3jack golf 2011 pro golf synopsis

2011 Pro Golf SynopsisBy Richie Hunt (http://3jack.blogspot.com)

http://3jack.blogspot.com/

CONTENTS Introduction Page I

Statistical Index Page III

Statistical Truths Page VI

CHAPER 1 – The Rankings

2011 PGA Tour Advanced Total Driving Rankings 12

2011 PGA Tour Putts Gained Rankings 17

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Short Game Play Rankings 22

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Danger Zone Play Rankings 27

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Safe Zone Play Rankings 32

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Birdie Zone Plan Rankings 37

2011 PGA Tour Overall Zone Rankings 42

2011 PGA Tour Overall Zone & Advanced Total Driving Rankings 47

CHAPTER 2 – Player Summaries

Statistical Summary of Each Player on the 2011 PGA Tour 52

CHAPTER 3 – Metrics Based Strategy

Using Advanced Metrics For Your Game 167

Understanding the Zones 169

Dispelling Common Strategic Myths 172

Short Game Strategy 173

Tee Shot Strategy 174

Par-3 vs. Par-4 vs. Par-5 Strategy 177

Practicing Metrics Based Strategy 179

CHAPTER 4 – Essays

How to Put Together a Ryder Cup Team 182

The Effectiveness of the Belly and Long Putters 185

The Most Underrated Club In The Bag 191

INTRODUCTIONGolf instruction is by far and away focused upon teaching the golf swing. Other parts of the game like putting, short game, mental game and course management pale in comparison when it comes to what golf instructors teach to their students. Every year, books and DVDs with swing instruction come out while there may be only one other non-golf swing related instruction book.

In fact, the only two books that dealt with the scientific approach to green reading have been H.A. Templeton’s ‘Vector Putting’ and Geoff Mangum’s ‘Optimal Putting.’ I think everybody can agree how important putting is and how important green reading is with regards to putting, yet only two books in the history of the game have broached this subject. And only Mark Sweeney’s AimPoint Golf has focused solely on green reading and has made an amazing amount of discoveries with regards to the subject.

One of the facets of the game that always puzzled me is what is often referred to as ‘scoring.’ I was also curious about ‘course management.’ As with green reading, there are not a lot of books or instructors who have broached these subjects. And those books that have discussed these subjects are often very vague and ambiguous.

As a competitive golfer, I had so many occasions where I felt like I did everything well and then came away with a disappointing score. Conversely, I had plenty of occasions where I didn’t feel like I played that well and wound up with a good score. Most would chalk it up to a ‘good short game and putting’, but often times I would not perform that proficiently on and around the green, yet I would still shoot a better score.

In fact, my lowest round ever is a 64 which I have shot on two different occasions. The first time I shot 64 I did not drive it great, I hit a few awful iron shots, missed some easy putts and even had a 4-putt on the 13th hole. Yes, I shot 64 with a 4-putt. That round always mystified me. I could not figure out how I did not do anything special and even had some large gaffes in my round, but still shot the round of my life.

Eventually, I came across a series of articles from Slate.com titled ‘MoneyGolf.’ The title ‘MoneyGolf’ came from the title of Michael Lewis’ book ‘Moneyball’ which was about how the Oakland A’s used statistical research to build a competitive baseball team despite having a very low payroll.

The Oakland A’s got the idea from something called ‘SABREmetrics.’ SABREmetrics is a society of baseball fans who utilize statistics and research to analyze baseball. For instance, SABREmetrics does not look at a pitcher’s win-loss record as much as it looks at a statistic called WHIP (walks + hits allowed per innings pitched). The concept is that a pitcher with a good win-loss record may not be nearly as good as the pitcher with a worse win-loss record because that pitcher plays on a lesser team. However, traditional ‘baseball logic’ under-valued the pitcher with the worse win-loss record, but with the better WHIP. The Oakland A’s would pick up those pitchers for a cheaper price and get great value out of what they paid for their services.

Moneygolf follows the same type of concept. It does not worry about traditional golf metrics like fairways hit percentage or greens in regulation percentage. It instead focused on where PGA Tour pros ‘gained’ or ‘lost’ strokes on the field.

I

Traditional golf statistics are inherently flawed. For instance, if a Jack Nicklaus hits a shot that lands on the green in regulation, but is 50 feet away from the cup that is counted as a green in regulation while Arnold Palmer who is on the fringe and putting from 12 feet away is counted as a missed green in regulation. I think any golfer would prefer Arnie’s putt over Jack’s putt.

If Bubba Watson hits a driver 370 and misses the fairway by a foot, he has a missed fairway while if Brian Gay hits a driver 260 yards but down the middle of the fairway, the fairway hit % favors Gay. But the reality is that every golfer in the world would prefer to have Watson’s second shot than Gay’s second shot.

As a person who works as a statistician for a living, I decided to research ‘what stats really matter’ on the PGA Tour. I also thought that there was a chance I could use this data and apply it to my own game. Particularly, determine how to actually ‘score well’ and how to apply ‘good’ course management.

I know that with my research that it helped my own game tremendously and now my scores started to make more ‘sense’ to me. I could use this information to focus my practice on the proper parts of the game instead of going with the traditional methods of separating my practice time between the driving range and the putting green.

I hope my book helps lowers your score and helps improve your understanding of the game. This book is intended to give an overview of the 2011 PGA Tour season as well as to give insight on how the average amateur can improve their own game.

Richie HuntOrlando, FLDecember 2011

II

STATISTICAL INDEXSome of my blog readers are comfortable with the statistics I have been presenting on a weekly basis with the PGA Tour Statistical Rankings post. This chapter will help explain these statistics in further detail. Many of the statistics are part of a proprietary formula that I utilize based on the seasonal Adjusted Scoring Average on the PGA Tour.

ADJUSTED SCORING AVERAGE RANKING (ASA)

This is a statistic utilized by the PGA Tour where the golfer’s scoring average is adjusted against the field’s scoring average. Thus, a top tier golfer who plays in the more difficult events may have a higher scoring average than a golfer who plays in lower scoring events like the Bob Hope Classic. The adjusted scoring average accounts for this factor.

MONEY RANKING (MR)

The official PGA Tour money ranking for the 2011 season.

CLUBHEAD SPEED (CS)

Official clubhead speed measured by the PGA Tour with a Trackman Launch Monitor when the golfer is hitting a driver. This stat is available via PGATour.com

ADVANCED TOTAL DRIVING RANKING (ATD)

A proprietary formula that takes into consideration driving distance, fairways hit percentage and average distance from the edge of the fairway on drives that wind up in the rough. If Bubba Watson hits 10 drives an average of 350 yards, but misses 4 fairways and on those missed fairways he misses them by an average of 10 feet, he may be more effective than Greg Chalmers who hits 10 drives 270 yards, but hits 8 fairways and the fairways he misses are by an average of 40 feet.

There is an advantage to hitting the ball a long ways. There is also an advantage to hitting the fairway. Most golfers think that one is far superior to the other, but the reality is that they provide a level of advantage to golfers.

Advanced Total Driving gives a much better picture of a golfer’s driving prowess than the Tour statistic ‘Total Driving’ (distance rank + fairway % rank) which tends to favor the golfer who does excellent in one category.

If a golfer finished #1 in driving distance, they are almost guaranteed to finish in the middle of the pack in ‘total driving’ because if they finish dead last in driving accuracy, that brings their total rank to about 192, which is ‘average’ in total driving each year. However, if the golfer is only hitting 45% of their fairways and missing fairways on average by 40 feet that distance off the tee is almost of no use to them.

III

The same goes for the golfer who is #1 in driving accuracy. Theoretically I could hit a 5-iron 200 yards and lead the PGA Tour in driving accuracy. But, that would not make me an effective driver of the golf ball.

ADJUSTED DANGER ZONE PLAY (DZ)

For the purposes of this analytical study, I determine Danger Zone shots to be shots between 175-225 yards. I find that this has the strongest correlation of all of the playing statistics with regards to a golfer’s success.

In 2009, Gary Woodland and Tom Lehman shared very similar statistics throughout their game. They putted the same; their Advanced Total Driving was about the same. In fact, Woodland had the advantage of being one of the longest players on Tour while Lehman was one of the shortest players on Tour.

However, Lehman wound up finishing 82nd in Adjusted Scoring Average to Woodland’s 173rd.

The difference?

Danger Zone play.

Lehman finished 10th compared to Woodland’s 169th.

Like Adjusted Short Game play, I have cancelled out the difference in golfers who may hit more or less shots from 175-200 yards compared to shots from 200-225 yards.

ADJUSTED SAFE ZONE (SZ)

In the golf strategy section, I will go into something I call the ‘Safe Zone.’ For the purposes of this book when examining the PGA Tour players, the Intermediate Zone is shots from 125-175 yards.

ADJUSTED BIRDIE ZONE (BZ)

These are shots from 75-125 yards.

OVERALL ZONE PLAY (OZ)

This combines the player’s performance from all 3 zones (Danger, Safe and Birdie) and does not weigh one zone more important or less important than the other.

IV

ADVANCED TOTAL DRIVING & OVERALL ZONE PLAY

This combines the performance of the player from the 3 zones along with their Advanced Total Driving metric. Originally, I was calling this ‘total ballstriking.’ However, I have decided that it is not quite the accurate depiction of a golfer’s ballstriking ability because it factors in driving ability too much. This is a metric that I plan on tweaking over time.

PUTTS GAINED RANK (PG)

This statistic is available on the PGATour.com Web site. It was conceived by Mark Broadie from Columbia University which takes the percentage of putts a golfer makes from a certain distance versus what the field has made from that distance.

Thus, if a golfer average 1.5 putts from 15-20 feet and the field is average 2 putts from 15-20 feet, that golfer has gained 0.5 putts on the field from that range. Putts gained totals up all of the putts for a golfer and compares them against the field they are playing against.

ADJUSTED SHORT GAME PLAY (SHORT)

One thing I’ve found is that the short game does have a decent impact on a golfer’s success over the length of a season. However, on the PGA Tour the part that matters most are shots that are from 0-20 yards from the edge of the green. My belief is that most of the time, when a PGA Tour player misses a green, they do not miss more than 20 yards from the green. Since that is not very common, it does not impact the Tour that much. In other words, being the best from 20-30 yards away from the edge of the green versus being the worst typically means very little with regards to the success on Tour. But, being #1 from 0-20 yards versus being ranked last in this category has a much larger impact with regards to a golfer’s success.

This is measured by proximity to the cup. The issue with looking at up and down percentage is that a golfer can be lousy around the green and then make up for it with some good putting.

The other issue is that the PGA Tour measures the proximity to the cup around the green in 10 yard increments. Thus, a golfer may have a very high percentage of their shots around the green from 0-10 yards compared to 10-20 yards. Their proximity to the cup could be very low from an overall 0-20 yards standpoint because they have more shots closer to the green. I created a proprietary formula that negates that factor.

V

STATISTICAL TRUTHSStealing a line from ESPN commentator Ron Jaworski, the statistics used in this book are about ‘probability, not certainty.’ Meaning, I am not trying to guarantee any outcomes here, but rather judge the probability of those outcomes.

For instance, if somebody came up to me and wanted to bet me $100 that a quarter could be flipped and land on heads five times in a row, I would take that bet. The quarter could land on heads five times in a row. But, the odds are very slim, about 3.1% to be exact. There is absolutely a risk with that bet, but the odds are so much in my favor that it would be unwise to not make that gamble.

I find the biggest problem with traditional golf metrics is that they tell such a vague ‘story’ that we cannot quite use them to accurately depict a golfer’s level of skill in certain facets of the game. I think that over time this has led to many flawed theories on golf and has hurt golfers of all levels.

My research acknowledges that any time a golfer can improve any part of their game, it will help their score. Even if it is something like fairway bunker play. However, the research is designed to determine how much certain aspects of the game influence a golfer’s score and being able to prioritize them in the order of the greatest influence.

The wedge game is an extremely overrated part of the game. I hear about the importance of the wedge game quite often. In fact, the wedge industry

has developed tremendously over the years with companies like Scratch Golf, Miura, Titleist (Vokey) and others doing millions in revenue from wedge sales each year.

The one thing about this statistical analysis is that any time a golfer can improve any facet of their game; it will help their scores, regardless of their level of play. But, there are certain facets of the game that have a great impact on a golfer’s score than others. From 75-100 yards out, the PGA Tour average is to leave the ball about 17 feet from the cup. And from 15-20 feet, PGA Tour golfers make an average of about 18% of those putts. The idea of ‘get a PGA Tour player inside 100 yards and they’ll get up and in with 2 shots’ is patently false. A golfer is far better off becoming a better player from the Danger Zone or a becoming a better driver of the ball or a better putter or developing a better short game around the green than they are at becoming a better wedge player from 75-125 yards.

The reason being is that a poor wedge player, will more often than not, leave the ball on the green. And if they miss the green, they are more likely to miss it in a makeable up and down position. Whereas a great wedge player is averaging shots in the 10-15 feet range where the odds of making the putt are only about 30%. Thus, a bad wedge player is much more likely to come away with the same score as a good wedge player if they are hitting from the same distance.

Compare that to the Danger Zone where the best Danger Zone player leaves themselves with about a 35 foot putt on average. But the worst player can leave themselves with a shot that is 55+ feet from the green. A Tour player can 2-putt from 35 feet. But when they start missing by a wide margin, their odds of 2-putting or getting up and in from 55 feet drop dramatically. Thus, a bad Danger Zone player is less likely to come away with the same score as a good Danger Zone player if they are hitting from the same distance.

VI

Avoiding bogeys is more important that making birdies. This is actually a tricky concept because most people associate this with a conservative

strategy, but it has more to do with a player’s skill.

Phil Mickelson’s best years are when he is doing a better job at avoiding bogeys than when he is making more birdies. However, that does not mean he is playing conservative.

More often than not, any golfer who is doing a better job at avoiding bogeys is actually hitting the ball better more than playing conservatively. They are not having to get up and in and are not having to hit difficult shots. They are finding the fairways, greens and not leaving themselves with difficult putts.

Double bogeys in particular are a killer. One of the reasons doubles are harmful is the golfer now has to make two birdies to cancel out that double bogey. That takes 3 holes of golf, and already ‘eats up’ 1/6th of the golfer’s round. Thus, if they want to shoot in the 60’s and they are playing a par-72, they will have to make 3 birdies in the next 15 holes in order to do so. But, if the golfer averages about 3 birdies a round, they have to double the amount of birdies they typically make for the round. Furthermore, they need to make 3 birdies in roughly 17% less holes to play.

Power is the great equalizer, but is no good if you cannot keep it on the course.What I have found with my research is that many of the longtime veterans who hit the ball

a long ways are often very poor putters and have terrible short games. But, they can keep their card year after year and even get some victories. My theory is that they have a major advantage on par-5’s because they can hit those greens in two shorts or just miss them. From there, it’s just a chip and a putt.

Conversely, if you hit the ball short off the tee on Tour, your putting typically needs to be impeccable.

Longer golfers avoid Danger Zone shots more often than shorter players. Nobody can avoid Danger Zone shots all together because typically the par-3’s on Tour play from 175-225 yards. But on long par-4’s the bomber has a sizeable advantage over the shorter player. In fact, somebody like Bubba Watson will average about 14 Danger Zone shots in a 4-round tournament whereas Brian Gay will average about 20 Danger Zone shots in a 4-round tournament. Since Watson has an average of 6 less Danger Zone shots, he will likely not average as long and as difficult of putts as Brian Gay does. And therefore can get away with weaker putting.

Hitting fairways has its advantages.There is a notion that today’s golfers can recklessly bomb away on courses and if they

are long enough get away with it. However, on average Tour players are about 30% more accurate from the fairway than they are from the rough, from the same distance into the green.

I do not believe that means that Tour players should start using 3-woods off the tee. On average, a Tour player who finds the rough with the driver is about as accurate on their next shot compared to if they found the fairway with a 3-wood off the tee. The difference in distance is again, the equalizer.

But, if a golfer is not finding the fairway this will hurt their score over time.

VII

In order to go low, a golfer normally has to have a great day striking the ball.Golfers who shoot a low score typically get hot with their ballstriking. We have to

remember that the PGA Tour average for making putts from 15-20 feet is only 18%. More often than not, for a Tour player to ‘go low’, they will have to hit their shots closer so they can increase their odds of making the birdie putt.

Clubhead speed is usually a good indicator of a Tour player’s potential.In 2011, the Tour average clubhead speed with the driver was 112.7 mph. When looking

at young golfers on Tour, they typically start off struggling in at least one of the major areas of the game (driving, putting, short game or Danger Zone). But, the players who tend to turn into something substantial on Tour are the ones who generate higher clubhead speeds, in particular the ones who are over 115 mph. Usually the better players from the rough are golfers with higher clubhead speeds. Furthermore, there is an inherent advantage in being able to hit your irons further than your competition. Accuracy, distance control and precision are the three most important parts of iron play, but power is still an important aspect as well.

A Tour player is better off hitting it high than hitting it low.Typically the high ball hitters do better on Tour. For starters, there is a correlation to ball

trajectory height and power. Furthermore, on the PGA Tour a high ball hitter can typically play any course whereas the low ball hitter can be at a large disadvantage at some courses, like Augusta National Golf Club. Today’s golf courses are designed more to force the golfer to carry the ball to certain distances and it makes the game more difficult for those golfers hitting ‘low bullets’ around the course.

Tour players, who start to struggle with ballstriking, tend to start hitting the ball lower and lower off the tee.

From my experience with Trackman launch monitor, it is difficult to be consistent with the modern titanium driver if your clubhead’s attack angle is steeper than -2* downward. Furthermore, the ball will go shorter off the tee because the ball speed will be slower, the ball will carry less and spin more.

I think that is part of the equation, but I also believe that when PGA Tour golfers start to struggle with their ballstriking, they try to lower the trajectory to keep the ball in play. Tiger Woods went from hitting the ball higher and higher and being the best driver on Tour to hitting the ball very low and becoming one of the worst drivers on Tour. Charles Howell III went from being one of the best drivers on Tour and started to lower his ball flight and become a worse driver.

It’s very much a chicken and egg situation for golfers, but if you are playing on the American PGA Tour or aspire to, I would try to keep the ball flight more towards the high side.

VIII

CHAPTER 1 – THE RANKINGSI understand that many readers will have favorite players that they are more interested in and would like to focus on their rankings in the metrics. In order to find a particular player, I would recommend using the ‘find’ function. Simply hit the ‘Ctrl’ and ‘F’ buttons and then type in the last name of the player and the computer will direct you to where that player is.

These rankings are based on only the players that had enough rounds to statistically qualify. There were 186 players that wound up statistically qualifying this year.

2011 PGA Tour Advanced Total Driving Rankings

1. Boo Weekley2. John Merrick 3. Joe Durant4. Heath Slocum 5. Chez Reavie 6. John Rollins7. Dustin Johnson8. Brandt Jobe 9. Bubba Watson 10. Bo Van Pelt 11. Rod Pampling12. David Toms13. Josh Teater 14. John Senden 15. Bill Haas 16. Blake Adams 17. Gary Woodland 18. Justin Hicks 19. Graeme McDowell20. Briny Baird 21. Adam Scott 22. Keegan Bradley23. J.J. Henry24. Tom Gillis 25. Chris Couch 26. Kyle Stanley 27. J.B. Holmes 28. Webb Simpson 29. Aron Price 30. Steve Elkington 31. Nick Watney 32. Billy Mayfair

33. Robert Garrigus 34. Brian Davis 35. Pat Perez36. Jason Dufner 37. Billy Horschel 38. Nick O'Hern 39. Scott McCarron 40. Ben Curtis 41. Hunter Mahan 42. Jim Herman43. Martin Laird 44. Jerry Kelly45. Mark Wilson 46. Brendan Steele 47. Charl Schwartzel48. David Hearn 49. Brandt Snedeker50. Lucas Glover51. Scott Piercy 52. Kevin Stadler53. Zach Johnson 54. D.J. Trahan 55. Carl Pettersson56. Jason Bohn 57. Chad Campbell 58. Cameron Tringale 59. Charley Hoffman 60. Justin Rose61. Chris Riley 62. Steven Bowditch 63. D.A. Points 64. Johnson Wagner 65. Davis Love III66. Sunghoon Kang 67. Matt Kuchar68. Kevin Streelman 69. Ryan Moore70. Alexandre Rocha71. Troy Matteson 72. Scott Stallings 73. Stephen Ames74. Roland Thatcher 75. Jim Renner

76. Bobby Gates 77. Tommy Gainey78. Jeff Overton 79. Robert Allenby80. Steve Stricker 81. Jim Furyk82. Sergio Garcia83. Spencer Levin 84. Ben Crane 85. Jhonattan Vegas86. Brendon de Jonge 87. Rocco Mediate88. Garrett Willis 89. Steve Marino 90. Y.E. Yang91. Hunter Haas 92. Tag Ridings93. Rickie Fowler 94. Ben Martin 95. Bill Lunde 96. Will Strickler97. Shane Bertsch 98. David Mathis 99. Matt McQuillan 100. Kent Jones101. Lee Janzen102. Rich Beem 103. Geoff Ogilvy 104. Scott Gutschewski105. Jason Day106. Kevin Chappell107. George McNeill108. Chris Stroud109. William McGirt110. Woody Austin 111. J.P. Hayes 112. Vijay Singh113. Zack Miller 114. Jonathan Byrd 115. Paul Goydos 116. Vaughn Taylor 117. Fabian Gomez 118. Alex Prugh

119. Ricky Barnes120. Joseph Bramlett121. Sean O'Hair122. Trevor Immelman123. Justin Leonard124. Brian Gay 125. K.J. Choi 126. Colt Knost 127. Troy Merritt 128. Andres Gonzales 129. Bryce Molder 130. Camilo Villegas131. Charles Howell III 132. Luke Donald 133. Angel Cabrera 134. Chris Kirk 135. Andres Romero136. Ernie Els137. Robert Karlsson 138. Marc Turnesa 139. Aaron Baddeley 140. Chris DiMarco 141. Michael Thompson 142. Charlie Wi 143. Rory Sabbatini144. Retief Goosen145. Fredrik Jacobson146. Daniel Summerhays 147. Kris Blanks 148. James Driscoll149. Tim Petrovic150. Michael Connell 151. Alex Cejka152. Ryan Palmer 153. Ian Poulter 154. Nathan Green 155. Phil Mickelson156. Stewart Cink157. Kevin Kisner158. Tim Herron 159. Ryuji Imada 160. Joe Ogilvie 161. Cameron Beckman

162. Michael Putnam163. Dean Wilson 164. Matt Jones 165. Richard S. Johnson 166. Harrison Frazar 167. Greg Chalmers 168. Jarrod Lyle 169. Steve Flesch170. Marc Leishman 171. D.J. Brigman 172. Jimmy Walker 173. Michael Bradley 174. Stuart Appleby175. David Duval 176. Matt Bettencourt177. Nate Smith 178. Paul Stankowski179. Shaun Micheel180. Martin Piller 181. Padraig Harrington 182. Bio Kim183. Derek Lamely184. Arjun Atwal 185. Kevin Na 186. Anthony Kim

2011 PGA Tour Putts Gained Rankings (credit PGATour.com)

1. Luke Donald2. Steve Stricker3. Bryce Molder4. Charlie Wi5. Greg Chalmers6. Fredrik Jacobson7. Jason Day8. Kevin Na9. Scott McCarron10. Brandt Snedeker11. Zach Johnson12. Nick Watney13. Hunter Mahan14. Ryan Moore15. Angel Cabrera16. Dean Wilson17. Brian GayT18. Matt McQuillanT18. David Toms20. Geoff Ogilvy21. Blake Adams22. Michael Thompson23. Carl Pettersson24. Andres Romero25. Michael Putnam26. Matt Kuchar27. Kevin Streelman28. Ben Martin29. Johnson Wagner30. Charles Howell III31. Rickie Fowler32. Hunter Haas33. Paul Stankowski34. Aaron Baddeley35. Will Strickler36. Colt Knost37. Trevor Immelman38. Nate Smith39. Steve Flesch40. Ian Poulter41. Retief Goosen42. Brendon de Jonge

43. Y.E. YangT44. Chris CouchT44. Steve Elkington46. Padraig Harrington47. Cameron TringaleT48. Scott PiercyT48. D.A. PointsT50. Anthony KimT50. Jimmy WalkerT52. David MathisT52. William McGirtT52. Roland Thatcher55. Lucas Glover56. Tim PetrovicT57. Ben CurtisT57. Webb Simpson59. Shaun Micheel60. Andres Gonzales61. Joe OgilvieT62. Steven BowditchT62. Vaughn TaylorT64. Stewart CinkT64. John Senden66. Mark Wilson67. Jim Renner68. Lee Janzen69. Jonathan Byrd70. Jerry KellyT71. David HearnT71. Pat Perez73. K.J. Choi74. Matt Bettencourt75. Martin Laird76. Jeff Overton77. Marc Turnesa78. Tommy Gainey79. Kevin KisnerT80. Ben CraneT80. Tim Herron82. Shane Bertsch83. J.J. HenryT84. Bill HaasT84. Martin Piller

86. Nathan Green87. J.P. Hayes88. Briny Baird89. John MerrickT90. Robert KarlssonT90. Steve Marino92. Graeme McDowell93. Tag Ridings94. Aron Price95. Bio Kim96. Justin Rose97. Keegan Bradley98. Rod Pampling99. Richard S. Johnson100. Brandt Jobe101. Arjun Atwal102. Charl Schwartzel103. Alexandre Rocha104. George McNeill105. Kent Jones106. Matt Jones107. Jason Bohn108. Bill Lunde109. Garrett WillisT110. Brian DavisT110. Nick O'Hern112. Stephen Ames113. Billy Horschel114. James Driscoll115. Spencer Levin116. Jason Dufner117. Michael Connell118. J.B. Holmes119. Chez ReavieT120. Brendan SteeleT120. Bubba Watson122. Woody Austin123. John RollinsT124. Fabian GomezT124. Justin Leonard126. Sunghoon Kang127. Marc Leishman128. Ryan Palmer

129. Troy Matteson130. Vijay Singh131. Jarrod Lyle132. Josh Teater133. Ryuji Imada134. Phil Mickelson135. Chris Stroud136. Scott Stallings137. Stuart Appleby138. Chris DiMarco139. Michael Bradley140. Chris Kirk141. Camilo Villegas142. Gary Woodland143. Adam ScottT144. Sergio GarciaT144. Bo Van Pelt146. Billy Mayfair147. Charley Hoffman148. Robert Allenby149. Cameron Beckman150. Jim Furyk151. Sean O'Hair152. D.J. Brigman153. Daniel Summerhays154. Chris Riley155. Davis Love III156. Derek Lamely157. Jhonattan Vegas158. Troy Merritt159. Rory SabbatiniT160. Tom GillisT160. Kevin Stadler162. David Duval163. Harrison Frazar164. Jim Herman165. Bobby Gates166. Robert Garrigus167. Zack Miller168. Kris Blanks169. Heath Slocum170. Chad Campbell171. Dustin Johnson

172. Ricky Barnes173. Joseph Bramlett174. Kyle Stanley175. Rich Beem176. Rocco Mediate177. Kevin Chappell178. Alex Prugh179. Paul Goydos180. Alex Cejka181. Ernie Els182. Scott Gutschewski183. D.J. Trahan184. Joe Durant185. Justin Hicks186. Boo Weekley

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Short Game Play Rankings

1. Brian Gay 2. Jonathan Byrd 3. Steve Stricker 4. Steve Flesch5. Aaron Baddeley 6. Nick Watney 7. Chris Riley 8. Tim Petrovic9. Michael Bradley 10. Bill Haas 11. Rory Sabbatini12. James Driscoll13. Justin Leonard14. Alex Cejka15. Ricky Barnes16. Trevor Immelman17. Scott Gutschewski18. Nick O'Hern 19. Charley Hoffman 20. Fredrik Jacobson21. Briny Baird 22. D.A. Points 23. Greg Chalmers 24. Jason Day25. Bio Kim26. Nathan Green 27. Rod Pampling28. Billy Mayfair 29. Kevin Na 30. Ryuji Imada 31. Nate Smith 32. Marc Leishman 33. Charles Howell III 34. Paul Stankowski35. Ian Poulter 36. Steve Elkington 37. Webb Simpson 38. Bryce Molder 39. Robert Karlsson 40. Zach Johnson 41. Shaun Micheel42. Jim Furyk

43. Vijay Singh44. Michael Connell 45. Scott McCarron 46. Padraig Harrington 47. Geoff Ogilvy 48. David Toms49. Ernie Els50. Troy Merritt 51. Matt Jones 52. Chris DiMarco 53. Zack Miller 54. Matt Kuchar55. Lucas Glover56. D.J. Trahan 57. Stewart Cink58. Hunter Haas 59. Davis Love III60. Vaughn Taylor 61. Arjun Atwal 62. Angel Cabrera 63. Heath Slocum 64. Ben Curtis 65. Mark Wilson 66. Camilo Villegas67. Cameron Beckman68. K.J. Choi 69. Woody Austin 70. J.P. Hayes 71. Colt Knost 72. Tim Herron 73. Chris Kirk 74. Jerry Kelly75. Phil Mickelson76. Pat Perez77. Stephen Ames78. Justin Hicks 79. Ben Crane 80. Jason Bohn 81. Retief Goosen82. Kevin Chappell83. Martin Laird 84. Richard S. Johnson 85. George McNeill

