Stats and breaking 80

[TourSwing]

Hi there ,

Picked up on golf again earlier this year, after a lengthy hiatus of around 14yrs ... not saying I didn't touch a club during this period, but played extremely rarely (a couple of times a year).

The games showing steady progress, and have begun keeping various stats, to evaluate and target specialized parts of my game ... would love to hear everyones feedback on:

1.) what stats need to be tweaked, or important stats that are missing ..

2.) which area of the game to systematically target first to lower my score ..

Stats from my 2 previous rounds (same course and conditions) are below, and reflect the present state of my game:

Stat:    Most Recent Round, Round before that

Score: 88, 88 (Par: 72, slope: 129)

FIR:     7/14, 6/14

GIR:     7/18, 5/18

Putts:   36, 35

Penalties: 3, 2

Detailed Stats (Driving):

Penalty Drives: 0, 1

Drives leaving no chance of GIR: 2, 1

Detailed Stats (GIR):

90 yards in:       1/1, 2/4

90 - 145:            5/12, 1/4

145 - 175:          0/0, 2/6

175+ yards out: 1/3, 0/3

Detailed Stats (Putting):

Avg. Putts (GIR holes): 2.29, 2.60

Avg. Putts (non-GIR holes): 1.82, 1.69

3 Putts: 2, 3

1 Putts: 2, 4

Thanks in advance for all your help!

[jwalker497]

Your game seems a lot like mine, only better.  2 quick Observations, though.

1) You have a too many Penalties or blow up holes.

2) Putting needs to improve.

Check this article out, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0HFI/is_5_57/ai_n26827727/

Half way down it gives you an avg score per how many GIRs & Putts you hit.  It's hard to read but you'll get it.  I know It might not seem that technical but I have been using this chart for several yrs and I think its spot on!   The chart says that if you hit 5GIRs you should shoot 85 and 7GIRs=81.  It also says that 36 putts puts you around a 92 and 35 puts you at an 83

So putting it together,

Round 1 = 7GIRs=81, 36P=92, 3Penalties. You shot 88.  Clearly, you hit the ball well, it's just that you either had a few disaster holes and you may have 3 putted too much or just missed the short ones.  had you putted better and had less penalties you should have been in the Mid to low 80s

Round 2 = 5GIRs=85, 35P=88, 2Penalites. Again, putts and penalties are where you strokes are going.

Your GIRs are very good, you're just not sinking the putts and the penalties are compounding the problem.  I think this chart also shows your potential,  If you hit 7GIRs and putt better, you'd be close to breaking 80!  Keep at it!  Hope the chart helps, I use it all the time!

[bunkerputt]

Eliminate penalty shots.  Put a premium on getting the ball in play.  Club down until you can make this happen reliably.  When you practice, work on your ballstriking and chipping.  If you are putting around 2 strokes per GIR, you can forget about the putting practice until you can start hitting more greens and devote 60% of your time to ballstriking, 40% to chipping.  It's pretty easy to break 80 just by having a better swing and being a better chipper.  I'm only now finding that I really need to putt better to go lower.

[jwalker497]

I don't think he needs to work on GIRs, He hit 7 & 5 greens, and 7 & 6 Fairways - that's pretty good.  I don't know what his goals are, but hitting any more 7GIRS could statistically give him a shot @ high 70s.  Based on his stats, which is all we have, I think it shows ball striking was good, putting was bad and could have had better course mgmt to avoid the penalties.

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

Eliminate penalty shots.  Put a premium on getting the ball in play.  Club down until you can make this happen reliably.  When you practice, work on your ballstriking and chipping.  If you are putting around 2 strokes per GIR, you can forget about the putting practice until you can start hitting more greens and devote 60% of your time to ballstriking, 40% to chipping.  It's pretty easy to break 80 just by having a better swing and being a better chipper.  I'm only now finding that I really need to putt better to go lower.

[CuppedTin]

You are dead off the tee my man, if you can't get off the tee then you have no shot at breaking 80 (Consistently)...

[TourSwing]

@jwalker: thanks, thats a great article! My goal is to break 80, and to do that I need to improve most parts of my games ... But need help figuring out what needs the most help / practice. Putting stats need to improve by a couple of strokes, and better chipping will facilitate that. Avoiding penalties will keep the dbl bogeys of the card! @bunkerputt: am already choking down, and making easy swings! Keeping my GIR closer to 7 rather than 5 will definitely do me good! Difficult to find a chipping/ putting practice facility near me, and I find that very frustrating! @cuppedtin: i drive it a fairly long way ... 285-295 yards with the driver, 255 with the 3w ... I may practice shorter swings, and easier swings, and see if that improves my FIR considerably! Any other stats I should be tracking?