Statistic Trackers

[Royster1984]

I am a bit of a statistic tracker and like to keep a spreadsheet log of my rounds to see trends and then try and put a plan together to fix the common issues. I am hoping people who also are interested in data collection are willing to share experiences so maybes we can all mod our own structures for the better.

Having read an article in my golf magazine this month about data tracking and making good use of it. I decided to change my system up, to see If I can get some more valuable data and then get better results on the course through practice and better course management.

I was originally tracking general information i.e (FIR/GIR/Putts/Penaltys) and this was fine but for my level of game it is not really giving me much information. Hitting Fairways in reg is fine and is a nice bonus but for me its not what is holding my scoring back. If i miss a fairway by 5 yards and still have a 120 yards to the green from a semi decent lie, its still a good chance.

Due to this factor I wanted to come up with something simple and quick that would allow me to see where I had potential to improve my scoring. So I decided to change my system to help achieve this.

I am now tracking the following instead of FIR/GIR/Putts;

(Phase 1) Tee Shot Errors;

Basically I am looking for simple progression through the hole, so you start of on the tee, was your tee shot good enough to get you on to 2nd phase (the approach shot)??  If you have a decent shot to green, then yes it was. If you dont because your OOB, stuck behind a tree or miles away due to bad tee shot then its a no.

(Phase 2) Approach Shot Errors

You have got 150 yards to green. You hit your shot with the aim to progress on to the short game. each persons verdict on good or bad will be different but for me an acceptable approach shot is something that leaves me a short chip on to the green with a couple of putts at worst. So after my shot if my ball is within like 10-15 yards of the green that is acceptable.

(Phase 3) Short Game Errors

As a minimum for my own short game I am looking at 1 chip and 2 putts if I am off the green, or 2 putts if I am on the green, unless its an unusual situation like a massive green with loads of break on then I might accept a 3 putt.

Basically I looking to try and encourage tee shot > approach shot > chip/2 putts, which means a bogey at worst. I have only just started tracking this so my data pool does not have much tread to it but hoping it will over time.

As well as tracking this I am tracking the holes I fail to achieve a bogey at worst on, with the intention of looking at some better course management on these holes.

This is my tracker with current data only 2 rounds sadly.

Does anyone have any feedback on this or any advice on how to get better results from statistics in general??

Many Thanks

Anthony.

[boogielicious]

I use Scorecard to record my stats.  It is a bit more simple than your system but it records the following:

1. Fairways hit or left or right miss.

2. GIR

3. Up and downs - successful or unsuccessful.

4. Sand saves - successful or unsuccessful.

5. number of putts

6. Length of first putt

7. penalties.

You can also mark the conditions for temperature and wind.

I have the Scorecard app for my phone, but usually mark my scorecard with this info.  The software detail is below.

[Royster1984]

I use Scorecard to record my stats.  It is a bit more simple than your system but it records the following:

1. Fairways hit or left or right miss.

2. GIR

3. Up and downs - successful or unsuccessful.

4. Sand saves - successful or unsuccessful.

5. number of putts

6. Length of first putt

7. penalties.

You can also mark the conditions for temperature and wind.

I have the Scorecard app for my phone, but usually mark my scorecard with this info.  The software detail is below.

Yeah I think marking your scorecard on the round is the easiest way, I simply put a T,A,S or P on my card when I fail with (T) Tee Shot (A) Approach Shot (S) Short Game and (P) Penalty.

The great thing about tracking your stats is you can customize it to your own plan and try and get some solid information from it, which in turn gives you something to work with.

I am hoping to see some nice results from my system, this weeks focus in practice is putting extra effort around the green in the hope of improving my short game a little and getting ride of those 3-4 errors per round.

[ghalfaire]

Keep statistics on your game is probably a good idea.  But how each parameter (GIR, Fairways hit, etc.) you choose to track affects your score will vary with the individual.  So giving some thought to how each statistic relates to your final score is also a good idea.  For example if you have a great short game it might not really affect your final score much to improve your GIR statistic.  The other danger I have found, in my case anyway, is you can begin to play to improve your "stats" instead of playing golf.  So while statistics can be helpful you really need to give some thought to where you're "leaking" strokes before you set out on an improvement program and statistics can be useful in determining that.   But my point here is if you and I both have very similar statistics, the things we need to improve to make significant improvement in our final scores might be quite different.