86. Spencer Levin 87. Rocco Mediate88. Daniel Summerhays 89. Anthony Kim90. Matt McQuillan 91. Carl Pettersson92. Y.E. Yang93. William McGirt94. Brendon de Jonge 95. Chris Stroud96. Tag Ridings97. Justin Rose98. Chad Campbell 99. Andres Gonzales 100. Rich Beem 101. Ryan Palmer 102. Brendan Steele 103. Dean Wilson 104. Charlie Wi 105. Boo Weekley106. J.J. Henry107. Kyle Stanley 108. Cameron Tringale 109. Charl Schwartzel110. Lee Janzen111. Joe Durant112. Sergio Garcia113. Brandt Jobe 114. David Hearn 115. Jason Dufner 116. Hunter Mahan 117. Blake Adams 118. Luke Donald 119. John Merrick 120. Gary Woodland 121. Andres Romero122. Jarrod Lyle 123. Bo Van Pelt 124. Derek Lamely125. Rickie Fowler 126. Stuart Appleby127. Matt Bettencourt128. Jimmy Walker

129. Sunghoon Kang 130. Ryan Moore131. Robert Allenby132. John Rollins133. Paul Goydos 134. John Senden 135. Bill Lunde 136. Joseph Bramlett137. Chris Couch 138. Jhonattan Vegas139. Shane Bertsch 140. Brandt Snedeker141. Jim Herman142. Brian Davis 143. David Mathis 144. Sean O'Hair145. Fabian Gomez 146. Kevin Streelman 147. Joe Ogilvie 148. Michael Thompson 149. Johnson Wagner 150. Roland Thatcher 151. Kris Blanks 152. Josh Teater 153. Steven Bowditch 154. D.J. Brigman 155. Aron Price 156. Dustin Johnson157. Troy Matteson 158. Keegan Bradley159. Tommy Gainey160. Steve Marino 161. Michael Putnam162. J.B. Holmes 163. David Duval 164. Kent Jones165. Tom Gillis 166. Adam Scott 167. Bubba Watson 168. Alexandre Rocha169. Kevin Kisner170. Bobby Gates 171. Jim Renner

172. Jeff Overton 173. Scott Stallings 174. Ben Martin 175. Scott Piercy 176. Alex Prugh 177. Kevin Stadler178. Will Strickler179. Harrison Frazar 180. Robert Garrigus 181. Garrett Willis 182. Graeme McDowell183. Chez Reavie 184. Martin Piller 185. Marc Turnesa 186. Billy Horschel

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Danger Zone (175-225 yds) Rankings

1. David Toms2. Dustin Johnson3. Phil Mickelson4. Alex Cejka5. Nick Watney 6. Boo Weekley7. Robert Allenby8. Kevin Stadler9. Sergio Garcia10. Rickie Fowler 11. Scott Stallings 12. Chez Reavie 13. Robert Garrigus 14. Ian Poulter 15. Charley Hoffman 16. K.J. Choi 17. Brendan Steele 18. John Senden 19. Heath Slocum 20. Chad Campbell 21. Kyle Stanley 22. Jim Furyk23. Michael Thompson 24. Y.E. Yang25. Justin Rose26. Graeme McDowell27. Chris Kirk 28. Joe Durant29. Gary Woodland 30. Jason Bohn 31. D.J. Trahan 32. Bo Van Pelt 33. Tom Gillis 34. Mark Wilson 35. Ben Curtis 36. Billy Mayfair 37. Scott Gutschewski38. Webb Simpson 39. Zach Johnson 40. Vijay Singh41. Jeff Overton 42. Ryan Moore

43. Davis Love III44. Shane Bertsch 45. Andres Romero46. Luke Donald 47. Brian Davis 48. Stewart Cink49. John Rollins50. Spencer Levin 51. Woody Austin 52. Ernie Els53. Jason Dufner 54. Bill Lunde 55. Jim Herman56. Matt Kuchar57. Garrett Willis 58. Retief Goosen59. Brandt Snedeker60. Sean O'Hair61. J.J. Henry62. Martin Laird 63. David Mathis 64. Tommy Gainey65. Kris Blanks 66. Marc Turnesa 67. Adam Scott 68. Vaughn Taylor 69. Robert Karlsson 70. Marc Leishman 71. Kevin Chappell72. Jason Day73. Brendon de Jonge 74. Charl Schwartzel75. Pat Perez76. Bobby Gates 77. Ryan Palmer 78. Alex Prugh 79. Bubba Watson 80. Ricky Barnes81. Scott Piercy 82. Geoff Ogilvy 83. Padraig Harrington 84. Jonathan Byrd 85. Chris Couch

86. Ben Martin 87. Derek Lamely88. Troy Matteson 89. Kevin Streelman 90. Troy Merritt 91. Paul Goydos 92. Lucas Glover93. Zack Miller 94. J.B. Holmes 95. Steve Stricker 96. Billy Horschel 97. Tag Ridings98. Steven Bowditch 99. Paul Stankowski100. Arjun Atwal 101. Chris DiMarco 102. D.A. Points 103. Aron Price 104. Sunghoon Kang 105. Angel Cabrera 106. Fredrik Jacobson107. Matt McQuillan 108. David Hearn 109. Josh Teater 110. Trevor Immelman111. Ben Crane 112. Rory Sabbatini113. Roland Thatcher 114. Michael Connell 115. Nick O'Hern 116. Hunter Mahan 117. Alexandre Rocha118. Bill Haas 119. Charles Howell III 120. Kevin Na 121. Cameron Tringale 122. Brandt Jobe 123. Harrison Frazar 124. Lee Janzen125. Rocco Mediate126. Brian Gay 127. Andres Gonzales 128. Shaun Micheel

129. Carl Pettersson130. George McNeill131. Aaron Baddeley 132. Briny Baird 133. Stephen Ames134. Chris Stroud135. Johnson Wagner 136. D.J. Brigman 137. Bryce Molder 138. Nate Smith 139. Michael Bradley 140. Keegan Bradley141. Chris Riley 142. John Merrick 143. Cameron Beckman144. Joseph Bramlett145. Nathan Green 146. Tim Herron 147. Michael Putnam148. Matt Jones 149. Jimmy Walker 150. Rod Pampling151. Fabian Gomez 152. Jarrod Lyle 153. Steve Elkington 154. Dean Wilson 155. David Duval 156. Jim Renner157. Steve Marino 158. J.P. Hayes 159. Justin Hicks 160. Daniel Summerhays 161. Blake Adams 162. Jerry Kelly163. Ryuji Imada 164. Matt Bettencourt165. Stuart Appleby166. Richard S. Johnson 167. Kent Jones168. Steve Flesch169. Hunter Haas 170. Will Strickler171. Tim Petrovic

172. William McGirt173. Camilo Villegas174. Joe Ogilvie 175. Martin Piller 176. Jhonattan Vegas177. Justin Leonard178. Rich Beem 179. James Driscoll180. Greg Chalmers 181. Kevin Kisner182. Anthony Kim183. Colt Knost 184. Scott McCarron 185. Bio Kim186. Charlie Wi

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Safe Zone (125-175 yds) Rankings

1. Luke Donald 2. Paul Goydos 3. Joe Durant4. Briny Baird 5. Rory Sabbatini6. Shane Bertsch 7. Alex Cejka8. Chez Reavie 9. Woody Austin 10. Nick O'Hern 11. Matt Kuchar12. David Toms13. Chris DiMarco 14. Brandt Jobe 15. Brendon de Jonge 16. Brian Davis 17. Chad Campbell 18. Padraig Harrington 19. Jerry Kelly20. Lucas Glover21. Kevin Na 22. Garrett Willis 23. Ernie Els24. Jim Renner25. Ben Curtis 26. Kevin Stadler27. Kris Blanks 28. Brian Gay 29. Heath Slocum 30. Zach Johnson 31. Justin Rose32. Vaughn Taylor 33. Steve Marino 34. Bubba Watson 35. Ricky Barnes36. Davis Love III37. Justin Leonard38. David Mathis 39. Jason Dufner 40. Ian Poulter 41. Carl Pettersson

42. Retief Goosen43. Kent Jones44. Andres Gonzales 45. Cameron Beckman46. Michael Connell 47. Chris Stroud48. Bryce Molder 49. John Rollins50. D.J. Trahan 51. Stephen Ames52. Sergio Garcia53. Rocco Mediate54. Chris Kirk 55. Steve Stricker 56. Phil Mickelson57. Jason Bohn 58. John Senden 59. Jim Furyk60. Joseph Bramlett61. Brandt Snedeker62. Webb Simpson 63. Ben Crane 64. Hunter Haas 65. Ryan Moore66. Kevin Chappell67. Dean Wilson 68. Michael Bradley 69. Spencer Levin 70. Kyle Stanley 71. Tommy Gainey72. Robert Allenby73. Aron Price 74. Robert Karlsson 75. William McGirt76. Tim Petrovic77. Fabian Gomez 78. Matt Bettencourt79. Geoff Ogilvy 80. Jonathan Byrd 81. Arjun Atwal 82. Stuart Appleby83. Dustin Johnson84. Hunter Mahan

85. K.J. Choi 86. David Duval 87. Chris Riley 88. Troy Merritt 89. Sunghoon Kang 90. Harrison Frazar 91. Camilo Villegas92. Tom Gillis 93. Bill Lunde 94. Aaron Baddeley 95. Gary Woodland 96. Y.E. Yang97. Adam Scott 98. Scott Stallings 99. Ryan Palmer 100. Rickie Fowler 101. Rod Pampling102. Daniel Summerhays 103. David Hearn 104. Anthony Kim105. Paul Stankowski106. Lee Janzen107. Fredrik Jacobson108. Shaun Micheel109. Charlie Wi 110. Pat Perez111. George McNeill112. J.P. Hayes 113. Graeme McDowell114. Boo Weekley115. D.A. Points 116. Johnson Wagner 117. Rich Beem 118. Nathan Green 119. Tim Herron 120. Scott Piercy 121. Bo Van Pelt 122. Colt Knost 123. Vijay Singh124. Robert Garrigus 125. Nick Watney 126. Stewart Cink127. Bobby Gates

128. Brendan Steele 129. Billy Mayfair 130. Steve Flesch131. Josh Teater 132. Billy Horschel 133. Blake Adams 134. Troy Matteson 135. Ryuji Imada 136. Greg Chalmers 137. Justin Hicks 138. Marc Turnesa 139. Martin Laird 140. Keegan Bradley141. Bill Haas 142. Trevor Immelman143. Joe Ogilvie 144. Sean O'Hair145. Michael Thompson 146. Mark Wilson 147. Andres Romero148. Michael Putnam149. Kevin Kisner150. Angel Cabrera 151. Kevin Streelman 152. J.B. Holmes 153. Marc Leishman 154. Richard S. Johnson 155. Charles Howell III 156. John Merrick 157. Chris Couch 158. Jimmy Walker 159. Derek Lamely160. Jeff Overton 161. Charley Hoffman 162. Tag Ridings163. Jim Herman164. Scott Gutschewski165. Cameron Tringale 166. Alexandre Rocha167. Alex Prugh 168. D.J. Brigman 169. Ben Martin 170. Jarrod Lyle

171. Nate Smith 172. Steve Elkington 173. Roland Thatcher 174. Charl Schwartzel175. Matt McQuillan 176. J.J. Henry177. Zack Miller 178. Matt Jones 179. Jason Day180. Steven Bowditch 181. James Driscoll182. Martin Piller 183. Jhonattan Vegas184. Will Strickler185. Scott McCarron 186. Bio Kim

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Birdie Zone (75-125 yds) Rankings

1. Luke Donald 2. Camilo Villegas3. David Duval 4. Steve Stricker 5. Heath Slocum 6. Shane Bertsch 7. Brian Davis 8. Adam Scott 9. Justin Leonard10. Zach Johnson 11. Jim Herman12. Stephen Ames13. Chad Campbell 14. Ryuji Imada 15. Paul Goydos 16. Brian Gay 17. Graeme McDowell18. Hunter Haas 19. Bryce Molder 20. Matt Kuchar21. Ernie Els22. Jimmy Walker 23. Nick Watney 24. Scott Gutschewski25. Jonathan Byrd 26. Spencer Levin 27. Aron Price 28. Jason Bohn 29. Pat Perez30. Rich Beem 31. Greg Chalmers 32. K.J. Choi 33. Davis Love III34. J.P. Hayes 35. Nick O'Hern 36. Jim Furyk37. David Mathis 38. Dean Wilson 39. Chris Kirk 40. Jason Dufner 41. Kevin Chappell

42. Woody Austin 43. Brendan Steele 44. Stewart Cink45. Marc Turnesa 46. Steve Flesch47. Bill Haas 48. Webb Simpson 49. Andres Gonzales 50. Ben Crane 51. Cameron Beckman52. Kris Blanks 53. Kyle Stanley 54. Kevin Stadler55. Vaughn Taylor 56. Stuart Appleby57. Chris DiMarco 58. Fredrik Jacobson59. John Merrick 60. Kevin Streelman 61. Billy Mayfair 62. Alex Prugh 63. Arjun Atwal 64. Ben Curtis 65. Charles Howell III 66. Charley Hoffman 67. Lucas Glover68. Rickie Fowler 69. Robert Garrigus 70. Michael Bradley 71. J.B. Holmes 72. Martin Laird 73. Aaron Baddeley 74. Scott Piercy 75. Brandt Snedeker76. David Hearn 77. William McGirt78. Ryan Moore79. Kent Jones80. Jason Day81. Rory Sabbatini82. Mark Wilson 83. Dustin Johnson84. Justin Rose

85. Robert Karlsson 86. Nate Smith 87. Michael Connell 88. Bubba Watson 89. Sean O'Hair90. Anthony Kim91. David Toms92. John Rollins93. Bo Van Pelt 94. Johnson Wagner 95. Joe Durant96. Kevin Na 97. Jerry Kelly98. Charlie Wi 99. Harrison Frazar 100. Boo Weekley101. Tim Petrovic102. Chris Stroud103. Hunter Mahan 104. Robert Allenby105. Ben Martin 106. Tim Herron 107. Rocco Mediate108. Justin Hicks 109. Paul Stankowski110. Padraig Harrington 111. Michael Thompson 112. Chris Riley 113. Marc Leishman 114. Nathan Green 115. Matt McQuillan 116. Brendon de Jonge 117. Phil Mickelson118. Roland Thatcher 119. D.A. Points 120. Joe Ogilvie 121. Blake Adams 122. Garrett Willis 123. George McNeill124. Fabian Gomez 125. Y.E. Yang126. Carl Pettersson127. Richard S. Johnson

128. Zack Miller 129. Chez Reavie 130. Vijay Singh131. Alex Cejka132. J.J. Henry133. Brandt Jobe 134. Josh Teater 135. Kevin Kisner136. Alexandre Rocha137. Briny Baird 138. Matt Bettencourt139. Troy Merritt 140. Daniel Summerhays 141. Tom Gillis 142. D.J. Trahan 143. Ian Poulter 144. Ricky Barnes145. Jhonattan Vegas146. Lee Janzen147. Ryan Palmer 148. Cameron Tringale 149. Geoff Ogilvy 150. Steve Marino 151. Tommy Gainey152. Steve Elkington 153. Troy Matteson 154. Trevor Immelman155. Jarrod Lyle 156. Tag Ridings157. D.J. Brigman 158. Scott Stallings 159. Bio Kim160. Joseph Bramlett161. Charl Schwartzel162. Billy Horschel 163. Matt Jones 164. Angel Cabrera 165. Keegan Bradley166. Sunghoon Kang 167. Jeff Overton 168. Derek Lamely169. Sergio Garcia170. Steven Bowditch

171. Bill Lunde 172. Michael Putnam173. Gary Woodland 174. James Driscoll175. Colt Knost 176. Retief Goosen177. Andres Romero178. Chris Couch 179. Shaun Micheel180. Bobby Gates 181. Jim Renner182. Rod Pampling183. Will Strickler184. John Senden 185. Scott McCarron 186. Martin Piller

2011 PGA Tour Adjusted Overall Zone (75-225 yds) Rankings

1. Luke Donald 2. David Toms3. Shane Bertsch 4. Heath Slocum 5. Chad Campbell 6. Brian Davis 7. Kevin Stadler8. Paul Goydos 9. Alex Cejka10. Zach Johnson 11. Matt Kuchar12. Woody Austin 13. Chez Reavie 14. Joe Durant15. Ernie Els16. Nick Watney 17. Dustin Johnson18. Jim Furyk19. Phil Mickelson20. K.J. Choi 21. Jason Bohn 22. Davis Love III23. Chris Kirk 24. Ben Curtis 25. Steve Stricker 26. Robert Allenby27. Kyle Stanley 28. Justin Rose29. Jason Dufner 30. Graeme McDowell31. Spencer Levin 32. Adam Scott 33. Rickie Fowler 34. David Mathis 35. Webb Simpson 36. Kris Blanks 37. Nick O'Hern 38. Brendan Steele 39. Boo Weekley40. Vaughn Taylor 41. Ian Poulter

42. Robert Garrigus 43. Kevin Chappell44. Ryan Moore45. Chris DiMarco 46. Rory Sabbatini47. Lucas Glover48. Jonathan Byrd 49. Brendon de Jonge 50. Brian Gay 51. Garrett Willis 52. John Rollins53. Brandt Snedeker54. Padraig Harrington 55. Bubba Watson 56. Pat Perez57. Charley Hoffman 58. Stewart Cink59. Aron Price 60. Stephen Ames61. Sergio Garcia62. D.J. Trahan 63. Billy Mayfair 64. Y.E. Yang65. Robert Karlsson 66. Scott Gutschewski67. Jim Herman68. David Duval 69. Bryce Molder 70. Bo Van Pelt 71. Scott Stallings 72. Ben Crane 73. Marc Turnesa 74. Mark Wilson 75. Andres Gonzales 76. Kevin Na 77. Michael Thompson 78. Arjun Atwal 79. Tom Gillis 80. Briny Baird 81. Ricky Barnes82. Martin Laird 83. Michael Connell 84. Brandt Jobe

85. Vijay Singh86. Scott Piercy 87. Camilo Villegas88. Cameron Beckman89. Fredrik Jacobson90. Tommy Gainey91. Sean O'Hair92. Justin Leonard93. David Hearn 94. John Senden 95. Dean Wilson 96. Hunter Haas 97. Rocco Mediate98. Kevin Streelman 99. Chris Stroud100. Hunter Mahan 101. Gary Woodland 102. Michael Bradley 103. Paul Stankowski104. Geoff Ogilvy 105. Carl Pettersson106. Jerry Kelly107. Troy Merritt 108. Marc Leishman 109. J.B. Holmes 110. Harrison Frazar 111. Bill Haas 112. Aaron Baddeley 113. Retief Goosen114. Alex Prugh 115. Ryan Palmer 116. D.A. Points 117. Bill Lunde 118. J.P. Hayes 119. Kent Jones120. Ryuji Imada 121. Stuart Appleby122. Charles Howell III 123. Chris Riley 124. Jimmy Walker 125. Jason Day126. Johnson Wagner 127. Ben Martin

128. Josh Teater 129. George McNeill130. Fabian Gomez 131. Troy Matteson 132. Steve Marino 133. Jeff Overton 134. J.J. Henry135. William McGirt136. John Merrick 137. Lee Janzen138. Sunghoon Kang 139. Tim Herron 140. Steve Flesch141. Andres Romero142. Nathan Green 143. Tim Petrovic144. Rich Beem 145. Billy Horschel 146. Joseph Bramlett147. Trevor Immelman148. Matt McQuillan 149. Matt Bettencourt150. Zack Miller 151. Justin Hicks 152. Bobby Gates 153. Roland Thatcher 154. Tag Ridings155. Daniel Summerhays 156. Greg Chalmers 157. Derek Lamely158. Nate Smith 159. Alexandre Rocha160. Blake Adams 161. Charl Schwartzel162. Angel Cabrera 163. Jim Renner164. Cameron Tringale 165. Chris Couch 166. Shaun Micheel167. Anthony Kim168. Richard S. Johnson 169. Keegan Bradley170. Joe Ogilvie

171. D.J. Brigman 172. Michael Putnam173. Steven Bowditch 174. Rod Pampling175. Jarrod Lyle 176. Steve Elkington 177. Kevin Kisner178. Matt Jones 179. Charlie Wi 180. Colt Knost 181. Jhonattan Vegas182. James Driscoll183. Will Strickler184. Martin Piller 185. Bio Kim186. Scott McCarron

2011 PGA Tour Overall Zone + Adv. Total Driving Rankings

1. Heath Slocum 2. Joe Durant3. Boo Weekley4. David Toms5. Chez Reavie 6. Dustin Johnson7. John Rollins8. Brian Davis 9. Bubba Watson 10. Graeme McDowell11. Brandt Jobe 12. Adam Scott 13. John Merrick 14. Nick Watney 15. Chad Campbell 16. Bo Van Pelt 17. Kyle Stanley 18. Kevin Stadler19. Zach Johnson 20. Webb Simpson 21. Ben Curtis 22. Jason Dufner 23. Matt Kuchar24. Nick O'Hern 25. Robert Garrigus 26. Shane Bertsch 27. Luke Donald 28. Jason Bohn 29. Brendan Steele 30. Briny Baird 31. Aron Price 32. Tom Gillis 33. Davis Love III34. John Senden 35. Pat Perez36. Billy Mayfair 37. Justin Rose38. Gary Woodland 39. Lucas Glover40. Bill Haas 41. Jim Furyk

42. Brandt Snedeker43. Jim Herman44. Robert Allenby45. Steve Stricker 46. Mark Wilson 47. Josh Teater 48. Spencer Levin 49. Ryan Moore50. Paul Goydos 51. D.J. Trahan 52. Martin Laird 53. Woody Austin 54. J.B. Holmes 55. Charley Hoffman 56. Rickie Fowler 57. Hunter Mahan 58. Scott Piercy 59. J.J. Henry60. Stephen Ames61. David Mathis 62. Brendon de Jonge 63. David Hearn 64. Garrett Willis 65. Jerry Kelly66. Scott Stallings 67. Justin Hicks 68. Sergio Garcia69. Blake Adams 70. K.J. Choi 71. Y.E. Yang72. Ernie Els73. Kevin Chappell74. Ben Crane 75. Carl Pettersson76. Vaughn Taylor 77. Chris Kirk 78. Kevin Streelman 79. Jonathan Byrd 80. Tommy Gainey81. Alex Cejka82. Rod Pampling83. Billy Horschel 84. Chris Couch

85. Scott Gutschewski86. D.A. Points 87. Keegan Bradley88. Chris Riley 89. Rocco Mediate90. Brian Gay 91. Hunter Haas 92. Johnson Wagner 93. Phil Mickelson94. Charl Schwartzel95. Troy Matteson 96. Chris DiMarco 97. Kris Blanks 98. Sunghoon Kang 99. Vijay Singh100. Rory Sabbatini101. Ricky Barnes102. Jeff Overton 103. Bryce Molder 104. Bill Lunde 105. Geoff Ogilvy 106. Chris Stroud107. Robert Karlsson 108. Steve Elkington 109. Andres Gonzales 110. Steve Marino 111. Kent Jones112. Ian Poulter 113. Ben Martin 114. Cameron Tringale 115. Sean O'Hair116. Alexandre Rocha117. Marc Turnesa 118. Roland Thatcher 119. Bobby Gates 120. Justin Leonard121. J.P. Hayes 122. Camilo Villegas123. Michael Thompson 124. Jason Day125. Alex Prugh 126. Jim Renner127. Lee Janzen

128. George McNeill129. Stewart Cink130. Troy Merritt 131. Tag Ridings132. William McGirt133. Steven Bowditch 134. Matt McQuillan 135. Rich Beem 136. Michael Connell 137. Fabian Gomez 138. Fredrik Jacobson139. Aaron Baddeley 140. Charles Howell III 141. Zack Miller 142. Retief Goosen143. Joseph Bramlett144. Trevor Immelman145. Andres Romero146. Ryan Palmer 147. Cameron Beckman148. Angel Cabrera 149. Dean Wilson 150. David Duval 151. Tim Petrovic152. Ryuji Imada 153. Nathan Green 154. Daniel Summerhays 155. Harrison Frazar 156. Jhonattan Vegas157. Tim Herron 158. Marc Leishman 159. Michael Bradley 160. Padraig Harrington 161. Scott McCarron 162. Jimmy Walker 163. Stuart Appleby164. Steve Flesch165. Greg Chalmers 166. Paul Stankowski167. Arjun Atwal 168. Colt Knost 169. Joe Ogilvie 170. Will Strickler

171. Charlie Wi 172. Richard S. Johnson 173. Kevin Kisner174. Kevin Na 175. Michael Putnam176. Matt Bettencourt177. Nate Smith 178. Jarrod Lyle 179. D.J. Brigman 180. Matt Jones 181. James Driscoll182. Shaun Micheel183. Derek Lamely184. Martin Piller 185. Bio Kim186. Anthony Kim

CHAPTER 2 – PLAYER SUMMARIES

The player summaries are done in order of money earnings in 2011, going from the lowest (Will Strickler) to the highest (Luke Donald). Other than clubhead speed, the numbers beside each metric is the player’s ranking in that metric. A quicker way to find a player that you are looking for is to use the Ctrl + F function.

WILL STRICKLER

Adjusted Scoring Avg: 181Money Rank: 213

Clubhead Speed: 118.0 mphAdvanced Total Driving: 96

Birdie Zone: 183Safe Zone: 184Danger Zone: 170

Overall Zone Play: 183ATD & Zone Play: 170

Putts Gained: 35Short Game: 178

While Strickler finished last in Money for those who qualified statistically on the PGA Tour, he does appear to have the potential of being a future PGA Tour winner. His clubhead speed and putting are quite impressive. Where I think he really struggled was with the very errant tee shots, as he was 181st in Distance to Edge of Fairway statistic. That’s in the Anthony Kim and Mike Weir territory.

Part of what indicated that errant tee shots were a problem was that he finished 32nd in Going for Par-5’s in 2 shots percentage, which sounds right given his length off the tee. That would typically lead a golfer to playing well on par-5’s, particularly if they putt as well has Strickler did. Instead, he wound up 164th in par-5 scoring average. He also ranked 26th in performance out of the fairway and 107th in performance out of the rough which also indicates a problem with very errant tee shots.

But, given Strickler’s clubhead speed and he hits well up on the ball (2nd in average maximum height of the ball off the tee), he will hit the ball a long ways for years and high ball hitters tend to fit better on PGA Tour courses than low ball hitters. If he can cut down on the errant tee shots and improve his iron game, we could be hearing from him again.

RICH BEEM





Putts Gained: 175

Short Game: 100

Losing power and being one of the worst Danger Zone players and putters on Tour is not a formula for success. He goes to show how overrated the wedge game can be as he ranked 30th in Birdie Zone play, but ranks 178th in Danger Zone play. He also finished 185th in play out of the rough.

He’s 41 years old now and seems to be relegated to moving to the Nationwide Tour and perhaps getting ready for the Champions Tour or looking for some other off-course venture.

ROCCO MEDIATE





Putts Gained: 176

Short Game: 87

Rocco is still a pretty precise ballstriker. He ranked 7th in my Advanced Driving Accuracy which is a formula that calculated the golfer’s percentage of fairways hit and distance from the edge of the fairway. The issue for Rocco is that he no longer has the clubhead speed to keep up with the big boys and he’s nowhere near as good from the Danger Zone as he used to be.

Plus, he’s always had trouble with his putting which is okay if you strike it great and/or can hit it a long ways. But, once a golfer loses their power, they can no longer make up for poor putting. He will not be eligible for the Champions Tour until 2013.

MARTIN PILLER





Putts Gained: 84

Short Game: 184

Hard to have a lot of optimism about Piller’s future. Although, he recently married LPGA golfer and former Big Break contestant, Gerina Mendoza. Piller is a golfer that appears to have a positive attack angle with the driver. He had the 19th highest launch angle and the 8th lowest spin rate on Tour. However, he struggled to control that all season long.

He also struggled with the irons as he finished no better than 175th in the three zones measured. He does seem to be a decent enough putter, but was one of the worst short game players on Tour and his clubhead speed was below the PGA Tour average.

I see Piller as a fringe PGA Tour player unless he greatly improves his accuracy.

TROY MERRITT





Putts Gained: 158

Short Game: 50

Merritt finished 125th on the Money List in 2010 to return to the Tour again this season. He is an example of how being short off the tee and bad putting do not mix well on the PGA Tour. He could’ve made that up with some good ballstriking, but he was pretty average in the different

zones. He does appear to hit slightly down with the driver, but he needs to fix his putting before he does anything else to his game.

NATE SMITH





Putts Gained: 38

Short Game: 31

Nate Smith is another golfer who probably hits down on his driver (166th in Driving Distance Efficiency) and would probably be better served to hit up on the ball because he is not very accurate or precise to begin with. Obviously, he is a very good putter with a nice short game. The advantage to that is if he can consistently get the ball on the green or near the green in regulation, he can save pars and make birdies. However, he’s one of the worst drivers on the Tour and since he doesn’t hit it long, there’s no chance that he might get hot with the driver and have that 1 or 2 great tournaments that could catapult him into the top 125 on the Money List.

STEVE ELKINGTON





Putts Gained: 44

Short Game: 36

Elk had a very poor season with his iron play despite hitting the driver very well. Oddly enough, he did have a good season on par-3’s, ranking 64th in par-3 scoring average. But, par-4 scoring average is far more important on the PGA Tour and that is where he seemed to struggle with the irons the most. He’s at the stage now where he’s more of a ‘grinder’ type of player. In fact, he finished 4th in my ‘Grinder’ metric which takes the difference between the % of birdies made

versus the % of bogeys made. He’s at the stage now where he is good at avoiding bogeys, but does not make enough birdies to contend on Sunday.

JOSEPH BRAMLETT





Putts Gained: 173

Short Game: 136

The former All-American at Stanford struggled with his driver and putter all season long. He showed some promise in the short zone and ranked 47th in clubhead speed. He’s more of a high ball hitter and with his clubhead speed and one year of experience under his belt; he has a good shot at re-qualifying for the PGA Tour thru Q-School or the Nationwide Tour.

