Club Statistics (When to Record, When to Reset)

[Elmer]

I use a Garmin S50 watch. One of the features is stat tracking.
After every shot the watch asks "what club did you use"?
I have entered a club after every shot on every round.
I believe in being brutally honest when capturing stats, even when I chunk it, hit it thin, skull it, hosel, top it or slice.
When I posted on Reddit about filling gaps, I got absolutely flamed as no one believed my pitching wedge averages 144 when my driver averages 239.

I had to explain multiple times that I had quite a few rounds of ugly tee shots, topping the ball or nasty low burning duck hooks.

Now that I have that all straighten out I am left with stats e bring my averages down, especially the driver.
I reset the stats to the beginning when I get a new club, but really feel that a "warts and all" tells the entire story.

Looking for advice from any stat geeks. 
Do you record all shots or just the decent ones?
Do you reset when your swing hits its stride or record early season rounds?

 

[saevel25]

9 minutes ago, Elmer said:

Looking for advice from any stat geeks. 
Do you record all shots or just the decent ones?
Do you reset when your swing hits its stride or record early season rounds?

Well, in statistics, you probably want to exclude outliers. For your handicap, probably exclude 20% of the shots at the fringes. That thinned PW that went 150 yards, get rid of it. Same with that chunk PW that went 100 yards or less. Also, never keep track of stats for short game shots. I think the data you have is just bad data. 

A 144 PW would mean your driver average should be probably 280+. PGA tour average PW is 142. So, just saying that things don't seem off they are off. 

When I compare other irons to PGA tour averages, I am getting 5 to 17 yards less than PGA tour average. 

1st) Adjust your data. Get rid of outliers. Ditch the bottom 10% and top 10% of shots you hit. 
2nd) Your strike is inconsistent, so your gaps are going to be inconsistent. Especially at the longer clubs. You already do well with having hybrids, but at the end of the day you need to improve your ball striking.

To answer your questions, I probably track 90% of my shots. Like on Tuesday. I hit a PW 165 yards because I had the ball above my feet (delofts the club a bit), and a strong wind was out of my back right. I knew the ball is going to draw and be carried by the wind, and I was out of the rough. My PW average is like 150, maybe 156 MAX. I hit it 10 yards longer because of circumstances. That shot, I am not including in any data. I want my distances on nice sunny day with no wind out of good lies. Then I can adjust off that. 

[Elmer]

12 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

I want my distances on nice sunny day with no wind out of good lies. 

Now that you mention "sunny day" 2 weeks ago I played 9 in the pouring rain.
Wet, soggy, soft ground did not help any of my distances, nor did the slipping club.
Probably should not have included my drive a few weeks back that got an extra 100 yards off the cart path.

Great information.
I have to go back to the beginning. 

[iacas]

I covered this type of thing in my book. Have you bought a copy in the 11 years since its release? 😁 You've been a member here for longer than that, after all.

If you're a 15, you want to throw out about worst 20% of the bad shots for considering things like the size of your Shot Zone, averages, etc.

[ChetlovesMer]

18 hours ago, Elmer said:

When I posted on Reddit about filling gaps, I got absolutely flamed as no one believed my pitching wedge averages 144 when my driver averages 239.

18 hours ago, saevel25 said:

A 144 PW would mean your driver average should be probably 280+. PGA tour average PW is 142. So, just saying that things don't seem off they are off. 

 

@Elmer, Firstly, what @saevel25 is telling you is really good information. 

My first question would be does the Garmin give you true average or performance (playing) average? These can be very different. For me my true average with a driver is 241 yards. (That's total distance not carry.) But my performance average is 263 yards. What's does that mean? The performance average is the yardage you should play. The true average is just the mathematical mean. So add up the numbers and divide by the number of shots. For example is you hit 3 drives 250 yards and one drive squirts off the face and only goes 50 yards. Your mean average is 200 yards per drive. But if the center of the green is 200 yards away, you don't want to pull driver because you are likely to hit it 50 yards too far. The performance average of 250 is a better number to use. 

Incidentally I like to keep both numbers because ideally I'd like to get to a point where both numbers are the same. That means I'm not hitting trees or hitting the topped shot that squirts a few yards down the fairway. I believe if I can get my true average to match my playing average that would show a level of consistency I'd like to achieve. 

