why do people get lost in the stats?what do they REALLY tell you?
for example, ive played several times on my home course and hit 18 greens,great must have played well?usually yes,but i have shot level par for one of those rounds(one birdie and one 3 putt bogey),must have putted badly?NOPE!what did i work on after the game,putting right?NOPE!my irons,i dont three putt very often from ten feet,so i obviously wasnt hitting it close enough.
i hit wedges into 9 of those greens and only made ONE birdie BECAUSE of poor distance control.
if you take VJ Singh as an example,he hits driver long with left to right fade.bad shot is pull hook for him.when he hits that off the tee,he has to chip out or hit miracle shot,so after chipping out still has 7/8 or 9 iron left to scramble from.hence his poorish scrambling stats,ask anyone out on tour about his short game and they will tell you how good it is.
so,why do people get lost in the stats?
how important is the long game?very!
how important is the short game?very!
how important is strategy?very!
how important is fitness?very!
how do we get better?learn to improve all of the above slightly so that your bad shots are better and your good shots happen more often!then you will improve greatly!
happy golfing,
David McCallum
Head P.G.A Professional
MacGolf Thailand.
I have gone back on this topic, been all over the map.
Then I came across a study by Lucius Riccio, using all types of golfers, pros to hdcp, over 10,000 rounds were analyzed.
GIRs seem to have the most influence over your score followed by putting. His study does indicate that 'blow up' holes through most studies and his is well off.
I did a compare of his results against mine and it is scary how accurate it is.
Basically to break 80 you need 8 Girs and 32 putts.
Obviously being able to get a GIR means you need to keep the ball in play and no penalties.
why do people get lost in the stats?what do they REALLY tell you?
for example, ive played several times on my home course and hit 18 greens,great must have played well?usually yes,but i have shot level par for one of those rounds(one birdie and one 3 putt bogey),must have putted badly?NOPE!what did i work on after the game,putting right?NOPE!my irons,i dont three putt very often from ten feet,so i obviously wasnt hitting it close enough.
i hit wedges into 9 of those greens and only made ONE birdie BECAUSE of poor distance control.
if you take VJ Singh as an example,he hits driver long with left to right fade.bad shot is pull hook for him.when he hits that off the tee,he has to chip out or hit miracle shot,so after chipping out still has 7/8 or 9 iron left to scramble from.hence his poorish scrambling stats,ask anyone out on tour about his short game and they will tell you how good it is.
so,why do people get lost in the stats?
how important is the long game?very!
how important is the short game?very!
how important is strategy?very!
how important is fitness?very!
how do we get better?learn to improve all of the above slightly so that your bad shots are better and your good shots happen more often!then you will improve greatly!
happy golfing,
David McCallum
Head P.G.A Professional
MacGolf Thailand.
So very good points . . . question for you . . . do you think that the average guy may have a glaring weakness on one of the areas that you have listed above and thus could make a marked improvement just in that particular area reducing his handicap?
Obviously you have made a very good point that all areas are important but could some be more important than others to a particular player with regards to their improving in the shortest amount of time?
So very good points . . . question for you . . . do you think that the average guy may have a glaring weakness on one of the areas that you have listed above and thus could make a marked improvement just in that particular area reducing his handicap?
Obviously you have made a very good point that all areas are important but could some be more important than others to a particular player with regards to their improving in the shortest amount of time?
Very good points.
To be frank yes,I DO think that each individual player needs to intelligently evaluate THEIR game and work on what THEY need to make them better golfers.
this may be one area,possibly more,BUT stats RARELY show TRUTH and each department of the game deserves FULL attention.
let me add another point,from a pro game aspect.most right handed golfers would im sure prefer to hit putts that are UPHILL and/or RIGHT TO LEFT,so to make MORE birdies is it better to FADE or DRAW the ball?
I think it perfectly makes sense to improve on all aspects of the game, but let me emphazise on %age shots, esp from the tee to leave yourselve with an option to reach for a GIR.
We have a mid long Par 5 about 490m uphill, and you have 2 choices with the tee shot: rip your driver as high as a lob wedge over a small forrest to leave you with the opportunity to go for it in 2 OR play a 4 iron over a pond and short of a little river and continue from there.
Since I can hit probably 10% of my drives high enough to go over the forrest, I prefer to use the 4 iron for hte tee shot on a PAR 5 and still can reach in GIR and if not, I have played many more pars there then on other Par5 which I tried to reach in 2 and failed.
Knowing your game is crucial and build your strategy around that makes your day scoring wise.
Linear Mode