JP HAYES





Putts Gained: 87

Short Game: 70

Hayes is a fringe PGA Tour player these days at 46 years old and is probably preparing for the Champions Tour. He has the traits of an experienced Tour member as he’s better as he gets closer to the green and is a decent enough putter. However, his waning clubhead speed and struggles in the Danger Zone prevent him from doing well enough to retain his Tour card.

ANDRES GONZALES





Putts Gained: 60

Short Game: 70

Gonzales looks like he pitched middle relief for a variety of American League Central Division teams before coming on the Tour. Generating 113.2 mph of clubhead speed he’s more like Antonio Alfonseca than Aroldis Chapman.

However, he appears to have some game and potential. The problem for him is that he was exempt for so few events and he was too errant with his driver (172nd in distance to edge of fairway) and was a mediocre player in the Danger Zone. What sticks out is that he has pretty good distance off the tee (75th driving distance), but was ranked 170th in par-5 scoring average. He seems to hit down on the ball quite a bit with his driver by judging his radar stats. That may be causing some of the problem and that did not allow him to get into the Safe Zone more often on par-4’s, the zone he plays the best from.

DJ BRIGMAN





Putts Gained: 152

Short Game: 154

Brigman hits well up on the driver by judging his radar starts. He finished with the 12th lowest spin rate average on Tour (2,371 rpm). I think this hurt him tremendously because it appears that he would roll thru fairways and into the rough. He finished 127th in distance to the edge of the fairway which is not great. But it’s not nearly as bad as finishing 168th in fairway percentage hit. As far as percentage of shots him from the fairway, he was 101st in Birdie Zone shots, 161st in

Safe Zone shots and 171st in Danger Zone shots. Thus, a great amount of his shots from those zones were from the rough compared to the rest of the Tour.

Where Brigman did excel in 2011 was on par-3’s, where he finished 16th in scoring average.

JIM HERMAN



Birdie Zone: 11thSafe Zone: 163Danger Zone: 55


Putts Gained: 164

Short Game: 141

Donald Trump’s sponsored golfer has a lot of potential, even at 33 years of age. Herman is a bit of a peculiar golfer because most long hitters on Tour do not have great wedge games, but he finished 11th on Tour in the Birdie Zone. He finished 151st in fairways hit, but was not missing fairways by much finishing 64th in distance from the edge of the fairway. He was also a good Danger Zone player who struggled mightily in the Safe Zone.

Upon further inspection, that was one of his big issues as he was a solid par-3 and par-5 golfer, but finished 140th in par-4 scoring average. His Safe Zone play was hindered by only having 71% of his Safe Zone shots from the fairway, 169th lowest on Tour. However, all of this probably could have been cancelled out had his putting and short game been much better.

SHAUN MICHEEL





Putts Gained: 59

Short Game: 41

The former PGA champion is still struggling to capitalize on that success. He’s clearly a player whose bread and butter is his putter and short game, although he’s an alarmingly poor Birdie Zone player. He’s also one of the lowest trajectory golfers on Tour (180th in driver max height). This would be understandable if he was accurate off the tee, but he ranks 165th in fairways hit.

RICHARD S. JOHNSON






The Welshman is one of the bigger golfers on Tour, but his bread and butter is in the short game and this season he did not have enough of it to get him inside the top-125 on the Money List. A really good par-3 player (36 in par-3 scoring average) was offset by abysmal par-5 play (184th). He was also 184th in ‘Go For It’ percentage on par-5’s. Another golfer who appears to hit down on the driver given his radar stats.

LEE JANZEN





Putts Gained: 68

Short Game: 110

For a former 2-time US Open winner, Janzen did not play like one as he had a high birdie percentage (54th) and was poor at avoiding bogeys (169th). He’s at the stage now where he’s probably looking to get onto the Champions Tour and I think he will have some good success as he is a pretty good putter and still generates a good amount of clubhead speed.

ALEXANDRE ROCHA





Putts Gained: 103

Short Game: 168

While Rocha drove the ball pretty well this year, he struggled to keep the ball in the fairway on approaches from the Safe Zone and Danger Zone and he was ranked 165th approach shots from the rough. He’s an average Tour putter, but a poor short game player. He’s a golfer that would probably be helped quite a bit if his short game was pretty good because he drives the ball well and pretty accurately and his weak iron play could be bailed out by his ability to get up and down.

He was a very good par-3 player (35th in scoring average) and an average par-5 player (90th), but it was the par-4’s, the most important type of hole, where he finished 174th in scoring average, that really did him in for the 2011 season.

SCOTT GUTSCHEWSKI





Putts Gained: 182

Short Game: 17

Another journeyman Tour player who has the potential to be great, but just cannot quite put everything together. His putting plagued him all year long. Had he gotten that in the 100th to 115th range, he may have kept his card.

Gutschewski did alright on putts from 5 to 10 feet, but struggled just about everywhere else and was 162nd in 3-Putt Avoidance.

KEVIN KISNER





Putts Gained: 79

Short Game: 169

I wonder if Kisner’s driver fit him well. Take a look at these stats:

Launch Angle – 11.4 (74th highest)Max Height – 100.2 feet (57th highest)Spin Rate – 2,654 RPM (76th lowest)Smash Factor – 1.479 (103rd highest)

Despite those stats, he finished 153rd in distance efficiency. Kisner was a poor ballstriker in 2010, but I don’t think his distance efficiency helped him because he could have been a much better driver of the ball if his distance efficiency was average.

BOO WEEKLEY





Putts Gained: 186

Short Game: 105

Obviously, Weekley’s troubles with the putter hurt him this year. Not only was he last in putting, but he was dead last in putting. And dead last in 3-putt avoidance. He was to putting as to what Mike Weir was to driving this year (Weir didn’t qualify, but would have finished dead last in driving).

Where it hurt Weekley was on the par-4’s. He was 63rd in par-3 scoring average and 36th in par-5 scoring average, but wound up 139th in par-4 scoring average. Too many 3-putts and not being able to get up and down when he did miss a green. He finished 34th in birdie percentage, but also finished 125th in bogey percentage. It’s amazing how well he drives the ball despite a -3* attack angle with the driver. He still generates plenty of clubhead speed, so if he can get into the ‘below average’ range with his flatstick instead of the ‘unbelievably awful’ range, he has the game to have another successful season.

JUSTIN HICKS





Putts Gained: 185

Short Game: 78

Interesting golfer that appears to hit well up on the ball with a very low lofted driver and is able to be effective off the tee. His iron play was poor and he struggled mightily on the greens. He was also poor from the rough, finishing 175th on approach shots from the tall grass.

That being said, his iron play needs to improve in general because he did a good job of leaving himself with approach shots in the fairway and he still struggled to execute. While he doesn’t generate a ton of clubhead speed, I do see some potential here because he can play on this level despite being an awful putter and does drive the ball quite well.

PAUL STANKOWSKI





Putts Gained: 33

Short Game: 34

Stankowski’s Adjusted Scoring Average was close to being in the top -125, but given his exempt status he could not get in enough tournaments to gain enough money in order to keep his Tour card.

He actually started off the year playing great in the Danger Zone as he was ranked in the top 10 at one point. He’s an experienced veteran with a good short game and putter, but his driving keeps holding him back and his iron play just isn’t good enough to make up for it.

He’s another golfer that I wonder how well his driver fits him when I look at these stats:

Launch Angle – 25th highestMax Height – 30th highestSmash Factor – 38th Spin Rate – 120th lowestCarry Efficiency – 92nd Distance Efficiency – 178th

Perhaps he was playing a lot of courses with very soft fairways, but his distance efficiency should be much better given those launch angle and max height numbers. His spin rate is a bit high which indicates that he may have too high lofted of a driver. If his distance efficiency was the Tour average, I would estimate that the yardage gained on his driver would take his Advanced Total Driving Ranking from 178th to about 155th.

ALEX PRUGH





Putts Gained: 178

Short Game: 176

Obviously, Prugh struggled with the putter and around the green in 2011. But, I feel some of his other struggled were due in part to poor course management.

His poor play in the Safe Zone was probably exasperated by the fact that 28.1% of those shots came from the rough (21st highest on Tour).

He also finished only 95th in the percent of par-5’s that he went for in 2 shots (50.2%). Given his power off the tee, he should have been able to go for more par-5’s in two shots. For instance, Prugh finished 31st in driving distance. Compare that to Boo Weekley, who finished 49 in driving distance and went for par-5’s in 2 shots 72.1% of the time. Due to that, Weekley finished 36 in par-5 scoring average while Prugh finished 100th in par-5 scoring average.

COLT KNOST





Putts Gained: 36

Short Game: 71

Knost has never lived up to expectations as a professional because he’s one of the Tour’s worst iron players and can’t make it up with distance off the tee. He’s obviously a really good putter, but he’s not elite enough with the flatstick and the short game around the green to consistently be a factor on the weekend.

MARC TURNESA




Overall Zone Play: 73

ATD & Zone Play: 117

Putts Gained: 77

Short Game: 71

Turnesa is a bit of a peculiar player because he finished 45th in the Birdie Zone, but 185th in Short Game play. Only Billy Horschel has a worse Short Game. In fact, Turnesa finished 4 on Tour on shots from 50-75 yards. For whatever reason, once he got within 20 yards from the edge of the green, he struggled to hit shots close.

I think he needs to be more aggressive as well. Turnesa finished 182nd in par-5 scoring average. He was 178th in the percentage of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ While he doesn’t hit it long (156th in distance), some players on Tour who hit it about as long as he does, went for par-5’s in two much more often and wound up with a much better par-5 scoring average.

For instance, Aron Price finished 158th in driving distance, but was 152nd in ‘Go For Its’ and finished 88th in par-5 scoring average. I think Turnesa’s conservative play and his struggles around the green prevented him from doing better in 2011.

DEREK LAMELY


Clubhead Speed: 115.7Advanced Total Driving: 183



Putts Gained: 156

Short Game: 124

Lamely attempted to play like Phil Mickelson, but has more like Charl Schwartzel or Bo Van Pelt

type of power. Of those whom qualified, only Anthony Kim was more inaccurate off the tee than Lamely.

However, there is some potential there as he can obviously generate some clubhead speed. Furthermore, his Zone play was hampered by the fact that he was in the rough so often. But, he was an average Danger Zone player in spite of being in the rough on those shots 21.9% of the time, which was 12th highest on Tour.

DANIEL SUMMERHAYS





Putts Gained: 153

Short Game: 88

Not much went well for Summerhays in 2011. He did play in a lot of events (29) and was able to move up the money list that way. What’s probably most concerning to me is that a lot of his Birdie Zone and Safe Zone shots were from the fairway, but he still did not play well from those Zones.

I think he probably has one of the negative attack angles with the driver on Tour given his radar stats. 179th highest launch angle, 172nd highest Max Height, 181st lowest spin and 172nd in driving distance efficiency.

MICHAEL CONNELL





Putts Gained: 117

Short Game: 44

Connell is another one of those veteran, fringe Tour players who has to grind out rounds of golf for an entire season to keep his Tour card. He doesn’t make many bogeys because he’s got a solid short game and iron play and is a decent putter. This season his driving killed him as he finished 150th with a clubhead speed of 109 mph. One can do that and still be successful on Tour, but they had better putt at an elite level and hit the irons quite well.

One interesting note, from 150-175 yards Connell finished 4th on Tour from the rough. But, he finished 182nd on those shots from the fairway. Typically it’s the other way around.

Connell appears to be another golfer with a steep attack angle with the driver as he had a high amount of spin and low max height with the driver. He wound up finishing 125th in driving distance efficiency.

NATHAN GREEN





Putts Gained: 86

Short Game: 26

Green is another steep, downward attack angle with the driver type of player as he’s the 3rd lowest hitter on Tour and finished 183rd in Driving Distance Efficiency. If his Driving Distance Efficiency was the same as Bo Van Pelt, who has a similar clubhead speed, Green would’ve finished about 45th in Advanced Total Driving. That also would have kept him out of the Danger

Zone more as he finished 21st in most Danger Zone attempts per round. It’s amazing how a few degrees could be the difference between losing your Tour card and being a mainstay on Tour.

JARROD LYLE





Putts Gained: 131

Short Game: 122

Lyle didn’t do much of anything well in 2010, except for playing in quite a few events (29). Seriously, he didn’t rank above average in anything.

ARON PRICE





Putts Gained: 94

Short Game: 155

Price had a solid Adjusted Scoring Average, but just did not get to play in many events (19). In fact, he only got in 58 rounds which was the 14th lowest amount of rounds on Tour (for those who qualified statistically). He looks like a Tim Clark type. Doesn’t generate a lot of clubhead speed, but still strikes it well and very accurately. Tim Clark has a poor Short Game as well.

BEN MARTIN





Putts Gained: 28

Short Game: 174

Martin is a perfect example of putting and Short Game play not being mutually exclusive. He putted great in 2011, but had one of the worst Short Games on Tour. Combine that with being one of the worst from the Safe Zone and being about average from the Danger Zone, it’s apparent that Martin was missing too many greens and just could not hit it close enough with his chips and pitches to allow his great putting to save par for him.

ALEX CEJKA





Putts Gained: 180

Short Game: 14

Cejka is the golfer that the Stack and Tilt teachers should praise more than Charlie Wi as Cejka is a far better ballstriker than Wi. His driving is not all that bad. He just does not hit it a long ways and only has decent accuracy. Given his Danger Zone and Safe Zone skills, it’s really not a big problem. He also ranked 12th in approach shots from the fairway. However, he was 129th on approach shots from the rough. Obviously, his putting was the real killer. He does enough things exceptionally well to win on the PGA Tour, but the flatstick holds him back.

BIO KIM





Putts Gained: 95

Short Game: 25

Kim is only 21 years old and has a lot of potential given his clubhead speed, short game and putting. He actually putted pretty well for most of the year and faltered a bit late. The problem for him is that he couldn’t find the fairway and he was 180th in shots from the rough. It’s also apparent that he was missing fairways by a mile as he finished 185th in yards from edge of fairway, only better than the wildly inaccurate Anthony Kim.

WOODY AUSTIN





Putts Gained: 122

Short Game: 69

Aquaman can still strike the ball with the best of them. He was ranked 1st in approach shots from the rough in 2011. He would have made the top-125 on the Money List, but only got to play in 18 events on the season. He ranked 48th on par-4 scoring average and 43rd and par-5 scoring average, but struggled on par-3’s all year long, finishing 163rd in par-3 scoring average.

He’s got about three years to go before he heads onto the Champions Tour. He may really surprise people on the Champions Tour with the greens being a lot easier than what they putt on at PGA Tour events.

JOE DURANT





Putts Gained: 184

Short Game: 111

I found it humorous earlier in the year when golf instructor Jim McLean took Homer Kelley’s ‘The Golfing Machine’ to task and then proclaimed how great of a ballstriker Joe Durant is, who works with TGM instructor, Ron Gring.

McLean did get one thing right, Durant is a great ballstriker. He’s also a pretty smart player as well as he’s not all that great hitting shots from the rough or the fairway, but keeps his drives in the fairway enough to allow him to consistently keep the ball close to the hole. He could obviously hit it further than he does as he likes to have a pretty steep attack angle with the driver. But when you are a top 10 driver of the ball on Tour, there’s not much reason to try and add 10-20 yards if you risk missing the fairways.

However, I would recommend working on hitting up on the driver on par-5’s because he should not miss the fairway by too much and may be able to give him more opportunities to go for par-5’s in 2 shots and thus lower his expected score.

KENT JONES





Putts Gained: 105

Short Game: 164

I wonder if Jones wonders why he doesn’t shoot lower scores like I did before I started researching the statistics. He drives and putts it decent enough. Is pretty good in the Birdie Zone

and very good in the Safe Zone. He doesn’t have a good short game, but what is killing him is his Danger Zone play. And if you miss enough greens from the Danger Zone, you’re going to left with some very difficult up and downs.

Jones has teetered between the mini-tours, Nationwide Tour and PGA Tour for a long time. He tends to clean up on the Nationwide Tour, but struggle on the PGA Tour. This leads me to believe that the level of play and the difficulty of Danger Zone shots is far greater on the PGA Tour.

FABIAN GOMEZ





Putts Gained: 124

Short Game: 145

Nothing really stands out about Gomez’s game other than he had a good year on the par-5’s (53rd). He ranked 128th in driving distance efficiency despite having solid launch angle and spin numbers. However, he ranked 146th in Smash Factor, which leads me to believe he was mis-hitting his driver quite often.

TAG RIDINGS





Putts Gained: 76

Short Game: 96

Ridings is not a horrible iron player, but he’s a poor wedge player who cannot keep the ball in the fairway on his approach shots from the Safe Zone. When he gets into the Danger Zone, he can

muscle it out of the rough and has a lot less club into those distances than most of the field. He’s a player whose success depends upon how well he drives the golf ball.

JIM RENNER





Putts Gained: 67

Short Game: 171

Renner is a peculiar player because he was terrible from the Birdie Zone and the Danger Zone, but great from the Safe Zone. He was a pretty good putter, but had an awful short game. Good on par-3’s (56th) and below average on par-5’s (111th).

I think his wedges really did him in this year because he was 52nd in Birdie Zone attempts per round. But, his Birdie Zone play was so poor that it negated the positive of having so many attempts from short distance. Then he couldn’t get up and down because his Short Game around the greens was so poor. He generates above average clubhead speed and hits the ball high (15 th

highest ball flight on Tour). There’s definitely some potential there, but his play with the wedges has to improve dramatically.

CHRIS RILEY





Putts Gained: 154

Short Game: 7

Riley’s putter failed him in 2011. He’s normally a pretty solid putter. He finished 43rd in Putts Gained in 2009 and 69th in 2010. But this year he fell to 154th. For golf instructors out there, Riley

has probably had the best Short Game on Tour over the last five years.

MICHAEL PUTNAM





Putts Gained: 25

Short Game: 161

Putnam ranked 34th in approach shots from the fairway, but could not get the ball in the fairway to take advantage of his skills. Thus, it was no surprise that he finished 27th in par-3 scoring average because he didn’t have to contend with hitting the approach shot from the rough.

What was disconcerting was how poorly he played on par-5’s (173rd in scoring average). That’s a very poor scoring average, particularly since Putnam was 42nd in driving distance and 59th in Par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ The strategy appears to be sound, but the execution was way off. Perhaps he struggled with his fairway woods as he finished 171st in proximity to the cup on shots where he went for the green.

All of that being said, Putnam needs to start finding the fairway more often to succeed on the Tour.

DAVID DUVAL





Putts Gained: 162

Short Game: 163

I’ve been asked what I think Duval’s issues compared to his younger days and I think his driving

is so bad that he lost confidence in his entire game and didn’t have the motivation to work it out. He finished 47th in Driving Distance efficiency and 64th in Smash Factor. That tells me that his sweetspot contact is good and he’s not hitting too far downward on the ball with his driver. Thus, I think it’s more of a clubface issue than anything else.

Despite finishing 50th in driving distance, he was only 137th in Par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. It’s either poor strategy, a complete lack of confidence with the fairway woods or hitting tee shots off the grid too often or all three. Either way, I don’t see him having another mini-comeback like he did in 2009.

DEAN WILSON





Putts Gained: 16

Short Game: 103

Wilson can really roll the rock as he’s finished no higher than 40th in Putts Gained since 2004. His long iron and driving game has been an issue with him from time to time.

Wilson finished 56th in Advanced Total Driving in 2010, but was 163rd this year. There were actually two facets of his driving that caused the big dip in his metrics. For starters, he lost about 5 yards on his average drive. That is surprising since the driving distances went up on Tour as a whole in 2011. I actually blame that on the cold winter we had in 2010 instead of the new grooves rule. So Wilson’s driving distance should have either plateaued or increased, but he actually had the 4th greatest decline in driving distance of anybody on Tour.

Wilson also went from 11th in distance to the edge of the fairway to 89th. He’s never going to be a long ball hitter, so keeping it in the fairway and not missing the fairway by much is crucial and he started to become more wayward with the driver. Wilson did finish 167th in Smash Factor, but he was 176th in Smash Factor in 2010, so I don’t quite think that is the issue with his driving.

JASON BOHN





Putts Gained: 107

Short Game: 80

Bohn is perhaps the most underrated ballstriker on Tour. Back in 2009, he finished 3rd in the ATD & Overall Zone Play metric and this year he had another great season striking the ball. He may not hit exotic looking shots or bomb it out there 330 yards, but he’s a very precise and accurate ballstriker.

He only played in 22 events this year, so he didn’t give himself a lot of chances to make money. He also was 34th in Danger Zone attempts per round. So his lack of power gives him problems as well because even though he’s a great Danger Zone player, having so many attempts from that range means that he cannot get the ball close to the pin on more holes than say, Bubba Watson who has the least amount of Danger Zone attempts per round on Tour.

BEN CURTIS





Putts Gained: 57

Short Game: 64

Before I started the statistical research on the Tour players, Curtis had been referred to as possibly the streakiest player on Tour. There’s some truth to that as he started off the year on fire with the driver, despite historically being an average to mediocre driver of the golf ball. He also started off the putting very poorly despite being historically a good to great putter. However, his driving steadily tapered off and then his putting picked up dramatically over the past few months. He also wasn’t helped by having the most Danger Zone attempts per round on Tour.

He didn’t play in a lot of events this year (22), but I think if he plays in more in 2012 and shows up motivated, he could pick up a couple of victories and have another terrific season.

VAUGHN TAYLOR





Putts Gained: 112

Short Game: 60

Another golfer who has a decent all-around game, but his lack of power leaves him with a lot of Danger Zone shots and does not allow him to go for par-5’s in two shots. Looking at his radar stats, it’s pretty obvious that he hits way up on the ball with the driver. In 2010 he had an incredibly low spin rate with the driver, but it appears he made a change and got his spin rate to more of a ‘normal’ rate.

ZACK MILLER





Putts Gained: 167

Short Game: 53

Miller reminds me a bit of Gary Woodland back in Woodland’s rookie season in 2009. He hits the ball very long and is not accurate, but can keep it in the lot. He’s got some Danger Zone skills and struggled with the putter.

If there’s one thing I would question is that Miller finished 5th in proximity to the cup after going for the green in 2-shots. He also finished 9th in shots from 225-275 yards. Despite his skills from

long distance and being 26th in driving distance, he only ranked 68th in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. And he only finished 149th in par-5 scoring average. Sure, he may have left himself in the rough with too many difficult shots, but he should have had a lot more Par-5 ‘Go For It’s’ and he should have scored entirely better on those par-5’s.

In other words, I think the potential is there, Miller just needs more experience and to become better refined in some areas.

TIM PETROVIC





Putts Gained: 56

Short Game: 8

Petrovic is a veteran grinder who tries to get by with his short game and keep himself out of big trouble on his way to the green. He’s 45 years old right now, so he’s probably gearing up for the Champions Tour.

SCOTT MCCARRON





Putts Gained: 9

Short Game: 45

The game of golf can be a cruel mistress. For years McCarron was known as one of the great ballstrikers who struggled on the greens and now he’s become an elite putter, but the worst iron player on Tour. He struggled from the rough quite a bit, finishing 182nd in shots from the rough (versus 90th in shots from the fairway).

At 46, he’s another player probably gearing up for the Champions Tour. I think if he keeps up his putting and gets his iron play to return to its old form, he could win a few senior Majors because he has more than enough length off the tee.

CAMERON BECKMAN





Putts Gained: 149

Short Game: 67

Normally a good iron player, Beckman was done in by his struggles in the Danger Zone this year. And since Beckman isn’t very long off the tee, he cannot get away with poor putting either.

SHANE BERTSCH





Putts Gained: 72

Short Game: 139

Bertsch ranked 82nd in launch angle, but had the lowest Max Height on Tour. Why? Bertsch had the 3rd lowest spin rate on Tour.

I don’t think it is all that bad for him as he was 27th in fairways hit and 24th in distance to the edge of the fairway. He also ranked 3rd in shots from the rough, so even when he found the fairway, he could still manage to hit good shots.

I think he’s a golfer that will probably be that fringe PGA Tour player. Too good to not pass thru

Q-School or the NationwideTour, but not good enough to keep his card. Like the Steve Balboni of golf (only Yankees fans may get that reference).

His lack of power off the tee hurts him a bit. Because he’s not a great putter, he cannot capitalize. It also doesn’t help that he could only play in 20 events this year. I think the best step for him is to work on his short game and just become a top-50 player at avoiding bogeys and improve the short game to help him out with his par-5 scoring average (ranked 115 th)

GARRETT WILLIS





Putts Gained: 109

Short Game: 181

Willis is a pretty good iron player and a decent driver of the ball. He’s another example of a golfer who doesn’t hit it very far (279.7 yards) and doesn’t have the Short Game or the Putting to counter his lack of distance off the tee.

WILLIAM MCGIRT





Putts Gained: 52

Short Game: 93

The former Tarheel Tour player certainly has a lot of different skillsets and did finish 75th in Adjusted Scoring Average. However, McGirt was a perfect example of a player held back by poor Danger Zone play despite being adept at putting, wedge and mid-iron play.

McGirt ranked 141st in Driving Distance Efficiency, which meant he was leaving some yards on his driver. Despite having above average clubhead speed, he only ranked 126th in Par-5 ‘Go For It’s’ and finished 138th in par-5 scoring average. He did have a great year on par-4’s, finishing 30th in par-4 scoring average.

BILLY HORSCHEL





Putts Gained: 113

Short Game: 186

Typically I would expect a wrist injury, like the one Horschel suffered in 2010, to affect the longer clubs in the bag. However, Horschel’s worst play came on the shorter clubs, finishing dead last in Short Game play and 162nd from the Birdie Zone.

Horschel ranked 176th on shots from the rough, which would make a bit more sense coming off the wrist injury. Horschel doesn’t hit it super-long (291.0 yards). But he seems smart enough to understand that if he’s on a long par-4 where he’s likely to find the Danger Zone, he should focus on the fairway to leave himself with an easier approach shot (finished 10th in percent of Danger Zone shots from the fairway).

Horschel managed to step it up the last few weeks on Tour. He’s still young (24) and if he can stay healthy his best days on Tour may still be ahead of him.

STEPHEN AMES





Putts Gained: 112

Short Game: 77

The words ‘prospect’ and ‘Champions Tour’ do not seem to go together, but Ames is headed in that direction in a few years.

His swing instructor, Sean Foley, favors hitting up on the ball with the driver. But, Ames finished 128th in driving distance efficiency and had the 17th lowest trajectory on Tour. That helped cause his big issue, par-5 scoring average (169th) because he only went for par-5’s in two shots 41.7% of the time (157th).

MATT MCQUILLAN





Putts Gained: 18

Short Game: 90

McQuillan tends to have the ‘right idea’ when it comes to playing on Tour without generating a lot of clubhead speed. He appears to hit up on the driver quite a bit as he had the 6 th highest launch angle on Tour and ranked 57th in driving distance efficiency. He also has an average Short Game and is a great putter.

However, he might be better off focusing on hitting the fairway more often (55th in fwy %) because he was one of the worst on shots from the rough (184th) and was very good from the fairway (38th).

STEVE FLESCH





Putts Gained: 39

Short Game: 4

Flesch was in contention on Sunday at the Masters in 2008, but then faltered. The Masters has been his best Major to play in and it’s somewhat easy to see why, he’s a fantastic putter and Short Game player.

Flesch is a golfer that is very much defined by how well he’s doing from the Danger Zone. If he does well from there, he’s making cuts and making money. If he’s struggling from the Danger Zone, he doesn’t stand much of a chance.

MATT JONES





Putts Gained: 106

Short Game: 51

Jones lack of success in 2011 was dictated by accuracy issues. I would tend to believe that he had some swing issues as he’s a high clubhead speed player who hits down on the ball quite a bit and is inaccurate off the tee. When that happens, usually the golfer is struggling with their swing and trying to hit the ball lower to keep it in play.

I cannot judge his iron play too much because he had such a high percentage of his approach shots from the rough (only hit 55.2% of fairways). There’s certainly some potential here because he generates quite a bit of clubhead speed, has a nice Short Game and is not awful with the putter. But, he has to put up better ballstriker statistics in order to keep his card.

STEVEN BOWDITCH





Putts Gained: 62

Short Game: 153

The long hitting Aussie flashed some real potential on Tour this year and is another golfer that reminds me quite a bit of Gary Woodland back when Woodland was a rookie on Tour in 2009. Bowditch needs to improve his iron play as he finished 141st on approach shots from the fairway. The good news is that he finished 35th in approach shots from the rough. But, he was in the rough too often and that is what hampered his Birdie Zone and Safe Zone play. Bowditch has the largest difference in birdie percentage vs. bogey avoidance percentage. He ranked 16th in percentage of birdies made. But he finished 177th in bogey avoidance percentage. Meaning, he made a lot of birdies and bogeys and had some wild rounds in 2011.

ANGEL CABRERA





Putts Gained: 15

Short Game: 62

For my money, Cabrera is the most inconsistent player on Tour. Mainly because just about every facet of his game can wind up with polar opposite results. He’s typically the most inaccurate driver on Tour because he’s not accurate to begin with and almost never leaves his driver in the bag. But, at the Masters he led the tournament in fairways hit. As long as he is, to lead the tournament in fairways hit almost guarantees a victory. But, he wound up putting poorly in that tournament and didn’t hit the irons well…this despite having a great year putting. However…putting has typically been a weakness of his until this year.

Go figure.

He kind of reminds me of Sammy Sosa when he played for the Cubs in his prime and he would have those months where would hit something like 25 home runs. You never knew when Sosa was going to turn it on and when he did, it was almost legendary. Same with Cabrera who routinely misses more than 50% of his fairways, yet has a US Open victory at probably the US Open’s most difficult venue at Oakmont. Cabrera is the epitome of the high clubhead speed player that has the potential to win and win big on Tour.

One more side note, Cabrera was ranked #1 in approach shots from the fairway.

BILL LUNDE





Putts Gained: 108

Short Game: 135

Most of Lunde’s metrics are in the average to above average range. He even finished 72nd in par-3 scoring average, 66th in par-4 scoring average and 67th in par-5 scoring average.

