Tour Player vs Low Handicapper

A friend shared some data with me (that I believe originated from Dave Pelz), on the statistical differences between a tour player and the average low handicap golfer. Not sure what is the exact definition of a low handicapper, however I think it makes for some interesting reading.

Low-Handicap Amateurs vs Tour Pros

3% fewer 6-footers made
4% fewer 3-footers made
12% fewer 9-footers made
13% shorter drives
22% fewer fairways hit
27% fewer 10-15-footers made
28% fewer greens hit (GIR)
50% fewer up-and-downs from rough
62% fewer sand saves
74% fewer 15-20-footers made

AND THE MOST DISTINGUISHING CONTRAST OF ALL...

276% more 3-putts

Some low hanging fruit there! More time will be spent on the practice green this winter.

Some interesting stats

As I strive for a scratch handicap, I resolved to keep track of my stats this year (the idea being that I will have a clear picture of what needs improvement).
I have been using a tool provided by golfdigest.com called makemebetter.
It involves entering a few details about each round played.

To summarize my stats:
Greens in Regulation - 50%
Putts per round - 33
Scrambling (saves when chipping/pitching) - 33%
Driving Accuracy - Excellent (for some reason it doesn't give me a number)

It goes on to tell me that my short game handicap is 4 and my long game is 5. Reasonably consistent with my official handicap.

33 putts is bad for someone only hitting 33% of greens.

I'm thinking that in order to get to scratch, I will need to get Greens in Regulation to 66% (or 12 per round), down to 30 putts per round and scrambling to 50%. In any case, it is an interesting tool - check it out at Make me Better

November 2011

I have been terrible about updating the blog this year - shame on me. And its shown in my lack of progress. Handicap is now 4.0 although it has been down to 3.3. 2012 was my target year for hitting scratch so I guess I am stating the obvious now to say I'm not on track.
Ironically, I feel like my swing is getting much more solid, even if the results are not showing on the scorecard.
One key breakthrough I feel has been learning the role of the left hip in the downswing. I have finally learned the need to 'clear the left side'. Its still a very strange feeling for me but once I can trust it on the course, I feel I will be in shape to be a scratch player from tee to green.
However, from 100 yards and in is where its at. My success in improving my chipping, pitching and putting will determine whether I make it or not.
I am going to come up with a plan in the next few weeks for the next 6 months. I will stick to it!!
Next year is scratch or bust!!

June Gloom

Haven't said much on here lately, but there has been quite a bit of golf played. By April I was playing pretty decent - enough that I was lucky enough to win a couple of events at GC of GA. Throughout it all, my short game has been killing me and still is.
To top it all off, I'm now on a bit of a downcycle with the swing. (I've figured out that no matter how much I progress, its all cyclical - it gets to be pretty good for a while and then it gradually slips away, hits rock bottom and then starts to come back again)
This weekend was out Member Member and I played putridly. Tee to green was not too bad, but round the greens was nothing short of abysmal.

My sole goal for the rest of this year is to develop a somewhat plausible short game. Yesterday, I ordered Phil Mickelsons DVD Short Game Secrets. I'm going to see if this can help me develop some sound short game fundamentals and see what happens from there. I'll post a review once I get a chance to watch it.

In the near term, I have a member guest at TPC Sugarloaf this week. Very excited about that - hope I can contribute for my partner. Then Monday I have a qualifier at Atlanta National for the state amateur. I think it'll take 77 to have a shot on what is a very tough track.

