Keeping Stats in Golf

/ The Grateful Golfer

Yesterday I mentioned I would show you how I keep my stats when I play. There is nothing spectacular or earth shattering about my process, but the simplicity of my method might be helpful. I try to keep these stats during every round because (good or bad) it will help me focus on specifics during my training regime.

This is what my scorecard looks like all cleaned up:

I recreated this from Black Bear Ridge’s score card. I only used the areas needed for my discussion.

As you can see, I track score, shots off the tee (including par 3s), GIR and Putts. With this basic data, I can easily analyse any possible trends that are developing and make adjustments in the future. Of the data I track, GIR is the most important because it is the score stat. The more GIR I have, regardless of anything else, the greater chance of shooting a low score.

If you are wondering, this is what my scorecard actually looks like after a round:

I played from the Blues on that day.

This is a fairly routine score cared. My score fits my handicap index however, you can see that my putting did not line up with my GIR successes. That happens and I cannot worry about that during just one round. One stat I do not track is distance from the hole on GIR. As I become more immersed in my season, I plan to start tracking it. I figure if it is good enough for Annika Sörenstam , it is good enough for me.

Stats are important to some players; are they important to you?

I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!

10 thoughts on “Keeping Stats in Golf”

  1. Jim,

    Usually I just keep stats for GIR and number of putts. For fairways i don’t bother as sometimes I may hit iron off the tee on specific holes, and if I just look back on the scorecard it can be misleading as I didn’t hit driver. As for my drives off the tee, trust me…I will remember when I miss the fairway. Hope that all makes sense.

    Sebastien

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Sebastien,

      Sure does. However, I would counter your fairway discussion with the thought that course management is dependent on club selection and if you miss with a specific club more than normal, tracking fairways will help.

      Cheers Jim

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. While I don’t do that every time like on days I plan on practice only, when I’m recording a round for my handicap my score cards look similar. I actually track every swing though when I do it so there is even more on mine than yours. For instance I know my drive hit the fairway or missed right or left. I know I hit the layup with a 5 iron and a gap wedge approach as well as whether those shots had trouble. The handicap tool I use can handle most of what I record on the card and has reports you can look at that provide lots of feedback on what you might want to work on next so if you want to make full use of it, it’s worth doing.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment