Fitness expert and personal trainer Shawn O’Neil dives into the strokes gained stats and look at where we can make the biggest improvements
When we look at improving as golfers, statistics give us a massive amount of information. If you keep your stats, you’ll already know which areas you need to work on to improve your scores. For those who don’t track their performance, here’s some interesting numbers which might help point you in the right direction.
For most people, the biggest gains we can make are from tee to green. Looking at the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list, six of them are among the top 10 in strokes gained tee to green, and nine of them are in the top 20.
If we look at the top 10 in strokes gained putting, only one player is in the money list top 10. That’s a big difference in overall performance for players who are the best in the world at one aspect of the game.
These guys are the best of the best, but what happens when we compare amateurs to the professionals. The average strokes gained difference for putting between the pros and five-handicappers is 1.42 strokes per round, and for 10-handicappers it is 2.77. Off the tee, the difference is 3.34 and 3.61. Approach is 4.29 and 6.11.
In total, five-handicappers lose 7.65 strokes to the pros from tee to green, compared to just 1.42 strokes putting. For 10-handicappers, that jumps to 9.73 strokes tee to green and is 2.77 strokes for putting.
When we break down strokes gained tee to green, in short, it comes down to hitting it far and in play from the tee, then hitting it close to the flag. We also know that the closer we are to the green, the easier it is to hit it close to the flag.
In my experience, the ability to move well is an overlooked, low hanging fruit for many golfers. A little work in this area will undoubtedly improve things like strike, path and face control.
For example, an inability to separate the lower body from the upper body will often produce an over the top movement and exaggerated left path. Inability to properly extend the trail wrist could lead to compensatory supination and opening the face in the backswing. Inability to rotate effectively into stable hips can cause excessive lateral movement – couple this with an open clubface and you’ll have low point and face control issues.
Providing you’ve been assessed to identify your issues and have the right guidance and knowledge, you can make huge strides in these areas at home in as little as 10-15 minutes a few times a week.
Start by identifying the gaps in your game, then get a plan in place – it’s the only way to make a real, lasting difference to your game.
