Background
Going into this weekend's event at Riviera, I noticed that greenside sand was rated 5th most difficult of the 43 PGA Tour courses rated in 2013 based upon % saves. This made me take a look at the other side of the sand game - Errors (shots that miss the green). This number was surpisingly high (17%) when compared to the Tour average for 2013 (11%). I thought it worth pointing out to the tour players with whom I consult. I also gave it to Damon Hack, host of Morning Drive on the Golf Channel, labeling it as a "Thing one can't find in the Tour stats." Damon was then good enough to mention it and Shot By Shot.com on the air.
Followup
The errors from the sand for the field at Riviera were down just a bit
from last year, to only 16%. Perhaps some players took my warning to
heart. I found it interesting that the
TOP-5 finishers were worse than the field in this relatively unknown and undesirable stat. The TOP-5 sand errors were 19% (7 of 37
attempts from greenside sand missed the green).
Unbelievable? I thought so until
I looked at the Winner's sand game.
Bubba Watson committed four errors in only nine attempts (44%).
It is unusual for the Winner to have ANY errors let along FOUR. These errors resulted in the only 3 double bogies
that he made this week and a bogey. To be fair, Bubba also holed out from the sand for birdie in the 4th round.
When I entered Bubba's sand results into ShotByShot.com, his average putting distance of 13 feet and 44% errors produced a robust 32 handicap. So the sand is clearly not Bubba's strength. Thus far this year, Bubba is ranked #170 in
saves @ 27.5%. The Tour Average is
46.7%. My guess: Bubba's Riviera errors were
not a fluke. Obviously, when one has the
power to bring a course to its knees and a hot putter, he can overcome a few
errors...