However, I think he’s one of those players that does need to work on his wedge game. His Birdie Zone play was one of the worst on Tour and 78.8% of those shots were from the fairway, which was middle of the pack. He also finished 135th in Short Game play. Another concern was that he finished 147th in approach shots from the fairway. While it’s nice to play well from the rough like Lunde did (39th), fairway play always trumps rough play.

STUART APPLEBY





Putts Gained: 137

Short Game: 126

Appleby is a bit of an enigma as his ballstriking and putting metrics have been poor for a while, yet he finds a way to keep his Tour card.

My guess is that he has the ability to have 2-3 great weeks a year on Tour. Furthermore, he’s known as one of the best players in windy conditions on Tour. Nothing creates higher scores than breezy conditions and Appleby can get that 1 or 2 tournaments a year where the wind is gusting and it is right in his wheelhouse.

ROLAND THATCHER





Putts Gained: 52

Short Game: 150

I think Thatcher’s driver doesn’t quite fit him as he had the 33rd highest launch angle and 18th highest trajectory on Tour, but also had the 23rd highest spin rate. It’s apparent that he hits up on the ball, but generates way too much spin and that costs him some yardage. I estimate if his spin rate was more towards the 2,600-2,750 rpm rate (Thatcher’s was at 2,943), he could have been in the top-50 in Advanced Total Driving.

Thatcher’s Safe Zone play was obviously problematic. But, that was in part due to only 69.6% of those shots came from the fairway, 181st on Tour. For whatever reason, when Thatcher got on holes where his approach shot was going to be from 125-175 yards, he didn’t find the fairway. It

also didn’t help that he was 150th in Short Game play, so he struggled to get up and down when he missed the green.

BOBBY GATES





Putts Gained: 165

Short Game: 170

Another power player who plays well from the rough (21st), but had some struggles from the fairway (113th). His wedge game was an issue given his Birdie Zone and Short Game play.

One of the metrics that caught my eye was that Gates had a much higher percentage of shots from the fairway the further he got away from the hole. 32% of his Birdie Zone shots were from the rough, 4th most on Tour. But as he got into the Safe Zone, only 23.8% of the shots were from the rough, 98th on Tour and then in the Danger Zone he only had 15.7% of his shots from the rough, 59th best on Tour.

So Gates had the right idea, whether or not he actually tried to implement it. Keep your longer shots in the fairway so you have the best chance at hitting them closest to the cup and avoiding those bogeys or worse. I think he’s another young player with potential, but his Short Game and putting need to improve drastically.

DJ TRAHAN





Putts Gained: 183

Short Game: 56

Trahan is typically one of the elite ballstrikers on Tour and as good as his 2011 metrics are, it was an off year for him ballstriking wise. One of the struggles for Trahan had been from the fairway where he finished 154th. He did a great job from the rough, ranking 14th in approach shots from the long grass. But again, fairway play is more important than rough play.

Part of his problem was with the Birdie Zone shots where 26.1% of the shots came from the rough, 33rd highest percentage on Tour.

He’s a poor putter by Tour standards. He made the lowest amount of putts from 10-15 feet on Tour.

Often times I hear that good ballstrikers are poor putters because they ‘leave themselves with tougher putts.’ But Trahan is like most of the poor putters on Tour in that he’s very poor on putts from 3 to 5 feet, ranking 167th.

ROD PAMPLING





Putts Gained: 98

Short Game: 27

A bit of a unique player because he was an elite driver of the ball, great Short Game, average putter and one of the worst iron players on Tour. His iron play was poor despite having a lot of

those approach shots from the fairway.

He appears to hit down on the ball with his driver, as he had the 22nd lowest launch angle and 8th lowest trajectory on Tour. But, he kept the spin rate at 2,705 (96th) and that allowed him to hit ball long and accurately.

He had a great year on par-4’s, finishing 13th in par-4 scoring average. Comes with the territory when you’re an elite driver of the ball and have a great short game.

ARJUN ATWAL





Putts Gained: 101

Short Game: 61

Atwal is one of those players who doesn’t drive the ball all that great, but the rest of his game is solid to very good. And since he’s short off the tee, he becomes more or less a fringe PGA Tour player. Too good to play on the Nationwide Tour, but not good enough to keep his Tour card.

He averaged 4.6 Danger Zone attempts per round, 29th highest on Tour. That is to be expected from shorter hitters like Atwal. However, 19.8% of those shots came from the rough, 33rd highest on Tour. Despite his power limitations and high percentage of Danger Zone shots from the rough, he still finished a respectable 100th in Danger Zone play. However, had he done a better job at keeping those Danger Zone shots in the fairway, he could have greatly improved his results from that distance range and could have greatly increased his earnings.

MATT BETTENCOURT





Putts Gained: 74

Short Game: 127

Bettencourt didn’t do anything really well, except for play in 30 events, 9th most on Tour. He’s a golfer who I think needs a higher launch and spin driver. He finished has the 47th lowest launch angle with the 50th lowest trajectory, but also had the 31st lowest spin rate.

SUNGHOON KANG





Putts Gained: 126

Short Game: 129

There were some metrics that I liked out of Kang in 2011. He drove the ball well. He’s not super long, but (68th in distance), but was quite aggressive on par-5’s, ranked 44th in Par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ This paid off as he finished 39th in par-5 scoring average. He also finished 19th in approach shots from the fairway.

He did finish 104th in Danger Zone shots, but 23.4% of those shots came from the rough, 6 th highest on Tour. Given his skills from the fairway, Kang should focus more on keeping those potential Danger Zone shots in mind and leaving himself with a shot from the fairway instead of the rough.

He will also have to get better on par-3’s (144th) and par-4’s (114th) next year to keep his card. I think all things considered, if he can recognize and address his issues with the wedges and Short Game, and leave himself with more fairway shots from the Danger Zone, he could noticeably

improve his earnings in 2012.

JOHN MERRICK





Putts Gained: 89

Short Game: 119

Merrick was ranked #1 in Advanced Total Driving for an extended period of time this year. He certainly hits well up on the ball with his driver and wound up 11th in driving distance efficiency.

He had good metrics for the most of the year, outside of his Safe Zone and Danger Zone play. It appears he struggled quite a bit in the last two months of the season as his Putts Gained, Short Game and even his driving metrics dipped a bit.

DAVID MATHIS





Putts Gained: 52

Short Game: 143

The Campbell University alum has some serious skills with the irons and can putt as well. However, he’s not very long and it hamstrung him on par-5’s the entire year.

Mathis ranked 176th in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage and wound up ranking 165th in par-5 scoring average. He did fine on the par-3’s (61st) and the par-4’s (74th).

I believe a decent rule of thumb is to rank about 20 spots higher in Go For It percentage than

what your driving distance ranking is. Meaning, Mathis ranked 161st in driving distance, so I would like to see him rank about 141st in Par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. Mathis went for 36.5% of his par-5’s in 2 shots. Thus, going by my rule of thumb, he should have gone for par-5’s in 2 shots more like 44.1% of the time.

JOE OGILVIE





Putts Gained: 61

Short Game: 147

Ogilvie is a high launch driver of the ball (14th highest), but struggled severely on controlling the ball. He finished 160th in adjusted accuracy off the tee.

Due to that, he hit a high percentage of his shots from the 3 different zones from the rough. If he did one thing well, it was keeping himself out of the Danger Zone. He averaged 3.63 Danger Zone shots per round, 20th lowest on Tour.

IAN POULTER





Putts Gained: 40

Short Game: 35

Poulter blamed his troubles this season on getting a house of his built, but should probably look more towards his driving and wedge play.

He’s an unorthodox player in that he misses fairways with the driver quite a bit and does not hit it long, but is excellent from the Danger Zone. Typically, errant and short hitting drivers of the ball do poorly from the Danger Zone. And even though I have no statistical proof to back this up, from watching Poulter he appears to be one of the greatest escape artists on Tour.

Poulter did finish 19th in shots from the rough and 5th in shots from the fairway. So, he can hit it very well from just about anywhere.

JAMES DRISCOLL





Putts Gained: 114

Short Game: 12

Driscoll generates big time clubhead speed and hits down on the ball by judging the radar stats. I think his terrific short game saved him in 2010. With his clubhead speed he was able to generate a lot of birdies and the short game helped with avoiding bogeys.

CHRIS DIMARCO





Putts Gained: 138

Short Game: 52

I wish the PGA Tour ShotLink metrics went further back in time because it would be interesting to see how players in the past actually played the game. Since it only goes back a handful of years, we really cannot get an accurate depiction of Chris DiMarco in his prime.

My guess is that he was one of the better ballstrikers on Tour, that hit it an average length and his putting held him back. Mainly because a golfer does not invent a putter grip style (The Gator Grip) unless they are putting badly.

I think over the years he’s lost some clubhead speed and that has hurt him with his power and his ability to play effectively from the Danger Zone. Strangely, he struggled from the fairways this year, finishing 163rd on shots from the fairway.

HEATH SLOCUM





Putts Gained: 169

Short Game: 63

The #1 ballstriker had another season of testing the top-125 on the Money List. I get some flak from people who debate Slocum being the #1 ballstriker on Tour. He doesn’t hit it long and doesn’t hit exotic shots. Kenny Perry doesn’t hit exotic shots either, but hits it pretty long because he’s much bigger than Slocum.

Slocum’s stats are eerily similar to David Toms’ metrics. They generate about the same clubhead speed. They both hit well up on the ball and hit it very accurately. Slocum is actually a much better Birdie Zone player (ranked 5th vs. Toms ranked 91st). They are close in just about every category, even Par-5 Go For Its (Slocum ranked 165th vs. Toms ranked 161st)

There are a few key differences between Toms and Slocum. The obvious being Putts Gained. Toms finished 18th in Putts Gained and has been a good to great putter in his career. Slocum finished 169th and is known as a poor putter. Next, Slocum finished 143rd in shots from the fairway versus Toms who finished 64th.

I believe those differences contributed to Toms scoring much better on Par-4’s and Par-5’s than Slocum

KEVIN STADLER





Putts Gained: 160

Short Game: 177

The Walrus’ son is a very underrated ballstriker. He struck the ball great from the Danger Zone for almost the entire year and was held back by his Short Game and putting.

Part of his success in the Danger Zone was due to only having 12.3% of those shots from the rough, 7th best on Tour. He also averaged 3.77 Danger Zone shots per round, 38th lowest on Tour. Thus, Stadler did a good job of avoiding the Danger Zone and when he did find the Danger Zone, he kept it in the fairway, which gave him the best chance to succeeed from that distance.

Like most poor putters on Tour, Stadler was ranked 185th in percent of putts made from 3 to 5 feet long. Only Alex Cejka performed worse from that range.

JOSH TEATER





Putts Gained: 132

Short Game: 152

Teater’s power off the tee and total driving are responsible for keeping him on Tour in 2012. That and he recorded 104 rounds of golf, 7th most on Tour.

Teater finished 143rd in par-3 scoring average and 123rd in par-4 scoring average, but 23rd in par-5 scoring average. That’s due to the driving where he ranked 15th in driving distance and 31st in Par-5 ‘Go For Its.’

Teater is a unique putter. He finished 31st in putts from 3-5 feet. But then finished 143rd in putts from 5-10 feet. He then turned it around finishing 47th in putts from 10-15 feet, only to finish 180th from 15-20 feet. It’s almost like he putts great and then awful every 5 feet.

BILLY MAYFAIR





Putts Gained: 146

Short Game: 28

Mayfair is one of our generation’s most underrated ballstrikers and overrated putters. His unorthodox swing, along with not hitting it super long and using very ‘game improvement-ish’ irons probably doesn’t allow for him to get the credit he deserves as a quality ballstriker. On the other hand, his quirky putting stroke seems to draw the attention of golfers as ‘there’s no one way to putt a ball.’ Problem is that Mayfair has been historically a poor putter on Tour.

His lack of distance off the tee hurts him because he finished 18th in Danger Zone Attempts per round, 14th in Safe Zone attempts round and 145th in Birdie Zone attempts per round. Thus, while he’s a very good ballstriker, most of his approach shots come from long distance.

In 2011 he was able to keep his card because his ballstriking and Short Game was so good. He still putted poorly, but he was not one of the worst on Tour. I think he can still stay on Tour if he maintains these numbers and keeps his clubhead speed virtually the same.

RETIEF GOOSEN





Putts Gained: 41

Short Game: 81

Goosen is known as a streaky player. The metric that stands out immediately is his Birdie Zone play, which was one of the worst on Tour in 2011. However, Goosen’s main issue is with the driver.

As far as Goosen’s driving goes, he has a major issue with errant tee shots. Goosen generates a good amount of clubhead speed (58th fastest on Tour) and did finish 99th in percentage of fairways hit. However, he finished 158th in tee shot distance from the edge of the fairway. In other words, he would hit about 9 out of 14 fairways in a round of golf. But, those 5 fairways he missed he would miss by a mile.

This hurt his overall driving because despite his high clubhead speed, he only finished 107th in driving distance. Goosen actually has solid radar numbers. He’s middle of the pack or better in launch angle, spin rate, max height, etc. It appears that his errant shots were so far from the fairway that he would lose a lot of distance.

That would play into par-5’s as he only ranked 116th in par-5 ‘Go For Its’ and finished 174th in par-5 scoring average. I do question how well Goosen’s driver fits him as he had the 70th highest launch angle, but the 28th highest max height trajectory on Tour. That max height may explain why he had such large misses.

Goosen has always been a good putter and ranked 4th in shots from the fairway in 2011. Meaning, don’t be too surprised if he starts making some runs at Major Championships again because if he can get the driver under control, he’s got the game to be a top-5 player in the world.

PADRAIG HARRINGTON





Putts Gained: 46

Short Game: 46

Harrington worked extra hard on his swing mechanics over the past couple of years, but did not see it pay off. While his Danger Zone play ranking looks above average, he fell off the planet in the last few months. For the first half of the season, Harrington was in the top-5 in Danger Zone play. This was keeping his rounds respectable. But, his Danger Zone play dropped dramatically and I cannot imagine it was pretty to watch in the second half of the season.

Looking at Harrington’s radar stats, it appears he hits slightly upward on the driver. But, his accuracy off the tee was awful, finishing 179th in fairway percentage and 182nd in distance from edge of the fairway.

Harrington reminds me a lot of Retief Goosen as both generate a good amount of clubhead speed, but are so errant off the tee that they cannot go for par-5’s as often as they should (Harrington was 113th in par-5 Go For Its) and both have very poor par-5 scoring averages (Harrington 166th in par-5 scoring average).

Like Goosen, Harrington was exceptional from the fairway, finishing 2nd in shots from the short grass. Problem was that he was only in the fairway 52% of the time. He is also a golfer that has the game to get back into the hunt at Majors, but may have to make too much of a swing overhaul to get things straightened out.

TOM GILLIS






Gillis is an underrated ballstriker who hits it better as the club gets longer. Although he does hit down quite a bit with the driver as he has the 2nd lowest launch on Tour (7.95 degrees) and the 2nd

lowest Max Height on Tour (68 feet).

He wound up finishing 59th in fairway percentage, but when he missed the fairway he only missed it slightly as he finished 5th in distance from the edge of the fairway. This was good for him because he was 157th in shots from the rough versus 15th in shots from the fairway.

As a golfer, Gillis probably falls into the ‘ballstriker’ category. The same as a Joe Durant type, who probably does enough to keep his card and not much more than that.

GREG CHALMERS





Putts Gained: 5

Short Game: 23

Chalmers is a top-5 player on and around the green and uses that to keep his card.

He’s not terribly inaccurate off the tee. He finished 86th in fairway percentage and 77th in distance from the edge of the fairway. It’s also apparent that he has a very downward attack angle with the driver. But, the conundrum is that if he changes his attack angle will he be even more inaccurate off the tee?

DAVID HEARN





Putts Gained: 71

Short Game: 114

The nice thing about Hearn is that by judging these metrics, he had no outstanding weakness in his game. However, I think he was too conservative on par-5’s.

Hearn finished 96th in driving distance. He was 76th in fairway percentage and 32nd in distance to the edge of the fairway. Thus, he hit the ball an average length, was above average at hitting fairways and when he missed the fairway, he was good at not missing the fairway by a wide margin. Despite that, he finished 162nd in the percent of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’

I checked Hearn’s metrics for fairway woods and hybrids and they are fine. Hearn only went for par-5’s about 41% of the time. I estimate that given his metrics, he should have gone for par-5’s more like 55% of the time or more.

Instead of finishing 156th in par-5 scoring average, Hearn could probably finish in the top-50 with more aggressive play.

JJ HENRY





Putts Gained: 83

Short Game: 106

Henry has that ‘experienced’ type of Tour game where he is an average putter by Tour standards

so he doesn’t give up much strokes around the green, but is not going to gain much strokes either. He then lets his driver put him in advantageous situations and is a pretty good Danger Zone player to keep his scores down. He does not hit the short and mid-irons well, but since those clubs don’t quite affect the score as much, he can keep his Tour card year after year.

TIM HERRON





Putts Gained: 80

Short Game: 72

Herron keeps his card because he’s solid on par-3’s (66th) and par-4’s (79th). That’s 2/3rd of the golf course. I suspect it will not be too long before Herron loses his Tour card.

STEWART CINK





Putts Gained: 64

Short Game: 57

As of late, Cink’s issues are with his driving accuracy. He was once a very accurate driver and long driver of the ball, but he finished hitting 56.6% of his fairways (159th) and was 112th in distance to the edge of the fairway.

Cink finished 22nd in shots from the fairway and 25th in shots from the rough. Problem is that he’s hitting too many shots from the rough.

MARC LEISHMAN





Putts Gained: 127

Short Game: 32

Leishman gets by with his power off the tee (54th), Danger Zone play and Short Game. Thus, Leishman can avoid Danger Zone attempts and when he does have a Danger Zone attempt, he’s good enough to not have it cost him shots against the field.

When he’s not in the Danger Zone, not only does he have easier shots with misses that are not as severe, but he can get up and down with his great Short Game.

CHRIS COUCH





Putts Gained: 44

Short Game: 137

Couch was a ‘pet cat’ of mine for most of the season and didn’t miss a cut until August. He was excellent for most of the year with regards to the basic metrics. He generates a lot of clubhead speed, hits it long, drove it excellent, putted well and was in the top 30 in Danger Zone play for almost the entire season. He also did great on par-4’s (23rd) and par-5’s (11th). However, after August he struggled quite a bit out there and his Adjusted Scoring Average rose quite a bit and he started to miss cuts.

Couch is a unique player because typically golf swing fanatics on the internet tend to discuss long hitting ballstrikers and his name is almost never mentioned. He also chips cross-handed which I think may have turned him from an awful chipper into a mediocre chipper. He also appears to hit

down with the driver quite a bit by judging his radar stats, yet he hits the driver much better than he hits the irons.

MICHAEL THOMPSON





Putts Gained: 22

Short Game: 148

Thompson had a bit of a unique season because typically below average clubhead speed players who struggle with the driver and from the Birdie and Safe Zones do not excel in the Danger Zone like he did in 2011. He also putted great, but had a poor year with the Short Game.

It’s difficult to tell if he’s going to get better or worse for next year because his driving ballstriking was poor except for his Danger Zone play. Thus, he could improve his driving and mid-to-short iron play and keep his Danger Zone play strong and have a great season. However, his Danger Zone play may regress towards the level of his driving and mid-to-short iron play is doing. While my studies on this are still developing, my findings show that the player will likely regress with their Danger Zone play towards the level of their driving and Safe/Birdie Zone play.

MICHAEL BRADLEY





Putts Gained: 139

Short Game: 9

The 45-year old Bradley still generates a good amount of clubhead speed, but is another golfer that does not optimize the distance since he hits down on the ball with the driver. Given he

finished 149th in fairway percentage and 159th in average distance to the green, he may want to look towards hitting up more with the driver since his accuracy off the tee is poor.

He was an elite player on par-3’s in 2011, finishing 9th in par-3 scoring average. Despite his clubhead speed, he only finished 139th in par-5 ‘Go For It’s’ and wound ranking 135th in par-5 scoring average.

I actually think Bradley is a very good iron player as he finished 26th in approach shots from the rough and 59th in shots from the fairway. But, he was in the rough so often that his Overall Zone Ranking was pretty average.

NICK O’HERN





Putts Gained: 110

Short Game: 18

The Aussie generates the second slowest clubhead speed on Tour, next to Brian Gay. In fact, they both play a very similar type of game. Both hit the short to mid-irons very well and have excellent Short Games. And both are average or so Danger Zone players that are not better due to their lack of clubhead speed and having to use more club from those distances. The difference is that O’Hern is an average putter by Tour standards while Gay is an elite putter by Tour standards.

BRINY BAIRD





Putts Gained: 149

Short Game: 21

Baird and Chris Riley have been the two best Short Game players on Tour over the past 5 years. While Baird finished 21st in Short Game play, that was actually an extremely off-year for him in that category. Baird actually finished 1st in Short Game shots from 0-10 yards off the green. He just had an uncharacteristically rough year, by his standards, from 10-20 yards.

I think Baird’s par-5 strategy is too conservative. His fairway wood and hybrid metrics seemed decent and he was 112th in driving distance, but 170th in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ He was hitting a lot of fairways (17th), so there appears to be little reason for him not being able to qualify for ‘Go For It’ outside of a very conservative strategy. It’s unfortunate because he finished 8th in par-3 scoring average and 17th in par-4 scoring average. However, he was 176th in par-5 scoring average.

TROY MATTESON





Putts Gained: 129

Short Game: 157

Out of all of the Stack and Tilt golfers on Tour, Matteson generates the most clubhead speed. Matteson was 24th in driving distance and 64th in Par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ He wound up finishing 146th in par-5 scoring average.

While the ‘Go For It’ percentage is a little low for his distance off the tee, I looked at his fairway wood and hybrid metrics and they looked pretty good. I think Matteson probably did not hit the

driver well enough on par-5’s and that gave him issues. It’s amazing how mediocre drives on par-5 can hurt your score.

ERNIE ELS





Putts Gained: 181

Short Game: 49

The Big Easy appears to hit well up on the ball, finishing with the 12th highest launch angle and the 2nd lowest spin rate on Tour. I think that hurts him a bit with hitting fairways as he might struggle adjusting to the low spin rate and the ball may go thru the fairway too often.

He finished 118th in driving distance, but was very aggressive on par-5’s, finishing 76th in par-5 ‘Go For its’ percentage.

Els doesn’t generate the clubhead speed he used to in order to overpower courses. Although, I think if he had a better fitted driver, he could wind up in the top-50 in driving distance instead of 118th.

He’s still got a terrific iron game and is still fantastic around the green. Obviously, his putting is the weakest part of his game. He is actually decent at avoiding 3-putts, finishing 126th in 3-putt avoidance. But, he’s 180th in putts made from 3 to 15 feet.

RICKY BARNES





Putts Gained: 172

Short Game: 15

Barnes might be the most unique player on Tour as he’s able to excel in tough fields and in Major championships much more than in your garden variety Tour events. I think the reason why is that in those tough fields where the score is low, he has the game for avoiding bogeys.

He hits his mid-to-long irons well. He is a poor short iron/wedge player, but from that distance it’s not that important. Plus, he’s a great Short Game player. And while Barnes is not that accurate off the tee, he is a great player from the rough, finishing 15th in shots from the long grass.

JUSTIN LEONARD





Putts Gained: 124

Short Game: 13

Leonard has been known as a streaky player and I believe it’s because of his putting and his Danger Zone play. He’s still an elite wedge-short iron-mid iron player. His Danger Zone play has been below average for most of his career as well as his driving of the ball.

But, his putting has been overrated over the years by judging his putts gained statistics. In general, he’s an average to slightly above average putter on Tour despite the accolades of being a premier player with the flatstick. From looking at his putts made percentages, he is generally a very good putter on putts from 3 to 5 feet. However, his putting from 5 to 10 feet is a roller coaster from year to year. Check out his rankings on percentage of putts made from 5 to 10 feet over the years:

2011: 144th 2010: 68th

2009: 147th 2008: 32nd 2007: 149th 2006: 127th 2005: 29th 2004: 120th 2003: 37th

Thus, I think his inconsistencies are due to his inconsistency on the green from 5 to 10 feet along with his Danger Zone play which can be near the bottom on Tour. And if he is on the ‘good side’ of his putts from 5 to 10 feet and has a period of time where he is about average for the Tour in Danger Zone play, he can get into contention quickly. Since he had a poor year on putts from 5 to 10 feet in 2011, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him have a nice season in 2012 given his history.

RYUJI IMADA





Putts Gained: 133

Short Game: 30

A bit of a strange season for Imada as he has been one of the best putters on Tour who does not strike the ball very well. But, this year he actually started out striking the ball quite well and struggled badly with his putting. Then his game started to come back to what he usually does…mediocre ballstriking with very good putting and Short Game.

Imada’s struggles with the putter came on putts from 3 to 5 feet as he finished 171st in percent of putts made from that distance, well off his traditional ranking on putts from that distance. This may be a sign of an issue with the yips.

HUNTER HAAS





Putts Gained: 32

Short Game: 58

I think if Hunter Haas can improve his long iron/hybrid/fairway wood play along with his putting from 3 to 5 feet, a great season will be in store for him. For starters, Haas’ overall game is quite solid except in those two areas.

His Putts Gained metric was fantastic in 2011. However, he did that despite finishing 153rd on putts made from 3 to 5 feet. That could be due to poor strategy and not realizing how important it is to keep the ball below the cup, even from that distance. If Haas had finished around the middle of the pack from 3 to 5 feet, he probably would have been in the top-10 in putts gained and that would have made him an elite putter on Tour.

Obviously, Haas’ Danger Zone play was an issue. However, he was still 90th in par-3 scoring average and 38th in par-4 scoring average. He was hurt a little bit by finishing 102nd in par-5 scoring average. But, it was not due to a lack of power or too conservative of a strategy. Haas finished 114th in driving distance and was 79th in the percentage of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ Thus, he was aggressive on par-5’s without overdoing it.

But, take a look at his rankings in the following metrics:

Avg. Distance after Going For a Par-5 in 2 shots: 153rd

Approach Shot 225-250 yards: 166th

Approach Shot 250-275 yards: 134th

Like his putting from 3 to 5 feet, if he could get the Danger Zone play along with the hybrid/fairway wood play more towards the Tour average, it would likely make massive improvements to his scores and earnings.

DAVIS LOVE III





Putts Gained: 155

Short Game: 59

The Ryder Cup captain had a great year with his ballstriking. While his poor putting stands out, I find his extremely conservative play on par-5’s even more incredible.

DLIII ranked 35th in driving distance, but was 85th in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ Now, take a look at his rankings in the following metrics:

Approach shots from 225-250 yards: 13th

Approach shots from 250-275 yards: 32nd Avg. Distance to Hole after Going for Par-5 in 2 shots: 1st

If Love’s lackluster Ryder Cup record concerns you about his effectiveness as a captain, then this metric should be downright alarming. Essentially, DLIII utilizes traditional golf strategy that only raises a golfer’s expected score on par-5’s. That would be somewhat reasonable if he was a poor long iron/hybrid/fairway wood player. However, that is actually the strongest part of his game and he is a top-10 player in the world in that part of the game.

DLIII wound up finishing 81st in par-5 scoring average when he should have probably finished at least in the top-10, despite having a poor year with the flatstick.

ANTHONY KIM





Putts Gained: 50

Short Game: 89

Kim was actually not the worst driver on Tour. Mike Weir was, but did not qualify statistically. Out of those who qualified, Kim finished last in both fairways hit (47%) and averaged distance from the edge of the fairway (a little over 38 feet on average). I think he was saved by ‘enough’ good iron play, his power, putting and Short Game.

Obviously, Kim suffered a hand injury that likely played a role in his driving woes, but he cannot keep hitting it this poorly from the tee and the Danger Zone if he wants to keep his Tour card.

GRAEME MCDOWELL





Putts Gained: 92

Short Game: 182

McDowell is a very underrated ballstriker. I think that is in part to him having a hot streak with the putter at the end of 2010 when he won the US Open and he’s not a long hitter. He generates quite a bit of clubhead speed for a guy his size, but hits well down on the ball. He wound up finishing 157th in driving distance efficiency.

He is also a bit inconsistent with his ballstriking. I think it’s because he suffers from over-hooking the ball and sometimes that creeps up on him and he has to go back and work the kinks out.

McDowell’s Short Game play was his weakest part of the game. He was poor on shots from both

0-10 yards and 10-20 yards, but was worse at the shorter 0-10 yard range.

One facet that helped McDowell is that he had the highest percentage of his Danger Zone shots from the fairway or tee (90.7%). It’s much better to hit those shots from the fairway than from the long grass.

CHRIS STROUD





Putts Gained: 135

Short Game: 95

Most of the metrics for Stroud do not stand out except for he was 31st in par-4 scoring average and 49th in par-5 scoring average. Upon further examination, Stroud had an excellent year on shots from 225 or more yards.

I think Stroud utilized his strengths, mid-iron play from the Safe Zone and fairway wood play, to his fullest and that allowed him to keep the score low on par-4’s (most important) and the par-5’s.

BLAKE ADAMS





Putts Gained: 181

Short Game: 117

Adams hit it great off a tee, but poorly off the ground. He ranked 80th in driving distance and according to my metrics, was the 36th most accurate driver on Tour. But, he finished 140th in Par-

5 ‘Go For It’ percentage.

Adams was not a good fairway and hybrid player, but he had the 8th most conservative par-5 strategy on Tour. That tells me that either his strategy was way too conservative or he is an incredibly poor fairway wood and hybrid player that has no trust in those clubs. I don’t believe one can be successful on Tour if they are playing with fear, so either his strategy or his fairway wood play has to improve.

