September 2011
SONOMA
COUNTY
SPORTS
& ACTIVITIES Let's Talk "Stats" Shall We?
A little boy, at a wedding looks at his mom and says, "Mommy, why does the bride wear white?"
JOKE #12 Pg 26
His mom replies, "The bride is in white because she's happy and this is the happi- est day of her life."
The boys thinks about this, and then says, "Well then why is the groom wearing black..."
LOCAL GOLF COURSES!
Northwood Golf Club
Monte Rio - (707) 865-1116 Tayman Park
By Steve Donner, PGA Teaching Professional And PING Certified Club Fitter Santa Rosa Golf & Country Club •
donner@pga.com
SANTA ROSA,CA. ~ Statistics or, “stats” for short, is the practice or science of collecting and analyzing numerical data, i.e. number crunching! Stats are kept on just about everything and it is used a lot in the sports world. Just look at the Major League Baseball section of the sports page and you will see plenty of stats. Batting aver- ages, slugging percentages, wins versus losses and on and on. Keeping statistics shows us, numerically, where we are strong and where we are weak, who is playing well and who is slumping. Knowing this information can guide one to work on the weak areas to help them get better. Now, let us look at some of the golf statistics that you can collect and evaluate to help find your strengths and weaknesses in your golf game. The stats that I recommend golfers keep are Fairways-in-Regulation (FIR), Greens-in-Regulation (GIR), Up & Downs (U/D), Sand Saves (S/S), and Putting Average per GIR (PA/GIR).
A FIR is when your drive off the tee comes to rest in the short-cut or fairway. Usually, there are fourteen chances to hit the fairway in a round of golf (18 holes minus four Par 3 holes). The FIR percentage is found by taking the number of fairways hit divided by the opportunities. Example: 6 of 14 fairways hit = 6/14 = .43 or 43%. (PGA Tour Avg. is 60.89%). I don’t focus much on this stat because one does not have to hit the fairway to have a chance to hit the green, which brings us to our next golf stat, GIR. This stat is one of the two most important stats in golf. Why is this stat one of the two most impor- tant stats in golf? A GIR is achieved by having your first shot on a Par 3, second shot on a Par 4, or third shot on a Par 5 stop on the green. Think about it, if you hit 12 GIR in a round, you would have 12 putts for a birdie! To find the GIR percentage take the number of GIR divided by 18 holes. Example: 12/18 = .67 or 67%. (PGA Tour Avg. is
26 • September 2011 • UPBEAT TIMES
63.54%). Next is U/D. An Up & Down is a chip or pitch to the green from inside 50 yards and a one-putt. One shot UP (on the green), and one shot DOWN (in the hole). This stat is a combination of chipping/pitching and putting. Total up your U/D achieved and divide by the total num- ber of U/D attempted to find your average. An S/S is an Up & Down from the bunker. You can keep U/D and S/S stats separate or group them together as general short game stats, which the PGA Tour calls Scrambling. Lastly, and the second of the two most important stats, is PA/GIR. All you do here is count the num- ber of putts on GIR holes only and then divide by the number of GIR. This will give you your average putts per green- in-regulation. Example: Putts on GIR holes = 20, GIR = 12, PA/GIR = 20/12 = 1.67 putts per green-in-regulation. That number is like a Tour Player. A good goal is to have less than a 2.0 PA/GIR. I recom- mend that you keep track of
your putts on each hole. This, obviously, helps with figuring our your PA/GIR, but will also show you how many one-putts and three-putts or more that you make. Eliminate three- putting as soon as you can because that is just throwing away strokes. Most of us practice on the part of the game that we are good. “The stats don’t lie.” They show us where we should be practic- ing to make our game better. Keep stats, practice the weak areas, and enjoy getting better. Until next time…..Fairways & Greens! (Pun intended)!
Until next time…. Fairways & Greens.
Healdsburg - (707) 433-4275 Windsor Golf Club
Windsor - (707) 838-7888
Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club
Santa Rosa - (707) 546-3485
Bennett Valley Golf Course Santa Rosa - 707-528-3673
Fountain Grove Golf & Athletic Club
Santa Rosa - 707-521-3222
Foxtail Golf Club Rohnert Park 707-584-7766
Links at Bodega Harbour Bodega Bay - 800-503-8158
Oakmont Golf Club Santa Rosa - 707-539-0415
Rooster Run Golf Club Petaluma - 707-778-1211
Sebastopol Golf Course Sebastopol - 707-823-9852 Wikiup Golf Course
Santa Rosa - 707-546-8787
You Can Sponsor our local golf course spot here! Call Paul@ 707-494-1767
Adversity is the fi rst path to truth. ~Lord Byron
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32