Colorado WRX 2024

[Dancin]

Going over my stats for the year now that I have a full year of shot scope tracking data in. Really good information with some of it I knew and some I didn't. I knew I was an excellent driver, but the stats really show it as I am almost equivalent to a scratch golfer in strokes gained with my driver and a little over 2 strokes gained over the average 5 handicap.

 

It also showed what I already knew in that my 5 wood is deadly. I am much better being in 5 wood distance than 4 hybrid or 5/6 iron distance. It also showed that I really should consider replacing my very old 3 wood with something newer that is easier to get up in the air and goes farther. On average I get about 10-15 yards more out of the 3 wood vs the 5 but my misses are dramatically worse. I'd like to see that closer to 20 more yards with less bad shots and I think pretty much any of the newer 3 woods would do that over my 20+ year old one.

 

I spent the second half of the year really working on my approach shots after seeing how much I was losing on those in the stats in the first half of the year. I figured out my yardages for 50 and 75% swings and started using more club and swinging at those instead of full club swings in addition to aiming more at the center of greens instead of pins and the stats show a big improvement in my last 15 rounds vs the rest of the year. I went from being almost a stroke under the average 5 handicap in approach shots to gaining over 2 strokes on approach shots vs the avg 5 handicap in my last 15 rounds and gaining over 3 strokes vs the avg 5 handicap in my last 5 rounds. This alone made tracking my shots for the year all worth it.

 

I knew my short game was the weakest and that showed. I had assumed using the 60 degree wedge was killing me, but the stats show I'm pretty equal on distance from the hole and up and downs whether using a 55 or a 60. Basically I really need to work on using wedges around the greens. My stats with my 4 hybrid, putter and other clubs where I tend to run shots up instead of air them are dramatically better. There is some selection bias in there as a running shot likely has a clean view of the pin, but it still shows I really need to work on my wedges around the greens and I am almost a whole stroke lost vs the average 5 handicap.

 

A big surprise was in the putting. I thought I was about average but the stats say I lose .79 strokes vs the average 5 handicap in putting. The big issue for me appears to be 7-15 foot putts where my make percentage is almost 10% less than the average 5 handicap, so I'll be working more on that distance. It did confirm that my putting on very long putts is better than the average 5 which I suspected and I thought my short putting under 6 feet was much worse, but it said I am right there to slightly above the avg 5 handicap.

 

If you're really interested in improving you should get and use one of the shot tracking systems. While I think you can learn quite a bit by not editing the data and just taking it as is, I do think you have to spend the time writing down your distances especially on the greens on your scorecard and then editing the rounds in the system afterwards to get the most out of them. GPS just isn't consistently accurate down to the foot, so if you want accurate stats on and around the green you do have to put a little work in. I write my distances to the pin on the scorecard for all shots and putts (e.g. starting short 20 feet, missed right and long 2 feet) and then it takes me about 5-8 minutes editing the data in the system at night comparing it to the scorecard. I'm only familiar with shot scope but I assume arccos and the other systems are similar. Shot Scope is nice in that they don't charge you an annual fee, so all you have to do is buy the club tags that screw into the grip ends and something to read them. The newest watch from them is supposedly sensitive enough that you don't have to tap the club screw anymore and it detects it when you are holding the club. They also have ones that work with a cell phone app and don't require you to wear anything.

Edited December 1, 2024 by Dancin

[jda]

10 hours ago, Dancin said:

A big surprise was in the putting. I thought I was about average but the stats say I lose .79 strokes vs the average 5 handicap in putting. The big issue for me appears to be 7-15 foot putts where my make percentage is almost 10% less than the average 5 handicap, so I'll be working more on that distance. It did confirm that my putting on very long putts is better than the average 5 which I suspected and I thought my short putting under 6 feet was much worse, but it said I am right there to slightly above the avg 5 handicap.

 

I have only played with you a couple of times, but I thought that you were an excellent putter capable of striking the ball right where you wanted it.  While improvement can be great at any distance, I would consider that most 5 handicaps have a "home" course and probably do not play all over the place like you do, nor would their numbers be as good on the fescue out east where I also thought that you putted well.  Perhaps I just saw good days, but there was talent there.

 

My guess is that if you played 70% of your rounds at the same place, you would be strokes gained putting of .5 or more.  Elite.  Club players cannot really be compared to touring players.  If there is a way, see if your app/system allows only comparison with players who play like you do.

 

I know that this is impossible with the apps and stuff since you don't know the other golfers, but as a former data scientist at Google, data is near worthless.  Turning it into information is good, but knowledge is the ultimate which is nearly impossible with golf stats.  You can get some information by knowing your game and how you enhanced the stats, but you would need to collaborate with a few dozen other people with the same breath/depth of stats and understanding of their game to try and glean any true knowledge.  Without any real information or knowledge, my guess is that a player who plays all over is a tick better than what any standard numbers would suggest.