April 2011

Well its been a long time since I had anything to say about my quest to get to scratch. In all honesty I feel less and less convinced that it is a realistically achievable goal, however I'm going to push on.
I started hitting balls again about 6 weeks ago. The elbow is better but a long way from being fully recovered. I doubt it will ever be fully right however it is manageable - I just wont be able to hit a lot of range balls. This means the quality of my practice will have to improve.
I got fitted for and purchased a new set of irons - Titleist AP2s, 2 degrees flat with Dynamic Gold S300 shafts. They are great clubs. I am struggling to adjust to how high they flight the ball but thats an adjustment I am willing to make.
Since I started back, I have played 4 rounds. I only broke 80 once, however I am starting to feel it is coming round. My hiatus seems to have helped eradicate the driving problems that plagued last year. In relation to improved practice quality - I have made one commitment to myself. I refuse to hit a single range ball without making sure my ball position is right. To do this, I will use alignment poles. I played a round lately with my teaching pro and was shocked when he said my ball position was terrible but sure enough he was right. How frustrating that I can't even get the simplest of concepts such as ball position right!!!
One other development - over the years I have had two particular swing flaws the I struggled to eliminate - the bent left elbow and the club getting behind me on the backswing. Well, I think I have finally settled on the key to eliminating this problem - I need to keep both elbows and forearms much closer together on the backswing. Essentially instead of relying on the left arm to keep the left arm straight, I can get a little help from the right arm!
Handicap is at 3.9 now and rising. Hopefully that will change a little over the next few months.

Statistics

Saw this and thought it was somewhat interesting.
There definitely seems to be an increased awareness in professional sports as to the benefits to be reaped from more detailed statistical analysis ('Money Ball' is a good read!).

The technology that would need to be available for amateurs/recreational golfers to enjoy the same stats is not going to be available anytime soon (although I can picture some buddies carrying around their own launch monitor). Nonetheless, I think there is a lot we can consume from the detailed stats now available via Shotlink on pgatour.com.
Consider the percentage of 10 footers made versus 6 footers made by the pros.

The large majority of players are making less than 50% from 10 feet but that figure increases dramatically from 6 feet. Tells me I should be spending most of my time practicing from 6 feet and in. (If the best of the best aren't making them from 10 feet then I certainly won't)

Latest greatest

Well the weather is finally starting to co-operate here in Georgia. Considering the winter we have had, my elbow issues have not really resulted in me missing a lot of golf to this point.
I see Dr. Weil on Feb 22 and I'm guessing he will give me the ok to get back out on the course. (I actually hit the range last weekend and worked on 20-30 yard pitches).

Next step is to get fitted for that set of irons. T Weinhart is going to do the fitting for me. (Incidentally, his operation Nuclear Golf has now moved to the Standard Club which is great news - its a fantastic track and a little closer to home than St. Marlo was)

I'm very excited about the coming season - after taking stock of last year my focus is going to be from 100 yards and in, even more so from 50 yards inwards. As long as I can eliminate the couple of high blocks with the driver per round, I'm am convinced if I can pitch, chip and putt a little better then scratch is an attainable goal. I have taken pitching and putting lessons over the winter from TW so I feel I have the tools I need at my disposal - just need to adopt and ingrain it all now.

I need to set some goals for the year and while the overriding goal is obvious (scratch), I have set myself some intermediate goals a long the way:

- qualify for the Georgia State mid am
- qualify for the Georgia State amateur at Cherokee
- get handicap under 2.4 in time to meet cutoff to enter US amateur qualifier

Finally for now, I just got finished reading Dream On by John Richardson (from Northern Ireland). Essentially as a 17 handicap he took on a challenge of having to shoot one round of par within one year from the start of the challenge. Interesting read. There are some parallels to my own goal.

Bizarre

In all sport, there is a major stigma attached to any accusation of the 'c' word but I can't imagine any sport where that stigma is more damaging than in golf. (C for cheating in case there is any confusion).
This case leaves me dumbfounded.

I can't understand why anyone with discredit themselves in such a manner.

Not Good

I had my follow up with Dr Weil yesterday and while he thinks there is some slight improvement, he feels the elbow needs more time - another 4 to 6 weeks to be precise. This winter has me going stir crazy as it is so another 6 weeks is going to hurt.
However, on a more positive note, he did say that I should be able to play through it for the year without further aggravating it any more than I already had - in other words, surgery can wait til winter if I need to have it.
Also, I can pitch, chip and putt to my hearts content. No excuses for having a crappy short game again this summer!!

Ben Crane has lost the plot

This might be funny if it was Sasha Baron Cohen but Ben Crane, I am not so sure?
(For anyone not familiar with Crane, he is THE slowest golfer on the PGA Tour by a country mile.   Admittedly he acknowledges it and is trying to speed it up while staying competitive.   Have I mentioned that slow play is my pet hate??)

