If you look to the PGA Golf Tour Stats to see what Steve Stricker did last weekend to win, you'd conclude that it was his PUTTING, aided by great SAND PLAY. Here are Steve's stats and rankings for the Northern Trust Open:
- Driving Accuracy = T10- Driving Distance = T37
- Putts Per Round = 1
- Putts Per GIR = 3
- Greens In Reg = T10
- Sand Saves = T 1
These indicators of performance could not be more misleading. To point out exactly why, I analyzed Steve's performance on ShotByShot.com and compared it to that of the 2009 Winners on the PGA Tour:
Long Game Efficiency
Steve's accuracy off the tee was acceptable, albeit slightly below the 2009 Winners. He hit just under 10 fairways vs. 10+ for our 2009 Winners - no big deal. He made one mistake - drove into a fairway bunker on #9 (3rd round), and could only advance the ball 90 yards (half way to the green) BUT did make a 1-putt for par. Most important, Steve averaged only 11 GIR's which is more than 2 fewer than our 2009 Winners' 13.4. Bottom line, Steve's Long Game Efficiency Index (patent pending) came out to 2.96 vs. the 2009 Winners' 2.4.
Putting
Long Game Efficiency
Steve's accuracy off the tee was acceptable, albeit slightly below the 2009 Winners. He hit just under 10 fairways vs. 10+ for our 2009 Winners - no big deal. He made one mistake - drove into a fairway bunker on #9 (3rd round), and could only advance the ball 90 yards (half way to the green) BUT did make a 1-putt for par. Most important, Steve averaged only 11 GIR's which is more than 2 fewer than our 2009 Winners' 13.4. Bottom line, Steve's Long Game Efficiency Index (patent pending) came out to 2.96 vs. the 2009 Winners' 2.4.
Putting
Here lies the most dramatic discrepancy between PGA Tour stats and meaningful performance measurement. The heart of the issue is, as loyal readers of this blog can now recite by heart, that Putts per Round and Putts per GIR ignore the distance of the putting opportunities. While ranked #1 and #3 respectively in these stats, Steve's putting did not match up well to the 2009 Winners. Notice the ShotByShot.com graphic above showing Steve's 1-Putt percentages by distance range vs. our 2009 Winners. He is consistently below their standard.
Our analysis further revealed that the greatest difference fell in the 6 to 10 foot range in which he had 18 attempts and only made 9 (50%). Our 2009 Winners made 12 (66%) in this range. This is a large margin in a critical distance range.
How then, did Steve Win?
Our analysis further revealed that the greatest difference fell in the 6 to 10 foot range in which he had 18 attempts and only made 9 (50%). Our 2009 Winners made 12 (66%) in this range. This is a large margin in a critical distance range.
How then, did Steve Win?
His short game - not necessarily his sand game - was the best I have seen. He had 26 short game opportunities (25 chip/pitch and 1 sand), and saved 20 of 26, or 77%. By way of perspective, Tiger lead the Tour in 2009 in scrambling @ 68%. More importantly, while Steve's putting helped, it was not the key. He simply chipped it really close. His average putting distance after his 25 Chip/Pitch shots was an incredible 3.8 feet. This compares to 5.9 feet by our 2009 Winners, and just outside 10 feet for the average 10 handicap. Further, of his 1-putt "saves," only 3 were outside 4 feet, and his average putting distance 2.5 feet. Even I might have been able to make most of those!
Included in the above short game numbers are Steve's 4 hole-outs from off the green. It is interesting that the Tour Winners do generally hole out once on their way to victory, but 4 is extraordinary. These were not putts from the fringe either. The closest was from 7 yards and the other three were all 20 yards or more from the hole.
One final shot at Tour Stats
Remember that Stricker was tied for #1 in Sand Saves. Exactly how good was his sand game? Hard to be sure as he only had one sand opportunity, but that effort flew the green missing the flag by 7 yards. The ShotByShot.com game analysis would consider that an ERROR. The "Save" came in when he holed out from the intermediate rough. So much for the Sand Save stat being a barometer of performance...
Included in the above short game numbers are Steve's 4 hole-outs from off the green. It is interesting that the Tour Winners do generally hole out once on their way to victory, but 4 is extraordinary. These were not putts from the fringe either. The closest was from 7 yards and the other three were all 20 yards or more from the hole.
One final shot at Tour Stats
Remember that Stricker was tied for #1 in Sand Saves. Exactly how good was his sand game? Hard to be sure as he only had one sand opportunity, but that effort flew the green missing the flag by 7 yards. The ShotByShot.com game analysis would consider that an ERROR. The "Save" came in when he holed out from the intermediate rough. So much for the Sand Save stat being a barometer of performance...
No comments:
Post a Comment