ShotScope Free eBook

[GolfSpy MPR]

Thought this post from the main blog was worth highlighting here: ShotScope has combed through their enormous pile of shot-tracking data and distilled some on-course strategic advice for us ordinary golfers.

Gave the free eBook a quick read yesterday, and put it to use in my league match last night. There's a section in the eBook titled "Driver Versus 3 Wood." ShotScope tracks three distance numbers: average (which tends to be low due to mishits), p-average (the average of decent shots), and longest. In each case, off the tee, a 14 handicap is losing between 20–30 yards of distance by clubbing down to the 3w off the tee.

Obviously, the reason for clubbing down is to be more accurate, so here's the twist:

According to their data, you're probably hitting virtually the same amount of fairways by clubbing down. That one or two percent difference means it would take you over seven full rounds of golf (assuming 14 driver vs. 3w decisions per round) to hit a single additional fairway. In other words, it's totally not worth it. You're cheating yourself out of 25 yards with almost zero gain in accuracy.

I checked out my own numbers on Game Golf and found that it is true for me. Over my last 15 rounds off the tee:

• DRIVER: 217 average | 226 p-average | 60% fairways hit
• 4W: 191 average | 195 p-average | 57% fairways hit

Literally the only thing I have going for me hitting my 4w off the tee is that it looks like I have fewer gross mishits, making my average and p-average closer together. Otherwise, clubbing down costs me yardage—and I'm missing more fairways.

I decided to put this into practice last night in league. There are three holes on the front nine that I very rarely pull driver:

• Hole 4 is a short par 5 (about 470), but the tee shot is through a tree lined shoot with a pond left.
• Hole 5 is a short par 4 (about 330, uphill); it's wide, but there's OB left and forest right.
• Hole 6 is lined with trees right, and the ground is canted to the right. OB left, more trees left in the landing area.

Went with driver on all three. On 4, hit a fine (nothing special) drive 223 safely in the fairway, setting up a par. On 5, hit a terrible heely cut 204 behind a tree on the right. Punched under with a hybrid, chip and two putts for a bogey. On 6, hit a (slightly wind aided) 266 yard drive right in the heart of the fairway, wedge on the green, 2 putt par.

One round is not any kind of proof that this is the right play. I'm making my decision here based on the bigger data pool (both ShotScope's and my own), but it was nice to see the data be vindicated on the course.

[bmaru99]

13 minutes ago, GolfSpy MPR said:

Thought this post from the main blog was worth highlighting here: ShotScope has combed through their enormous pile of shot-tracking data and distilled some on-course strategic advice for us ordinary golfers.

Gave the free eBook a quick read yesterday, and put it to use in my league match last night. There's a section in the eBook titled "Driver Versus 3 Wood." ShotScope tracks three distance numbers: average (which tends to be low due to mishits), p-average (the average of decent shots), and longest. In each case, off the tee, a 14 handicap is losing between 20–30 yards of distance by clubbing down to the 3w off the tee.

Obviously, the reason for clubbing down is to be more accurate, so here's the twist:

According to their data, you're probably hitting virtually the same amount of fairways by clubbing down. That one or two percent difference means it would take you over seven full rounds of golf (assuming 14 driver vs. 3w decisions per round) to hit a single additional fairway. In other words, it's totally not worth it. You're cheating yourself out of 25 yards with almost zero gain in accuracy.

I checked out my own numbers on Game Golf and found that it is true for me. Over my last 15 rounds off the tee:

• DRIVER: 217 average | 226 p-average | 60% fairways hit
• 4W: 191 average | 195 p-average | 57% fairways hit

Literally the only thing I have going for me hitting my 4w off the tee is that it looks like I have fewer gross mishits, making my average and p-average closer together. Otherwise, clubbing down costs me yardage—and I'm missing more fairways.

I decided to put this into practice last night in league. There are three holes on the front nine that I very rarely pull driver:

• Hole 4 is a short par 5 (about 470), but the tee shot is through a tree lined shoot with a pond left.
• Hole 5 is a short par 4 (about 330, uphill); it's wide, but there's OB left and forest right.
• Hole 6 is lined with trees right, and the ground is canted to the right. OB left, more trees left in the landing area.

Went with driver on all three. On 4, hit a fine (nothing special) drive 223 safely in the fairway, setting up a par. On 5, hit a terrible heely cut 204 behind a tree on the right. Punched under with a hybrid, chip and two putts for a bogey. On 6, hit a (slightly wind aided) 266 yard drive right in the heart of the fairway, wedge on the green, 2 putt par.

One round is not any kind of proof that this is the right play. I'm making my decision here based on the bigger data pool (both ShotScope's and my own), but it was nice to see the data be vindicated on the course.

I read that statistic as well and  understand why it makes sense to use those because there is no significant gain in accuracy; however, it doesn't take dispersion into account. For example, most people will take 3 wood on a tight hole to ensure their ball is put into play, where the may just not trust driver to keep it within a certain range whether its fairway or rough. They are 100% right when pertaining to open holes where there is relatively no trouble, there is no reason to pull a 3 wood. I am just saying that diver can sometimes be a bit more widely dispersed than a 3 wood regardless of if you hit the fairway or not and sometimes 25 yards off line is better than 40. It was a great article and I definitely learned from reading it but that stat didn't 100% win me over. This is also coming from someone who always pulls driver. Just my thoughts.

 

I am glad it worked for you in your league play though

Edited July 26, 2019 by bmaru99