Meaningful putting comparison/tracking????

[splashtryagain]

Dry as hell post but saddo wondering

As per title I'm looking for a way to keep some sort of track of putting improvement and comparison (have 2 on the go at the moment). I have been putting some practice in recently and changed putter so was wondering if there were any ideas out there. Tonight I took notes on my game and recorded the following putts when on green.

1.6' - 2 putts
2.2' - 1 putt
3.42' - 2 putts
4.4' - 1 putt
5.3' - 1 putt
6.6' - 1 putt
7. 61' - 2 putt
8. 30' - 2 putts
9. 42' - 2 putts
10. 5' - 1 putt
11. 18' - 2 putts
12. 15' - 2 putts
13. 21' - 2 putts
14. 1' - 1 putt
15. 19' - 2 putts
16. 2' - 1 putt
17. 21' - 1 putt
18. 12' - 1 putt

Giving a total of 27 putts and 309 feet. Can dividing these give a good indication? So mine comes out at 11.4????? This of any use or should I record something else as well? If you got this far thanks for sticking with it, I'd appreciate any suggestions and advice:smirk:

 

[dog377]

You would be right at the top of the European Tour putting stats with that performance!!!

http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/stats/genworthfs/season=2012/categoryid=6/index.html

I would say I'd be more interested in putts per green plain and simple. It doesn't matter how long the putt is, you just have to get it in the hole in as few putts as possible. The other stuff is interesting but ultimately unhelpful.

 

[JustOne]

From 8ft the pros holing percentage is about 50% from 20ft it's about 15%, that's all I need to know.

I'd definitely take 27 putts in a round though... even better if I've also hit all greens in regulation (yeh, right!) :whoo:

 

[Foxholer]

That's excellent putting!

Personally, unless I'm missing short putts or 3-putting relatively easy lag ones, I'm not worried about the stats. And if that's happening, these stats won't help. However, if you combine them with the GIR count, you can get an indication of how good your approach shots are.

 

[splashtryagain]

But the difference is a lot of my shorter (and longer 2 putts too) ones were for par after chipping on. It's here that I feel any comparison fails. Or, do I look at that and think what if I hit more greens / is approach play my weakness / or driving?

Anyhow - any ideas on comparisons?

 

[Foxholer]

Yes, that's why I subtract GIRs from total putts. Gives a simple number that I figure is more realistic for me to check after the round.

If you are going to check 'putting only', I think you should divide it into different lengths - where you shouldn't miss (say up to 5 feet); where you expect to hole 50%; all others (or maybe where 50% 3-putt). Any putt missed in first range counts as -1(a 3-putt -2); a 1-putt in range 2 counts as +0.5, 2-putt as -0.5, 3-putt as -1.5); a 1-putt in range 3 +1.5, 2-putt +0.5, 3-putt -0.5 etc. Overall total positive is aim. Key is establishing the range where you should sink every putt. If doubtful, you could add a 75% range, with 1-putt worth +0.25, 2-putt -0.75.

The above is along the same lines as the 'shots gained putting' stat that PGA Tour now uses.

 

[Ian_S]

Strokes gained-putting seems like your best bet (http://www.pgatour.com/r/strokes-gained-putting-baseline/index.html) for details.

All you do is, for each hole, read off the expected number of putts for your distance and then total those up. For the ones you listed here, you'd be expecting 28.521 putts. You took 27, so you scored +1.521 strokes. In the official PGA stats I believe they do an adjustment to bring the average for all players to zero, so you can't necessarily compare your stats v theirs, but you can use this to compare your own putting over time.

That said, +1.521 is an excellent score (0 is average, meaning you took exactly the same number of strokes as you'd expect given your distance from the pin). I'd break 90 every time if I could putt like you so nice going.