your irons are mince. Either practice them or your chipping because you're gonna need to chip a lot.

It's all about interpreting your own stats correctly though. Having a high number of putts can be misleading. Are you a bad putter with 36 a round? Not necessarily. Maybe you hit 18 GIR and just can't sink 30-40 footers every time.

All in all it is only of benefit and I wish I could still use it (I'm now Mac based and can't be bothered to get the PC transforming software)
 
I don't think there's any point in knowing your stats. If I'm driving badly I know, if I've not made any putts I know that too. If I miss every fairway but find every green and shoot level par I don't care about stats :)

Also there's no point in knowing your stats unless you are then prepared to put yourself on the practice ground or have a lesson to fix the weak parts.
 
I don't think there's any point in knowing your stats. If I'm driving badly I know, if I've not made any putts I know that too. If I miss every fairway but find every green and shoot level par I don't care about stats :)

Also there's no point in knowing your stats unless you are then prepared to put yourself on the practice ground or have a lesson to fix the weak parts.
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+1, totally agree!
 
I wrote my own EXCEL program to track each round. The usual fairways, GRs, putts per GR etc.

But I also track each shot and whether it was good/average or bad. So when you take those over 20-25 rounds, you really start to see which clubs are your problem areas.

On putting, track short, medium and long putts.

It can help the low handicapper. If it saves you a shot then it is worth it when you are in single figures.
 
It can help the low handicapper. If it saves you a shot then it is worth it when you are in single figures.
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I disagree, one chip-in or a decent putt can do that. No need to put stats together for that, just focus on every shot and manage your game. If you can walk off a course having not 'wasted' any shots then you are in good shape.

Stats are 'fun' and an interesting talking point, nothing more (well not for me anyway).
 
It's horses for courses. Screwback and Justone you'll be able to count the number of dodgy shots you hit in a round on the fingers of your hand (hands on a really bad day :D). I'd need the the fingers and toes of everyone in my fourball (and possibly more than that).

Besides I'm a research geek I find solace in stats. For me it's a helpful tool to plan lessons and practice. If I ever become a low handicapper I think I'd use them much less.
 
I find it interesting to compare my 'fairways hit' in comparison to all other golfers and golfers in my class BUT could that mean our fairways are wider?

GIR? Again could our greens be more receptive/larger?


Putting? Over a longer period - a good illustration of strokes lost/made up in a round.

Stats are indeed only an indication but can show areas for attention 'down on the range'!


A big YES for me.
 
I used to get so involved in stats my heae started to hurt and the detail confused me.

The only 3 stats I care about are putting, scrambling an gross score.

If I miss fairways it doesn't tend to be by more than a few yards and I generally have a decent shout at GIR so what's the point worrying about that.

If I have shot at GIR I might not hit it but I'll be close enough to chip so why worry about that?

I've conceeded that I'll never be good enough to be hitting high percentages of either of the above on a regular basis.

The things that I know I'll have to do every single round are putt and chip well. If I 2 stab every GIR and get up and down 70% of the time my handicap will come down so they are the only ones that matter.

If I'm having an off day, I'm having an off day and no matter how much I practice, they will happen. There ain't no amount of stats that are going to prevent that.
 
I've downloaded and printed score sheets from a few of the free stat sites. They're good as they fit nicely into a regular scorecard.
I do, however struggle to get all the required details down on the sheet during a round as it's not just a case of scribbling down your score for the hole, but noting FIR,No of putts, sand saves, did you go into a bunker, GIR etc.
I don't mind filling one in when playing a quiet solo round, but feel sure my mates would get a tad fed up if I stood on the next tee furiously logging all the required data onto the score sheet. Especially if I had the honour!
 
It's horses for courses. Screwback and Justone you'll be able to count the number of dodgy shots you hit in a round on the fingers of your hand (hands on a really bad day :D). I'd need the the fingers and toes of everyone in my fourball (and possibly more than that).
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Let's say that is the case and your stats are woeful, what are you going to do about it? Change your swing, your pro, have 50 lessons, spend a lifetime on the range?

Stats or no stats you should have a plan in place that fits in with your golf expectations (and time available) to practice all aspects of your game, improving all areas systematically and spending the correct amount of time on each area... regardless of h/cap.
 
The SS2 card is a doddle and takes 10 seconds per hole Just put a mark through the prepared icons for fairway/green hit to indicate direction and hit in regulation and enter the number of putts. If you played from a bunker a tick or X depending if you got up and down and put in any penalty shots incurred. Simples.

I love SS2 and have done since I got it. For me, the putting and scrambling stats are key. I know I miss to many fairways which puts pressure on the GIR's. To be honest my GIR is only 1 more than my handicap level (23%) but my scrambling and putting aren't where they need to be.

You need to be sensible with the stats. I tend to look over certain periods to see how things are progressing especially if I've had a lesson on say pitching etc to see if there any improvements
 
It's horses for courses. Screwback and Justone you'll be able to count the number of dodgy shots you hit in a round on the fingers of your hand (hands on a really bad day :D). I'd need the the fingers and toes of everyone in my fourball (and possibly more than that).
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Let's say that is the case and your stats are woeful, what are you going to do about it? Change your swing, your pro, have 50 lessons, spend a lifetime on the range?

Stats or no stats you should have a plan in place that fits in with your golf expectations (and time available) to practice all aspects of your game, improving all areas systematically and spending the correct amount of time on each area... regardless of h/cap.
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But I do have a plan and over a period of time the stats tell me how I'm doing. I record lessons, practice suggestions, practice time and playing stats and periodic analysis is showing areas of improvement and change. For example the latest swing change is to remove the fade from my game and make a draw a consistent shot shape. My stats tell me that I'm getting there by reviewing where I miss fairways and greens. At the end of the day I'm an evaluation and research manager by trade, statistical analysis is something that sits well with me. Doesn't mean it's right for everyone but it works for me. :D
 
I'm an evaluation and research manager by trade, statistical analysis is something that sits well with me. Doesn't mean it's right for everyone but it works for me. :D
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Well in that case do you know how many 7-irons you hit last season? :D
 
I think that this is beneficial for good players. They may think they try on every shot, but they don't necessarily understand where they can get the best returns in their game.

The key stats are probably rather different for different groups, maybe FIR for high handicappers, GIR for better players and average distance from flag in regulation for very good players.
 
I'm an evaluation and research manager by trade, statistical analysis is something that sits well with me. Doesn't mean it's right for everyone but it works for me. :D
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Well in that case do you know how many 7-irons you hit last season? :D
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LMAO :D nope but I could export my data as a .csv file and import it into a statistics package and conduct a regression analysis to identify if there was statistical significance in any performance criteria that consistently resulted in a good score...well a good score for me :D
 
Of course this is the downside to stats in that they can be manipulated to read however you want them to. Personally I take mine at face value, look at current trends (at the moment missing a lot of greens left especially with mid-short irons) and go from there. One thing SS2 is very good at is showing your teaching pro what is going on. It's saved a lot of time by giving him the numbers via e-mail regularly and he has seen where I need to do some work and we go from there. It'll be the same when we look at a winter programme
 
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