For years the world of golf has attempted to quantify the game with the idea that data will somehow improve the experience and provide information as to what and how to improve performance. The various professional tours have invested millions of dollars in order to gather the data that can be boiled down into about 600 statistical categories. Those of us not affiliated with professional tours are encouraged to gather, record and keep our own stats so that we too can improve our golfing experience and provide a basis for improving our games.

And now, many years later we have Greens in Regulation, Driving Distance, Driving Accuracy, Putts Made from every conceivable distance, Proximity to the Hole from every conceivable distance and a whole range of analysis based upon the advanced notion of “Shots Gained.” Some of these stats have added to the experience, but none of them have actually helped most of us improve our games.

And why is that?

For example, if a player had 27 putts in a round, what did he/she shoot? Meanwhile, Phil Michelson shot a 59 to win the 2004 PGA Grand Slam of Golf hitting only three fairways. And, how is missing a fairway by inches automatically a negative while hitting a green leaving a 90-foot putt a good thing?

Instead of beating up on all of the unnecessary and unproductive stats and all of the data points necessary to base averages and the like, I will share with you the one single most useful and helpful stat that I have used and tested — and it only requires a binary response. A simple “Yes” or “No” to the question: “Did the shot produce the result that I tried to produce?”

• For the beginning player, getting the ball off the ground and going generally in the right direction for some acceptable distance would be a “Yes” answer.
• For the high-handicap player, getting the ball off the ground and going generally in the right direction for some acceptable distance without going out of bounds or into a hazard would be a “Yes” answer.
• For the middle-handicap player, a shot that has the general appearance of correctness without going out of bounds or into a hazard would be a “Yes” answer.

For the low-handicap or professional player, more specific definitions or targets are necessary. Meaning, does the ball flight have the “General Appearance of Correctness” (GAC) and is the ball coming to rest within the intended target area. “GAC” refers to direction, trajectory, distance and curve. The better the player, the more exact would be the standard for GAC. For your general information, “targets” are stated objectives into which the player desires the ball to come to rest.

I define targets as:

• Large Target: a “box” being 40 yards wide and as deep as desired (a rectangle, a parallelogram or a square)
• Small Target: an area* having a radius of 10 yards or 30 feet
• Scoring Target: an area having a radius of 10 feet
• Short Game Scoring Target: an area having a radius of 3 feet

*Note: Areas are defined as having the shape of a circle, a semi-circle, a triangle or a fan

As a point of interest, it isn’t usually necessary or desirable to define targets in more definitive terms. You may have noticed that there wasn’t any references to the pin, the green, the fairway or the hole. They may or may not be considerations when targeting, and they may or may not be within the boundaries of the actual targets!

“Byron [Nelson] said that the secret to playing Augusta National was to play to the green, not the pins,” Ben Hogan said after his 1942 playoff loss to Nelson at the Masters.

I concede that there are a few major flaws to this system. First, the player is required to be honest. Second, the player is required to record all of the “No” answers onto a “scorecard” that then becomes a permanent record for that round. Third, the player must determine if the “No’s” were a result of bad decision making or substandard execution. Finally, the player must schedule and then do both the physical and mental practice that turns the “No’s” into “Yeses.”

So, what percentage of the time is a player in the right position for the shot about to be played, how is the right position determined, and how does being in the correct position actually effect scoring? A topic for another time.

Ready to get started? I will email you the scorecard I use by request. Contact me at [email protected].