Green's in Regulation

[dmc]

Ive never really been one to keep track of my stat's, but I'm starting to keep track of my GIR's and putting to see if I can improve. Currently average around 8 or 9 GIR's, and we have big greens. My best round of the year I only hit 6, but still shot one over. And Ive hit 12 and shot 7 over.

Like everyone I'd like to keep shaving some off the handicapp and I play in a lot of skins games and need to make more birdies. What I'm wondering is what are the average GIR's for low handicap golfers. I already have a decent short game but two put pars are easier than up and down's.

[Bump-n-MI]

Key stats for me this year:

Putts - 28
Fways - 8.0
GIR - 9.5
SS - 54%
U&D;'s - 64%

My ball striking is the best part of my game....boy do I need to improve my 52% GIR stat!

[Pyranha]

Dude....if you only hit 6 greens and still shot 1 over you've got a VERY good short game. I average about 12 GIR, with my better rounds being up around 14-15. Anyway....assuming you're finding the fairway more often than not, to make more birdies you need to focus not just on hitting the green, but putting the ball in the right spot to give yourself makeable birdie putts. Just hitting the green isn't enough if you really want put up red numbers.

-C

Ive never really been one to keep track of my stat's, but I'm starting to keep track of my GIR's and putting to see if I can improve. Currently average around 8 or 9 GIR's, and we have big greens. My best round of the year I only hit 6, but still shot one over. And Ive hit 12 and shot 7 over.

[Leftygolfer]

On a good day 7-9 greens. I hit 8 yesterday but my worst putting day of my life. 38 F**king putts.

[David in FL]

I'm right at 45% right now with a goal for the year of 50% and an ave of 32 putts/round.

[Leftygolfer]

I would say if you hit 50% of greens and are not a 5 or better, you have a serious weakness in putting/short game.

[dmc]

Dude....if you only hit 6 greens and still shot 1 over you've got a VERY good short game. I average about 12 GIR, with my better rounds being up around 14-15. Anyway....assuming you're finding the fairway more often than not, to make more birdies you need to focus not just on hitting the green, but putting the ball in the right spot to give yourself makeable birdie putts. Just hitting the green isn't enough if you really want put up red numbers.

I have a good short game, but that day it was really working, 11 putts on the front with 2 birdies with 3 greens hit. Not as good on the back, had a double. Not my normal round.

One problem I have is we have Zoysia fairways that have been soft and we get little roll. There are two holes that I usually have a tough time just hitting. One I usually have 200yds uphill with a bunker to carry, the other I'm usually in the 225 yds range with alot of trouble on the left. I'm starting to get some lessons from the pro to try and get alittle more distance with my driver, and more accuracy with my irons. I'm fighting with comming over the top alittle and either pulling or cutting across the ball some. Mostly I'm pulling, long and left.

[dmc]

I would say if you hit 50% of greens and are not a 5 or better, you have a serious weakness in putting/short game.

The problem with this stat is not all greens are the same size. We can have 30 yds from front to back on some greens, maybe more. I have had putts that you have to have a pretty good shoulder turn and can feel the shaft flex. I would just as soon be chipping from 60' than putting. You also need to be on the correct level.

My former club was a P.B. Dye course and the greens were smaller and well protected with deep bunkers. My current club is a Fazio design and it is not as dificult to hit the greens, but they are much larger.

[Leftygolfer]

The problem with this stat is not all greens are the same size. We can have 30 yds from front to back on some greens, maybe more. I have had putts that you have to have a pretty good shoulder turn and can feel the shaft flex. I would just as soon be chipping from 60' than putting. You also need to be on the correct level.

Golf courses are so different but I do think that is a good number for me to shoot for. I don't play places with huge greens and if I hit 9 greens and don't shoot mid 70s I would have had a terrible putting day or made an total mess of the other 9 holes which I don't typically do.

[DavidFehertysBike]

I dont have exact numbers, but i probably average between 8 & 9 GIR's in a round.

[CG031]

I don't hit very many G.I.R...ever. I'm not a great ball striker, short game is by far my best asset on the course...

But I like to think of it this way:
If I hit 6 G.I.R. , And I get up and down 6 times , and I make bogey on the other six holes, I'm going to shoot a 78 on a par 72, and a 76 on a par 70.

G.I.R. I find to be somewhat of a pointless stat unless your below a 5 handicap - then that could be what's holding your game down. But for us double digit handicappers out there you don't need to hit a lot of G.I.R.'s to have a good round.

[Divot]

Try calculating your putts per GIR. That will really tell you if it is your putting or short game that needs improvement.

[blcorn80]

My GIRs are HORRIBLE this year!! I am playing the best golf of my life score-wise, but only hitting 23% of my greens.

I guess the silver lining is that my putts-per-round has gotten to be pretty good (30.9) as a result. Easy to one-putt if you are missing a bunch of greens and can get up-and-down pretty well. It sure makes getting birdies pretty hard, though!

[NotAStick]

My GIR was around 65% when I got my handicap to a +3. Falling back to around +1, I think my GIR is down around 60%. It really depends on the course and how I'm hitting it.

I hit 16 greens yesterday (very good for me) and only 9 the day before (very poor for me). I shot comparable scores (80, then 65). Best and worst rounds of the year, back to back, entirely due to ball-striking.

I'm a very consistent player and I tend to play conservative (I aim at the middle of the greens and can generally choose which direction to miss by working the ball). When I hit 9 greens, I'm hitting the ball absolutely TERRIBLE. I have to miss my targets by 30 yards or more, Yikes.

The two greens I missed yesterday were both great shots that just hit a hard spot near the pin and bounced over the back, so it was absolutely the opposite. My striking was 100% and I was aiming at every pin.


GIR is a deceptive stat in this regard.

I could easily average less than 50% GIR if I was going at every pin on very hard courses. With about the same ball-striking, I could also easily keep an 80% GIR stat if I played very easy muni courses and aimed at the center of the green.

[Creestoff]

I'd be curious to see what the average green size is. The guys I play with say our course has really small greens, so it makes it more difficult to hit G-I-R. I need to find a benchmark number for curiosity's sake.

[TN94z]

I haven't been hitting many lately but that is mainly because I am in the process of taking lessons and I have made some changes. Mix that with my more aggressive pin seeking aim I have been trying lately and it accounts for missed greens.

Friday I hit 9 and shot 78. Yesterday I hit 11 and shot 74. This was going for the pins. Before this weekend it was probably more like 5 or 6 GIR! My putts are always below 30...usually around 26-28

[RandomRaiderTTU]

On a good day I hit 9-10 GIR. On a bad day, it's more like 4-5.

[lumpuckeroo]

GIR is a deceptive stat in this regard.

I am probably in the minority, but I put no faith in GIR and do not track or care. Now I am not a scratch golfer nor do I make money from golf, I understand that you make money by putting for birdie, I am just a hack. Yesterday I shot an 83, hit only 2 greens in regulation, but I rimmed out 2 birdie and 1 par chip, and had 7 putts less then 5 feet for par.

My brother and I keep what we call a 'positive movement' stat, we keep the ball moving, in a positive maner, toward the hole. No balls OB or in the water off a drive, no punch outs from under a tree, no 40 yard 7 iron shots.