So, my first question would be is the 239 driver average a mathematical mean or is it a performance average? 

Now, your P-wedge. As @saevel25 said you need to remove the outliers. Are there a large number of shots that you skulled and hit much farther than intended? Not to beat the dead horse, but obviously you want to remove the those. Some software (Shotscope for example) does that for you. The second thing to remember is not all Pitching Wedges are the same. My PW is 46 degrees which I think is about average for a modern set. I have an older set in the closet with a 50 degree PW. Callaway Rogue X P-wedge is 40 degrees of loft. That might be similar to an 8 iron in a professional's bag. Lower loft doesn't always mean more distance, but the differences in loft can make it difficult to compare how far you are hitting your PW compared to how far a pro might hit theirs. 

These are just things to think about. I'm a big fan of keeping stats, so kudos to you for doing so. 

[Elmer]

14 hours ago, iacas said:

I covered this type of thing in my book. Have you bought a copy in the 11 years since its release? 😁 You've been a member here for longer than that, after all.

If you're a 15, you want to throw out about worst 20% of the bad shots for considering things like the size of your Shot Zone, averages, etc.

Book?
I honestly had no idea.

[saevel25]

1 minute ago, Elmer said:

Book?
I honestly had no idea.

Lowest Score Wins - Shoot Lower Scores on the Golf Course NOW

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Shoot lower scores on the golf course… NOW!

Shot zones are a great concept. It takes into account a high percentage of your outcomes and allows you to play the course intuitively. 

I will say, 95% of the time, if I have a full swing, I tend to aim at the middle of the green. Pending bunkers/hazards. 

2 hours ago, ChetlovesMer said:

My PW is 46 degrees which I think is about average for a modern set. I have an older set in the closet with a 50 degree PW. Callaway Rogue X P-wedge is 40 degrees of loft. That might be similar to an 8 iron in a professional's bag. Lower loft doesn't always mean more distance, but the differences in loft can make it difficult to compare how far you are hitting your PW compared to how far a pro might hit theirs. 

I remember watching Foreplay golf, where Scottie was hitting Trent's irons. They are lofted down, game improvement. He basically just assumed they would be one club stronger relative to his irons. He started hitting them pin high, because he's a beast. 

Yea, knowing your specs relative to your yardages is important. 

Gaps are supposed to be 10-12 yards per iron. So, if that is off have the lie and loft checked. Also, maybe long irons are not good for your golf skill level. 

To answer the OP title, when it reset. I take account of my yardages like 2-3x a golf season pending how I am swinging. Right now, if I make good low point control contact with my irons, they are usually good strikes. My irons are going a tad longer than last year. I upped my PW from 145 yards to about 150 yards only like 95% effort. 

[ChetlovesMer]

8 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

 

To answer the OP title, when it reset. I take account of my yardages like 2-3x a golf season pending how I am swinging. Right now, if I make good low point control contact with my irons, they are usually good strikes. My irons are going a tad longer than last year. I upped my PW from 145 yards to about 150 yards only like 95% effort. 

Dude, I wish I had your swing speed. My irons are pretty similar in length this year compared to last year, but my P-wedge average is way down compared to last year. So, it creates what, at first, looks like a large gap in average performance between my P-wedge and my 9 iron. (125 with P-wedge, 145 with 9-iron) Until you notice that I'm 3 times more likely to hit P-wedge than gap wedge.

This year I've become more comfortable hitting my P-wedge different distances. I will try to flight it and/or keep it low or hit it higher and/or hit it with more spin. (I will often use it down as low as 90 or 100 yards and then out to 135) The way I use it lowers my average distance, but has greatly increased the number of greens I hit with it.

I have a high degree of confidence in manufacturing shots with the P-wedge. (According to Shotscope) I'm hitting the green 61% of the time with my P-wedge. Compared to only 24% of the time with a 9 iron and 40% of the time with the Gap wedge. 

I want to get better at all 4 of my wedges, but currently the only 2 clubs I hit the green more than 50% of the time with are the P-wedge and my 60 degree. (The 60 degree is kind of unfair as a lot of those shots are literally greenside.) 

[saevel25]

32 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Dude, I wish I had your swing speed.

Blessing and a curse. 😉