Keeping Statistics?

[mrmiller8]

Ok so I have GolfGPS for the Iphone and its probably the best thing out there as far as a scorekeeper/statistics/GPS all in one. I have been playing really well lately. The issue that I am having is that my Driving accuracy has been decreasing while my scores have been becoming better at the same time. My question is; When keeping Statistics and trying to evaluate them I feel like i should be working on my long game even though my scores are getting better. I am only missing fairways by like 5 feet and there is very little difference in fairway and first cut of rough on most florida courses. Is the statistic simply hitting the actual fairway no matter how good the actual shot is? I guess the same question would be for greens vs. the fringe? feedback?

[sean_miller]

  mrmiller8 said:

Ok so I have GolfGPS for the Iphone and its probably the best thing out there as far as a scorekeeper/statistics/GPS all in one. I have been playing really well lately. The issue that I am having is that my Driving accuracy has been decreasing while my scores have been becoming better at the same time. My question is; When keeping Statistics and trying to evaluate them I feel like i should be working on my long game even though my scores are getting better. I am only missing fairways by like 5 feet and there is very little difference in fairway and first cut of rough on most florida courses. Is the statistic simply hitting the actual fairway no matter how good the actual shot is? I guess the same question would be for greens vs. the fringe? feedback?

It sort of depends on your purpose. If you always play the same course, and the rough is far from penal, then shots "just off the fairway" are essentially fairways - in other words, not important. What is important is tee shots into hazards, trees, and OB.

If you're planning on playing courses away from home where the rough is thick and gnarly, you may want to have an idea what your FIR stat is - or at least how to bump it up when you need to. As far as GIRs go, the apron is not the green, even though you're putting. Some guys even putt from the rough and out of bunkers. It's good to know how many legitimate birdie opportunities you're getting.

[goblue107501]

As long as you are not hurting yourself, fairways hit can be a little misleading, especially if the rough isn't that tough. I had, what I thought was a great driving round last year, and only hit about 40%. However, I didn't miss by much, no balls OB or in a hazard, and I missed on the proper side for a good angle to the green. I was off the fairway by just a few yards mostly. I can live with that, as long as I am hitting greens. Missing fairways can be a big deal if you can't hit the greens and have to take penalty strokes.

[zeg]

In the past I've recorded fairways hit pretty rigorously. I've decided that's a mistake, though. I'm not interested in comparing my stats with the pros or anyone else, I want to find where I'm making costly errors. In the future, I'm going to be tracking something more like "playable drives" --- that is, as long as I'm either in the fairway or in the nearby rough where I'm neither badly buried, in a bunker, or far enough off that I'm stymied, I'll tick the "fairway hit" box. This will, IMO, be a better guide when deciding where to focus my attention.

[sacm3bill]

  zeg said:

In the future, I'm going to be tracking something more like "playable drives"...

I totally agree - in fact, to take it one step further than just a "yes" or "no" check, I read an article recently about using a points system that differentiated between drives in the fairway, playable drives in the rough, drives where you essentially lose a stroke because you're behind a tree, and drives where you lose 2 strokes because you're OB or in a hazard where the next shot is not playable. I think it was in one of the golf magazines a couple months ago... anyone remember the details or have a link?

[sean_miller]

  sacm3bill said:

I totally agree - in fact, to take it one step further than just a "yes" or "no" check, I read an article recently about using a points system that differentiated between drives in the fairway, playable drives in the rough, drives where you essentially lose a stroke because you're behind a tree, and drives where you lose 2 strokes because you're OB or in a hazard where the next shot is not playable. I think it was in one of the golf magazines a couple months ago... anyone remember the details or have a link?

One round I put a check mark for the fairway, L for left rough, R for right rough, Th for through, and B for bunker. That got old real fast.

[zeg]

  sean_miller said:

One round I put a check mark for the fairway, L for left rough, R for right rough, Th for through, and B for bunker. That got old real fast.

Actually, I do this in the method described in the Scorecard software. I put a little up arrow for a hit fairway, left or right for a miss, or an X for a shank or other miss that I don't want to count as either left or right rough. It takes an extra second, but it's helpful to see these numbers later.

[sean_miller]

  zeg said:

Actually, I do this in the method described in the Scorecard software. I put a little up arrow for a hit fairway, left or right for a miss, or an X for a shank or other miss that I don't want to count as either left or right rough. It takes an extra second, but it's helpful to see these numbers later.

I just signed up - only made detailed notations once because I didn't know what to do with the data.

[enis750]

i used to keep stats....i dont anymore
I was focued too much on them to score well

i know if i putted bad, drove bad or had crappy ball striking - and work on it accordingly

[sacm3bill]

  sacm3bill said:

I read an article recently about using a points system... anyone remember the details or have a link?

Found it:

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-instr...sanders_gd0809

[zeg]

  enis750 said:

i used to keep stats....i dont anymore

The thing that I've found keeping a few basic stats has done is help me not just see what I'm doing wrong, but how to prioritize the fixes based on what's hurting me the most. Given your handicap, I imagine it's a lot easier for you to tell what you're doing wrong to hurt your score. For a higher-handicapper like me, I need to work on pretty much everything, so the question is where to focus first.

I do have to be careful not to get caught up in the stats during the round, though. I don't find it to be that much of a distraction, I just jot a few notes as I'm writing down my score (or entering it in my iPod app). I don't think about the stats until later, while I'm out in the field, it's just something I'm noting for later use.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Write down the number of shots it takes to get green high, the number of short shots you take and the number of putts. You can pretty well diagnose your game from that. Whether you're missing right or left, you don't have to write that down. You know which one it is . . .

[zeg]

  The Recreational Golfer said:

Write down the number of shots it takes to get green high, the number of short shots you take and the number of putts. You can pretty well diagnose your game from that. Whether you're missing right or left, you don't have to write that down. You know which one it is . . .

It can be helpful to note the direction. I tend to miss mostly right, but not by a huge margin -- I put about 20% left, 30% in the fairway, and 50% right. I go left often enough that it can sometimes cloud my memory of the round. The other thing that's useful is correlating the miss direction with the score. In my case, there's little difference between missing left and hitting the fairway, but more than a stroke lost on average when I miss right. Even if you have a sense for where your problems are, confirming it can be useful.

[The Recreational Golfer]

Often, missing right and missing left are symptoms of the same problem. For example, if you habitually hook, you'll push on occasion. Correct the hook, which is the major problem, and you correct the push at the same time. I would guess most golfers already know what their major tendency is, which was my point.

[sean_miller]

  The Recreational Golfer said:

Often, missing right and missing left are symptoms of the same problem. For example, if you habitually hook, you'll push on occasion. Correct the hook, which is the major problem, and you correct the push at the same time. I would guess most golfers already know what their major tendency is, which was my point.

Sometimes my draw doesn't. Sometimes it does that and then some. The only time I worry about left or right is when I was trying to hit it straight.

[saevel25]

GIR, Putts, the only two things that matter. Short game is used to save you, its nice to have, but you practice it so you don't worry about hitting greens you practice it just incase. GIR, and putting are the two most important things. You hit for GIR 18 times a round, but you play your irons about 22-26 times a round, thats about 30% of your game, add in 2 putting per green, thats 2/3rd your game.

You can make up a bad drive with a good iron, one key that makes tiger really good, he makes pluses out of his bad shots.

So GIR and putts,