2014 End of Year Stats

Does anybody on TST keep yearlong stats? (Seems pretty rhetorical.)  I had a pretty good year, all in all...

I played 48 rounds that counted for handicap purposes.

I finished the year with a 7.5 handicap, which was my lowest in 5 years. I also hit 58% of fairways (9% higher than normal), 36% of greens in regulation (highest number in 5 years), and had an average score of 80.3, almost a full stroke lower than normal. One other note, because I hit more greens in regulation, my putts per round were a full stroke higher (32.2) than 2013.

My reason for such a good year? At age 64, I started playing more senior tees.

Anyone else like to share their results?

I keep some stats, and I don't keep stats every time I go play. I keep more short game stats, like putts per green, and and an over all short game handicap which basically includes shots when I miss a GIR. The one big stat I did keep this year told me I dropped 8 strokes off my beginning handicap when I returned to golf 8 months ago. This time 3 years ago, I thought I would never be able to play the game again.

Some days, when I am playing with friends and family, just out having fun, I don't keep stats. Too many funny shenanigans going on.  Most other days, I go out with the intention of focusing on my best play, which are the rounds I keep handicaps on.

In the past 32 +/- weeks I have played 90 rounds of golf. I expect to get in 150+/- rounds in 2015. Just depends on how good, or poor the fishing/catching ratio is.......

A lot of members keep stats. Here are my YTD 2014 stats. These are just in season. I didn't track anything that wasn't posted for handicap due to inconsistent conditions so Apr 15-Nov 15.

Birdies: 4.7%

Pars: 50.3%

Bogies: 33.33%

Doubles: 10.8%

Other: 0.8%

PPR: 31.9

PPH: 1.8

GIR: 35.4%

FIR: 49.2%

U&D;: 43.0%

Sand Saves: 33.3%

Bounce Backs: 54.1%

Par Performance

Par 3: 3.4

Par 4: 4.5

Par 5: 5.3

As I completed my 4th full season, I got 104 rounds in (about half were 9 holes after work).

Overall good year - dropped hcp by 4 points.     Improved lag putting, sand up and downs, driving accuracy (reducing OB's), par 3 tee shots (my nemesis) and GIR percentage.

As for the bad, leaving too many really long lag putts after full wedge approach shots which puts way too much pressure on my lackluster putter; can't chip it from greenside nice and tight often enough to take pressure off my putter; and short putting (3-6 ft) still really sucks and is way below the rest of my game ... these areas are in need of major improvement if I'm ever gonna break 80 and attain a single digit hcp.

What is the length of the courses you play from the Senior tees?  At what length course do you find it too long to score?

I haven't taken notice much of yardages, because most of the course I play are under 6600 yards with senior tees being 400-500 yards shorter. I can play the men's tees in the mid 80's or even lower when my short game is working. The senior tees, however this year has been anywhere from 75-82, with more than half of the scores in the 70's. (One course I played was around 5900 yards and I shot two over, so that was maybe a little too short, but really felt good.)

I would say that anything over 6700 yards has me hitting more fairway woods than I would like.

Back in 1988 I began to keep stats.  Not really sure why but it probably had to do with signing up for a handicap.  In any event, my stats include both in season and out of season rounds.  The only rounds I don't count are when the conditions prevent playing under the Rules of Golf or where I don't play under the Rules.

Year     Avg Putts    Fway    GIR     Score    Sand/Save     Ending Hcap

2014         33.0       59.8%  41.2%    80.6          21.1%             9.2

My high differential for the year was 22.6 (that was a lot of fun) and low was 1.7.  Played 89 times (18 hole rounds).  At 62 I tend to play from lengths of 6,000 to 6,500.

Comparing my stats with yours....

Year     Avg Putts    Fway    GIR     Score      Sand/Save     Ending Hcap

bkuehn1952 2014         33.0       59.8%  41.2%    80.6          21.1%             9.2

Me                   2014         32.2       58.2%  35.6%    80.3          app 20%         7.5

Normally my handicap is 8.5-9.5, but I had a 74 & 76 in the same week that kinda skewed my scores. Once those scores go out of the system, I know I'll jump a bit.

If you ever get to the Pittsburgh area give me a holler, and maybe we can play 18.

No real stats, but evaluating my cards post-round, I gave away WAY too many shots on par 3 holes.  Not hitting greens means instant bogey (most of the time) and sometimes worse.  Hitting greens was a huge priority for me this past season.  I always evaluate those 4 holes after each round.  Before making an effort to hit greens, my stroke total each round (assuming 4 par 3 holes) was usually 16-20.  Yes, I was making doubles on par-3 holes regularly as a result of really bad tee shots ending up in really bad places.

Worked a lot on 120-180 yard shots, (teed up) during practice sessions.  Last year I hit a lot more par-3 greens in regulation and made a lot more pars and the occasional birdie here and there.  Definitely reduced the stroke total on par-3s to 15 or better each round.

Next season, it's hard work on fairway shots, making better call contact that results in more consistent distance and direction. Because of getting up there in age, I'll never be able to make long par 4s in regulation or look at any par 4 hole over about 340 yards as a possible birdie opportunity.  Reality sets in.

Rest of practice time will be spent (as always) on keeping the short game sharp to compensate from the usual 'misses' everywhere else on the course.

Good luck to OP on continued improvements!  Agree wholeheartedly that it all begins with hitting fairways.  Funny, that's something I never have trouble with.  They don't go very far anymore, but I can get 'em on the short stuff about 80% of the time.

dave

Played 30 rounds and finished with a 5.6. I want to increase my GIR% from 42% (7-8 per round) to at least 50%.

The number that sticks out the most: 40% of fairways. Even worse: 30% of the misses went left, and 30% went right. Someone needs to work on his driver.

I've been keeping stats for awhile now.  It's only because I enjoy doing it.  So far, it hasn't helped my game any... but I like to see where I am compared to past seasons.

Anyway... for 2014, I only played 8 rounds (6 eighteen-hole rounds and 4 nine-hole rounds), despite planning to play much, much more than that.

Average Score - 103

Best Score - 96

Worst Score - 110

Greens in Regulation - 21 of 126 (16.67%)

Fairways Hit - 34 of 95 (35.79%)

Average Putts per Round - 35.71

CY

You are on - but I will need a stroke a side!