CHAD CAMPBELL





Putts Gained: 170

Short Game: 98

Campbell is a fantastic ballstriker who struggles with the flatstick. However, he was 92nd in driving distance and 117th in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. While that may seem fine, he was excellent on shots from 225 yards or more. Thus, he should lean much more towards being very aggressive than somewhat conservative. This cost him as he finished 97th in par-5 scoring average and has the game to be in the top-20 consistently. He just lacks the strategy for it.

As far as his putting goes, his ranking in percentage of putts made is worse the further away he gets from the hole. He was average from 3 to 10 feet. Then his ranking drops from 10-15 feet and then drops more from 15-20 feet.

Campbell also finished 170th in 3-putt avoidance. This tells me that he’s an average putter from 10 feet and in, but his longer putts he struggles very much on and leaves himself with ‘too much meat on the bone.’

BRIAN GAY





Putts Gained: 17

Short Game: 1

It is often debated how good of a ballstriker Gay is since he hits it very accurately, but not very far. The lack of power certainly hurts his Advanced Total Driving metric. From what I have seen, he usually starts off very well very early in the season and then the golf courses just become so long that it makes it easier for the longer hitters. Watching him at East Lake for the Tour Championship a couple of years ago, where the holes are long and the par-3’s are ridiculous, he doesn’t stand much of a chance. But, get him on a course like Colonial or Harbor Town and he’s tough to beat. As you can see, he had another terrific season in the Birdie and Safe Zones.

Even though Gay finished 17th in Putts Gained, that was actually an ‘off year’ for him. I think most of that stemmed from him finishing 45th on percentage of putts made from 5-10 feet. He typically finishes in the top-10 from that distance.

TREVOR IMMELMAN





Putts Gained: 181

Short Game: 16

Immelman may have the most overrated golf swing on Tour. While it appears to be nice, it has not delivered the results outside of 1 Masters victory where he caught fire. A telling sign of his swing issues is he ranks 20th in clubhead speed, but 115th in driving distance.

Immelman wound up with the lowest launch angle on Tour in 2011 (7.43 degrees) and finished 184th in driving distance efficiency. The good news is that he does generate an incredible amount of clubhead speed and is only 31 years old. If he could manage to move towards the Tour average in some categories, he could wind up having instance success.

CHARLIE WI





Putts Gained: 4

Short Game: 104

Give Wi an award for consistency. He was 81st in par-3 scoring average, 85th in par-4 scoring average and 84th in par-5 scoring average.

Obviously, the Danger Zone play needs to improve dramatically. He’ll have a hard time keeping his card, particularly since he only had an average Short Game. He also needs to find more fairways (61.4%) given his modest power off the tee.

JOHNSON WAGNER





Putts Gained: 29

Short Game: 149

Johnson is a pretty steady player who is more of a bogey avoider than a birdie maker. I think if he could get to around average in Danger Zone play and Short Game play, it would dramatically improve his results.

Wagner was 37th in putts made from inside 10 feet. He was below average from 10-20 feet and then finished 2nd in putts made from over 20 feet per event. Overall, it points to him being an excellent putter from long distance which is where he gains strokes on the field.

CAMILO VILLEGAS





Putts Gained: 111

Short Game: 66

One of the things that stands out to me about Villegas is that he’s a workout warrior who makes a very aggressive swing on the ball and ‘only’ generates 112.5 mph of clubhead speed, which is a hair below the Tour average.

I think that shows some issues with the swing mechanics. Particularly since his Danger Zone play was abysmal this year. Villegas did start playing better towards the 2nd half of the season, but only wound up making 14 of 25 cuts. As a putter, he’s weak from shorter distance. This year he finished 156th in putts made from inside 10 feet.

BRENDON DE JONGE





Putts Gained: 42

Short Game: 94

De Jonge is a very underrated player who actually drove the ball and was better from the Danger Zone than his final rankings show as he faltered a bit in those 2 areas down the stretch. He does

need to get better on approach shots from the fairway as he only finished 178th in that metric.

De Jonge also appears to hit down on the ball quite a bit as he’s 67th in clubhead speed, but 119th

in driving distance and 171st in driving distance efficiency. So, his year end woes may have been due to some attack angle issues with his swing on the longer clubs.

SCOTT PIERCY



Birdie Zone:74Safe Zone: 120Danger Zone: 81


Putts Gained: 48

Short Game: 175

Piercy was only 109th in par-5 scoring average despite hitting it very long (7th in driving distance) and finishing 20th in Par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. His metrics on ‘Go For It’ Shots and shots from 225-275 yards were very good.

I think one of the issues was that Piercy had a lot of his shots from 225+ yards from the rough. And while he was good from there in comparison to the rest of the Tour, it was leaving him with longer chips and pitches into the green for the 3rd shot. And since he was one of the worst players on Tour on Short Game shots from 0-40 yards, he was often left making par. He’s probably the best example of how a golfer’s poor Short Game play dramatically hurts his results.

JEFF OVERTON



Birdie Zone:167Safe Zone: 160Danger Zone: 41


Putts Gained: 76

Short Game: 172

As I go forward with the Pro Golf Synopsis, I would like to get more into predicting future success for players. While that data and research has not been executed, I believe that Overton would be a player that would project to see his play decline over the next few years.

Overton’s 2011 season was salvaged by average driving with good, but not great distance off the tee (58th) along with very good Danger Zone play and decent putting. Everything else he was poor at.

So, think about that for a second. He was a poor short and mid-iron player judging by his Birdie and Safe Zone metrics. Also, he was a poor player from 225-275 yards. He just exceled with his long irons in the Danger Zone. My guess is that his Danger Zone play will regress towards what his Birdie, Safe Zone and 225+ yard shots were doing. And he doesn’t have the Short Game to save pars from the ball washer

PAT PEREZ





Putts Gained: 71

Short Game: 76

Perez is a bit puzzling at first because his stats look quite good and he has enough power and clubhead speed that he should have had better results in 2011. He also finished 71st in par-3 scoring average and 57th in par-4 scoring. But, he finished 131st in par-5 scoring average.

First, I delved into his driving. While his overall driving metrics were great, he finished 90 th in driving distance despite finishing 52nd in clubhead speed. It also does NOT appear that he hits down on the ball and actually appears he hits upward on the ball off the tee as he had the 63rd highest launch angle (11.3 degrees) and the 55th highest trajectory on Tour. His spin rate was at 2,800 rpms. However, he finished 139th in driving distance efficiency.

So, something had to give. Then I looked and saw that Perez finished last in smash factor which indicates he was mis-hitting a lot of tee shots. But like I mentioned, his overall driving metrics were great. Thus, he might have a major equipment issue because it’s hard to believe a golfer could drive it that well and miss the sweetspot that often.

Perez’s metrics from 225+ yards are inconsistent. He finished 155th on proximity to cup after a ‘Go For it.’ However, he finished 12th in shots from 225-250 yards. Then he finished 148th from 250-275 yards. I tend to get the feeling that he either hits long irons and hybrids well but the fairway woods poorly or he has the ability to hit fairway woods well, but struggles to deal with the pressure of going for a par-5 in 2 shots.

KEVIN STREELMAN





Putts Gained: 27

Short Game: 146

Streelman is a noted Trackman owner who first came to the Tour hitting about -5* downward with the driver. He then worked hard to shallow out his attack angle and within a year got it down to -1* and became a much better driver. In fact, he was nearing elite status in Advanced Total Driving.

Having followed Streelman’s metrics closely this year, I wondered if he started to focus more on his putting and neglecting his ballstriking. For starters, this was his weakest year with the driver since 2008 and his radar stats suggest that he’s hitting down a lot more on the driver again. His launch angle was only 9.2 degrees, his spin rate was the 12th highest on Tour (3,002 rpms) and he finished 165th in driving distance efficiency.

Meanwhile he had by far his best season putting. He’s been an average putter so far in his career and wound up being a great putter in 2011. The biggest improvement came on putts inside 10 feet as he finished 18th on putts from that range. His previous best ranking was 81st back in 2009. But, he finished 141st on putts from that range in 2010. I think that hints that Streelman felt that his putting was hindering him in 2010 and he needed to focus intently on that part of the game for 2011.

That being said, I think the positive from this is that when Streelman focuses upon a certain part of the game he can not only dramatically improve in that area, but can reach near elite status. Now, he just has to put it all together.

BRIAN DAVIS





Putts Gained: 110

Short Game: 142

Davis’ game most closely resembles David Toms’ game. Neither generate a ton of clubhead speed, but both are exceptional and underappreciated ballstrikers. The main difference is that Toms is a great putter (18th in putts gained) and is a better Short Game golfer (48th). And while Davis is a very good Danger Zone player, Toms was the best Danger Zone player on Tour in 2011.

Those differences caused a big discrepancy in:

Par-3 Scoring Average: Toms (3rd) vs. Davis (102nd)Par-5 Scoring Average: Toms (21st) vs. Davis (98th)

Davis did lead the Tour in driving distance efficiency.

ANDRES ROMERO





Putts Gained: 24

Short Game: 121

Romero had some issues this year, but did enough things well in order to keep making cuts and cashing checks. I think his issues are more with the driver than with the irons, even though his

Birdie and Safe Zone play was poor. This is because he hit a high percentage of those shots from the rough. He still hit quite a few of those shots from the rough when he was in the Danger Zone, but since many Danger Zone shots on Tour are tee shots on par-3’s, that indicates to me that he can hit irons quite well.

His metrics from 225+ yards out were pretty good, but he was quite aggressive on par-5’s, ranking 28th in percentage of ‘Go For Its.’ Consequently, his scoring average ranking was best on par-5’s (69th).

HARRISON FRAZAR





Putts Gained: 163

Short Game: 179

Frazar’s strength is he generates a good amount of clubhead speed and hits well up on the driver to allow him to be one of the longer hitters on Tour (17th). He also finished 3rd in shots from the fairway. But, he was often in the rough…which is okay since he finished 13th in shots from the rough.

He is the quintessential bomb-n-gouger and when he starts hitting some fairways and putts decent, he can contend. It’s just a question if he can find the fairway and make some putts. It was kind of odd that his first PGA Tour win came at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, a course that has traditionally favored shorter and more precise ballstrikers.

CAMERON TRINGALE





Putts Gained: 47

Short Game: 108

Tringale was pretty good with the woods and very good with the putter with an average Short Game in 2010. He was the 2nd worst player on Tour on approach shots from the fairways. However, he did finish 3rd in the number of rounds played and used that to help keep his Tour card.

JIMMY WALKER





Putts Gained: 50

Short Game: 128

Walker has some ‘bomber length’ to him and can putt. His biggest issue was his accuracy off the tee as he finished 180th in Advanced Driving Accuracy. He did play par-3’s well, finishing 22nd in par-3 scoring average. He’s a pretty good putter from inside 25 feet, but didn’t make a lot of putts longer than that and is average at avoiding 3-putts.

KEVIN CHAPPELL





Putts Gained: 177

Short Game: 82

Chappell generates a good amount of clubhead speed and hits well up on the ball to hit the ball very long. He does have some accuracy issues off the tee (130th in Advanced Driving Accuracy). Thus, his rankings in the different Zones is even more impressive give his accuracy issues off the tee.

Putting obviously hampered him all year long. He was no better than average in the important putting metrics. I think the key metric he needs to improve upon are putts from 3 to 5 feet, as he finished the year ranked 173rd from that distance.

KRIS BLANKS





Putts Gained: 168

Short Game: 151

Blanks ranked 109th in par-5 scoring average. He was 139th in driving distance and was 133rd in percentage of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ However, he is a superb hybrid and fairway wood player, so he probably should have been in the top-100 in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’

That being said, I think his poor putting and Short Game woes were the reason behind his average par-5 play. He was actually quite good from 10-20 yard pitch and chip shots, ranking

53rd from that distance. It was the 0-10 yards pitch and chip shots that hurt him, finishing 177 th from that range. Blanks also finished 118th in distance to the edge of the fairway, so he needs to lower the amount of errant shots he hits off the tee in order to achieve better results.

JOHN ROLLINS





Putts Gained: 123

Short Game: 132

Rollins is another great ballstriker who struggled with the flatstick and the Short Game. Par-3’s were the big issue for him as he was 36th in par-4 and 32nd in par-5 scoring average, but 155th in par-3 scoring average.

I would say he is a much better driver of the ball than an iron player because he hit 66.8% of his fairways (28th) despite hitting it pretty long (47th in driving distance). Rollins actually finished 122nd

in shots from the fairway (47th from the rough), but since he hits it so long and finds a lot of fairways, it skews his prowess from the 3 different zones a bit.

As well as he played on par-5’s in 2011, I actually though he should have been more aggressive and gone for more par-5’s in two shots. That may have catapulted him into the top-10 in par-5 scoring average.

PAUL GOYDOS





Putts Gained: 179

Short Game: 133

As you can see by his Adjusted Scoring Average, Goydos had some struggles this year. But, he had some nice finishes in some big money tournaments…like the 3rd place finish at the Players Championship…and that propelled him to 63rd on the Money List.

Goydos has generally been a pretty average putter to occasionally a very good putter on Tour. His putting has dipped quite a bit the past two years and the biggest drop-off has been on putts from 5 to 10 feet.

JB HOLMES





Putts Gained: 118

Short Game: 162

There’s a lot to like from my metrics based perspective about JB Holmes’ game. He’s the longest player on Tour and does it with having the fastest clubhead speed on Tour and hitting up on the driver. He had the highest trajectory on Tour along with finishing 40th in driving distance efficiency. From this perspective, he will likely be in the top-3 in driving distance for years to come and he fits into more golf courses on Tour with that high trajectory.

Most bombers tend to be weak in the Birdie Zone. He was above average and had the 4 th most attempts per round from the Birdie Zone on Tour. That means Holmes was consistently putting himself in the best position to lower his expected score and then actually executing good shots from that position.

His Safe Zone play was poor, but he did finished with the 3rd *least* amount of attempts per round from this Zone. So, he stunk from this distance, but it’s still a distance that a weak shot can find the green or leave with a makeable up-and-down. And he wasn’t there very often.

His Danger Zone play was average, but he was 165th in attempts per round. Thus, Holmes did a good job of keeping himself away from the Danger Zone and when required to hit from there, he acquitted himself just fine.

As a putter he has been inconsistent, but has worked himself into being approximately average for a Tour player. He’s pretty much inconsistent from every distance range on the green as well. Some ranges he will be excellent from one year, then one of the worst on Tour from the next year. He’s notorious for his slow play on the greens. I tend to believe he does a lot of things on the greens that are counterproductive.

JERRY KELLY





Putts Gained: 70

Short Game: 74

Kelly was the worst player on Tour on shots from the rough. Fortunately, he hit 73.3% of his fairways, 3rd best on Tour.

I’m kind of curious what was going on with his driver. He was 6th in Advanced Driving Accuracy off the tee. He appears to hit well up on the ball, finishing 8th in vertical launch and 47th in max height with a spin rate of 2,710 rpm’s. Yet, he was 179th in smash factor which indicates he may have been missing sweetspot or his driver face is not very ‘hot.’

ROBERT ALLENBY





Putts Gained: 148

Short Game: 131

While Allenby struck the ball very well in 2011, it was an off year for a golfer of his ballstriking prowess. What I found alarming is that his clubhead speed has rapidly declined each year. In 2007 he was averaging 116.3 mph of clubhead speed. Now he’s down to 111.7 mph of clubhead speed.

That is somewhere around losing 20-30 yards off the teen and about 1-2 clubs with the irons. Let’s say that it’s 20 yards less off the tee and 1-club lost with the irons. Let’s say Allenby typically hits it about 290 yards now. So back in 2007 he was about 310 yards off the tee. If he was playing a 450 yard par-4, he would go from having 140 yards into the approach shot to 160 yards. And if we say that in ’07 he would have used a 9-iron from 160 yards…that means he’s now hitting an 8-iron from 160 yards. Essentially, he would be going from having a driver-gap wedge into that 450 yard par-4 to a driver-8-iron into the same 450 yard par-4.

GEORGE MCNEILL





Putts Gained: 104

Short Game: 85

McNeill is a very average player with mostly average to slightly below average skill sets. However, he has the 29th fastest clubhead speed on Tour and I have him as the best fairway wood player on Tour. In fact, he finished 1st in shots from 250-275 yards away and 5th on shots from over 275 yards. With that, he ranked 75th in par-4 and 70th in par-5 scoring average.

He’s kind of a weird player to get a finger on. However, I think his great fairway wood play allows him to avoid double bogeys on those difficult par-4’s that are tight and a driver off the tee is not feasible. And I think it allows him to make birdies on par-5’s.

CHARLEY HOFFMAN





Putts Gained: 147

Short Game: 19

Hoffman is a strong player who struggles in 3 different areas. Safe Zone shots, errant tee shots and putts under 15 feet. I would not be surprised if his errant shots played a role in his struggles from the Safe Zone. He avoided the Danger Zone quite often and he hits the ball long enough to find himself in the Safe Zone on long par-4’s. Thus, those errant tee shots (ranked 151st on distance from edge of the rough), may have made for some impeded shots from the Safe Zone. He’s a player that is in the stage where he’s not exactly young at 34 years of age, but not exactly long in the tooth, either. But, if he can find a way to improve those areas or just greatly improve his putting, his best years could be ahead of him.

SEAN O’HAIR





Putts Gained: 151

Short Game: 144

The metrics suggest that O’Hair had good reason for parting ways with instructor Sean Foley. But, these metrics don’t show that his driving got slightly worse after leaving Foley, but his Danger Zone play picked up a bit after the split.

Even still, his putting and Short Game play still plagues his game, even if he was striking it brilliantly. O’Hair is actually good on Short Game shots from 10-20 yards, but is very poor on Short Game shots from less than 10 yards to the edge of the green.

ROBERT GARRIGUS





Putts Gained: 166

Short Game: 180

Probably the funniest comment of the year came from Johnny Miller stating that Garrigus actually doesn’t generate a lot of clubhead speed, but hits it far because he hits it ‘heavy.’ If 120.7 mph of clubhead speed is not a lot of clubhead speed, than 180 other players are mere weaklings off the tee.

Garrigus is a bit of a pet cat of mine when I make my tournament picks. While his Safe Zone play doesn’t look that great, it’s usually in the top-25, he just happened to have a bad year. The issue for Garrigus is on and around the green. He ranked 179th on shots from 10-20 yards around the green. And his putting was unorthodox as he got better the further away from the hole. He finished 160th on putts made from 3 to 5 feet, but 44th on putts greater than 25 feet away.

KYLE STANLEY





Putts Gained: 129

Short Game: 107

Kyle Stanley is the best young player in the world that nobody talks about. At the age of 23, his metrics were quite impressive.

While Stanley’s putting was not that impressive, it improved tremendously as he was once one of the worst on Tour in the Putts Gained statistic. This tells me that he can putt, but had to adjust to the Tour’s greens. While his Short Game was about average, he wound up ranking 23rd in shots from under 10 yards (148th from 10-20 yards away).

I think that bodes well for Stanley and he could be the player that starts to breakthrough in 2012.

SERGIO GARCIA





Putts Gained: 144

Short Game: 112

Garcia started to get back his old ballstriking form in 2011 as his ballstriking in 2010 was poor, by PGA Tour standards.

Garcia’s always been an overrated driver of the ball, but he generates a ton of clubhead speed and hits it a long ways. But, he’s always been a great mid-to-long iron player and started to show that again in 2011 and is probably the best player on Tour from the rough.

Here’s a look at Sergio’s rankings in putts made from certain distances:

3 to 5 feet: 130th

5 to 10 feet: 181st

10 to 15 feet: 17th

15 to 20 feet: 142nd

20 to 25 feet: 105th

25 feet or more: 31st

This shows to me that Sergio can putt well to a degree. I think the issues he may have is with where he is putting from and leaving himself with too many downhill putts in favor for the uphill putts which are straighter and more forgiving.

JIM FURYK





Putts Gained: 150

Short Game: 42

Furyk was 4th in par-3 scoring average and 65th in par-5 scoring average, which is still pretty good for a player of his length off the tee. But, he was 135th in par-4 scoring average and I believe his putting led to those struggles. Furyk has usually been a great putter from 15 feet or more and an above average to good putter from inside 15 feet. But, this year he was a very poor putter from inside 15 feet and mediocre from distances greater than 15 feet. He’s still a terrific ballstriker, but when you hit it as short as he does, it becomes much tougher to work around poor putting.

CARL PETTERSSON





Putts Gained: 23

Short Game: 91

I believe that Pettersson has been the best putter on Tour that has been using either a long putter or the belly putter for the past 10 years. Scott McCarron may take that away from him as his putting has improved by leaps and bounds over the past few years.

Pettersson is another great player from the rough, finishing 9th in approach shots out of the rough in 2011. Thus, he’s a good driver who is great from the rough when he misses the fairway and is a great putter.

BRANDT JOBE





Putts Gained: 100

Short Game: 113

Jobe struggled on shots from the fairway (167th), but it didn’t matter much because he hit the driver so well. For being 45 years old, he was still hitting it almost 300 yards per clip (298.5 yards) and almost hitting 2/3rd of the fairways. Thus, even if he was poor from the fairway, he was leaving himself with much easier approach shots than the average PGA Tour pro.

BEN CRANE





Putts Gained: 80

Short Game: 79

Crane was having a fantastic first half of the season. Then, he reported on his Twitter account that he was not happy with his performance on par-5’s and felt he needed to gain more distance by making some alterations to his golf swing.

That had an adverse effect as it doesn’t appear to have increased his swing speed and he started striking the ball worse. His putting and Short Game play also dipped. In fact, he was in the top

10 in Short Game for much of the first half of the season. Thus, I wonder if he focused so much upon gaining power that he wound up neglecting the other parts of his game.

I have a hard time advising a player to not try and increase power if they can. However, I look at him as being a potentially longer version of Brian Gay and a player who can dominate inside of 175 yards, be solid in the Danger Zone and be a very effective driver of the ball with his accuracy off the tee.

ROBERT KARLSSON





Putts Gained: 90

Short Game: 39

Karlsson may be 42 years old, but I think his best playing days are still to come. He works with golf instructor, Mark Blackburn, on his swing. Blackburn also works with Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum, two perennial top-5 ballstrikers on Tour.

However, Weekley and Slocum are both terrible putters and Slocum doesn’t hit it very long. Karlsson is a far better putter and generates a lot more clubhead speed. Thus, if he can continue to improve his ballstriking, particularly off the tee, he could win a major like he almost did at this year’s PGA Championship.

I found it a bit odd that he finished 153rd in par-3 scoring average. Typically, golfers who struggle on par-3’s are either poor with the iron play or struggle on and around the green. I think this suggests that his par-3’s woes were just a fluke or maybe he has a mental letdown on these holes.

LUCAS GLOVER





Putts Gained: 55

Short Game: 55

The reason why Glover did not win more money than his metrics would suggest is that it was a ‘tale of two seasons’ for him in 2011.

Glover started off putting brilliantly in the first half of the year, to the point of being ranked 1st in Putts Gained for quite some time. However, he struggled with his ballstriking, in particular his driving and Danger Zone play.

Then in the second half of the season his ballstriking improved dramatically, but his putting also took a dramatic turn, for the worse. Glover was 165th in putts from 3 to 5 feet and from what it appeared to me was that he was draining an inordinate amount of long putts early on. But, once those putts stopped falling, his putting took a nosedive.

RYAN PALMER





Putts Gained: 128

Short Game: 101

Palmer hits well up on the ball with the driver, finishing 2nd in launch angle, 4th in max height and having the 4th lowest spin rate on Tour. Problem is that he only hit 53.8% of his fairways, ranking 176th on Tour. When he did find the fairway, he was ranked 43rd in shots from the short grass.

My opinion is that he’s a very streaky golfer, particularly with the driver. He played his best earlier in the year and then the last month of the year, both are times when the courses are much more wide open and he took full advantage of that.

JHONATTAN VEGAS





Putts Gained: 157

Short Game: 138

Vegas was a very overrated player last year who started off by winning his 2nd Tournament of the season at the Humana Challenge which is generally a wide open course. That being said, he reminds me a bit of Gary Woodland as a rookie in 2009, who didn’t post up great metrics, but generates a ton of clubhead speed.

The difference is that Woodland went back to the Nationwide Tour and gained some more experience and sharpened his skills while Vegas will remain on Tour. Sometimes that is a good thing and sometimes a player needs to go back the Nationwide Tour. But, it should be noted that Vegas went roughly 6 months finishing no better than t-33rd in a tournament.

CHRIS KIRK





Putts Gained: 140

Short Game: 73

Kirk appears to hit up on the ball with the driver quite a bit and that allowed him to gain distance off the tee (295.7 yards). But, he only hit 56.5% of his fairways (161st) and that derailed some of his impressive ballstriking.

Outside of the driver, he is a fiend ballstriker who struggled with mid-range putts and did pretty well from 3 to 5 feet and putts longer than 25 feet. He’s got the makings of a good, lower clubhead speed player because he can hit the ball high to help add distance and is excellent with the irons and has a solid short game. It now boils down to whether or not he can improve his putting and driving accuracy.

ZACH JOHNSON





Putts Gained: 11

Short Game: 40

It’s hard to say anything negative about Zach Johnson or his game. Well, he is a slow pace of play golfer. He doesn’t generate a lot of clubhead speed, but hits just about every club in his bag well. I also liked that he was relatively aggressive on par-5’s for a player of his length as he finished 177th in driving distance and 131st in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. He is losing a smidge of clubhead speed over the years though, about 1.5 mph down from 2007. That’s rather negligible, but he cannot afford to lose much more.

GEOFF OGILVY





Putts Gained: 20

Short Game: 47

Ogilvy gets a bit of a reputation as an accurate ballstriker from his US Open victory in 2006, but is more of an average ballstriker with an excellent game on and around the greens. He’s also a great player on par-4’s, finishing 18th this year in par-4 scoring average.

He was 106th in driving distance and 123rd in Par-5 ‘Go For Its’ which is a pretty conservative strategy. But, he had reason to be as he was a weak player with his hybrids and fairway woods. In fact, he finished 182nd on shots from 225-250 yards away.

Ogilvy was 3rd on Tour in percentage of putts made from 3 to 15 feet, making an astounding 65.1% of his putts from that distance range. But, he was 168th on percentage of putts made from 15 feet or longer. Thus, if he can have a good day striking the ball, he can shoot some extremely low scores since he is so proficient from under 15 feet.

RYAN MOORE





Putts Gained: 14

Short Game: 130

Moore has a terrific game, but there were a couple of things that stood out. His Short Game was plagued by poor play from 10-20 yard shots (161st) whereas he was quite good from 0-10 yards (23rd). He was also 143rd on shots from 20-30 yards away.

Moore also finished 136th in par-5 scoring average. He was 105th in driving distance and 39th in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage. So, he was more than aggressive on par-5’s. However, he was still 68th on shots from 225-250 yards and 5th on shots from 250-275 yards from the fairway.

But, Moore was 173rd in shots from 225-250 yards out of the rough and 96th on shots out of the rough from 250-275 yards away. Thus, he wound up finishing 135th on proximity to the cup after going for a par-5 in two.

In other words, Moore was a rare case of a good ballstriker who strikes his fairway and hybrids well, but is a bit too aggressive on par-5’s. I think the best remedy would be for him to be a bit more conservative his 2nd shot on a par-5 is out of the rough, but remain aggressive on 2nd shots on par-5’s from the fairway.

SCOTT STALLINGS





Putts Gained: 136

Short Game: 173

Stallings was a pet cat of mine early on in my weekly Tournament picks. He was an extreme long shot, but has the game to be a Tour winner as he generates a massive amount of clubhead speed, hits it long and pretty well off the tee and was fabulous from the Danger Zone. And as soon as I stopped picking him, he wins the Greenbrier Classic.

He was entirely too conservative for my tastes on par-5’s. Despite finishing 11th in driving distance, he was 109th in par-5 ‘Go For It’ percentage (48.3%). I looked at his metrics and he did well in proximity to the cup after going for it (21st), but he was a weak player from greater than 225 yards away, particularly if the shot was from the rough. I think there was a confidence issue and when you are a rookie on Tour and only allowed to play limited events, which adds a bit more pressure to going for par-5’s in two shots.

Obviously, his Short Game was a problem. He was 112th from 0-10 yards, but 182nd on shots from 10-20 yards off the edge of the green.

BRYCE MOLDER





Putts Gained: 3

Short Game: 38

Molder is one of the best putters on Tour. He doesn’t hit the ball that long (162nd) in part because he hits down on the ball. Judging from his metrics, he struggles more as the club gets longer in length.

I think he could have a big year if he could cut down the errant tee shot (107th in distance to edge of fairway) and improve his Danger Zone play. Oddly, he was much worse from 175-200 yards away (174th) than he was from 200-225 yards away (24th).

STEVE MARINO





Putts Gained: 90

Short Game: 160

Marino is usually dubbed as ‘the best player on Tour without a victory on the PGA Tour.’ But, I believe that award belongs to Rickie Fowler at the moment. In fact, I would probably take some other players like Tommy Gainey and Kyle Stanley over Marino.

Marino is pretty steady all around and generates a nice amount of clubhead speed. As you can tell by his Adjusted Scoring Average, he did not have a great year by any means. He does hit it pretty high (18th highest trajectory), so he has some things going for him that put him in good position to make cuts and after a while he gets into contention.

BRENDAN STEELE





Putts Gained: 120

Short Game: 101

A very good ballstriker and elite player from 225 or more yards who played way too conservatively on par-5’s this year. However, he did finish 17th in par-5 scoring average. I believe that was due to his ballstriking ability, but not his strategy. I think had he played more aggressively, he could’ve been in the top-5 in par-5 scoring average. Furthermore, I think his par-5 scoring average will likely get worse if he continues to employ that conservative strategy.

