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What is your favorite training aid and why? It doesn't necessarily have to be the one that helped you improve the most it could be the one you have the most fun using. If you were stranded on a island with just your golf clubs and one training aid which would you choose?

Good morning MGS brethren! I am creating this thread to put quality information out into the community for those who are trying to research how to build an epic golf simulator. I just finished my build and it has drastically improved my game in the short time that it has been in use. When I started to research all of the different options for components however, not a lot of good information was available..... Now it will be! I will be updating this thread in a stage-type fashion. Each stage of the project will show pictures of the setup, components, and result. Each stage will also have all of the different vendors researched, the decision that was made & why, and links to the selected products. I hope that this will drastically help anyone going down the road of building their own. Enjoy!

Couldn't find a thread quite like this yet, forgive me if there is one. I'm curious what stats y'all track, how you track them, and what do you do with those stats? Does is impact your practice? Change your course management strategy? Possibly influence what's in your bag? Personally, I use The Grint for my stats. I basically use the full (paid for) service, except for shot tracking. So I get scoring, putting, greens/fairways in reg, scrambling, penalties, etc. I use these stats to focus my practice. How do I break that down? I'm following GolfInsiderUK's guide here for some direction and pick two areas at a time to improve, then have a little spreadsheet to track my progress and practice goals from there. It's also influenced some tweaks I've made to my driver head to miss less to the left, as well as given me extra encouragement to just aim for the middle of the green on my approach shots (which I seem to somehow forget once or twice a round ). No direct purchases influenced from the data, but it'll definitely be factored in! So how about you?

Hey All, First Post on MGS! Over the past year and a half I started playing golf frequently (usually at the course 3x a week between range sessions and playing rounds). I use Arccos to track my rounds so I have a general idea of my game. I have improved from a 27 hcp whacking it everywhere to a 18.8 hcp. I generally play bogey golf with a few pars and doubles thrown in there. I have never taken any lessons in my life. I am pretty athletic and up until this point I improved by just tweaking things on my own. I want to improve my game drastically and believe it's time for lessons or instruction. I need some fundamentals. My question to you all is: How do i ensure I am getting the best value for lessons? I know golf brands market the hell out of every other aspect of the game and I am learning lessons are no different. I dont mind giving someone my money, I just want to make sure it's worth it. I live near Orlando, Florida so every form of lesson and coaching is available. Some of my choices include: Fancy Golf Academies - The Leadbetter Academy is a prime example Normal Club Pros - There are 100 courses within an hr drive from me and each course offers lessons with their pros Retail Stores - TopGolf, PGA Superstore, Golf Galaxy, ClubChampion, and every other brick & mortar golf store are located here and they all offer lessons Digital - Youtube or subscription services like MeandMyGolf (I do live in a community with a course so I have access to a driving range whenever necessary) Please help me apply the MGS model on golf products to services like lessons and make sure I dont get ripped off (that much). What would you do if you were me?

