Keep Stats

[All4Golf]

The point of a statistic is to be rather binary: either you did something or you didn't. You've left room for judgment - your own judgment - which I consider alien to good stats keeping.

It is hard to believe that the Editor in Chief of this website would say something like this. NM Golf deserves an apology because all he was doing was sharing an idea and his practical experience in tracking stats.

Stats gathered are most useful when it has a purpose and all NM Golf was doing was trying to make his data more meaningful so he can improve. As long as he is consistent in his approach and interpretation, he'll do fine. There are plenty of golf stats that are rather negative about a person's game until he or she can get to single digit handicaps or better. Some say golf is a game of confidence because the game is frustrating enough as it is. iacas started this thread with a simple message of "I keep stats all the time. In fact, I'm still helping to write some software that keeps stats the way I'd like." NM Golf has his own way and incorporates some judgement in a few stats to make the data more meaningful and practical. The objective is the same - to become a better golfer. Regards, Todd All4Golf

[iacas]

Originally Posted by iacas

The point of a statistic is to be rather binary: either you did something or you didn't. You've left room for judgment - your own judgment - which I consider alien to good stats keeping. That's all.

I owe him nothing. I stated my opinion - that "judgment" really has no room in a statistic, which I feel should be binary - just as he stated his.

The end.

Stats gathered are most useful when it has a purpose and all NM Golf was doing was trying to make his data more meaningful so he can improve. As long as he is consistent in his approach and interpretation, he'll do fine.

If that works for him, great. It doesn't work for me.

The objective is the same - to become a better golfer.

Nobody's challenging that. But just as Dave and I suggested to another user that he may be keeping track of

too many stats, I'm saying there are good and bad stats. I keep track of left/right misses on fairways. It's non-subjective yet a finer detail than "hit/miss." I happen to think NM Golf's arbitrary "did I hit it like I wanted to" stat leaves too much room for interpretation. It lacks a certain something I consider important to stat-keeping: hard, critical, binary outcomes. What does he consider a drive he hit "pretty good"? How about one he hits "not too bad"? If his scale were one to 10, perhaps he should chart his drives as numbers: that was a 7. That was a 6. Even then he'll run into trouble: what if he hits seven 5s and seven 10s. His average will be good but he'll have hit half of his drives poorly. So, I said as much. That's it.

[NCGolfer]

I happen to think NM Golf's arbitrary "did I hit it like I wanted to" stat leaves too much room for interpretation.

I agree 100%. The only time I get a bit arbitrary in my stat keeping is when I hit a

great drive and the ball trickles into the first cut of rough. If I have a couple of those in a round, I may give myself one of those drives in the fairway. I only know one person that is a stickler when it comes to this. Most everyone relaxes a bit. Regardless, I still think that the stats should be 'yes' or 'no' and not subjective. That subjectivity is too hard to compile round over round. Erik is entitled to his opinion. All4Golf is entitled to his. I think that NM Golf may want to keep both types of stats side by side. I'd be willing to bet that after he does that he'll keep the 'binary' stats.

[NM Golf]

I think that NM Golf may want to keep both types of stats side by side. I'd be willing to bet that after he does that he'll keep the 'binary' stats.

I do and I don't think so. Boy you guys love that word "binary" don't you. Here is a thought in binary code. 01001001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100011 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01110011 01110011 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01110100 01110011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101011 01100101 01100101 01110000 00101110 00100000 00100000 01001001 01100110 00100000 01001001 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01101000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 00110010 00110101 00110000 00100000 01001001 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110101 01101100 01100100 00100000 01100101 01111000 01110000 01100101 01100011 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01101111 01101110 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101001 01110010 01110111 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110100 01101111 01101111 00101110

http://www.adcott.net/binary/

[iacas]

I do and I don't think so. Boy you guys love that word "binary" don't you. Here is a thought in binary code.

Dude, binary means on/off, yes/no, did it or didn't it. C'mon... you know what we're saying.

I could not care less about what stats you keep. If I only hit it 250 I would expect it to only be in the fairway too.

No need to be an *******, buddy. None.

[jeffgladchun]

There are a bunch of free internet tools for this. Some are better than others, but I love YourGolfGame.com especially because they upgraded my account from the free version to the premium. Also, DigitalDivot.com is free and does quite nicely. I haven't used any software based stat software (I use a mac) but these internet trackers suit me fine.

[iacas]

There are a bunch of free internet tools for this. Some are better than others, but I love YourGolfGame.com especially because they upgraded my account from the free version to the premium. Also, DigitalDivot.com is free and does quite nicely. I haven't used any software based stat software (I use a mac) but these internet trackers suit me fine.

Jeff, since you're on a Mac, you'll be interested in an app I've been working on (i.e. helping someone else create). Was supposed to be out last year, then life got in the way. Target date is April 1 this year.

[jeffgladchun]

Great! If you guys need a beta-tester I'd be more than happy to help out there. I have fiddled around with eGolf , too and it seems pretty nice. Nice and OS X Native.

[kiwidave]

www.mygolfdomain.com is now also free. Jim just opened up free to everyone in the last month or so

[iacas]

www.mygolfdomain.com

Ick. But I'm biased.

[Froaderick]

I recently downloaded a program called scorekeeper http://www.scorekeeper.com - It's the first program I've used to track and so far it does what I need it to do.

Also, I just started keeping some stats while playing and so far, it has made my practicing much more efficient.

[NCGolfer]

I've looked at a few of the online stat trackers but keep coming back to the home grown one I have. Whenever Erik has a Windows-based version of his software, I'll be using it.

[JonnyRockets]

I'm also looking forward to trying out a windows version of Eriks software - probably be a little while though from the sounds of it. Erik - sign me up for beta testing if you're looking! I did beta testing on a poker timer and tournament tracking software and gave many suggestions that were implemented, and found bugs that were fixed.

For now I'll stick to Intelligolf on my Pocket PC. It also has a desktop companion - but I havn't found a way to entered detailed shot info on the desktop yet (like missing left, short, long blah blah blah.) Could be a lot easier to use than currently is.

[iacas]

I'm also looking forward to trying out a windows version of Eriks software - probably be a little while though from the sounds of it. Erik - sign me up for beta testing if you're looking! I did beta testing on a poker timer and tournament tracking software and gave many suggestions that were implemented, and found bugs that were fixed.

Probably three months or so.

[JonnyRockets]

great - looking forward to trying it out next summer.

What was your web address again? I was going to post a scorecard method on there.

Jonathan

[iacas]

great - looking forward to trying it out next summer.

I have no idea what a "scorecard method" is but you can get Scorecard at

http://cynicalpeak.com/

[Xt1ncT]

mygolfdomain.com is ok - a bit too much going on for my liking.

The main one I use is www.goforgolf.com which I find very easy to use, and it has all the stats I need.

Every now and then I download software, but never end up using it.

Erik - is there going to be a windows version of yours?

[duffer79]

Most of the downloaded software costs too much. For what they provide I feel like something around $10 is more appropriate. I recently just found a great new online site for tracking: www.oobgolf.com