He did struggle on par-4’s (162nd). I think that his excellence on par-5’s (17th) and weakness on par-4’s (162nd) was due to his putting proficiency. His percent of putts made ranking got progressively worse as he got further away. In fact, he finished 179th in percent of putts made from over 25 feet. Thus, with the par-5’s he could get his approach shot within 10 feet and usually make the putt. But on par-4’s, particularly with his mediocre Safe Zone play, he couldn’t get many approaches inside 10 feet and didn’t make many putts longer than 15 feet.

DA POINTS





Putts Gained: 48

Short Game: 22

Points had a good year driving the ball even though he doesn’t hit it long (123rd in driving distance). He hit quite a few fairways (35th), but could have been more effective with a little less errant tee shots (82nd in distance to edge of rough).

He had a very good season with the flatstick and generally putted very well from just about all distance ranges. However, he struggled from 10-15 feet (143rd) for whatever reason. Thus, when he struck some good shots that got to that distance, he just couldn’t quite as many birdies as he would have liked.

Points was 67th on par-3 scoring average and 96th on par-4’s and 82nd in par-5s. He was quite aggressive on par-5’s as he was 123rd in driving distance, but 49th in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ He was a fairly average player from 225 or more yards away, so considering his lack of power and his average skill with the hybrids and fairway woods, I think the aggressive strategy paid off.

RICKIE FOWLER





Putts Gained: 31

Short Game: 125

While Steve Marino is often credited as the ‘best player without a win on the PGA Tour’, I believe that title should go to Rickie Fowler. While his ranking in Advanced Total Driving is unimpressive, he was actually 56th in this ranking in 2010. He happened to get off to a very slow start, ranking 159th at one point and had his work cut out for him just to wind up finishing 93rd. But, I think it’s safe to say that he drove the ball great the last 2-3 months of the season and has the potential to be an elite driver of the ball on Tour.

I think there are two major issues in Fowler’s game at the moment. He had a terrible year on the par-3’s, finishing 151st in par-3 scoring average. He certainly has the ballstriking for it, but I think his Short Game caused that par-3 scoring average to be so high. Before the season ended, he added an extra wedge to his bag and his Short Game improved and he got his first victory as a professional victory at the Korean Open.

The other issue is that he’s far too conservative on par-5’s. He finished 25th in driving distance, but 81st in par-5 ‘Go For Its’. However, Fowler is an elite player from 225 or more yards. He did have one weakness in this area, finishing 164th on 225-250 yard shots from the rough. However, he was #1 on fairway shots from 225-250 yards and was in the top-10 on shots from 250-275 yards, regardless if they were from the fairway or the rough.

Perhaps, Fowler’s poor shots from 225-250 yards out of the rough stuck in his craw and that forced him to be more conservative. Maybe the criticism he received for laying up in Phoenix in 2010 made him want to prove the critics of that strategy wrong.

Obviously, his par-3 scoring average woes are more important now as he did finish 35th in par-5 scoring average. However, he should want to take full advantage of his strengths on the golf course.

TOMMY ‘TWO GLOVES’ GAINEY





Putts Gained: 78

Short Game: 159

There are some similarities between Gainey and Fowler and as I stated before, I find them to be two of the best players without a PGA Tour victory.

He was pretty much average in Overall Zone Play, which measures the proximity to the cup, but did finish 48th in Greens in Regulation percentage. I think Gainey hits a lot of his shots crisply and on-line, but struggles with distance control, particularly on Birdie Zone shots. Thus, he can hit quite a few greens and may not get a lot of shots close to the pin from short distances.

Gainey is a bit conservative on par-5’s. He was 46th in driving distance and 69th in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ Unlike Fowler, Gainey has a little more reason as he’s a slightly below average player from 225+ yards. Gainey wound up finishing 123rd in par-5 scoring average and it’s probably due to his below average fairway wood and hybrid along with his poor Short Game.

Gainey made his biggest strides in putting, going from one of the worst putters on Tour in 2009 to an above average putter in 2011.

CHEZ REAVIE





Putts Gained: 119

Short Game: 183

Reavie is an excellent ballstriker who finished 6th in Driving Distance Efficiency and 14th in Advanced Driving Accuracy. So he pretty much optimized his clubhead speed as he likely hits well up on the ball and hits the driver very accurately and stays away from hitting very errant drives.

His Safe Zone play was a bit of a problem. For whatever reason, he was above average from 75-100 yards away, but struggled a bit from 100-125 yards. After that, he was pretty magnificent with his ballstriking. He did struggle a bit from 200-225 yards from the rough, but only had 14 attempts from there the entire season. Thus, the one weaker spot in hit long-to-mid iron ballstriking, he generally did a good job of avoiding putting himself in that position.

Reavie’s weakness was on par-5’s, where he finished 121st in scoring average. He finished 71st in driving distance and 74th in Par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ He was a pretty average fairway wood player. He may have been laying up too often and trying to leave himself with a ‘full swing’ into these par-5’s. That only increases his expected score and with his struggles from 100-125 yards along with his Short Game struggles, he had difficulties on par-5’s.

As far as his Short Game goes, there’s certainly room for improvement there as he finished 185 th on shots 0-10 yards from the edge of the green, which is mostly chip shots.

JOHN SENDEN





Putts Gained: 64

Short Game: 134

Senden is an excellent ballstriker that gets better as the club gets longer. However, he was downright awful inside the Birdie Zone. Had he finished at the PGA Tour average from the Birdie Zone, his Overall Zone play ranking would have been 35th instead of 94th. That’s the difference from an average year to a borderline great year from the Zones.

His putting stats look pretty good, but he had to catch fire in the last month or so with the flatstick to finish 64th in Putts Gained. And it’s not a big coincidence that he later on went down to his homeland of Australia finished 2nd in the prestigious Australian Open.

As far as holes go, his weakest type was par-5’s where he still managed to finish 68th in scoring average. He’s somewhat long (73rd in driving distance) and was quite aggressive on par-5’s (24th

in Go For Its), but I think his poor wedge game and Short Game play prevented him from doing better. Senden actually was 51st on Short Game shots from 0-10 yards off the green, but was 144th from 10-20 yards off the green.

YE YANG





Putts Gained: 43

Short Game: 92

I feel Yang is a bit underrated in the game of golf. He reminds me a lot of a longer version of Zach Johnson in that he does just about everything well. While his ballstriking stats may not overly impress you, he slipped quite a bit in the last couple of months and recently withdrew from a tournament due to a neck injury, which appears to have been plaguing him for quite some time.

The big question mark for Yang after he won the PGA Championship in 2009 was whether or not he could putt well enough to continue his success. He finished 117th in Putts Gained in 2009 and improved to 43rd this year.

He’s a bit of a peculiar putter. Take a look at his rankings in putts made percentage from various distances:

3 to 5 feet: 3rd

5 to 10 feet: 37th

10 to 15 feet: 94th

15 to 20 feet: 84th

20 to 25 feet: 155th

25 feet or more: 11th

His rankings in 2009 were very similar, he’s just got slightly better rankings in these categories for the most part. Thus, he is really good from up close and at making bombs, but the intermediate stuff is noticeably weaker. Where he has improved in putting the most from 2009 is on putts from 5 to 10 feet (96th in 2009), putts from more than 25 feet (113rd in 2009) and 3-putt avoidance (46 th

in 2011 vs. 136th in 2009)

SPENCER LEVIN





Putts Gained: 115

Short Game: 86

Levin had a superb 3rd season on the PGA Tour and made 14 of his last 15 cuts to end the year. Levin’s putting has dipped since 2009, finishing 35th in Putts Gained in ’09, then 76th in ’10 and now 115th in 2011. However, his ballstriking has improved tremendously, which goes to show that you don’t always ‘putt for dough.’

As far as his putting goes, Levin is really good at avoiding 3-putts (13th in 2011). But, the biggest drop-off in his putting occurred on putts from 5 to 15 feet, finishing 10th in 2009 and 136th in 2011.

KEVIN NA





Putts Gained: 8

Short Game: 29

Na is a poor driver of the ball and a solid iron player. He generates enough clubhead speed, but his radar stats indicate that he hits down on the ball with the driver quite a bit. He reminds me a

bit of Jose Maria Olazabal because he is another negative attack angle with the driver type of golfer who hits the irons far better than his driver and has a fabulous short game. And like Olazabal he is incredibly inconsistent. He can go thru a long span of poor play, then go out and win a tournament the following week. I think like Olazabal, if Na is hitting the driver fairly average, he can easily find himself in contention.

Na was also the most aggressive player on Tour when it came to par-5 strategy. He was 170th in driving distance, but 88th in percentage of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ He was ranked 170th in the percent of times he hit the green on a ‘Go For It’ shot. He was also an above average player from 225-275 yards. But, his aggressive strategy paid off as he finished 20th in par-5 scoring average which is excellent for a golfer with his lack of distance off the tee.

In fact, the only player who finished 150th to 186th in driving distance that came close to scoring as well on par-5’s as Na was Zach Johnson, who finished 25th in par-5 scoring average. The average par-5 scoring average ranking for that group of shorter hitters was 118th. Zach also employs a very aggressive par-5 strategy.

BO VAN PELT





Putts Gained: 144

Short Game: 123

A few months ago, a member on a golf forum asked ‘which Tour player has the best driver swing?’ I would award that title to Bo Van Pelt who is usually in the top-10 in Advanced Total Driving and Driving Distance Efficiency, while generating a clubhead speed above the Tour average. He consistently maximizes his distance, hits plenty of fairways (67th in 2011) and doesn’t hit a lot of drives ‘off the grid’ (39th).

Van Pelt was also 44th in shots from 250-275 yards. Combine that with his driving prowess and distance off the tee, it’s no small wonder he finished 10th in par-5 scoring average. He was in contention at the Masters and I think if he can improve upon his Safe Zone play and putting, he has a legitimate shot to win a Green Jacket.

VIJAY SINGH





Putts Gained: 130

Short Game: 43

The 48 year old Singh doesn’t generate the clubhead speed he once did. He was at 115.8 mph in 2008 and now has dipped to 112.9 mph. However, he appears to hit up on the driver quite a bit by looking at his radar stats. I think he’s pretty much priming himself for the Champions Tour because he can no longer play the bomb-n-gouge game like he used to.

I remember a few years back, when I was out of the game of golf, people were raving about Vijay’s improvement with the flatstick. The ‘Putts Gained’ metric only goes back to 2004 and the best he did was in 2006 when he finished 57th. Soon after, he went back to being one of the worst putters on Tour. His problems usually stem on putts from 3 to 10 feet. He was 157 th in percentage of putts made from 3 to 5 feet. As he gets further from the cup, he becomes more competent.

I like some of the strategy that Singh employed in 2011. He doesn’t hit a lot of fairways (122nd), but he’s still a very good player from the rough (45th). And when Singh was in the Danger Zone, 84.6% of those shots came from the fairway or the tee, 49th best on Tour. Combine that with good Short Game play, he can manage to get up and down if he misses the green from a Safe Zone or Birdie Zone shot. He also ranked 6th in shots that were 10-20 yards from the edge of the green.

RORY SABBATINI





Putts Gained: 159

Short Game: 11

Sabbatini is an interesting and streaky player. He missed the cut at the Northern Trust Open, then went 5th at Mayakoba and won at the Honda in the following weeks. Missed 2 cuts in a row at the Masters and Zurich, and then finished 3rd at the Wells Fargo. Then misses the cut at the Frys, then goes with a t-28th, t-29th and finishes 2nd at the Franklin Templeton shootout. I would like to see how he does in 2012 after missing a cut.

Sabbatini finished 157th in par-3 scoring average and then 63rd in both par-4 and par-5 scoring average. My feeling is that he’s an elite Safe Zone and Short Game player. Thus, if he can get the driver going a bit, he will start firing at flagsticks and if he misses, he has the great Short Game to get up and down. Then it is up to his putting to come through for him.

FREDRIK JACOBSON





Putts Gained: 6

Short Game: 20

Jacobson has a bit of an unorthodox swing and when he was having success this year the pundits were praising his ‘home made’ swing. But, the reality was that Jacobson has a great Short Game and is an elite putter.

I think his skills on and around the green allowed him to finish 25th in par-3 scoring average and 22nd in par-4 scoring average. However, because his ballstriking is the weaker part of his game and he is hitting ‘one extra shot’ on par-5’s, he finished 91st in par-5 scoring average. Jacobson finished 179th on shots from 225-275 yards.

CHARLES HOWELL III





Putts Gained: 33

Short Game: 30

Yes, this is not a misprint. These are the metrics for Charles Howell III.

That being said, take a look at his ranking in Putts Gained over the years:

2004: 95th

2005: 45th

2006: 96th

2007: 31st

2008: 126th

2009: 112th

2010: 21st

Thus, Howell’s putting has been better than advertised for quite some time. However, he routinely has one of the lowest launch angles and trajectories off the tee on Tour. And he is usually one of the worst on Tour in Driving Distance Efficiency. I don’t think he’ll ever become quite the success he was supposed to be out of college until he figures out the ballstriking.

CHARL SCHWARTZEL




Overall Zone Play: 161 ATD & Zone Play: 94

Putts Gained: 102

Short Game: 109

I don’t think Schwartzel’s victory at Augusta was a fluke given his Adjusted Scoring Average. However, he needs to improve everything outside of his driving if he is going to have continued success in the majors.

Part of the issue that Schwartzel had was he was 159th on shots from the rough (10th from the fairway). He was average in hitting fairways off the tee (95th), Thus, when he hit fairways, he could flag shots. But, when he missed fairways, he had a hard time finding the green.

Overall, I like his prospects. He’s young, he generates a good amount of clubhead speed and hits it a little higher than average. He just needs to refine his weaknesses.

MARTIN LAIRD





Putts Gained: 75

Short Game: 83

Laird was another one of my pet cats in my weekly tournament picks. He generates a lot of clubhead speed, hits the driver very well and doesn’t have any outstanding weakness in his game outside of his Safe Zone play and a conservative par-5 strategy.

Laird finished 17th in shots from 225-275 yards and was 13th in Driving Distance. Despite that, he was 34th in percentage of par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ Laird wound up finishing 54th in par-5 scoring average, despite finishing 17th and 19th in par-3 and par-4 scoring average, respectively.

As far as Safe Zone play goes, his biggest struggles came from shots out of the fairway from 125-150 yards, where he finished 163rd. He may have had distance control issues from that range.

Laird is only 29 years old. He had a very nice year with the putter, except he did struggle to make some bombs as he finished 134th in percentage of putts made from over 25 feet. I think that he will eventually catch a year where those will fall. I think with his putt, power and overall ballstriking, he could become a major force in the next couple of years.

JONATHAN BYRD





Putts Gained: 69

Short Game: 2

Byrd’s game was quite effective earlier in the year when he was in the top 20 in Danger Zone play. His Advanced Total Driving ranking was in the 90th to 105th range for most of the year. And he was the top Short Game player for a long stretch of the season. Thus, he was an average driver of the ball who was an excellent iron player and a pretty good putter with arguably the best Short Game on Tour. Eventually, his ballstriking slid in the second half of the season and still had a game that would allow him to cash checks, but he was not as effective as he was earlier in the year.

JASON DUFNER





Putts Gained: 116

Short Game: 115

Dufner may have been the streakiest player on Tour this year. Look at this sequence of finishes in 2011:

Zurich: t-3The Players: t-6Crowne Plaza: CutByron Nelson: t-8US Open: CutAT&T National: CutJohn Deere: CutBritish Open: CutPGA Championship: 2nd

Wyndham: CutBarclays: Cut

So, in 11 straight tournaments, Dufner either didn’t make the cut or finished in the top 8.

Hole wise he was 142nd in par-3, 24th in par-4 and 72nd in par-5 scoring averages. He was another player that was conservative with his par-5 strategy, finishing 125th in driving distance and 132nd in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’

Dufner has never putted well on Tour, finishing no higher than 111th in Putts Gained. But, he’s a very underappreciated ballstriker.

AARON BADDELEY





Putts Gained: 34

Short Game: 5

Baddeley gained some notoriety after leaving the Stack and Tilt and going back to his old swing coach, Dale Lynch. While changes in swing coaches for lower tier Tour players is typically not even mentioned, the Baddeley situation was different given his accolades as an amateur and his initial move to the ‘radical’ Stack and Tilt swing theory. I think the attention this received has some merit because Baddeley has a lot of potential instead of being a great amateur with limited pro potential. I find that most people are stunned at how much clubhead speed Baddeley can generate (12th fastest on Tour) and he had a deserved reputation as a great putter (this was an off-year for him putting) and a great Short Game player.

Was there improvement under Lynch? I think so. His Birdie and Safe Zone play improved, albeit not dramatically. He also went from being one of the worst drivers on Tour to a mediocre driver on Tour. Still, it’s a bit of a fallacy to think that he’s now a very good ballstriker going since going back to Lynch. I think he’s certainly better and probably more confident and does well on courses that don’t penalize errant drives as harshly.

Where Baddeley really made his money was on par-4’s, finishing under par on them for the year and 9th in par-4 scoring average.

MARK WILSON





Putts Gained: 66

Short Game: 65

Wilson got a couple of wins early on and then started to struggle, missing 5 out of 8 cuts from the Masters to the AT&T National. He then finished the year making 10 out of his last 11 cuts.

Wilson was #1 in launch angle off the tee and 2nd in Driving Distance Efficiency. The poor Safe Zone ranking was mostly due to shots from 125-150 yards in the fairway, where he finished 172nd from that range.

Wilson also ranked 144th in driving distance and 146th in par-5 ‘Go For Its’, which is a bit conservative. He was very good from 225-250 yards away, but poor from 250-275 yards away, which would explain him being hesitant in going for a par-5 in two shots.

Generally, Wilson has been a good putter on Tour. He putts best from 5 to 15 feet (14 th) and is pretty much average from the other spots on the course. I think he’s a solid ballstriker who keeps it in play, but will not give you much to write about. In the end, he appears to have caught a bit of lightning in the bottle early in 2011 and I expect him to be less successful in 2012.

JUSTIN ROSE





Putts Gained: 96

Short Game: 97

Rose got off to a great start in the season, struggled midway thru and then finished very strong with a victory at the BMW Championship and a 2nd place finish at the OMEGA Mission Hills World Cup.

Rose’s game was very solid last year and he only struggled in a couple of parts. First, he was 161st in shots around the green from inside 10 yards (from the edge of the green). Secondly, he was a poor putter on putts from 15 feet or longer. The Short Game play can easily improve, particularly since he was 35th in Short Game shots from 10-20 yards.

However, the long putts are a bit problematic as he finished 149th in 3-putt Avoidance. Still, I think he’s primed for a breakthrough year and possibly a victory in a major.

GARY WOODLAND





Putts Gained: 142

Short Game: 120

Woodland is a good example of a player with a lot of potential who wasn’t ready for the Tour in his rookie year (2009), went back to the Nationwide Tour and then came back a much better player for it. His biggest improvements from his rookie year were in Advanced Total Driving, Danger Zone play and Short Game (even though he was mediocre, it was much better than being one of the worst on Tour in 2009).

Scary thing is that there’s lots of room for improvement. Not only could his putting and Short Game improve, but his main struggles in the Birdie Zone were from 100-125 yards. But even then, only 69.4% of his Birdie Zone shots were from the fairway (177th). He also finished 48th in par-5 scoring average and for a player of his length, he should be in the top-10 year in and year out.

He shows some potential with his putting from some of the ranges, but should probably work on his putting from 3 to 5 feet (137th) and then work on the rest of the distances.

BUBBA WATSON





Putts Gained: 120

Short Game: 167

Bubba started the year by outright dominating the Tour with his driver. He was ranked #1 in Advanced Total Driving for a long time and by a wide margin. He was hitting nearly 65% of his fairways at one point and with that amount of power, he was obliterating par-5’s. He usually owns par-5’s to begin with and this year he finished 3rd in par-5 scoring average.

However, where Bubba continues to struggle badly is on par-3’s (183rd). He’s a very inconsistent Danger Zone player. At one point he was ranked around 150th from the Danger Zone and then started to make some improvements as the season progressed, although his driving dipped in the process.

Perhaps the most overrated part of his game, and perhaps the most overrated part of any player’s game on Tour is Watson’s Short Game. He finished 104th on shots from inside 10 yards to the edge of the green and then finished 176th on shots from 10-20 yards. And it’s like this almost every year. A big reason why he tends to struggle on par-3’s so much.

He kind of reminds me of Davis Love III in a sense that I think he’ll not only continue to have success, but also continue to find himself as the long-ball hitter on the US Ryder Cup team who may never be a very good Ryder Cup player because he makes too many bogeys (122nd), he doesn’t putt well and his bomb-n-gouge style doesn’t really work in the Ryder Cup.

HUNTER MAHAN




Overall Zone Play: 100 ATD & Zone Play:57

Putts Gained: 13

Short Game: 116

Mahan had his best year putting in 2011, but he also had his worst year ballstriking. He’s typically in the top-5 in Advanced Total Driving and this year he finished 41st. And he typically is in the top-50 in Danger Zone play and this year he wound up finishing 116th.

He may have been putting extra attention on his putting since he finished 87th in Putts Gained in 2010. However, he’s been a pretty solid putter for his career, finishing anywhere from 33rd to 87th in the Putts Gained metric. Perhaps he placed too much focus on his putting and that may have caused his ballstriking metrics to dip a bit. He also has seen a steady decline in clubhead speed, clocking in at 113.3 mph back in 2007.

BRANDT SNEDEKEER





Putts Gained: 10

Short Game: 140

I think Short Game play was the only thing that held Snedeker back from winning even more as he was 10th in par-4 scoring average and 27th in par-5 scoring average, but finished 76th in par-3 scoring average. It’s difficult to score well on par-3’s if you cannot get up and down when you miss the green. Snedeker is only 31 years old, but is routinely one of the greatest putters on Tour. I see Snedeker following in the lines of Steve Stricker or Jim Furyk, not very long but not incredibly short and a good iron player with a great putter. Of course, he’ll have to really work on his Short Game to better emulate those two golfers.

KEEGAN BRADLEY





Putts Gained: 97

Short Game: 158

Bradley got bye most with great driving. It also helps that he hits it long (20th) and high (3rd highest trajectory on Tour). Driving the ball like that means that a golfer can fit in well at almost every golf course and when they play a course like Atlanta Athletic Club, which requires good, long drives, now he has as good of a chance to win as anybody in the field.

Still, I think he needs to get a lot better in these areas in order to become a bona fide superstar.

PHIL MICKELSON





Putts Gained: 134

Short Game: 75

Mickelson is a good example of how somebody can be great from the Danger Zone and struggle with their driver and still be a top notch player. Lefty is arguably the most underrated iron player of our era, which along with his distance is why he is such a great player.

Mickelson is also great out of the rough, finishing 4th on shots from the long grass this past year (21st from the fairway). Where he had some surprising struggles was with the Short Game, where he typically is a top-10 player from, but got off to an awful start and then had to play great from there just to manage to finish 75th for the season.

Looking at his metrics, he only does 4 things consistently. He is consistently a great irons player, he consistently makes a ton of birdies, he is consistently long off the tee and he is consistently a poor driver of the ball. Other than that, everything and just about anything can be up and down in any metric possible. He has putted well before in the Putts Gained category, but sometimes he putts well from certain distances (3 to 5 feet, 5 to 10 feet, 10-15 feet, 15-25 feet, 25 feet or more) and other years he’s one of the worst from those distances. As a Ryder Cup player, I think he’s a bit of a nightmare for captains because of his high ranking makes captains feel that they would be stupid for not playing him in most of the team matches. But, his style of play only suits him.

ADAM SCOTT





Putts Gained: 143

Short Game: 166

Scott’s fantastic season was due to his big improvement in his ballstriking, not his switch to the long putter. In fact, he almost won the Masters despite terrible putting because his ballstriking was phenomenal in Augusta. And up until August, he was ranked 177th in Putts Gained.

Where Scott struggled was he finished 175th in par-3 scoring average. Despite great iron play, often times par-3’s leave golfers with long birdie putts and if you’re not putting well, then the likelihood of making bogey becomes greater than the likelihood of making birdie. And it doesn’t help when your Short Game is poor as well.

Also, for a brief time Scott was ranked #1 in Danger Zone play. Thus, he was a golfer…for a long time in this season that was an extremely effective driver of the ball that hit it long and who was an elite Birdie Zone player and the best Danger Zone player on Tour, who couldn’t putt and didn’t have a Short Game. I would be a little concerned with his ballstriking since his Danger Zone play dropped dramatically in the 2nd half of the season, but he makes a great case that not all golfers ‘putt for dough.’

DAVID TOMS





Putts Gained: 18

Short Game: 48

In the world of internet baseball, the ‘Nichols Law of Catcher Defense’ states that a catcher's defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities. Thus, if a catcher is a good hitter, it is assumed that he must be a poor defensive player and vice versa. Furthermore, if the catcher starts improving his offensive production, it’s assumed that his defensive skills are declining.

Thus, I propose ‘3Jack’s Law of Ballstriking’ which states that a golfer’s putting reputation and power is inversely proportional to their ballstriking abilities. Thus, if a golfer is a good putter who does not hit it long, it is assumed that they must be a poor ballstriker and vice versa. Furthermore, if the golfer starts putting worse or gaining power, it’s assumed their ballstriking skills are improving.

From doing the statistical research, I’ve found this to be very true about David Toms. Toms is generally thought of as a great putter with a great Short Game. In reality Toms has been one of the premier ballstrikers on Tour for quite some time. As a putter, he’s generally anywhere from average to great and has a good Short Game.

I think it’s a fallacy to assume that his lack of power was the reason why he didn’t have even more success. Instead, as great of a season Toms had, he could never quite put it all together at once. Early on he struck the ball great from everywhere, but could not get putts to drop. Then once his putting started to get in line, his Short Game started to hamstring him. Then down the stretch he greatly improved his putting and Short Game, but his driving started to taper off. However, he still had a fantastic season and the only weakness I could see was his play from 225-275 yards (158th). I think if he keeps up the hard work, he can play on the Tour into his early 50’s and be a better version of Jay Haas or Fred Funk at that stage.

JASON DAY





Putts Gained: 7

Short Game: 24

Day struck the ball better than his metrics suggest, he just had some major struggles at the end of the season. For the most part, he was an average driver of the ball, but his Danger Zone play was quite good for most of the season. And his putting and Short Game play was terrific all year long.

He actually led the Tour in par-3 scoring average, finishing 2.93 average for the hole. From there he was 82nd in par-4 scoring average and 16th in par-5 scoring average. By looking at his radar stats, he appears to hit well up on the driver which allowed him to finish 14th in driving distance despite finishing 41st in clubhead speed.

If there’s a concern for me, it’s that he finished 172nd in percentage of fairways hit (54.7%). While I think he is a much better driver than say, Phil Mickelson, he finished 163rd on approach shots from the rough while Mickelson finished 4th. In other words, I’m not sure he is really suited to play the bomb-n-gouge game like Mickelson does.

STEVE STRICKER





Putts Gained: 2

Short Game: 24

I liken Stricker to former baseball pitcher David Cone. Cone was considered a ‘pitchers pitcher’ in that he was successful by having all-around skills and smarts. Instead of just firing fastballs past batters, Cone had a good fastball and an assortment of curveballs, sliders and changeups which could come from all sorts of different arm angles.

Stricker is like that as well. He doesn’t just bomb-n-gouge a course and let his athleticism take over. He drives is pretty well, hits irons well, is deadly with his wedges, great putter, great Short Game and has a smart strategy. He wound up finishing 1st in par-4 scoring average and even more impressively, 2nd in par-5 scoring average which is tremendous given his moderate power off the tee (113th). Given the fact that Stricker will soon be 44 years old, I think his top priority should be maintaining his clubhead speed as he gets older.

BILL HAAS





Putts Gained: 84

Short Game: 10

For the most part, Haas flew under the radar for me despite having seven top-10 finishes. I guess the shot from the water at East Lake should not have been such a surprise given his Short Game play this year.

As a driver of the ball, he hits it pretty far (48th) and is quite accurate (68th in fairway percent and 66th in distance to edge of fairway). Which is good because he was 144th in approach shots him from the rough. As a putter he’s been pretty much average, finishing no higher than 79 th (2008) in the Putts Gained metric in his entire career.

MATT KUCHAR





Putts Gained: 37

Short Game: 54

Kuchar looks to be in line to be the ‘next Steve Stricker” for the next 10 years. Like Stricker, he does just about everything well. Although what is interesting is that Kuchar is actually gaining clubhead speed over the years. His clubhead speed was as low as 106.8 mph and is now up to 110.2 mph. And typically he’s a top-15 putter on Tour. And what is even more unique is that even though he swings at a below average clubhead speed, he is much better from the rough (versus the rest of the Tour) than from the fairway (41st vs. 114th)

I think he’s primed to make some big runs towards the Majors over the next 3 years, particularly if his clubhead speed continues to get faster.

DUSTIN JOHNSON





Putts Gained: 171

Short Game: 156

Dustin’s putting hamstrung him all year long. In fact, had he putted about average, I believe he would have won at least twice more and perhaps came away with a Major victory. He seemed to progress a lot with his putting in 2009 and 2010, but then dropped into being one of the worst putters on Tour.

Where Dustin really dropped off in his putting was from 5 to 10 feet where he finished 38 th in percentage of putts made in 2010, but 186th (last) in 2011. He also went from 21st in 2010 on putts longer than 25 feet away to 172nd in 2011, but the 5 to 10 feet range had a far great impact on his scores. I think he is best to start focusing on the 3 to 5 foot putts first, where he has never finished better than 133rd and then work his way into putting better from 5 to 10 feet.

KJ CHOI





Putts Gained: 73

Short Game: 68

Choi had a terrific year mostly thru his great iron play. His driving has never been anything to brag about, although it’s not like he is completely incompetent. He hit 62% of his fairways (91st) and was 50th in distance to the edge of the fairway. He generates a fairly low amount of spin with the driver (2,515 rpm) and that may cause the ball to roll through some of the fairways.

