Golf Statistics Part 3: Comparison to PGA
Tour
Read
other Parts from the
Technology & Distance
series and Short Game
series here, Archives.
Email
me if you'd if there's anything you'd like to see discussed
or analyzed in
the next or future
newsletters. Now
on to this week's
topic.
III.
PGA Tour and Champions
Tour Statistics
If
you recall from my
last newsletter, I
discussed the results
of an analysis done
by L.J. Riccio on average
golfer statistics.
I summarized some of
his results in a table.
I
visited www.pgatour.com
and looked up the statistics
for the PGA Tour and
the Champions Tour.
I chose the statistics
for 2004, although
you can go back all
the way to 1980. The
site doesn't provide
all of the statistics
that Riccio measured.
I
downloaded the statistics
into a spreadsheet
and calculated the
averages for both tours.
You'll find the results
in the table below.
The PGA Tour averages
are for the top 192
players and are in
green. The Champion
Tour averages
are for
the top 83 players
and are in blue.
| |
AVERAGE
SCORE |
Relationship |
| CATEGORY |
71.3 |
72.0 |
71 |
75 |
79 |
81 |
85 |
89 |
91 |
95 |
99 |
|
| GIR |
11.6 |
11.8 |
12 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
Strong |
| % Fairways |
63.5
|
69.8 |
81 |
71 |
61 |
56 |
46 |
36 |
31 |
21 |
11 |
Weak |
| Iron Accuracy |
|
|
80 |
68 |
53 |
47 |
33 |
20 |
13 |
0 |
0 |
Good |
| Putts per
Round |
29.1 |
29.6 |
29.0 |
30.3 |
31.7 |
32.3 |
33.7 |
35.0 |
35.7 |
37.0 |
38.3 |
Weak |
| Pitch/Chip/Sand |
|
|
5.1 |
7.4 |
9.8 |
10.9 |
13.3 |
15.6 |
16.8 |
19.2 |
21.5 |
Strong |
| Birdies |
3.4 |
3.2 |
3.2 |
2.4 |
1.8 |
1.5 |
0.8 |
0.1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Strong |
| Pars |
|
|
11.8 |
10.3 |
8.8 |
8.1 |
6.6 |
5.1 |
4.3 |
2.8 |
1.3 |
Strong |
A
couple of observations
about the statistics
keeping in mind
that the PGA and
Champion statistics
are from 2004
and the rest of
the statistics
are from 1990:
§ The
statistics of
the two tours
agree fairly well
with Riccio's
data except
for
% Fairways hit.
It might be that
Riccio's sample
of pros was quite
small
or
that fairways are
narrower
now. As well,
since pros are
hitting longer
now than in 1990,
errors are clubface
errors are magnified
and fewer
fairways
are hit.
§ The
pros only hit
on average 12
greens per round.
How many do you
hit?
One
can realize how
important their
short games need
to be to score
low.
I can't emphasize enough the
importance of 100 yards in. Improve this
part of your game and you will
realize lowers scores.
If
I had a lot of
time on my hands,
I'd also be interested
in determining
how the various
statistics of
the pros can be
used to predict
score. There is
a wealth of information
you can access
from www.pgatour.com
. Unfortunately,
you need the time
and expertise
to analyze it.
Are
there any observations
you can make about
the statistics?
Feel free to email me
with your thoughts.
Next
time, my newsletter
topic will reveal
some of the results
from my own studies
of amateur golfer
statistics. Take
a preview here.
A list of resources that have been used to produce this newsletter
can be found on my
website here.
The focus
of my site
is to utilize science
and math to lower
your score. New technology
is one
way to achieve this,
but to be honest,
the technology is
one small piece of
the puzzle.
To actually improve significantly,
we all need to:
1. Improve our swings using CD
Interactive, Hit
Down Dammit!
2. Learn how to swing simpler
like the Iron Byron
with the great coffee
table book, Swing
Machine Golf!
3. Improve our physical fitness
and strength.
The
Golf Trainer Power
Performance Program™
4. Improve our mental games.
Golf
Mind Software
5. Improve our Probable
Golf games.
Learn how to make better
choices on the course
through knowing how
shot patterns and reading
the elements and course
better.
Click on the links above to
take a look at
ways that I personally
use myself and
recommend you try
as well.
Hope
I provided some useful
ways for to become
better prepared for
you best golf season
ever.
Ken Tannar
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