[cfritchie]

I use the PGA Tour Caddie App..

It's not cheap but once I figured it out the stats are really good and takes no time at all to enter between holes. I really like that I don't have to enter anything later. I wish it did have an export option.

[Royster1984]

The other danger I have found, in my case anyway, is you can begin to play to improve your "stats" instead of playing golf.

I think the key is tracking stats that will help improve your golf/scoring and looking at averages over a long period.

Using my system if I average after 20 rounds the following;

5 Tee Shot Errors

2 Approach Errors

4 Short Game Errors

That is potentially 11 Shots on average wasted per round, so for the next few weeks/months I spend extra time on my driving and also look at some better course/club management of the tee. Same goes with my short game, I will look to dedicate some more time to chipping and putting, look at some new techniques and such maybes a lesson from the pro to help reduce this to 2 again.

after another 20 rounds I review my statistics and i now have the following;

2 Tee Shot Errors

2 Approach Errors

2 Short Game Errors

I should be looking at saving a few shots shots per round on average of my card.

[dsc123]

(Phase 1) Tee Shot Errors;

Basically I am looking for simple progression through the hole, so you start of on the tee, was your tee shot good enough to get you on to 2nd phase (the approach shot)??  If you have a decent shot to green, then yes it was. If you dont because your OOB, stuck behind a tree or miles away due to bad tee shot then its a no.

(Phase 2) Approach Shot Errors

You have got 150 yards to green. You hit your shot with the aim to progress on to the short game. each persons verdict on good or bad will be different but for me an acceptable approach shot is something that leaves me a short chip on to the green with a couple of putts at worst. So after my shot if my ball is within like 10-15 yards of the green that is acceptable.

(Phase 3) Short Game Errors

As a minimum for my own short game I am looking at 1 chip and 2 putts if I am off the green, or 2 putts if I am on the green, unless its an unusual situation like a massive green with loads of break on then I might accept a 3 putt.

Another possibility for tee shots is to count both FIR and/or "Playable" shots that includes anything leaving you a clear shot at the green.

For approach shots, I have tried two things.  Right now I use the oobgolf app and track whether I hit or miss my approach shots (including left, right, short, long).  I can mark the distance and the club, but the distance doesn't always save and the search functions don't really make good use of the information--I can't see how often I hit a green with a particular club or from a particular distance.

I am considering going back to my old (2012) way of marking my score card and keeping a spread sheet.  Not all scorecards are the same, but typically I think they have 5 lines--four for the players then a +/- line or something like that.  So this is what I did:

1 - Fairway (L, R, check mark, or X for crap)

2 - Approach shot distance and club

3 - Short game distance from pin and shot type (P, C, Putt)

4 - First putt distance

5 - Second putt distance

From that you can get almost any sort of data.  For short game, I have a chart with distances and can tell you close I get to the pin from 10-15 yards vs 15-20 yards, how often I make putts from 20 feet, how often I 3 putt from 20 feet, etc.  For approach shots I can tell you how often I hit the green from certain distances.  There's really a lot of information there and it doesn't take very long to write it down.

Then I try to find information about pros or even amateurs, such as the Avg PGA Tour player makes 80% of his 5 footers and the Average 10 HC makes 70% (i'm making these up right now) to see where I need to improve.++

I stopped doing that because transferring to a spreadsheet was somewhat tedious.  I was using google docs so I could access it anywhere, but its clunky and not as functional as excel.  So I went back to oobgolf.  Oobgolf tracks a ton of stuff, but like I said sometimes my data disappears and the website doesn't make as much use out of the data as it should.

[Royster1984]

Another possibility for tee shots is to count both FIR and/or "Playable" shots that includes anything leaving you a clear shot at the green.

This is pretty much what I am tracking, as long as my tee shot allows me to go to phase 2 the approach shot then its fine and not logged as a error.

I do like your system, only down side for me would be looks a lot of work tracking it on the course without using an app (I am a pen and paper guy on the course). Noting which club and distance you hit for approach shot. But each person system works for them thats the best part and everyone system needs to evolve to allow a progression of ability.

