Performance factor - stats

[SS2]

am i making a "solution" to a problem that doesn't exist, or am i on to something?

If you try to distil a round of golf down to a single "rating" or performance factor other than your score you are, IMHO, barking up the wrong tree. Your score says it all: how many strokes did you take to play the course. You can look at individual elements such as driving, scrambling and putting in isolation but to try to combine them to any meaningful value would probably prove to be fruitless.

 

[cookelad]

This makes some kind of sense to me, although I'm in no way a mathematician. So here's a stupid question: would the formula above only give you a PF for each hole in isolation? If so, how would you then apply it to an entire round - simply multiply by 18, or is it more complicated than that?

I guess you would want to do an average of the 18 holes.

The more I think about the "problem" posed the less I think it's possible to come up with a 100% accurate solution. 2 examples 1 player tops his/her drive 100yards and crawls onto the fairway 2 player hits a booming forum sized drive which just slips off the side of the fairway into the semi, of course using my original formula player 1 gets his 33% while player 2 doesn't!

I stand by my earlier assessment that your overall game can't be quantified by a statistic like this there's just too many variables, you'd end up with a Good Will Hunting type equation on a 30ft blackboard (can I say that nowadays?), the only real judgement being the number at the bottom of the scorecard!

 

[mcbroon]

I guess you would want to do an average of the 18 holes.

The more I think about the "problem" posed the less I think it's possible to come up with a 100% accurate solution. 2 examples 1 player tops his/her drive 100yards and crawls onto the fairway 2 player hits a booming forum sized drive which just slips off the side of the fairway into the semi, of course using my original formula player 1 gets his 33% while player 2 doesn't!

I stand by my earlier assessment that your overall game can't be quantified by a statistic like this there's just too many variables, you'd end up with a Good Will Hunting type equation on a 30ft blackboard (can I say that nowadays?), the only real judgement being the number at the bottom of the scorecard!

You just lost half the forum

I've always been suspicious about FIR stats in particular for exactly the reasons you outline. There are some holes at my place where I'd rather be a foot into the first cut on the right than on the left of the fairway (or vice versa), just because of the angle it gives me into the green. And it also feels a bit harsh to be punished for hitting a good drive that justrolls into the first cut.

Also, I was thinking about the whole notion of a 'Performance Factor'. Isn't that just another phrase for handicap...?

 

[Rooter]

Also, I was thinking about the whole notion of a 'Performance Factor'. Isn't that just another phrase for handicap...?

No, you wait until i put my marketing spin on it all, you will see me selling my idea on dragons den soon and you will want a slice of the pie!


the more i look at it, the more unrealistic it is! LOL i killed an hour or two waiting for my 4.30 tee off today!

 

[mcbroon]

No, you wait until i put my marketing spin on it all, you will see me selling my idea on dragons den soon and you will want a slice of the pie!


the more i look at it, the more unrealistic it is! LOL i killed an hour or two waiting for my 4.30 tee off today!

If you're successful, you should look to diversify. I hear there are some Eskimos in need of some ice, and I know of some Arabs who could do with some sand I'll be first in the queue for shares!

 

[sev112]

I have a couple of informal things depending on how much time I have on my hands

I recount my score giving +0.5 and -0.5 to each shot where relevant. So if I get a par 4 by mis hitting and misreading a putt a which then hits a spike mark and goes into the hole, that becomes a 4.5. If I hit a putt that lips out or sits right on the edge that's -0.5
Similarly with the odd lucky or extremely unlucky bounce. E.g driver off tee deep into woods, 3 bounces off trees back onto fairway is 0.5; driver off tee right down right hand side of fairway hits 150 yard marker post and bounces into and behind tree is -0.5. Etc etc
This gives me a slightly better indicator of the quality of my play.

The other thing I do is allocate a score out of 10 for each shot I played. 10 is a perfect shot, and so usually the last shot on any hole is a 10 , unless you misread mishit and hit a spike mark and it went in, in which case I mark myself down. Then I add up the total number of points divided by the no of shots. Gives me an indication of the quality of my play. 75% is usually just in buffer, anything below is 0.1 up; 80% is near handicap.
This doesn't mean that I average an shot that is valued 8 out of 10 because at my level of scoring there is about 10% because the last putt on every hole is always a 10 mostly. But I didn't want to eliminate all those really good putts I make in a round

Works for me anyway

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I have a couple of informal things depending on how much time I have on my hands

I recount my score giving +0.5 and -0.5 to each shot where relevant. So if I get a par 4 by mis hitting and misreading a putt a which then hits a spike mark and goes into the hole, that becomes a 4.5. If I hit a putt that lips out or sits right on the edge that's -0.5
Similarly with the odd lucky or extremely unlucky bounce. E.g driver off tee deep into woods, 3 bounces off trees back onto fairway is 0.5; driver off tee right down right hand side of fairway hits 150 yard marker post and bounces into and behind tree is -0.5. Etc etc
This gives me a slightly better indicator of the quality of my play.

The other thing I do is allocate a score out of 10 for each shot I played. 10 is a perfect shot, and so usually the last shot on any hole is a 10 , unless you misread mishit and hit a spike mark and it went in, in which case I mark myself down. Then I add up the total number of points divided by the no of shots. Gives me an indication of the quality of my play. 75% is usually just in buffer, anything below is 0.1 up; 80% is near handicap.
This doesn't mean that I average an shot that is valued 8 out of 10 because at my level of scoring there is about 10% because the last putt on every hole is always a 10 mostly. But I didn't want to eliminate all those really good putts I make in a round

Works for me anyway

ever thought that maybe, just maybe, you're making this all a bit more complicated than it needs to be?

 

[sev112]

ever thought that maybe, just maybe, you're making this all a bit more complicated than it needs to be?

Nah, just a bit of fun occasionally, I can do it in my head within 5 minutes at any point a week after a round while I can still remember all my shots. The 0.5 one I can do in 20 seconds ish.

Helps me with my pre-game plan