What stats to keep to help focus practice...

[ashjamben]

Thanks for reading.

I'm a high handicapper (normally shooting in high 90s) and want to start actually practising (at the range, putting green, etc) but find when I go I smack some balls, get tired, drink a coke and then go home.

I've thought about keeping track of some stats whilst I'm on the course that will help focus my practice sessions. I don't want to record every single shot and putt, but at the same time just writing down fairways hit, green in regulations and putts just doesn't make sense.

I want to knock up a small stat sheet on excel and print it out to about the size of a scorecard so I can keep an eye on a few things whilst I'm playing, but has anyone got any ideas of what to keep track of? What stats will really tell where my game is lacking and where I'm strong?

Some stats, such as green in regulation, to me seem as waste of time for a bogey-plus golfer like me to keep. I thought about keeping a stat of 'near green in regulation', where I get a tick if I'm within chipping/bunker distance of the green (which is pretty good for me!) but not sure if this is a stupid idea.

I've tried keep stats before on good/bad shots with driver/fairway woods/hybrids/irons but found it lacking somewhat. A couple of bad drives is about 15-20% of the drives I hit, where as a couple of bad fairway wood shots is more like 50-100% of the woods I hit.

Anyway, I'm waffling now. So, what stats are good to keep to help focus practice? Not too much but enough to show the weaknesses in a golfer's game.

Thanks!

[rkim291968]

At your HI of 28 ... how about

• Total penalty shots per round
• Percentage of chip shots which you couldn't hit into green
• Total putts per round

[ashjamben]

I should probably note, I haven't changed my handicap on here since I joined a while ago. I've only been a member at my club and been given a 19 inactive handicap. My best score is 89 but most of the time I'm shooting mid 90s (good day) to low 100s (bad day). Thanks for the advice!

[rkim291968]

Your HI is close to mine.  I am not big into keeping detail stats b/c I don't want it to be the focal point of my golf.   IMO, as long as the high level stats tell me where to improve, that's good enough.   Here's what I keep track of.

Range sessions:

I keep record of  percentage of  "good" shots I make for sand, pitch, wedges, irons, hybrids, woods, and driver.    E.g, if I am hitting only 20% of hybrid shots in the latest range session, I will focuse more on getting it back up to 60% or higher (goal is 80%).

Field:

I keep track of total putts/round which tells me two things: 1) is my putting game on, 2) is my chipping game on.   If the average goes over 32, I put little more time on short game (putting, chipping, pitching) practice.

I keep track of GIRs.   This tells me how accurate my approach (iron to hybrid) shot has been.   Regardless of what the stats say, I focus good portion of my practice time on improving ball striking.

I keep track of FIRs.  It does not correlate well to my final score but tells me if I am hitting drives accurately or not.   If it falls below 60%, I put more effort in practicing drives.

I keep other stats but they really don't indicate what I need to focus on.   So, I won't mention it here.

[No Mulligans]

Yes, stats can tell you what you need to work on... and Lowest Score Wins will really help you with the what and how of practice.

If you're like me, it's pretty obvious where my weaknesses are and I don't need any stats to determine that.  For me the shorter the clubs the better I am.  I'm really pretty decent, relative to my high HI, with my 9i thru wedges and pretty much suck with my longer clubs.  Also my misses tend to be a push and sometimes a push-slice.

Like most high handicappers, I need to primarily work on my full swing ball striking.

Maybe you can figure your weaknesses out without keeping stats.  If not, Game Golf is a good option.

[ashjamben]

I like your 'field' idea, rkim291968, I've used it as a basis to come up with a nice simple way to keep track of my game that's simple and can be done on a normal scorecard (for four players). So first is score, obviously. Need to know that. Second is playable drive/fairway hit. So if I'm in the rough but still have a shot at the green then I get a / but if I'm on the fairway I get a X. Fairway bunker can be a B. Also, blank is its a terrible drive! Third, is GIR or nearGIR. So again, near green is / (within chipping distance) and on green is X. I feel like I'll need a way to keep track of bunker shots to, so maybe /B for that. Obviously nowhere near is blank. Fourth is putts, along with a letter (S for short, M for medium and L for long) describing the first putt distance. On the drive and GIR part I'll stick a P for penalty. Using these I should have a rough idea where my game is lacking and what I can do to improve. Each hole should tell a story. So if I get X for drive X for GIR then a 3S putt then putting has ruined a birdie/par chance. What do you think? Any improvements?

[saevel25]

Thanks for reading.

I'm a high handicapper (normally shooting in high 90s) and want to start actually practising (at the range, putting green, etc) but find when I go I smack some balls, get tired, drink a coke and then go home.

Never just hit golf balls to hit golf balls. Only hit golf balls if you are working on improving your swing.

I've thought about keeping track of some stats whilst I'm on the course that will help focus my practice sessions. I don't want to record every single shot and putt, but at the same time just writing down fairways hit, green in regulations and putts just doesn't make sense.

Don't worry about fairways hit, unless you play a course were being a foot off the fairway is costing you strokes. If the rough is light to medium then don't worry about this stats.

GIR is king.

I would also keep track of scrambling, putts made from different distances. If you miss a lot of putts inside of 5 feet then you probably struggle starting putts online. If you three putt a lot from outside of 25 feet then your lag putting (distance control) might suffer.

The way I keep track of stats in general is did I hit a normal shot, did I hit a great shot, did I hit a terrible shot.

+1 for great shot, 0 for normal shot, -1 for terrible shot

Great shot might be hitting the ball to inside of 15 feet with a full swing iron approach. A normal shot would probably be anything outside of 15 feet and on or near the green in two, but not in a hazard or bunker. Terrible shot would be in the bunker, hazard, fat, thin, skulled, chilly dipped, shank, expletive.

If you add up and find an area in your game is constantly in the negative then that is an area you might want to improve on.

Lets say you have 4 shots with partial wedge distance. This is its own category. You hit 2 normally, on the green, not tight but two putt range. You hit one really bad, blade it over the green. You hit one to about 3 feet. Overall you'd end up with a net zero.

If you want more information on what shots are the most important in golf,