Up until now, I have measured my first putt distance on all shots and broke it down further into GIR distances. This state has been helpful, but as my rounds pile up, it is becoming less and less valuable as I will explain below. As a result, I have decided to change my tracking numbers to focus on GIR or more specifically approach shots. I feel that this change will be more beneficial than my putting distances and hopefully this change will result in lower golf scores.
Currently, my first putt distances sit at 14 feet for all first putts and 20 feet for GIR putts. The 14 feet is a bit of a red herring because if I was a few yards off the green in the short grass and could use a putter, then that stroke did not count against putting distance or putting stat. I feel that the first putt distance was interesting to track, but did not provide enough data to make any reasonable conclusions besides that I should try hitting the ball closer to the pin. It is nice to know, but really it does not do much for my analytical brain to surmise a potential challenge in my game.
Keeping the above in mind, I have chosen to change directions and focus on stats I can capture directly affect approach shot. I need to capture this information because I am not always hitting for the GIR stat, but must approach every green. Keeping this in mind, I also want to keep the recording process simple because I do not want to so focused on capturing data that I forget to play golf.
For the next 10 rounds, I am going to capture the distance from the green when I make an approach shot. The first piece of data I am going to capture is binary: hit or miss.
For the second piece of data to capture, my approach shot (for GIR or not) must be from 30 yards to 200 yards. The tee shot on par 3s will be consider my approach shot. The 170 yard measuring distance fits all of my club selections starting with a lob wedge to a 3 hybrid. Once inside the 200 yard mark, I only get one chance per hole to record this stat.
Lastly, I will record if I am short, left, right or long on the misses. This piece information will help me understand if my issue is alignment and/or club selection.
I have used this type of data collection for my drives, but never on approach shots. It has worked in the past to correct my driver alignment and I am hoping to transer that success to my approach shots. If I do this properly, I think I will glean the information required to perform proper analyses of why my GIR percentage is below 50.
Collecting data to analyse is a fundamental process for improving in golf. The trick is collect the proper data to guide my future training and practice sessions. I thinking it is worth a try.
Have you ever captured this type of data before? If so, what did you find?
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
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I rarely keep stats. I will start.
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Linley,
I would suggest that Fairways hit, GIR and putts is a good basic place to start. You can refine from there. Let me know how it goes.
Cheers Jim
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Thanks Jim. I will.
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Jim, I like the right/left stat but the proximity numbers are too granular for me. Good luck mining your data!
Brian
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Brian,
Check my update in 2 days. It was an interesting round today for sure. Shot 75, but had 7 one putts. My scramble game was on for sure.
Cheers Jim
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I tracked fairways, greens and putts for a while, learned that the fairway that I missed the most was the first hole and it was totally an alignment issue or more of an aiming issue. There was trouble on the left and my aim was to favour the right side which was mainly light rough. A slight move to the left and my fairway count improved. I should do more tracking and use it for improving my practice sessions.
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Jerry,
Great to hear from you! Tracking the right thing is definitely important. I learned that today. It is all a journey for sure. Thanks for commenting..
Cheers Jim
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Figuring out what controls your GIR goes deeper than putts for sure. It starts at the tee box but I would want to know how many times I hit each iron and the results from those approaches. You’ll need left, right, short, and long by iron to get to the heart of it. And if you’re like me, even looking at that data will confuse you because some days my miss is right, and some days, like today, it’s left. For me, I’m pretty sure it’s that some days I am good at clearing my right elbow and hit it well, but fail to the right, and some days my elbow gets stuck and I turn too much to compensate and end up with pull/draw fails.
It’s days like today that burn me up. I hit my first tee shot a tad fat and pushed out to the right. Then pulled the next one with the same club. Totally flubbed a 7 iron after that, hit a worse push/fade with the 3 after than, and then, I went 4 holes where I hit every shot perfect. And finished up will a pull/draw out of bounds. In my mind it was a horrible display. I shot 2 over so my short game saved me, but days like today are beyond my understanding.
As I finished up I had one more thought that upset me. The night before I’d watched a video about course management and playing stress free. And I forgot to try a single thing when it was a day I surely could have used the help.
Golf is a truly cruel mistress some days.
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Kevin,
Wow, that is a tough round. I agree with you about too much data is not a good thing; I am learning this each round I play. More to follow on that topic.
Cheers Jim
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