For me I will probably up requirements on my short game errors to 1 chip 1 putt or 2 putts flat, once I get my handicap down to a lower level maybes <12 or so. As it stands now, it should allow me to try and progress my game by going tee > approach > chip > 1/2 putts.

[dsc123]

Seems like a good system, only down side for me would be looks a lot of work tracking it on the course without using an app (I am a pen and paper guy on the course). Noting which club and distance you hit for approach shot. But each person system works for them thats the best part and everyone system needs to evolve to allow a progression of ability.

For me I will probably up requirements on my short game errors to 1 chip 1 putt or 2 putts flat, once I get my handicap down to a lower level maybes <12 or so. As it stands now, it should allow me to try and progress my game by going tee > approach > chip > 1/2 putts.

For me it wasn't very hard to enter that stuff on the course, but transferring to the computer was tedious.  I create a new tab for each round, then have to edit the summary table to tell it to include that new tab in the totals.  There's probably a better way of doing it, perhaps with microsoft access or a better designed spreadsheet.

[Royster1984]

For me it wasn't very hard to enter that stuff on the course, but transferring to the computer was tedious.  I create a new tab for each round, then have to edit the summary table to tell it to include that new tab in the totals.  There's probably a better way of doing it, perhaps with microsoft access or a better designed spreadsheet.

ah i see, main thing is it is giving you the data you need to improve.

[BuckeyeNut]

I record hole-by-hole stats, but I don't get overly anal about it......LOL

This is how I mark my card....from this, I know all I need to know about GIR, FIR, scrambling, SS, and all major stat categories.

I always keep my own card so I can record the results from each round.  I then use the GHIN website to record and track them online.

PS..my name is NOT kevin or Justin.  I always write down the names of my playing partners on the first tee when 'pairing up' so I don't forget their names!  LOL

[badandy519]

I only play about 6-10 rounds per year, but I love my SkyDroid app.  It's GPS and only costs $1.99.  On top of the GPS, it also lets you track all kinds of stats, including putts, fwy%, gir, drive distance, shape & playability, avg drive distance, penalties, sand saves and tons of other things.  It's not all that time consuming to fill out either, it has a pretty slick interface that lets you enter everything in about the same time it would take to fill out a scorecard.

[RFKFREAK]

I use Scorecard to record my stats.  It is a bit more simple than your system but it records the following: 1. Fairways hit or left or right miss. 2. GIR 3. Up and downs - successful or unsuccessful. 4. Sand saves - successful or unsuccessful. 5. number of putts 6. Length of first putt 7. penalties. You can also mark the conditions for temperature and wind. I have the Scorecard app for my phone, but usually mark my scorecard with this info.  The software detail is below.  [CONTENTEMBED=/products/cynical-peak-scorecard-2-software layout=inline]​[/CONTENTEMBED]

Is this an app that is downloadable for Android?

[boogielicious]

Is this an app that is downloadable for Android?

RE: Scorecard App:

I thinks so. @iacas would be the expert!  I have it on my iPhone.  The software works on both PC and Mac and syncing is really easy.

[iacas]

RE: Scorecard App:

I thinks so.  @iacas would be the expert!  I have it on my iPhone.  The software works on both PC and Mac and syncing is really easy.

Scorecard is no longer developed or supported, and was never available on Android.

I left the company a few years ago when no updates had been made in well over a year, and the site doesn't even exist anymore.

[RFKFREAK]

Scorecard is no longer developed or supported, and was never available on Android.

I left the company a few years ago when no updates had been made in well over a year, and the site doesn't even exist anymore.

Ahh.  Too bad.

I use swingbyswing but am intrigued by the length of first putt feature that appears to be on it and was thinking of buying an app that has that seeing as how I don't believe swingbyswing does.

[boogielicious]

Scorecard is no longer developed or supported, and was never available on Android.

I left the company a few years ago when no updates had been made in well over a year, and the site doesn't even exist anymore.

Now you tell me!  So what is a better replacement?

[RFKFREAK]

Now you tell me!  So what is a better replacement?

Yes, inquiring minds want to know. :)