I guess he is trying to drive site traffic or something.

New Irons

I don't currently possess a set of irons.  I sold both sets I had before Christmas.  I wanted to raise a little cash :) but primarily I wanted to make sure the temptation wasn't there to go hitting balls before I got the all clear from the orthopedic specialist.
I'm hoping to get this all clear on Jan 18th in which case I need to get a new set of irons promptly.
If I've learned one thing over the last year  its that you must play the right equipment for you.   Its crazy to buy something new off the rack without getting fitted.
Therefore I probably  want to get fitted for a set of the Taylormade R9's.   Although they are last years, I don't much like the look of this years offerings from Taylormade.   Also, I have messed around with some of the R9s last year and liked them.   In fact, I swung one of TWs R9s at one point and loved them.  Perhaps I can persuade him to sell me his if he is upgrading.  I know that they are the right swing weight (D2) :)
I had thought of going to The Kingdom at Reynolds Plantation again to get fitted but the price has gone up and I just can't justify spending $1500 to get fit for a set of $900 at best irons.
I guess first things first, I need to get the all clear to start hitting balls - its driving me crazy not being able to work on my game!!

Hiatus

Well as you can probably tell from the lack of posts, there has not been a lot of golf played over the last two months.   I had planned to scale back a little to revitalize the appetite for the game a little and generally there is no better time to do it than the winter (even here in Georgia).  Another reason for  taking a break is the nagging pains I have been having in my right elbow.   There have been some developments here.   I assumed it to be golfers elbow aka tendinitis and just fairly normal wear and tear.   To be sure I went to see orthopedic specialist Dr Craig Weil (a physio of the Atlanta Falcons).   Unfortunately, it is worse than I thought.  A tendon has ripped off the bone, tearing with it a bone fragment.   In addition there is some arthritis in the elbow.
The upshot of it all is that I can't swing a club for a couple of months, am having physio twice a week, icing twice a day and  taking an anti-inflammatory.   The goal is that it will heal naturally however he has said I may need to have surgery to remove the bone fragment and clean up the scar tissue.  
I can't point to a single moment where it tore.  I gradually noticed the pain building up over last summer.

This leaves me in a position where:
a) I am not going to be able to hit any balls until Feb at best
b) When I do get to hit balls again, I am going to have to hit a lot less balls.  Essentially I am going to have to make my swing a little lower maintenance.  (No clue how to do that)
c) In the meantime, I am going to be focusing on putting and short chips.

Towards the end of last year, I started to come to a realization of what/where my weaknesses lie.
My putting is way subpar as is my chipping.   My long game is solid with the exception of my propensity to block the driver high and right at least a couple of times a round.

Those three things are going to be my focus for 2011.

I have already taken a putting lesson from TW.    I had so many mechanical issues I don't know where to start describing them.   Most importantly I was adding loft to the putter face by virtue of my setup.   This means I had no shaft lean.  A couple of other changes:

• Ball position needs to be one putter head (Odyssey 2 ball I use) back from front toe.
• Elbow alignment has me starting way right.  Left elbow needs to tuck in.
• Head position should be slightly behind the ball ( I will go into this a little more in one second)
• Ball needs to have an alignment line/semi-circle.
• Putter head needs to have an alignment line.

Perhaps most interestingly though is what I look at when putting.   Subconsciously over the years, I have come to watch the putter head while making a putting stroke.   I guess I like to establish that the putter goes back on forth on a good line.  TW illustrated with an example that this is not a good idea.   (When throwing a ball to someone, I don't look at my arm go back and through.  Rather, I look at the target or some intermediate point I want to hit).   The predominant change in my putting thus will be that I will be looking at the ball and the line I want to trace when putting.   (If its a short putt I will probably be looking at the hole)

Finally for this post, an interesting exercise is to analyze your next/last round of golf.  Compare your actual score with your score if you made all putts inside 6 feet and no 3 putts.  You might be shocked!!   My last round before this break was by no means a ball striking classic.  I shot 78.   However, if I had made all putts inside 6 feet and no 3 putts, I calculated I would instead have shot 69!!  If ever I needed validation of where I should be focusing my practice, there it is!!