Stats Methodology Question

[DaveLeeNC]

I have a specific methodology that I use to gather my golf stats, and I wondered if anyone else does something similar.

WARNING - geek alert in effect


First a concept that is important in what I do - I call it "expected putting" (EP). I have a table that defines how many putts I should take (on average) to hole out from every distance from 1' to 100'. It is a totally arbitrary judgement on my part of what represents "decent putting".

From 1' or 2' - it is 1.0 (don't miss any)
From 3' it is 1.1
From 5' it is 1.5 (make half my 5 footers)
From 20' it is 2.0 (equal number of 1 putts and 3 putts)
From 50' it is 2.25
etc.

So if I two putt from 50' on a hole this is 0.25 strokes better than EP. Two putting from 5' is 0.5 strokes worse than EP, etc.

Now for the data. I record two pieces of information for every shot I make (along with an optional 3rd piece of info). This is how far am I from the hole and the club I am hitting. A well-played par 4 would read

D,7i-149;22,2

First shot was a driver (no distance so pull the distance from the scorecard), a 7i from 149 yards, and two putted from 22' (second putt was a 2 footer)

Now for that same hole played badly

D,5i-166-L,SW-25-B;45,4,1

Driver, my second shot had some kind of lie problem (the "L"), 3rd shot with a SW from 25 yards in a greenside bunker (the B), and I 3 putted from 45'.

I dump all this (in pretty much this exact form) into a MS Access database and derive whatever statistics I wish from this data. I monitor the following data

Number of Putts
Net Putting against "Expected Putting"
Scoring Zone putting - how I putted inside 8'
Lag Error on "long" putts
3 Putts
Tee to Green (how I would have scored had my putting matched EP)
GIR's
Driving Distance (determined on holes designated as measureable - flat and straight)
Error at Par - how far I am from the cup in 1 strokes after a par 3, 2 on a par 4, etc
Fairways
Up/Downs
Up/Downs with EP (a chip to 5' is a 50% Up/Down)
Birdies and Double Bogeys/worse
Birdie Opportunities (birdie putts of 15' or less)

Also I "normalize" a number of these stats against my average for that stat on a given course.

This is long and complicated to explain - and I guess was somewhat complicated to do. But it takes almost no time on the course and not much to time enter after a round, either.

Anyone else use a similar approach of recording your shots rather than summary data like GIR's, etc?

dave

[DGStinner]

The last time I went out, I only kept track of whether or not I hit the fairway from the tee and how many putts I took on the green. I definitely think I'll keep track of what clubs I use off the tee and to get to the green. I don't know if I'll keep track of the yardage on the fairway and how many feet my putts are but you do have me realizing I should keep track of more than I already do.

[DaveLeeNC]

The last time I went out, I only kept track of whether or not I hit the fairway from the tee and how many putts I took on the green. I definitely think I'll keep track of what clubs I use off the tee and to get to the green. I don't know if I'll keep track of the yardage on the fairway and how many feet my putts are but you do have me realizing I should keep track of more than I already do.

Actually, I have been surprised at how seldom all this data is useful beyond inate curiosity. Mostly it is useful as a validation of what I think is going on.

The most interesting stat that I've found is "why the heck does my handicap creep up every winter (I'm in NC). 70% of it is just my putting - surprised me. I assume that it is because the condition of the greens is worse in the winter. dave

[andre112]

wow...i'm amazed...
what is the purpose of collecting all these detailed data?
was it worth while?
it would definitely slow down my pace on the course if i have to keep recording a bunch of stuff...

[DaveLeeNC]

wow...i'm amazed...

First of all I am analytically inclined. This doesn't require much time at all on the course. I am typically the scorekeeper for our foursome (usually a 4 man team event) and have no trouble adding my stats recording to the foursome and team scoring responsibilities.

I started out by recording 'the reason' for not parring any hole that I bogeyed or worse. A drive into the deep stuff forcing a chip-out and ultimate bogey would have 1 stroke charged to the driver. A routine 5i that missed the green by a bit and ultimate bogey might be .5 strokes to 5i, 5 strokes to chipping or putting (depending on what I did poorly). I didn't learn anything from that process. So I just started recording "what happened out there" and have been doing it for 3 years now. If nothing else it will be interesting when I get old and I can see just exactly how much of my game is gone where There is one place where this is occasionally very useful and that is club analysis. 2 years ago I was considering buying a gap wedge and dropping something out of my bag. It was easy to find all the shots that I would have hit with a GW (had I had one) that I hit with an easy PW instead and see that the easy PW shots were probably as good as any GW would be - so no gap wedge. Right now I carry a 58* LW which I find more effective in the 50-80 yard range, but less effective (vs a 60*) around the greens. It is easy to look at my data and make an intelligent analysis of this trade-off. But beyond occasional stuff like that this is not something that I think "demands to be done" for the average golfer. dave

[Guest]

Great System Dave.

I have been working on something that is very detailed yet very easy to use.

Not sure if I can mention it as this is my first post and I don't want to do any self promotion.

[fusioncal]

Although I'm totally confused, I'm honestly amazed with your methodology. Are you a college professor, by the way?

[DaveLeeNC]

Although I'm totally confused, I'm honestly amazed with your methodology. Are you a college professor, by the way?

Not me - but I am an engineer (retired). So "it fits".

dave