[Joelness]

I love the stats @Dancin! 

 

It sure helps to get an idea where your weaknesses are so you can spend more time working on those. In those rounds where the categories have been better, how have your scores been?

[Dancin]

22 hours ago, Joelness said:

I love the stats @Dancin! 

 

It sure helps to get an idea where your weaknesses are so you can spend more time working on those. In those rounds where the categories have been better, how have your scores been?

I'm usually shooting 70s any time most of my stats are better than the average 5 handicap. The system actually started defaulting to comparing me to a scratch golfer instead of a 5 since my rounds at the end of the year have improved so much. I keep switching it back since it's too demoralizing to see how much I need to improve to match a scratch golfer. Driving is only a tiny fraction behind scratch in strokes gained, but the rest are way behind. When I'm consistently beating the avg 5 hdcp, then I'll compare to scratch.

 

I played Todd Creek from the black tees (6900 yards/72.5/133) today and shot 82 but it probably should have been upper 70s with the way I was playing. I was pulling all my putts through a bunch of the front 9 and missed 4 short putts I should have made. After freaking out and looking more closely I noticed my grip had slightly shifted on the putter and after I turned it back that issue was resolved. The strokes gained stats vs avg 5 hdcp clearly showed that

Edited December 9, 2024 by Dancin

[CDM]

On 12/1/2024 at 9:53 AM, jda said:

 

I thought that you were an excellent putter capable of striking the ball right where you wanted it. 

 

We talking about the same @Dancin

 

 

🤪

[CDM]

Played this weekend.  Plan was going down to Four Mile Ranch but changed that up to Common Ground since a tee time opened up.  CG for Mid December is in great shape.  Wind picked up a bit on the last 6 holes, not bad so made it well worth playing. 

[pseudoswede]

3 hours ago, CDM said:

Played this weekend.  Plan was going down to Four Mile Ranch but changed that up to Common Ground since a tee time opened up.  CG for Mid December is in great shape.  Wind picked up a bit on the last 6 holes, not bad so made it well worth playing. 

 

I bet if you were able to post your score, your index would've dropped 2-3 points. Shame. 🤣

[CDM]

On 12/16/2024 at 12:58 PM, pseudoswede said:

 

I bet if you were able to post your score, your index would've dropped 2-3 points. Shame. 🤣

 

😎

*Sadly not this time. Was not a good round but was fun.  No doubles though which was good.  I had not played since Mid October so 2 months and I only went to the range one time during that.  A lot going on with family and work. 

[Joelness]

Who wants to join at Fox Hill tomorrow? Supposed to be gorgeous!

[birdiemachine]

I saw a post on reddit about the USGA GHIN index distribution chart so I thought it would be interesting to see what the men's club at CommonGround looked like so I did a quick calculation using indexes  as of the club championship date.  There were 323 players who were in the men's club this year.  Range from +2.5 to 27.2.  Arithmetic mean of 8.4.  And the distribution looks like this:

Edited December 20, 2024 by birdiemachine

[pseudoswede]

On one hand, it would seem like most men's clubs might attract better than average golfers who want to be slightly competitive. On the other hand, that number still seems pretty low.

[Dancin]

That tracks with most of the men's clubs I've been involved in. Seems like the majority are in the 4-10 or so range

[Joelness]

Playing Princeville Makai tomorrow! Unfortunately, the Princeville course I played on my honeymoon in 2012 is gone. Anyone have recommendations for courses on Kaua'i? The ocean course in the main bay was awesome last time we were here so that's currently the other one high on the list.

[Dancin]

Put in a request for Kukui’ula on TG. With 36% of requests accepted if one of the 3 members are on the island it sounds like they will host.

[Joelness]

Thanks @Dancin! Makai was good today! They were doing a day-long skins game so I got in. I haven't hit my driver that well in a while, I don't think I missed a fairway. Unfortunately I didn't make much of anything so I shot 72 and didn't win a skin.

 

Apparently the Princeville course we played in 2013 on our honeymoon went through a major renovation (same as Makai) and is now private. It's a bit of a bummer as it was really good. I also remember it being really hard.

 

Next up is the Ocean course at Hokuala christmas eve which I remember being awesome. Kapalua Plantation on the 26th and Wailea after that.

 

I figure since we're here during the Sentry we have to go. Every time I see it on TV it looks like 40 people are watching so I want to be one of them. Maybe you'll catch me on TV Sunday! Look for my white wide-brim Princeville hat.

[Dancin]

Yes I knew they had 2 courses and had heard about it possibly going private. Too bad.

 

So you are going to get to play plantation just before they shut it down for the tournament? nice. hopefully the greens are fast and not being kept slow in preparation. I've played it 3 times and every time the greens have been slow. Still awesome though.