I've been doing some at-home analysis of my stats for the past 16 months and wanted to share in the hopes that you might be able to provide some ideas or insight into what else could be done with this information. After every round I input date, score, round index, number of: birdies, pars, bogeys, doubles, triples, putts, GIRs and fairway percentage into a google drive sheet. I then update scatter plots that show score vs.: birdies, pars, bogeys, double, triples, GIRs, putts and FIR and a separate set that shows round index vs each of those stats. My initial goal was to see how each of these stats correlated with my score/index and to see if I could use this information to improve my game. Here's a summary chart of my findings: I'm not a stats wiz per se, but did take a class in college and know my way around excel/google drive. For the uninitiated, the R-squared of a regression tells you how much the two variables correlate. The highest possible R-squared value, 1.0, would indicate that two variables correlate perfectly and the lowest possible value, 0.0, would indicate the two variables do not correlate at all. For the sake of simplifying the analysis I used a second degree polynomial regression and the following correlation ranges: 1.0-0.7 Strong, 0.7-0.4 Medium, 0.4-0.2 Small, 0.2-0.0 None. Some insights from the data: 1. First of all, I was surprised that none of the stat categories had a "strong" correlation to my score/index. This makes me wonder if there is something else that does correlate well or if the score/index is just influenced by too many different variables for one to really shine through. 2. I rarely make birdies (4 total over 30 rounds of golf) so it makes sense that they would have no correlation with my scores. 3. Because birdies are so rare, pars are essentially the lowest score I make on a hole. It therefore makes sense to me that these have the second highest correlation to my score/index. The highest correlation belongs to triples, likely because they represent the highest possible score on a give hole. Its not rocket science to know more of the lowest score and less of the highest score lowers your overall score/index but its good to see the data back it up. 4. There is hardly any correlation between score/index and bogeys or doubles. This is likely because it matters less how many of each I make as opposed to what they "would" have been. By that I mean on any given day I could score well with a lot of bogeys if they otherwise "would" have been doubles or I could score poorly with a lot of bogeys if they otherwise "would" have been pars. The same goes for doubles that "would" have been bogeys or triples. 5. All else being equal having less putts should mean a lower score but number of putts doesn't tell the story of how you got to the green. I am much more likely to three-putt after a GIR because I am typically starting farther from the hole. Likewise I am more likely to one-putt when I've chipped it close which usually means I missed the green so an extra stroke had to be taken. For this reason it makes sense to me that putts have a small correlation on score/index. However, I can't explain why the putts would better correlate to index (borderline medium correlation) compared to score. See below for more on this. 6. I would have expected GIR to correlate most with score/index and am surprised at how little it does. My only explanation here is that as with birdies, I don't have many GIRs overall so the impact they can have is limited. Similar to putts there is also a disparity between the correlation between score (borderline medium) and index (none) that I can't explain. I am also confused by why the disparity between the two stats is reversed from putts to GIR. The only semblance of explanation I can think of is that I was lucky enough to St. Andrews this past year and their oversized greens produced outlier numbers by increasing both my number of putts and GIRs. However, this was only two rounds out of 30 (both produced slightly better than average scores and indices), is the data that sensitive? 7. There is absolutely no correlation between FIR and score/index, this is the clearest answer of all the stats. This is backed up by recent Shot Scope data that farther is better than straighter (assuming both are in bounds). I think I'd be most curious to see if other people find similar correlation (or lack thereof) between their stats and score/index, what might change based on handicap, and what other analysis could be done with this or similar data?

Hey Everybody, I'm looking at getting a new set of irons this summer. I've been playing with an old set of TaylorMade Burners for the last 12+ years. Handicap is about 18 and interested to hear what you all have to say for the best recommendation for an upgrade. Thanks

I've been using TheGrint app on my iPhone for well over a year and today I decided to delve into my stats over the past 20 rounds to decipher where I should focus my practice sessions and golf lessons in the future. About me: 35, 5'9", 185 lbs. I hover between a 7 and 8 handicap. I have about 110-115 mph swing speed with a driver (using a Trackman with my local teaching pro). I used to play college baseball so I have tons of bad baseball swing habits that I've been working out for years. TheGrint keeps a wealth of stats that I want to break down here and get opinions on what might be the best way for me to reach the sub 5 handicap range. Below is my stats over the past 20 rounds (about 10 months). Scoring Handicap- 8.0 Avg. Score- 83.5 Putting Stats Putts per round- 31.1 Putts per hole following GIR- 2.0 Putts per hole following Non-GIR-1.6 1 putts per round- 5.3 Driving Accuracy Fairway Hit- 40% Left- 27% Right- 28% Greens in Regulation Total Gir- 30% Par 3's- 26% Par 4's- 26% Par 5's- 47% Iron Accuracy (on par 3's) Gir-23% Under 125 yards - No data 125 to 150 yards- 40% 150 to 175 yards- 26% 175 to 200 yards- 0% over 200 yards- 20% Penalties Total Penalties per round- 5.8 OoB- 2.6 Hazard- 2.3 Scrambling Par Saves- 41% Sand Saves- 27% Bogey Saves- 21% Putts per hole after Sand- 1.7 Putts per hole on Par Save- 1.6 Putts per hole on Bogey Save- 1.7 My initial thoughts were that the biggest part of my game that could use improvement would be my short game around the greens and then making putts inside of 8'. With the logic that most my strokes would be saved if my shots that miss the green could be hit closer and then the putt converted. However, after looking at the poor ball striking stats of GIR and penalties per round. I almost feel like lowering my shots hit into trouble and increasing my GIR would correlate to better numbers. Ideally, I'd have plenty of time to work on both but with a toddler to chase around I have limited practice time. I'm open to any thoughts or ideas as to what would be the best way to lower that 8 to a 5. Thanks Spies.

I have been shooting some video interview with Monte Scheinblum down in Orange County for a new show I'm doing and he has some really wild ideas about how people can get better. Check it out Here is part 1 (concentrated on LAG) https://youtu.be/7j3TjGVUHxo Part 2 (all about "Over the Top") Part 3 (about Johnny Miller and the Mental Game) Thanks Guys Hope you enjoy them, more coming soon