Golfers Join the Rest of World, Use Data [WSJ]

[nevets88]

I dunno, is golf 10 years behind like DeChambeau said? Every Shot Counts was written, what, two years ago? But Broadie started doing analysis way before he wrote the book. When did moneyball start happening for baseball?  Michael Lewis' Moneyball was written in 2003. OK, maybe he's right.

Quote

“I’m telling you right now, we are 10 years behind every other sport,” said Bryson DeChambeau, a PGA Tour rookie and one of the game’s wonkiest players. “And I feel like we’re at the forefront of all this technology, all this information, all this stuff that can allow us to play better.”

...

Now, after turning pro last month, DeChambeau is working with Microsoft, the Tour’s operating system and analytics partner, to develop technology that could help him understand, among other things, the relationship between grip pressure and shot quality and how to read greens in a more scientific way.

“There are things he would like to measure that there are no solutions for on the market,” said Mike Downey, Microsoft’s principal evangelist for sports. Downey has talked to some other players, but with DeChambeau, the brainstorming sessions have gone on for hours.

“There are analytics that can allow players to play better,” DeChambeau said. “Will everyone use it? No. They don’t think it’s necessary. They rely on their feel way too much and they trust that more.”

http://www.wsj.com/articles/golfers-join-rest-of-world-use-data-1463434676?tesla=y

FYI: WSJ links are iffy. If the full article isn't coming up, you can always google the article title and the link will lead to the full article.

[saevel25]

Quote

Broadie also sends weekly reports to Colin Swatton, the caddie and swing coach for world No. 1 Jason Day, detailing how past tournaments on a given course have been won. Swatton uses the reports to set goals for every hole, which can influence how aggressively Day plays. But using data to assess the risk-reward of a given shot is still uncommon.

Maybe @iacas should send a copy of LSW to Jason Day

 

[krupa]

Could this also be a case of missing the forest for the trees?  I understand Snedeker choosing tournaments/courses that fit his game better; that just seems like common sense.  But grip pressure?  Is The Hat going to claim that he can accurately apply -- with his hands -- 6psi for drives but only 4.75psi for approaches?  Or is he going to freeze over the ball trying to do differential equations for accurate sphincter pressure on half-swing 56 deg. wedge shots?

 

[Hardspoon]

10 hours ago, nevets88 said:

I dunno, is golf 10 years behind like DeChambeau said? Every Shot Counts was written, what, two years ago? But Broadie started doing analysis way before he wrote the book. When did moneyball start happening for baseball?  Michael Lewis' Moneyball was written in 2003. OK, maybe he's right.

It's interesting that ShotLink data became publicly available in 2005...I would guess that this was a direct result of the popularity of Moneyball.

Until recently, with the advent of player-tracking (NBA/NFL) and ball-tracking (MLB) systems, sabermetrics in the other major sports was a process of "repackaging" existing data in new ways. That analysis could be used retroactively, to assign - for example - a Wins-Over-Replacement value to Babe Ruth.

In golf, the problem was a bit different...the traditional stats were "counting" stats (drive distance, fairways hit) that limited analysts' ability to repackage them.  Until the new data (ShotLink) came along, I would argue that there was less that could be done with traditional golf stats, other than being able to accurately compare players from different eras.