What’s amazing about his iron play is that only 79.6% of his shots from the Danger Zone were from the fairway or the tee (163rd). Yet, he was still able to finish 16th in Danger Zone play. The only weakness he displayed with the irons was on shots from 75-100 yards out of the rough (173rd). But, he only had 9 of those shots the entire year.

Choi wound up finishing 87th in par-5 scoring average. He was 134th in driving distance and 136th in par-5 ‘Go For Its’, which hints to conservative play. But, he had good reason as he finished 173rd on shots from 225-275 yards.

Choi is also a bit of a unique putter as he does not putt well inside of 10 feet, but putts extremely well from 10-20 feet. And then he is fairly average from greater than 20 feet.

NICK WATNEY





Putts Gained: 12

Short Game: 6

There were only two things that Watney did not do great in 2011, Safe Zone play and shots from 225-275 yards. He finished the year at even par on the par-3’s (5th), under par on the par-4’s (6th) and a terrific season on the par-5’s (12th).

However, Watney had a disappointing year in the Majors with a 46th finish in the Masters, being cut at both the US and British Opens and then a tie for 12th at the PGA Championship. I think he has shown that he virtually has all of the tools to be a great player. He hits the ball a bit on the low-side and was 136th in fairways percentage. I think the British Open is probably his best bet for a Major to win.

WEBB SIMPSON





Putts Gained: 57

Short Game: 37

Simpson had a terrific year, particularly considering that he admits to hitting a shank at least once every other day. What’s probably just as scary was he only finished 111th in percentage of putts made from 3 to 5 feet, so if he putts better from that range he could have even greater years in store for him.

Simpson ranked 18th in shots from 225-275 yards. But more importantly, he was quite aggressive on par-5’s as he finished 52nd in driving distance, but 26th in par-5 ‘Go For Its.’ I think most would be amazed how many of the better players from 225-275 yards play quite conservatively on par-5’s.

Simpson is only 26 years old, so even better days could be ahead of him. Although it is tough to have confidence in a player who routinely hits hosel rockets.

LUKE DONALD





Putts Gained: 1

Short Game: 118

Donald had an amazing year. He not only finished 1st in Birdie Zone play, but did not have one single shot from the rough in the Birdie Zone. He not only led the Tour in ‘Putts Gained’, but did it for his 3rd year in a row. Furthermore, he not only lead the Tour in 3-Putt Avoidance, but led it by a wide margin, 3-putting 1.24% of the time compared to the 2nd place finisher, Fredrik Jacobson, who 3-putted 1.75% of the time. He also finished 2nd in proximity to the cup on shots from the greenside bunker.

His driving is what hurts him. He has never been a good driver on Tour, partially because he doesn’t hit it long and partially because he is prone to the errant tee shot. However, he improved those this years and wound up hitting 64.3% of his fairways (57th) and ranked 95th on distance to the edge of the fairway.

With that, I think he is best suited to win at the Masters because he doesn’t have to worry so much about missing shots by a wide margin off the tee and he’s such a great approach shot player and such a terrific putter, Augusta National fits him to a tee. The question becomes how much will the bomb-n-gouge players hurt his chances of winning a Green Jacket?

CHAPTER 3 – METRICS BASED STRATEGY

In January of 2011, I started to pour over the statistics on the European Tour to hopefully find great ballstrikers that I have never heard of before. Eventually, I stumbled across Steven O’Hara who put up some excellent metrics in driving distance, fairway percentage and greens in regulation. Later on, I wanted to pay close attention to his performance at the first big tournament of the year in Abu Dhabi.

O’Hara’s first round score was a 4-over par, 76. I figured he must have had a rough day striking the ball. Instead, I found that he had hit 14 of the 18 greens in regulation. I then looked and saw that he had 36 putts. And while the poor putting, which was not all that poor, could have accounted for the poor round by O’Hara, I could not figure out why other golfers who only hit 10 or 11 greens in regulation and had 32 or 33 putts, could manage to shoot under par. That is when I realized that not only are golf’s traditional metrics ambiguous, but they are much more flawed than I originally thought.

Using Advanced Metrics For Your Game

While I have already discussed aspects of the game like wedge play and power and their influence on a golfer’s score, there are a couple of extremely important aspects the game that often goes unnoticed. Oddly enough, these two aspects were something that the legendary Moe Norman discussed at length and Moe understood a thing or two about shooting low scores.

Proximity to the Cup – In general, the closer the golfer is to the cup, the lower their ‘expected score’ will be. Obviously, there is a line between being closer to the hole and an increased difficulty in the shot. For example, I could hit a 280 yard drive down the middle of the fairway and if my playing partner hits a 330 yard drive into the woods, the advantage goes in my favor. But, in general, the closer the golfer is to the hole the lower their expected score will be. And yes, that means that in general, if you are 5 yards closer to the hole than you normally are, your expected score will be lower.

This is a good reason why traditional metrics like greens in regulation and fairway percentage are flawed. If I hit 16 greens in regulation, but leave myself with birdie putts of 40 feet on average with no putt shorter than 20 feet, I’m going to not be as effective as my playing partner who only hits 10 greens in regulation, but has an average birdie putt of 10 feet long and his missed greens are marginal and he has easy up and downs for par (or even chips in). By and large, Proximity to the Cup on Approach shot plays a much bigger factor in a golfer’s success than greens in regulation.

Impeded Shots – One of the great arguments in golf is the importance of accuracy. There are different arguments here. Some feel that hitting fairways is very important. Some feel that ‘bomb-n-gouging’ is the way to go. Others feel that the game was best when golfers had to hit fairways, but that has become passé with all of the new technology.

One of the topics that Moe Norman discussed in videos was the simple task of ‘advancing the ball towards the hole.’ It really sounds simple, but it is amazing how many people completely overlook that simple aspect of the game. There is an old saying that ‘there is a lot of simplicity in genius.’ Moe Norman really embodied that with his strategy. Simple, but still brilliant.

Thus, it is perfectly fine to hit a drive in the rough. But, it is better to take that same drive and find the fairway instead. However, nobody is perfect. And if a golfer can avoid ‘impeded shots’, they will be able to continually advance the ball towards the cup.

Impeded shots are any non-tee shot that severely impedes your next shot towards the golfer’s preferred target. This includes:

Out of Bounds Water/Hazard Fairway Bunkers Trees (hitting over or under or around them) Long rough Lie in a Divot

I normally do not include greenside bunkers because often times the penalty is not that severe on greenside bunkers on par-4’s and par-5’s. What I usually do is if I find a greenside bunker on a par-3, I consider that an ‘impeded shot’ because most greenside bunkers on par-3’s are generally tougher than greenside bunkers on other holes on the golf course.

The amazing part about impeded shots is that if you track them, you will discover that when you lower your amount of impeded shots, your score lowers. Where this becomes surprising is when you have a mediocre day striking the ball and putting, but minimize your amount of impeded shots and there is a noticeable drop in the score.

Makeable Up-and-Downs – Missing greens is not that big of a deal if one can leave themselves with a makeable up-and-down. Where missing greens is important is that it often indicates how well the golfer is striking the ball because if they are missing a lot of greens there is a decent chance that they are missing them by a wide margin and not leaving themselves with up and downs. I believe that on every shot that is going to approach the green, the golfer has to consider the best place to leave the ball if they miss the green and the worst place to leave the ball if they miss the green. Then they need to gauge how much they risk leaving the ball in the worst place if they decide to fire at the flagstick.

I believe that there are 2 main aspects of an up and down shot that determine the ease of the up and down.

A) The amount of room to land on the green. B) The slope inclination or declination of the green to the cup.

Essentially, golfers should strive to avoid ‘short siding’ themselves at almost all costs. Furthermore, they should look for spots where the green slopes upward to the cup. That is because studies have shown that golfers are much more likely to make uphill putts than chips than downhill putts and chips.

Understanding the ZonesIn the PGA Tour player analysis, I broke down their play into 3 different zones:

Birdie Zone (shots from 75-125 yards) Safe Zone (shots from 125-175 yards) Danger Zone (shots from 175-225 yards)

I wound up using those yardages for the Tour players because of the limitations of the data I had to work with. However, I have a chart that I utilize for golfers to help determine their yardage ranges for each zone.

Shortest Drive = This is the average drive length for the golfer. Think of it like a ‘you must be this tall to go on this ride’ principle. If a golfer’s average driver length is 248 yards, then they are too short to reasonably play any course longer than 6,800 yards.

The rest of the columns are the yardage ranges for each zone given the length of the course.

Course Yards

Shortest Drive DZ2 DZ1 SZ2 SZ1 BZ2 BZ1

7,600 277 235 185 184 120 119 cup7,500 273 225 175 174 110 109 cup7,400 269 225 175 174 110 109 cup7,300 265 225 175 174 110 109 cup7,200 260 225 175 174 110 109 cup7,100 257 225 175 174 110 109 cup7,000 255 225 175 174 110 109 cup6,900 249 225 175 174 110 109 cup6,800 244 225 175 174 110 109 cup6,700 239 215 165 164 100 99 cup6,600 236 215 165 164 100 99 cup6,500 232 215 165 164 100 99 cup6,400 229 215 165 164 100 99 cup6,300 224 200 150 149 85 84 cup6,200 219 200 150 149 85 84 cup6,100 214 200 150 149 85 84 cup6,000 211 200 150 149 85 84 cup5,900 207 200 150 149 85 84 cup5,800 204 190 140 139 75 74 cup5,700 199 190 140 139 75 74 cup5,600 194 190 140 139 75 74 cup5,500 191 190 140 139 75 74 cup

Danger Zone – The Danger Zone is where most golfers typically lose strokes on a hole. My initial research shows that the Danger Zone is more important as the handicap gets lower. Higher handicap players are difficult to predict because some can hit their driver alright while driving can be the worst part of the game for other high handicappers. However, my initial research shows that high handicappers are almost always weak on shots from their Danger Zone.

For the lower handicap players, the Danger Zone is a crucial area for them to excel in because good shots can still lead to bogeys and shots that are off by a marginal amount, can result in a double bogeys or worse. For instance, I can hit a shot from 205 yards away with my 4-iron and miss the green on the carry by a couple of yards, but because the ball is coming down and a flatter angle with less spin, it can easily careen off the side of the green and wind up well away from the edge of the green. Contrast that to hitting a shot from 100 yards with a Sand Wedge where the ball is coming down towards the ground on a steeper angle with more spin, the ball may wind up on the fringe.

Often times a golfer will hit a decent shot from the Danger Zone that winds up on the green, but is 40 feet away on a tough green and they wind up 3-putting for bogey. And typically this is where golfers wind up hitting shots into the water.

My general strategy on Danger Zone shots is to first consider, what I call, the ‘Watson Rule.’ I named this after Tom Watson who simply said that when he was hitting a long iron in his career, all he focused on was making good contact with the ball and finding the middle of the green. Thus, the point of the Watson Rule is to not consider the flagstick as much while instead focusing on the fattest part of the green and making good contact, make your 2-putt and move onto the next hole.

Of course, there will be times where a golfer will need to fire at a flag. In those cases, I suggest looking at the shot in this order:

1. Look at both sides of the green and determine what are the best and worst positions to miss the green.

2. Look in front of the green and determine what the position would look like if you miss short.

3. Look in back of the green and determine what the position would look like if you miss long.

Typically, golfers do not miss Danger Zone shots long. Most course designers consider this, so the penalty for missing long on holes where the approach is typically a Danger Zone shot is often negligible. What architects like to do is put water in front of the green on holes where the approach shot is typically in the Danger Zone. That way a golfer cannot hit a poor shot well short of the green and still wind up okay. But in the end, I have found that the Watson Rule usually works best on Danger Zone shots.

Safe Zone – The Safe Zone is called the Safe Zone because it’s an area where golfers do not make most of their birdies or bogeys (or worse) from. As we get closer to the flag in the safe zone, we can start being a bit more aggressive on the shot because the ball will be coming down on a steeper trajectory with more spin. In the Safe Zone, the golfer should now consider the flagstick as the target most of the time instead of aiming for the fat of the green and just making good contact. Still, the order I recommend at assessing a Safe Zone shot is the same.

1. Look at both sides of the green and determine the best and worst positions to miss the green.



Birdie Zone – The Birdie Zone is the range where the golfer will typically, over the course of time, make the most amount of birdies from. This does not mean a golfer should make birdies when in the Birdie Zone, but the odds of making birdies greatly increase from the Birdie Zone. In fact, I believe if I can make birdie 50% of the time I am in the Birdie Zone in a round of golf, that is an excellent performance from that zone.

Birdie Zone opportunities usually come on par-5’s and that is why golfers tend to birdie par-5’s more often than they do par-4’s and par-3’s. From there, the par-4’s where a Birdie Zone opportunity is possible usually comes on a short par-4 that is very narrow. The architect is trying to design the hole with a risk-reward of using the driver off the tee instead of a shorter club.

Birdie Zone opportunities are usually designed so the shot is into a smaller green. This is the basic architectural concept of ‘form follows function.’ Meaning that the architect will design a green to fit the club that the golfer will typically hit into it. If an architect is designing a 230 yard par-3, they should make the green the one of the largest greens on the course in order to allow the ball to hold the green. Conversely, if they are designing a 350 yard par-4, the green should be smaller since the golfer will likely have a shorter iron or a wedge into the green.

Due to the ‘form follows function’ principle, the order of assessing a Birdie Zone shot changes. First off, the golfer should greatly consider firing at the flag. In fact, I would say that on a Birdie Zone shot, the golfer needs to be persuaded away from firing at the flag. Whether it be the pin tucked right behind a difficult bunker or a pin tucked near the water with little room to spare. But, the main concept here is that in the Birdie Zone, the strategy becomes more distance control based than directional based.



3. Look at both sides of the green and determine the best and worst positions to miss the green.

Dispelling Common Strategic Myths

Here are a few of the common strategy myths that I have heard over the years.

‘Use a Conservative Strategy with a Confident Golf Swing’

This is a major issue golfers face as I find golfers, myself included, trying to ‘hedge their bets’ with their strategy on the golf course. For example, if they have a good amount of fairway to work with, but water hugging the left side, they will be so averse to the water that they will aim well right of the fairway.

One of the biggest things that separates PGA Tour players from even Nationwide Tour players is that PGA Tour players trust their talent more and they are better at ‘playing for their average swing.’

Most golfers play for their worst swing. The best players play for their average swing.

Golfers should practice in order to make their ‘average’ shot better. And then take that improved ‘average’ shot out on the course. But, by playing conservatively golfers are taking the effectiveness of their average swing out of play.

When golfers play conservatively, the get further and further away from the cup than if they had played for their average swing. And when they get further away from the cup, their expected score rises.

Furthermore, the better the golfer is swinging on that particular day, the more aggressive they should be since they now are more likely to hit better shots. Thus, golfers who are playing with a confident swing are wasting a day that they are in ‘zone’ with conservative strategy.

‘Lay Up In Order to Have a Full Swing From A Certain Distance Instead of Being In-Between Clubs.’

Again, this is a conservative theory that gets the golfer further away from the hole and thus increases their expected score. This is almost always utilized by golfers with their wedge game. Instead of having 60 yards into the flag, they’ll hit a lay-up shot to 100 yards because they feel more ‘comfortable’ with that distance because they have a full swing with a wedge instead of a half-swing. But, the numbers do not lie. For instance, in 2011 the average distance to the hole for a PGA Tour player from 50-75 yards was 15 feet 5 inches. But, from 100-125 yards it was 20 feet 3 inches. That is a difference of over 30% in accuracy. Furthermore, the average PGA Tour golfer makes about 18% of their putts from 15-20 feet, but about 12% from 20-25 feet.

My recommendation is that if laying up to have a ‘full swing’ into a hole means losing more than 25 yards in distance, I would not lay-up in order to have a full swing into the flag because the expected score have increased too much and the golfer is not putting the odds in their favor.

‘Fast greens mean the scores will automatically go up because they will be too fast to make any putts.’

Typically, golfers of any level will make more putts on faster greens than slower greens. The reason being is that faster greens usually roll much smoother. Where golfers tend to struggle with courses that have faster greens is that their ballstriking is not good enough to get them close enough to the hole. Thus, they leave themselves with more long putts and they do not have the touch on the greens in order to knock that long putt close and 2-putt. Where slower greens are

better for golfers are on longer putts. But, if a golfer has a 50-foot putt, their odds of making that putt are almost nil regardless of green speed. Instead, their odds of knocking that 50-foot putt closer to the cup is better on a slower green than a faster green. But, the odds of making that 50-foot putt is greater on faster greens. And when the golfer gets inside 25 feet, their odds of making putts increase dramatically on faster greens. Thus, if a golfer struggles with 3-putting on faster greens, they may want to look more into their ballstriking than their actual putting. Furthermore, if you catch yourself on a course with slow greens, you may want to focus more on your ballstriking because it will be more difficult to get putts to drop.

‘Good players always have enough club into their approach shots.’

This is actually a flawed strategy because it does not consider the increased difficulty with downhill and sidehill putts versus uphill putts.

Studies have shown that golfers make much more uphill putts than downhill or sidehill putts. The best place for a golfer to make putts from on the ‘fall line’ of a putt is between 5 o’clock and 7 o’clock. In fact, if you have one of AimPoint Golf’s ‘Aim Charts’, take a look at the difference in the break from certain distances at different positions on the chart. For instance, there are 5 foot putts that can break 3 times more at the 1 o’clock position (downhill breaking left) than from the 5 o’clock position (uphill breaking left).

In the 4th round at Bay Hill, I watched the announcers rave about how great of a chipper Bubba Watson is and after he burned the edge of the cup with a chip and left it 3-feet past the cup, the announcers proclaimed that it was a great chip. But, Watson actually left himself with a sharp downhill 3-footer and missed the putt. The announcers then discussed how Bubba’s putting was not up to snuff, but in reality it was the chip that was the culprit of that bogey.

SHORT GAME STRATEGYA wise golfer will understand that they should employ strategy when hitting a short shot, even if it is just off the green. I think when it comes to the results from a chip or a pitch, the priorities should be in this order of importance:

1. Getting it ‘inside the leather.’2. Having an uphill putt3. Proximity to the Cup4. Leaving the ball on the green.

A lot of the strategy depends on the golfer’s ability to gauge the odds of the result they can achieve. Meaning, if I do not feel like I can hit a chip ‘inside the leather’, then my priority should move towards leaving myself with an uphill putt instead. But, if I feel confident about leaving myself ‘inside the leather’, then making that the priority is okay. Even if I do not get it ‘inside the leather’ and do not leave myself with an uphill putt, I can accept the fact that the strategy was still sound, just the execution was off.

The ‘inside the leather’ priority is important because that is an easy tap-in. However, if I leave myself with a 3 foot, downhill putt, I can accept that as well (again, the execution was just a little off). But, I can say with confidence that there are 10 foot uphill putts I would rather have than a 5 foot downhill or sidehill putt. Thus, on more difficult chips, I start to neglect getting it ‘inside the leather’ and focus more on where the uphill putt will be.

This is very important to understand when a golfer has ‘short sided’ themselves. Most golfers who short side themselves try to fire a flop shot right at the flag. Instead, I would neglect getting inside the leather and instead focus on my odds of leaving myself with an uphill putt. If I don’t like my odds of leaving myself with an uphill putt, then I focus more on leaving myself with a reasonable distance to the cup. I would rather have a 12 foot downhill putt than a 25 foot uphill putt in most cases. Thus, I focus on the getting the ball as close as I can with the safest possible shot. And if odds of priorities #1, #2 and #3 are low, then I focus on just getting the ball on the green because the odds of making the putt are typically greater when the ball is on the green than having a putt or a chip off the green.

TEE SHOT STRATEGY

Golfers have distance and accuracy priorities with tee shots. As I have mentioned before, the closer the golfer gets to the cup, the lower their expected score becomes. But, the PGA Tour has shown that their golfers are approximately 30% more accurate hitting a shot from the same distance out of the fairway than they are from the rough.

My feelings are that based on these facts, golfers should rarely use anything but a driver off the tee and figure out how to avoid ‘impeded shots.’ This will give the golfer the best odds of lowering their expected scores over time.

Remember, impeded shots are considered to be:

Out of Bounds Water/Hazard Fairway Bunkers Trees (hitting over or under or around them) Long rough Lie in a Divot

The real killers are O.B and water/hazard. Those should be avoided as best as possible. I would not recommend aiming at O.B. or water off the tee. Thus, if you generally hit a push-draw and there is water down the right side, I would still aim left of the water just in case the tee shot goes straight you can find yourself in the hazard. It is just too big of a risk to take.

I also don’t recommend trying to ‘hug’ a tree line. That does not mean you should never ‘cut the corner.’ Cutting the corner is fine if a golfer is confident they can clear the trees. But, if a golfer wants to ‘hug the tree line’, they are endangering themselves with an impeded shot which can cause a big hole. In fact, my research shows that a large amount of double bogeys or worse come from impeded shots that are in the Danger Zone. The Danger Zone shot is difficult as it is and by leaving themselves with an impeded shot, it usually compounds the errors and the golfer takes a big score on the hole.

TRAJECTORY AND TEE SHOT STRATEGY

We know from Trackman research that a golfer will typically hit drives longer when they hit up on the driver versus hitting down with the driver. When the golfer hits up on the driver, the ball will likely fly higher, carry longer and spin less. Conversely, hitting down usually propels the ball lower and it will not carry as long and will spin more.

Golfers can use that knowledge to help with their strategy of the tee. However, this is something that could very well not work for golfers since hitting up or hitting down may be too big of an adjustment for a golfer. That being said, the general idea is:

Hitting Down = lower trajectory, lose distance, gain accuracy

Hitting Up = higher trajectory, add distance, lose accuracy

There are players on the PGA Tour who are using this to their own advantage as well. If they need some extra distance, they’ll hit up on the ball. Furthermore, Arnold Palmer often stated that when he needed to find a fairway, he would hit the ball lower. The ball will not curve as much and the spin will help it so it does not roll through the fairway.

Where we start to see the difference in expected score in distance is at about 25 yards. Therefore, if a golfer can learn to hit up on the ball and can consistently gain 25 yards or more in distance, they may want to play this shot when they could use that extra distance.

The hitting down to gain more accuracy is a bit more complex. For starters, I would recommend using it if you can hit the driver about 25 yards or more than the next longest club in your bag, which is likely the 3-wood.

As far as the increase in accuracy goes, hitting down on the driver is a smart option if you can increase the your odds of not having an impeded shot. Remember, finding the rough is not exactly a bad thing, leaving ourselves with an impeded shot is. Thus, the golfer has to gauge the likelihood of finding themselves with an impeded shot if they try to hit down more on the driver to increase their accuracy. If they can’t, then they need to find the next club that they can hit off the tee that they feel confident will avoid an impeded shot off the tee, be it a 3-wood or a hybrid or a long iron.

WHY LEFTY PLAYS THE ODDS OFF THE TEE CORRECTLY

Phil Mickelson is often taken to task by pundits for his ultra aggressive play off the tee. However, I think Mickelson generally utilizes the right strategy off the tee given his length off the tee.

First, Mickelson is one of the longest players off the tee on the PGA Tour. While he has accuracy issues, he can still find the fairway about 55% of the time. In the end, Mickelson is still more likely to find the fairway than he is to miss the fairway.

Given his length off the tee, when he drives one down the fairway, he puts himself at a considerable advantage off the tee. On average, PGA Tour players are about 30% more accurate when the are 25 yards closer to the cup. Given Mickelson’s length off the tee, if he drives one down the middle he can pick up about 25 yards on many of the players in the field. Furthermore, PGA Tour players are about as accurate if they are 25 yards closer to the cup, but in the rough versus being 25 yards further away and in the fairway.

Thus, Mickelson’s main concern should be leaving himself with an impeded shot. He’s got a 55% chance of hitting the fairway and putting himself at a sizeable advantage over the field as a whole. And as long as he doesn’t leave himself with an impeded shot, if he finds the rough (45% chance) he will likely wind up ‘breaking even’ versus the field as a whole. Therefore, if Mickelson feels that his odds of having an impeded shot are at 5-10%, it is worth the risk for him to take out the driver because he has a 90-95% chance of either ‘breaking even’ or gaining a sizeable advantage against the field as a whole.

KNOW YOUR HOLE

Now that we understand what type of results can come from hitting down or hitting up on the driver, we can start to use this with our strategy.

First, we should know what Zone we will likely be in off our tee shot. For instance, if you feel that hitting up on a driver will move into a closer Zone (i.e. from the Safe Zone to the Birdie Zone), it’s

legitimately worth assessing that option. However, if you typically have 165 yards into a hole on your apporach shot and hitting up will put you to 140 yards, the risk of the more inacccurate shot may not be worth that exta 25 yards.

Usually architects will do one of two things with their design of a golf course:

A) Have some holes that are short in length where hitting a driver is feasible, but the risk of finding trouble increases.

On these holes, we need to know what Zone will we be located in if we ‘add distance’ to the driver. #5 at North Shore Golf Club in Orlando is a good example. If I were to hit a 3-wood, I would be about 125 yards away. If I hit a ‘stock driver’, that will put me about 80-90 yards away. If I hit up on the driver, I can be about 60 yards to the green. There is not much reason for me to hit up on the driver because my stock swing with the driver will keep me in the Birdie Zone. But, driver is a viable option over a 3-wood because 3-wood places me in the Safe Zone.

#5 is a bit of a narrow hole, but all we simply have to do is aim away from the area that will impede the shot (O.B. right) and take our normal swing.

I find this to be a good strategy to take with hitting up on the driver to add distance. If you can break down one side of the hole where the impeded shots are, aim away from it and hit up on the driver. This way if the ball goes straight, the extra distance will offset the distance lost for aiming so far away from the trouble. And if you hit a shot that curves a bit towards the trouble, you should be okay since you aimed so far away from the trouble and you might actually wind up being in ‘Position A’ afterall.

B) Have a long hole that is wide open which gets the golfer thinking about trying to bomb the driver and they may hit a very poor, errant tee shot.

Again, the golfer has to gauge where their drives will place them. If the golfer is playing a hole where they typically end up 180-190 yards away with their ‘stock’ swing, then hitting up on the driver may be a very viable option if it can put them in the Safe Zone, 155 to 165 yards away from the cup.

However, if it is likely the golfer will wind up in the Danger Zone, regardless if they hit up on the ball; they should actually start considering hitting down on the ball.

Why?

The drop-off of Tour player’s accuracy from the rough versus the fairway on Danger Zone shots is pretty staggering. In the Birdie and Safe Zones, it is alright to leave a shot in the rough if the shot is not impeded. But, in the Danger Zone the rough is a major obstacle for golfers and can be almost as bad as having an impeded shot from the Birdie or Safe Zones. It’s another thing that Mickelson does well, a high percentage of his Danger Zone shots are from the fairway whereas his Safe Zone and Birdie Zone shots are much more often from the rough.

PAR-3 vs. PAR-4 vs. PAR-5 STRATEGY

Not only are par-3’s, par-4’s and par-5’s different in length, but often aspects of the hole are designed differently as well. If we can understand what the architect was trying to accomplish with the hole, we can then create a better strategy on that hole and put the odds in our favor.

Par-3’s

Par-3’s have greatly changed in design over the years. In today’s game, more and more courses utilize water on courses. The ‘water boom’ in golf course design exploded after Pete Dye designed the island green on the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass. At one time, the 17th was almost like a freak show, now island greens are commonplace on golf courses.

Older courses typically have less water and the par-3’s are usually shorter in length. It is not uncommon for an older course to have 2 of the par-3’s to be in the Safe Zone or Birdie Zone from the back tees. The modern course design favors making par-3’s very long and usually putting the golfer in the Danger Zone on the tee shot.

I find this to be a bit of a shame in golf course design because I always thought that there is nothing wrong with making a par-3 a ‘birdie hole.’ But, most golfers eschew very short par-3’s, unless they are #7 at Pebble Beach. Even then, the praise for the hole is how difficult it is for being such a short yardage. However, if a par-4 or a par-5 is a ‘birdie hole’, it can still be raved about as a great golf hole.

With that, the modern design golf courses usually have par-3’s that have the largest greens on the course because the shot is longer and there is usually water on the hole. And they almost always have the water placed in front of the green because they don’t want the golfer to hit a shot poor and still wind up okay.

My best suggestion for playing these holes with the water in front is to get the yardage to the back edge of the green. Typically, we do not miss greens by hitting them too far. So, even if it is an island green hole, the odds of missing the green because we hit the ball too far are very low, particularly compared to the odds of a golfer missing the green short. When we play to the yardage to the back edge of the green, if we take our normal swing we will have a enough distance to still leave ourselves with a putt. If we mis-hit it a little or the wind takes it a little, we should still have enough distance to get onto the green and carry the water. And obviously, the shorter the club we have into the green, the more aggressive we can play, but playing to the yardage to the back of the green is a good idea.

We have to remember that for the most part, we are ‘supposed’ to just make par on a par-3 and move onto the next hole. Thus, firing at a flag on a par-3 should be more carefully considered on average than firing at a flag on a par-4 or par-5.

Par-4’s

Par-4’s are the most important holes for golfers over time. Improve your par-4 scoring average by a little and it will have a much bigger impact than if you improve yoru par-5 scoring average by a little. The reason is simple, your typical golf course has 10 par-4’s, 4 par-3’s and 4 par-5’s. Thus, there are 2.5 times more par-4’s than par-5’s or par-3’s. I’m amazed by how many golfers who say ‘in order to get better, you have to own par-5’s.’ Sure, that will help. But, if you can improve your play on par-4’s, you will see a much bigger improvement in your handicap.

On higher rated golf courses, usually the architect will design about 2 par-4’s that are 350 yards

or less. Modern architects tend to favor making these holes a risk-reward deal with the driver off the tee. The older courses tend to force the golfer to leave the driver in the bag. My advice is that you have to be able to gauge what Zone you will be in if you hit a driver and what are the odds of having an impeded shot.

