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To Much Focus On Averages......Will Bring you Trouble

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 7:37 AM

  I would say that this post is more for the new player than anyone else. Focusing on your average will bring you nothing but pain, anger, frustration and eventually some explode on the forum board about how this game sucks! Often they never realize they have unintentionally brought a lot of this on themselves. Your average is a culmination of how you play and what you play. To often newer players stick with Saint Andrews and Kiawah and their average drops rapidly because of the ease of these courses. To make this worse they do not complete their bad rounds (more so before the average's change).

  So what's it going to be chief....do you want a great average next to your name or do you want to be able to compete. If you want to compete you are going to have to play this game the way many at the top have IMO. So how have they done it? I believe the answer is in their stats but to break it down it is in their short game...........

  1. What is your Scrambling and Sand Percentage.....After looking at 15 players (5 legend, 5 Tour Masters and 5 Masters) on average they were at 72.2% and 70.4% respectively. This all goes to Pitching, Chipping and Flopping.

  2. Those same 15 had a putting average of 1.44% per hole. 

  Focus has to be on the short game to become a big game player. I would love to hear from others who have been around a lot longer than me on their opinions about this. Thanks in advance and this is just my opinion on this game.

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 8:55 AM

  lol

• andyson 6,415 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 9:44 AM

  SGTBilko:

  Focus has to be on the short game to become a big game player. I would love to hear from others who have been around a lot longer than me on their opinions about this. Thanks in advance and this is just my opinion on this game.

  I agree Sarge!  Focusing on my short game IRL, by practicing wedges, chipping and pitching as well as putting exclusively for months, shaved the most strokes off my game and allowed me to shoot in the 70s consistently.  It works on this game too.

  I'd also like to add how important it is to include full and choked down wedge shots in the definition of "short game".  I checked the stats of 6 of the top players( including iconian and nivlac because I'm a suck-up. LOL)  GIR are all around 80%+ and avg distance to the pin is 10 to 12 ft!  That is amazing!

  Keep in mind,  these stats are all inclusive of when they had starter clubs and were Hacks and Ams.  In reality now I doubt they'd miss 3 or 4 greens in 18.  More likely, they miss only 1 or 2 per 18, and they hit them close.

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 10:14 AM

  andyson:

  I'd also like to add how important it is to include full and choked down wedge shots in the definition of "short game".  I checked the stats of 6 of the top players( including iconian and nivlac because I'm a suck-up. LOL)  GIR are all around 80%+ and avg distance to the pin is 10 to 12 ft!  That is amazing!

  I agree with you Andy but GIR for the beginners is something of a double edge sword. If you play Kiawah and SA you will tend to have a higher GIR than say someone who plays all 4 courses. A good GIR on BP and Oakmont is tougher but I think these are great courses for improving the scrambling and sand %'s. I think the GIR will come with the experience....IMO! What do you think?

• WGTicon 12,511 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 10:46 AM

  I am also surprised why so many players just stick to STA or Kiawah or both. BP and Oakmont, in view offer so much more variety and chance to learn new shots.

  Course management is key and often with sta or kiawah, you do not get a chance to learn that invaluable skill.

  Great post guys!

  -wgticon

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Thu, Nov 25 2010 10:57 AM

  WGTicon:

  Course management is key and often with sta or kiawah, you do not get a chance to learn that invaluable skill.

  And you pay for it in the long run. Funny, when someone complains about how hard the game has gotten since making master I shoot straight over to the stats.......WALLAH!

• Canada15 84 Posts

  Sun, Nov 28 2010 12:13 PM

  playters shud be concerned about avg.. its what the game shud be about.  in my opinion, if u dont play to ur potential u are cheating.  ex. staying at tour pro just so u can shoot low scores and use the ping rapture driver is unfair.  come back to the master tees and ill kick ur ass.  playing MPC against a 73 avg who birdies 5 holes from the tour pro tees is not right.

• mohuyu 891 Posts

  Sun, Nov 28 2010 1:22 PM

  SGTBilko:

  WGTicon:

  Course management is key and often with sta or kiawah, you do not get a chance to learn that invaluable skill.

   

  And you pay for it in the long run. Funny, when someone complains about how hard the game has gotten since making master I shoot straight over to the stats.......WALLAH!

  Sgt you have to remember that the stats of people who have played relatively little ranked rounds will be incredibly skewed and will not be a good indication of their skill. Stats however important do not tell the complete story and neither does average. I really don't worry about them - all I care about is whether I am satisfied with my current level of play.

• SGTBilko 1,686 Posts

  Sun, Nov 28 2010 1:26 PM

  mohuyu:

  SGTBilko:

  WGTicon:

  Course management is key and often with sta or kiawah, you do not get a chance to learn that invaluable skill.

   

  And you pay for it in the long run. Funny, when someone complains about how hard the game has gotten since making master I shoot straight over to the stats.......WALLAH!

   

  Sgt you have to remember that the stats of people who have played relatively little ranked rounds will be incredibly skewed and will not be a good indication of their skill. Stats however important do not tell the complete story and neither does average. I really don't worry about them - all I care about is whether I am satisfied with my current level of play.

  No I agree and understand that. my point was to the opposite though. You see someone who progressed to quickly because they played Kiawah and SA and then suddenly they are screaming because they never practiced on their short game.