[CDM]

Merry Christmas

[Joelness]

On 12/22/2024 at 10:59 PM, Dancin said:

Yes I knew they had 2 courses and had heard about it possibly going private. Too bad.

 

So you are going to get to play plantation just before they shut it down for the tournament? nice. hopefully the greens are fast and not being kept slow in preparation. I've played it 3 times and every time the greens have been slow. Still awesome though.

 

We played it yesterday, it's still amazing. That place is really exceptional. I didn't remember all the blind shots! I think I counted 9 blind tee shots. The greens were great and pretty typical for Kapalua, a 7-8 uphill and a 11.5-13 downhill. The grain on those things are INSANE. The only thing that sucked was I couldn't play any of the back tees (luckily still played 7,200,) they had netting out in the landing zones on every hole, and it was cart path only. The cart path only was kinda brutal, we still put in about 11,000 steps. I think the only tour course I've walked that was close was Castle Pines. The cart paths were also so far away from where some of my balls were that I grabbed four clubs and would still not have the one I wanted on 3 occasions. On 17 I was all the way on the left and my shortest club I grabbed was a 6i from 165. I wasn't going to walk back so I opened it up and hit the softest one I could, which still went over.

 

It would have been more enjoyable if I didn't get in a fight with the ocean on Christmas Eve. I had a 12' wave crash on the back of my head, shoving my face into the sand. I went to the ER on Christmas just to make sure I didn't break my neck. The side of my head was super swollen for a couple days and now it's all draining out of my eye, which is quite colorful! Chiropractor and massage will be my day today.

 

Next time any of you are in Maui, just play the Plantation course. It doesn't matter how much it costs, that place is a GEM.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Joelness

[thaar]

Glad to hear you're ok! It's crazy how strong the ocean is! I love Kauai though. We go pretty much every other year and stay up in Princeville. We were there back in October and I played the Makai course for the first time. Great course for sure. I really want to make it out to Maui one of these days to play Kapalua. 

 

I got out yesterday to play the Burb. I think this was my 4th time out this month which is pretty crazy. Weather was so nice yesterday. I ended up shooting a personal best even par 71 (hole 5 is under construction so they have a temporary par 3 set up). My wedge game from 95yds and in was arguably the best its ever been - I was so confident with them, but my putter was somewhat cold to start - I was 0/4 on birdie putts from 4 to 8ft on the front 9. I birdied 9 to turn with a +1, then carded 3 more birdies on the back. I only had 2-3 terrible shots, and ended up saving one of them. Luck was definitely on my side on a couple shots where I could have been in some trouble, but ended up having a good lie and angle in.

 

All in all, it was an awesome day. I really wasn't all that nervous surprisingly on any of my shots on 18 when I knew I was even after 17 holes. It was definitely a great feeling. I have been reading The Four Foundations of Golf and focused more on course management yesterday, which I think paid off a couple times. 

 

I really like my reshafted putter too. I feel more confident with it and think I have better distance control. I haven't had a chance to practice my putting outdoors as much as I'd like as the practice greens haven't been in great shape and have been covered in leaves and pine needles, but I've been working on my stroke at home on my mat. 

 

I also ended up getting an indoor golf membership with Trackman for the next 6mos, so I have no excuse anymore lol. I really want to jump to the first flight again and be competitive, which means I have to drop my index to around a 5 or below. So the journey starts!

 

 

 

 

[pseudoswede]

I just got back from a relaxing five days in Ft. Lauderdale, where the waves were significantly less rough. My wife and oldest kid did get stung by jellyfish, though. So many Man-O-Wars washed up on the beaches, I'm surprised more kids didn't get stung.

 

Thanks again, everyone, for being such a great community in this tiny corner of the GolfWRX universe. I hope to get out and play with some of you all in 2025.

[bobbyclampett!!]

10 hours ago, thaar said:

I also ended up getting an indoor golf membership with Trackman for the next 6mos, so I have no excuse anymore lol.

How does that work? Do you have to be a member at an indoor golf place?

[pseudoswede]

4 hours ago, bobbyclampett!! said:

How does that work? Do you have to be a member at an indoor golf place?

 

Some do memberships, others do simple reservation systems.

 

This one in Parker does a punch-card model (with an optional annual membership add-on), so you can use a Trackman for as low as $20/hr.

[thaar]

13 hours ago, bobbyclampett!! said:

How does that work? Do you have to be a member at an indoor golf place?

 

You can rent by the hour or get a membership. I think they charge $50 per hour typically. I split a group membership with a couple people so it broke down to less than $100/mo. Still a bit pricey, but worth it to dial in distances and get a better understanding of your swing. 

[thaar]

9 hours ago, pseudoswede said:

 

Some do memberships, others do simple reservation systems.

 

This one in Parker does a punch-card model (with an optional annual membership add-on), so you can use a Trackman for as low as $20/hr.

 

That place looks great!