From there, usually they design about 2 holes that are in the 450 yard range. One of them will likely be wide open, inviting the golfer to ‘let the shaft out.’ The other will be a bit tighter and will truly be the hardest hole on the golf course.

Outside of those holes, the rest are usually in the 380 yard to 440 yard range with varying levels of difficulties.

Everything I have discussed so far with strategy (avoiding impeded shots, getting closer to the hole, etc) applies to par-4’s. Where I think golfers tend to have trouble is when they struggle hitting a particular tee shot on a par-4. The question then becomes ‘should I hit less club off the tee even though I still struggle with this tee shot?’

I recommend going to the club you feel most confident in avoiding impeded shots. For example, in the this year’s Florida State Mid-Am Qualifier I did not feel comfortable on the 3rd hole, a dogleg right par-4 with water all up the right side. I chose to hit my hybrid because that was the club I felt I could avoid an impeded shot with. However, despite hitting it well I could not reach the fairway. From there, I just played the hole like I was trying to make a 5 (bogey) instead of a 4 (par). I actually wound up finding the green in regulation, but 3-putted from 35 feet away.

Still, I greatly reduced my chances of making double bogey and increased my chances of making par by taking the lesser club, even though I could not reach the fairway. So, if a golfer is in that situation and only feels confident with a 7-iron off a certain hole, then they should not be afraid to take a 7-iron off the tee, even if it looks bad. The scorecard does not care what you used off the tee in the end. However, I would recommend figuring out how to hit a driver on that ‘problem hole’ in the end in order to lower your score in the long haul.

PAR-5’S

I promote an aggressive strategy on par-5’s. If you look at the PGA Tour, typically the more aggressive players do better on par-5’s. It does help to hit the ball a long ways, but golfers like Zach Johnson, Luke Donald and Kevin Na are not long ball hitters, but excel on par-5’s because they are very aggressive.

On the PGA Tour, I determine aggressiveness by looking at the player’s driving distance ranking and their Par-5 ‘Go For Its’ ranking. The higher their ranking in par-5 ‘Go For Its’ is compared to their driving distance ranking, the more aggressive they are on par-5’s. For example, a golfer who ranks 92nd in driving distance and 72nd in Par 5 ‘Go For Its’ is fairly aggressive on par-5’s.

One thing you will notice on the PGATour.com Web site is that they count a ‘Go For It’ as any time the ball winds up within 30 yards of the edge of the green. Thus, a golfer may have 300 yards to the flag stick, hit a 3-wood 250 yards and it can still count as a ‘Go For It’ if it is within 30 yards of the edge of the green. Since ‘Go For It’ percentage and par-5 scoring average have a strong correlation to each other, I have dubbed it the ’30 Yard Rule.’ Meaning, a good goal on par-5’s is to get your second shot within 30 yards of the edge of the green.

One difference I see in modern golf courses is that the par-5’s are much more wide open off the tee than the older courses which still make the tee shot on par-5’s more difficult. Thus, we can afford to be more aggressive off the tee of a par-5 as well and if we want, hit up on the driver to add some distance and get yourself in the ’30 Yard Rule.’ And the beauty is you can have your 2nd shot on a par-5 impeded and still be fine. Just punch it out through the woods and have 130

yards into the green, 2-putt and take your par.

For that matter, I also advise being very aggressive on the 2nd shot as well. Typically, architechts design water up by the green on shorter par-5’s. This will play the risk-reward for the golfer to go for the green in two shots. However, if you hit a shot into the water, you still have a chance of taking a drop, hitting the next shot onto the green with a wedge and 1-putting for a par. Over time, going for a par-5 in two shots will lower your expected score.

The other thing to note about par-5’s is that they usually have the smallest greens on the course that are difficult to hit into. Thus, being aggressive tends to work because a 150 shot into a small, par-5 green may feel like a 200 yard shot into a large par-3 green. And when a golfer has a short approach into the green, the more the approach shot becomes about distance control versus directional control

PRACTICING METRICS BASED STRATEGY

The first thing I recommend is for golfers to get a good gauge of their abilities. I am typically worried about these areas of the game:

Driving Putting Danger Zone play Short Game

Here’s a sample of what the scorecard I keep looks like when I play a round of golf.

Hole 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 TotalPar 4 5 3 4 4 5 4 3 4 36 Score 4 4 3 3 5 5 5 3 4 36Score RTP E -1 E -1 +1 E +1 E E EFwy X X X X 4GIR X X X X X X X 7Putts 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 2 2 14Scramble 1 0 1/2Impeded X X 2

As you can see, I track score, fairways, greens in regulation, the Zone I’m hitting from, Putts, Scrambling and Impeded shots.

I use fairways and impeded shots to help judge my driving. While GIR is a flawed metric, I’m mainly trying to see what my GIR percentage is from the different zones. I expect to hit the green if I’m in the Birdie Zone. If I wind up with 75% GIR from the Danger Zone, but only 50% from the Birdie Zone, then I need to focus on why the Birdie Zone GIR % is so low. I also like to look at my score, relative to par, from each Zone. If I am even par from the Danger Zone, I’m usually quite happy with that and it will show up on my final score.

The goal here is to get an idea of my strengths and weaknesses and spot any trends. Then I know what to focus on and hopefully improve upon the weakenesses and maintain my strengths.

BAG SETUP

Once this is assessed, I would suggest looking at your bag setup, first. One of the things that has stood out in my research is that most PGA Tour players do not carry a gap wedge or an extra lob wedge. Most of them just carry a sand wedge of about 55* of loft and a lob wedge of about 60* of loft. However, they make sure that the gap between their fairway woods, hybrids and long irons is neatly dispersed. I also found that generally the best Danger Zone players do not carry that extra wedge. However, the tendency for the best Short Game players is to carry that extra wedge, but that tendency is nowhere near as strong as the Danger Zone players who do not carry that extra wedge. In fact, this year’s top Short Game player, Brian Gay, does not carry an extra wedge in his bag setup.

But, that does not mean a golfer should stop carrying an extra wedge. For example, Rickie Fowler is an excellent Danger Zone player, but struggles with the Short Game. He added an extra wedge to his bag and instantly got his first professional victory at the Korean Open.

So, set your bag up to help your weaknesses. If you are poor from the Danger Zone, favor clubs that help with Danger Zone play. If you are a poor wedge player, add an extra wedge player. If both are about even, I would then favor the clubs for Danger Zone play based on the fact that you are more likely to lose more strokes from the Danger Zone than from 125 yards and in.

RANGE PRACTICE

Typically golfers go to the range and blindly hit golf balls. Many will get a quick warmup with a shorter iron, get into a little groove and then hit a bunch of drivers and call it a day. However, outside of getting warmed up this type of practice does not do a golfer that much good.

For starters, I recommend practicing with the clubs that you will use from the Danger Zone the most. The reason being is that these are typically your lower lofted irons which are usually the most difficult clubs for people to hit. Put it this way, if I can flush a 3-iron then I’m very confident I can hit any other iron in my bag. But, if I can flush a 7-iron, that does not mean I will hit my 3-iron great as well. I utilize the ‘longest iron’ approach with my practice as it is the best way to quickly get my rhythm and timing down. Not only that, but I’m practicing with the clubs that will leave me with the most crucial shots in a round of golf.

Golfers should also use a bit of imagination on the driving range as well. They could really help their handicap by plotting out the places on the course where they are likely to have a Danger Zone shot. Then try to re-create that shot on the driving range and practice that until they start developing confidence in that shot. The same for difficult driving holes. Re-create the hole in your mind and practice on the range with it until you are confident with that shot.

COURSE KNOWLEDGE

Lastly, I would recommend that golfers really get to learn the course they are playing. A golfer should have a pretty good strategy before they play a round of golf, but the strategy will be fluid in nature. In other words, I should have a good idea before the round of what club I want to use on each tee, approximately what club I will have into the approach, which side of the hole I want to play from and what positions around the green I want to avoid and what positions around the green are favorable for an up and down if I miss the green. But, understand that the golfer will have to adapt their strategy to some degree during a round due to weather conditions and the result of the previous shot.

That does not mean a golfer has to inspect every course with a fine tooth comb. Instead, when a golfer is playing a casual round at a course they frequently play, try to notice some of the aspects

of the golf holes. For instance, the sand traps on #4 at Eastwood Golf Club are incredibly soft or the odds of making an up-and-down on #5 at Eastwood increases exponentially if you miss the green to the right than if you miss the green to the left.

Nobody is expecting a golfer to have a gameplan and hit every shot according to that gameplan. Instead, golfers should view a strategy as ‘what shots and positions on the hole put me at the best odds to make par or better and what shots and positions on the hole put me at the worst odds of making par or better.’ Thus, if you should avoid going left on a par-4 off the tee and you hit a shot into the woods on the left, a good strategist will know that the best place to get up and down from is right and long of the green and they may be able to punch a shot out of the woods in that direction and save that par.

As I mentioned earlier, metrics are not about certainty, they are about probability. This does not guarantee that it will work every time. But, the goal is to put the odds in the golfer’s favor and over time the results will follow.

CHAPTER 4 - ESSAYSHOW TO PUT TOGETHER A RYDER CUP TEAM

The old format for the Ryder Cup had 12 players on each team. Ten of the players would make it through a points system and the other two would be captain’s picks. In 2008, the United States team changed their selection to eight players making it through the points systems and giving the captain four picks of his own to add to the team. I believe this was a very smart move made by then Ryder Cup captain, Paul Azinger.

Everybody understands the United States team dominated the Ryder Cup early on in its history, with an initial 23-3-1 record versus the European team. But since then, the European team has dominated the Americans going 8-4-1 in the Ryder Cup.

As with traditional philosophies towards ‘scoring’ and ‘course management’, I find the selection process for the Captain’s picks tend to be ambiguous and well, archaic. When the captain is often asked about the reason behind their picks, they will count it down to things like ‘experience’ or ‘he played well in the Majors’ or ‘he fits in really well with the team’, etc. I also see the reasoning behind the pairings even more unintelligible. Such as ‘they’re good friends’ and ‘they like golfing with each other.’

Personally, I think it would be unwise to pair up a couple of golfers who downright loathe each other, but I would think that there has to be a better way than pairing up two golfers because they are good friends.

The Fallacy of Experience

What I find nonsensical and it is bound to happen every Ryder Cup, is the captain picking a golfer based solely on ‘experience.’ One of the golfers I’m sure will get a Captain’s Pick sometime down the road when he does not qualify in the points system is Phil Mickelson because he has ‘experience.’ But Phil has a career record of 11-17-6 in the Ryder Cup.

What’s absurd about this line of thinking that ‘experience’ is so important is that many golfers are actually proving to be poor Ryder Cup players. But instead of looking at it in that fashion, the captains continually go with the idea that experience trumps everything. It’s like that old saying that the ‘definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’ If that was the case, just about every Ryder Cup captain over the years should be sent to an asylum.

It’s not that experience is not helpful, but a captain should disregard players who have proven that they do not play well in the Ryder Cup. I think the European teams have avoided these players over the years and are much more willing to give an unproven, young player a chance. That’s how players like Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia became great Ryder Cup players. Their captains didn’t care that they didn’t have experience and essentially had their best players play.

Putting

My research shows me that the putting is typically the most important factor in the Ryder Cup. This differs over tournaments and over the course of a season where Danger Zone play is usually the strongest factor.

Take a look at the great Ryder Cup players over the years. Luke Donald, Seve Ballesteros, Billy

Casper, Ray Floyd, Jose Maria Olazabal, etc. There have been some great Ryder Cup players who were not great putters like Sergio Garcia and Lee Trevino. But, the better golfers in the Ryder Cup are usually good putters.

My theory is that almost all of the players who are participating in the Ryder Cup are at least competent in the Danger Zone. Otherwise they would probably not make the Ryder Cup team. Thus, the difference goes to Putting, which is generally the second most important part of the game for Tour players.

The 2010 U.S. Ryder Cup team was expected to dominate the Europeans given the skill of the U.S. team. If you look at the metrics, the U.S. team was the dominant team on paper when it came to ballstriking and power. But, the Europeans had far better putters. A lot of people were up in arms over Corey Pavin’s perceived lack of preparation, but I think he was behind the 8-ball with so many weak putters on his team.

Thankfully, we have the Putts Gained metric to better gauge the true skill of a Tour player on the green. Furthermore, I have discussed this with AimPoint Golf founder, Mark Sweeney, and he has stated that they can track a golfer’s performance on flatter greens versus greens that have much more slope. What is interesting is that according to Sweeney, his research shows that there are plenty of golfers who can putt lights out from one style of greens and putt terrible from another style of greens. Thus, a smart Ryder Cup captain may want to use this data to better plan for his team.

Bogeys Not Birdies

I believe another poorly thought out theory with Ryder Cup selections is going after players who make a lot of birdies. That is one of the reasons why Mickelson plays in so many of the matches. He is usually in the top-10 in the percentage of birdies made and the thought is that if he can make 4 birdies in a round that is 4 holes where his team will win the hole.

First, a big hole in that theory is that just because Mickelson birdies a hole, it does not mean the team will automatically win. Teams halve the hole on birdies all of the time. Second, Phil is really making birdies off his own shots. When Phil is playing a regular tournament, he can bomb a drive, miss the fairway by a mile, hit an incredible shot over some trees to 15 feet and make the birdie putt. In the alternate shot format, he can’t make birdies solely off his own shot because he has to rely on a partner.

I also think that it hurts a player like Mickelson in the best ball (lowest score) format as well. If his partner hits his tee shot in the woods, now Mickelson feels like he has to be more conservative off the tee because his partner may be out of the hole. If he was playing a regular tournament, he may be aggressive off the tee because that is what he feels most comfortable doing and wind up playing much better golf in the end.

I believe that the best match players are generally the best at avoiding bogeys. Essentially, they are extending the amount of play on each hole and forcing their opponent to win the hole versus them losing the hole.

When it comes to looking at bogey avoidance and putting, it may require the Captain to make a pick that is a bit ‘outside the box.’ For instance, Brian Gay may be a very good Ryder Cup player. He is typically an elite putter and this year he ranked 24th in Bogey Avoidance. He is also one of the most accurate players off the tee. Pair him with a golfer who is not as good of a putter, but a good ballstriker that hit their irons a long way, they could be a very tough alternate shot team to beat. Of course, Gay’s lack of power may hinder him on a long Ryder Cup course, but if he is the type of player that is good at avoiding bogeys on longer courses (and just struggles to make birdies) and he putts well on the style of greens, he is the type of player a captain should

consider.

Keep Your Eye On The Ball

I think captains should also consider the type of ball a golfer uses. In the alternate shot format, the team has to pick 1 ball that they will use. While it may not seem like much of a difference, if a player is typically a low trajectory player that uses a higher launching and spinning ball to counter that low trajectory, they may struggle if they choose the ball of the playing partner who hits it higher and uses a low spinning ball.

I would probably try to keep the players who use the same golf ball make and model together in the alternate shot format.

Style Trumps Personality

What is amazing to me is how much the Ryder Cup captains worry about players meshing well together from a personality standpoint and usually completely neglect getting players who mesh well when it comes to their style of play.

This is one of the things I feel that Azinger did so well in the 2008 Ryder Cup. One of the teams that he put together that was just devastating was JB Holmes and Boo Weekley. Azinger would use them in the best ball format and they were almost unbeatable. Weekley is a premier ballstriker on Tour with his driver and his irons and hits it a long ways. In fact, he was driving it past Lee Westwood most of the time in that Ryder Cup. Weekley would tee off first, hit one about 300-330 yards right down the middle. And when he did, Holmes would ‘let the shaft out’ and would routinely bomb one 375 yards. If Holmes did not have an impeded shot, the team’s chances of making a birdie or better dramatically increased. The Euros stood almost no chance against that team because it was defeating to have Weekley out-drive the competition and find the fairway. Then if Holmes found the fairway 50% of the time, the team had an incredible advantage.

As great of a player as Mickelson is, I think this is why he struggles in the Ryder Cup format. He has such a unique style of play that most cannot replicate it. I would recommend that captains look at metrics like how well a player does from the rough versus the fairway, Short Game play, play from the different Zones, etc.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BELLY AND LONG PUTTERS

One of the hot button topics in golf was the belly and long putter. This initially started when Adam Scott switched the long putter and almost won the Masters. He then won at the Bridgestone Invitational with a hot putter. That was followed up by Keegan Bradley winning the PGA Championship the following week using a belly putter. From there, golfers rushed to golf stores wanting to get a belly putter and once again the debate rose as to whether or not they should be legalized. Eventually, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk switched to the belly putter as well.

The ideas behind the long putter and belly putter are somewhat similar, but there are some important differences. The main concept is that they are designed to allow the golfer to anchor the putter against their body while they swing the putter back and forth. Bernhard Langer popularized the long putter back in the 90’s as a way to counter his issues with the yips. Since the long putter anchors up against the chest, the golfer does not have to worry about the tension in their forearms causing them to ‘yip’ the putt. The belly putter is a similar concept, but the putter is anchored against the golfer’s belly.

The big difference between the two putters is in the lie angle. The long putter’s lie angle is almost 90 degrees vertical to the ground. The belly putter’s lie angle is slightly more vertical than your ‘standard’ putter with a lie angle around 76 degrees (standard putters are about 72 degrees). With the long putter’s lie angle so upright, this forces the golfer to swing the putter in more of a straight back and straight thru putting stroke. Since the belly putter has a flatter lie angle, it is meant to be swung back and thru on an arc.

Also, because of the more upright lie angle and the weight of the shaft, typically long putters have a mallet or high MOI putter head design. Many golfers do not like these putter head designs and they opt for the belly putter which tends to have more standard putter head designs like the Ping Anser style model or the Titleist Newport style model.

There is a good reason to not like the mallet or high MOI style putter heads. According to the Karlsen and Nilsson study on putting, most golfers thought they aimed the mallet and high MOI design putter heads better. But, in reality they aimed those putters worse when Karlsen and Nilsson measured their aim.

However, the moral of the essay is to determine the effectiveness of the belly and long putter. Here’s a list of golfers whom have used a belly or long putter over the years that there is some statistical data on:

Tim Clark (long)Chris Couch (long)Fred Couples (belly)Jim Furyk (belly)Retief Goosen (belly)J.B. Holmes (belly)Scott McCarron (long)Carl Pettersson (long)Adam Scott (long)Vijay Singh (long or belly)

Let’s rundown their rankings in the Putts Gained Metrics.

Tim Clark – Reportedly started using the long putter around 1996. Here are his rankings in Putts Gained (only goes back to 2004)

2004 – 107th

2005 – 136th

2006 – 45th

2007 – 2nd

2008 – 87th

2009 – 53rd

2010 – 48th

Chris Couch – According to reports, Couch switched to a long putter back in 2001.

2004 – 146th

2006 – 181st

2010 – 43rd

2011 – 44th

Fred Couples – Appears to have started using the belly putter in 2002-2003.

2004 – 184th

2005 – 195th 2006 – 148th

2008 – 91st

2009 – 151st

Jim Furyk – Switched over to the belly putter in the 2nd half of 2011.

2006 – 10th

2007 – 107th

2008 – 36th

2009 – 8th

2010 – 26th

2011 – 150th

Retief Goosen – Used the belly putter in 2008, used a standard length putter before and after.

2005 – 87th

2006 – 54th 2007 – 108th

2008 – 135th

2009 – 26th

2010 – 7th

2011 – 41st

JB Holmes – I believe he has used a belly putter his entire PGA Tour career.

2006 – 175th 2007 – 189th 2008 – 115th 2009 – 176th

2010 – 89th

2011 – 118th

Scott McCarron – McCarron started using the Long putter since the 90’s.

2004 – 68th

2005 – 43rd

2008 – 60th

2009 – 23rd

2010 – 17th

2011 – 9th

Carl Pettersson – Pettersson has used a long putter his entire PGA Tour career.

2004 – 23rd

2005 – 85th

2006 – 33rd

2007 – 47th

2008 – 14th

2009 – 46th

2010 – 2nd

2011 – 23rd

Adam Scott – Made the switch to the long putter this year.

2004 – 1st

2005 – 102nd

2006 – 149th

2007 – 74th

2008 – 178th

2009 – 180th

2010 – 186th

2011 – 143rd

Vijay Singh – Difficult to decipher since he switches between long, belly and standard putters throughout the year.

2004 – 104th

2005 – 57th

2006 – 62nd

2007 – 110th

2008 – 172nd

2009 – 174th

2010 – 185th

2011 – 130th

My interpretation of this data is that we generally saw better putting from the golfers with the long putters than the belly putters. However, it appeared that the long putters who stuck with the long putter for a long period of time usually reaped the rewards. In particular McCarron, Pettersson and Couch. Although it should be noted that McCarron started working with the AimPoint green reading system in 2009 (his caddy, Bradley Whittle is a certified instructor of AimPoint) and that’s when his putting went from above average to elite.

However, the belly putter had less success. Paul Azinger is one of the proponents of the belly putter and his ‘Putts Gained’ rankings were 55th, 79th and 36th from 2004 thru 2006. The problem with looking at Azinger’s rankings is that we don’t know exactly how well he putted with the standard length putter before. And even JB Holmes, who has used the belly putter for a long time, has never really developed into a very good putter like some of the golfers who have used the long putter for a long time.

On that note, perhaps Adam Scott may have made the right move with the long putter if he does stick with it for a few more years. However, he was ranked 177th in Putts Gained until the Bridgestone Invitational where he putted lights out. And what is interesting is Scott actually finished 1st in Putts Gained in 2004, when he was using a standard length putter.

In fact, look at the top-20 in Putts Gained over the last 3 years (bold are for players using a long or belly putter):

2011

1. Luke Donald2. Steve Stricker3. Bryce Molder4. Charlie Wi5. Greg Chalmers6. Fredrik Jacobson7. Jason Day8. Kevin Na9. Scott McCarron10. Brandt Snedeker11. Zach Johnson12. Nick Watney13. Hunter Mahan14. Ryan Moore15. Angel Cabrera16. Dean Wilson17. Brian GayT18. Matt McQuillanT18. David Toms20. Geoff Ogilvy

2010

1. Luke Donald2. Carl Pettersson3. Paul Casey4. Dean Wilson5. Greg Chalmers6. Brian Gay7. Retief Goosen8. Matt Kuchar9. Chad Collins10. Zach Johnson11. Charlie Wi12. Ryuji Imada13. Troy Merritt14. Michael SimT15. Aaron BaddeleyT15. Matt Jones17. Scott McCarron18. Kevin Na19. Bryce Molder20. Brandt Snedeker

2009

1. Luke Donald2. Tiger Woods3. Brad Faxon4. Brandt Snedeker5. Ben Curtis6. Bryce Molder7. Brian GayT8. Greg ChalmersT8. Jim Furyk10. Matt Kuchar11. Parker McLachlin12. Matt Jones13. Aaron Baddeley14. Bob Heintz15. Webb Simpson16. Jason Day17. Fredrik Jacobson18. Joe Ogilvie

19. Pat Perez20. Geoff Ogilvy

I conclude that the elite putters on Tour are almost always using a standard length putter. I think if I had to choose between a long putter or belly putter, I would probably go with the long putter given better ‘Putts Gained’ metrics with the long putters. However, I would probably stick with the standard length putter unless I had a certifiable case of the yips or a bad back. Otherwise, I do not believe that the long or belly putter will help improve a poor putter’s success on the greens.

THE MOST UNDERRATED CLUB IN THE BAG

Over the years, technology has greatly influenced how the game has been played. Golfers are hitting the ball further than ever, but also missing more fairways than ever. Technology has also changed the golf equipment industry as well. Back in the 80’s and earlier, it was quite common for a good golfer to have every piece of equipment in their bag to be made by the same manufacturer, whether it be the driver, the irons, the wedges or the putter.

Part of that was also due to the way the equipment industry was designed. As a golfer who grew up playing the game in the 1980’s, I can tell you that most golfers got their equipment from their local pro shop. And whatever line of equipment the pro shop carried is what most of the avid golfers at their course used. For example, my golf course was very much into selling clubs and they had a lot of different accounts with manufacturers like Ping, MacGregor, Hogan and Taylor Made. Thus, the members at the course almost exclusively carried equipment from one of those four manufacturers. However, other courses around the area usually had only 1 or 2 accounts. One of the golf clubs about 15 minutes away carried only Wilson equipment. And almost all of their members carried Wilson clubs. Another club 10 minutes away carried Powerbilt and Ping, which almost all of their members had in their bags. And those who wanted to have different equipment than what their club had to offer were usually relegated to making a trip to the course whose pro shop had the equipment they wanted.

Today, most pro shops are not very serious about equipment and many do not carry any equipment whatsoever. Golfers can now go to retail chain golf shops or smaller shops that usually have more advanced club fitters for clubs. And long gone are the days of using all of the clubs from one manufacturer. Often times golfers utilize a driver, fairway woods, hybrid, long irons, mid-to-short irons, wedges, putter and ball; each from different OEM’s.

What we have seen for the most part is OEM’s who ‘specialize’ in drivers or hybrids or irons or wedges or putters. However, we really have not seen an OEM that specializes in the 3-wood, which I believe to be the most underrated club in the bag.

When titanium first came out, OEM’s started making their 3-woods out of titanium. The problem was that they were too big for the golfer to get up in the air and were very difficult to hit off a tight lie. Eventually, OEM’s tried to shallow the clubhead in order to get the center of gravity lower. But, often times they did it too much and created a club that did not work that well off the tee. Furthermore, since golfers do hit the ground with a 3-wood, the lie angle of the club was very important and up until the last year or so, golfers could not adjust the lie angle of the 3-wood to their liking.

Of course, some of this has changed recently with ‘adapter sleeves’ or steel hosels that allow the golfer to change the lie and the loft a little more to their liking. In fact, one of the issues that golfers had was that they hit their driver so much longer than their 3-wood because they are made from a different material and do not have the same COR (aka trampoline effect) as the driver. Recently, Wishon Golf and now Taylor Made have made fairway woods that have the same COR as the driver, helping decrease the yardage gap between the two clubs. Still, the issues that OEM’s have had with the 3-wood, I believe has created an opportunity where good 3-wood players can make up strokes on the field.

One metric I have paid close attention to is the PGA Tour’s ‘Par-5 Go For Its.’ The reason being is that statistically speaking, there is a very strong correlation in the percentage of times that a golfer goes for a Par-5 in two shots and par-5 scoring average.

However, we must first define a ‘Go For It’:

‘A player is assumed to be going for the green if the second shot lands on or around the green or in the water. Only shots determined by a laser count. Note: 'Around the green' indicates the ball is within 30 yards of the edge of the green.’

It’s important to note that last part, highlighted in bold and italics. If a golfer has a 300 yard shot to the flagstick and is not actually ‘going for the green’, but hits their 3-wood 260 yards; they can wind up with being counted as a ‘Go For It’ if the ball winds up within 30 yards of the edge of the green. Since there is such a high correlation between par-5 scoring average and ‘Go For Its’, this indicates that even if a golfer is not actually trying to get the ball on the green in 2 shots on a par-5, they greatly reduce their expected score if they can hit a 3-wood well enough to get it within 30 yards of the front edge of the green.

One of the metrics I have is called ‘Par-5 Aggressiveness.’ This is where I take the golfer’s ranking in par-5 ‘Go For Its’ and subtract their ranking in driving distance from it. Thus, if a golfer ranks 70th in Par-5 ‘Go For Its’ and 97th in Driving Distance, their ‘Par-5 Aggressiveness’ is -27. The lower the number, the more aggressive a golfer is on a par-5. I estimate any golfer with a number of around -20 is ‘aggressive.’ -40 would be ‘very aggressive.’ Anything less than -50 is ‘extremely aggressive’ (Kevin Na led the Tour this year with a rating of -82).

One of the things I did was I took the following metrics:

A. Player who finished in the top-50 in Proximity to the Cup from 250-275 yards (3-wood range).

B. Player who was -20 or less in ‘Par-5 Aggressiveness.’

There were 11 players who fit into this category:

Andres RomeroBilly Mayfair Boo WeekleyChris Couch George McNeillJ.J. HenryJohn Senden Ryan MooreSergio GarciaSunghoon Kang Webb Simpson

Only 1 of these players failed to finish in the top-125 on the Money List, Boo Weekley, who was the worst putter on Tour and one of the worst Short Game players this year.

I then looked at players who finished in the top-50 from 250-275 yards and were -1 or less in ‘Par-5 Aggressiveness.’ There were 24 players who fit into this category.

Andres RomeroAngel Cabrera Ben Martin Billy Mayfair Boo Weekley

Charley Hoffman Chris Couch George McNeillJ.J. HenryJarrod Lyle John Senden Kevin ChappellKris Blanks Lucas GloverMarc Leishman Matt Jones Phil MickelsonRicky BarnesRobert Garrigus Ryan MooreSergio GarciaStuart ApplebySunghoon Kang Webb Simpson

19 of the 24 players (79%) were in the top-125 on the money list.

Lastly, I looked at the top-50 players from 250-275 yards away, regardless of their Par-5 Aggressiveness. 37 of the 50 (74%) were in the top-125 on the Money List.

I believe that what is happening is that with the change in technology, the 3-wood has become a ‘problem club’ for more golfers, including PGA Tour players. And those who can master the 3-wood can gain an advantage on the field. Furthermore, golfers who consistently hit the 3-wood well on par-5’s, can get within that 30 yard range of the edge of the green, even when they have no chance of actually hitting the green in 2 shots. And getting the ball within 30 yards of the edge of the green appears to greatly lower the expected score than if a player leaves it more than 30 yards from the edge of the green. Lastly, a great 3-wood player can utilize that club on par-4’s where a driver is not feasible. These are holes that can be very difficult for golfers because if they cannot hit their 3-wood well off the tee, they may wind up making a high score on a hole with an errant tee short or forced to take lesser club off the tee, such as a hybrid, and leave themselves further away from the hole on the approach shot and thus raising their expected score.

3jack golf 2011 pro golf synopsis

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