Okay nerds let’s look at the numbers part 1: Scoring

Data, data, data, and some more data

Over the last few years, I have been using a Garmin watch when I play, the watch has compiled my stats and compares me to other golfers that have the Garmin app and others that have the app and my handicap. It’s like a very loose version of the strokes gained metric which is something I want to talk about in the future. I wanted to dive into the app a little bit today and share what it is telling me about my game.

One thing to note before we dive in. My putter lost its sensor a while back and I didn’t replace it until recently. So the putting data and metrics are going to take a while to catch up.

Compared to golfers of my handicap I perform better than them with my drives and approach shots. I perform worse than them with my chipping.

Breaking it down further you can see that I have better drive accuracy than people with the same handicap but my distance is poor. I have been working on trying to be in the fairway more often so that tracks. Also my chipping, again to reinforce what we know, is abysmal.

In looking at my driving I am surprised that I don’t hit more shot to the right. Because I still have a pronounced slice that I have been working on. I guess adjusting my aiming to the left and playing my slice has cut it down greatly.

When it comes to my approach shots one thing that is glaringly obvious is I come up short. OFTEN. 44% of my approach shots come up short. I am not taking enough club or more like I am overestimating my length. (Don’t we all.)

Finally, chipping. As stated before we know my chipping is poor. How poor is it? I have a 25% chance of getting up and down from 50 yards in. Extrapolate that out and basically, on 75% of my chips, I waste strokes.

I need to focus on developing a quality repeatable swing, that’s what my lessons are currently focused on. But as that evolves the biggest area I need improvement on is my chipping, it’s painfully obvious that it is the biggest contributor to my high handicap.

What do you think are your main problem areas?