Most people I talk to have a hard time getting the right insights when they look at their Putting stats. And when we designed our putting stats we tried to make it easier to draw those insights that can actually help golfers understand the underlying strengths or weaknesses of their putting ability.
Why is Total Putts per round not the best stat to look at?
Most golfers, this is what they look at and all they look at, but that’s just an outcome that a) does not show the full picture and b) does not necessarily depend only on your putting ability but on proximity to the hole on the first putt attempt.
An easy way to understand this is by thinking about a golfer who is a bad approach player but great chipper of the ball. That guy is not going to hit a lot of greens in regulation, but is going to chip the ball close to the hole, leaving himself a lot more close range one putt opportunities, that could ultimately result in a low total putts per round. But is he really a better putter than someone that hits more greens in regulation and leaves himself longer first-putts every hole?
So what should I look at to find real insights?
There are 3 stats that I prefer to look at than Total Putts in order of importance:
- Make % by Distance (Advanced Score Tracker | PRO members only)
- Avg GIR Putts vs Avg. non-GIR Putts (Basic Score Tracker | PRO members only)
- 3-Putt Free Streaks (Website Graph | Available to Free Members)
Make % by Distance
To get real insights the most important stat you can look at is your Putting Make % by Distance. And yes that’s only available to PRO members 😜 in our app but frankly if you want to get better at putting this is what you need to look at.
To track this info you must use our Advanced Score Tracker and trackFirst Putt distance. Shown below together with my own stats and Make % by Distance in the graph image below.
This paints a much better picture of your ability.
Tip: use the filter to compare your self with friends that you admire their putting, and see the areas and distance that you could improve.
Avg GIR Putts vs Avg. non-GIR Putts
If you are not into tracking to much stuff while you play, this is another great option to better understand your ability. And while you won’t know the first-putt distance, you could safely assume that in general your non-GIR putts should be shorter than your GIR putts.
The importance of this stat is to give perspective to your Total Putts per Round.
Below you can see my stats. I make 32.6 putts per round and 44% GIR. I average 2.0 putts when I am in regulation, meaning I make as many 3-putts when in regulation as I make 1-putts (birdies!). Which is in range for my handicap. On the non-GIR putts however, I have a 1.7 average, which is not terrible but below the average range for my handicap.
So, now when I look at my 32.6 putts per round, at least I can break it down by GIR. And again that number could be lower than 32 if I was hitting less GIR, but do I really want that? Obviously not by hitting less GIR because it would mean a higher total score.
I also sometimes use my Grints to understand how many of my one-putts are for Birdie (GIR) or not. In the graph below you see I make 4.7 one-putts per round and 1.3 birdies per round. So really roughly 25% of my one putts are for Birdie.
3-Putt Free Streaks
The reason why this Stat is important is because the easier way to improve your putting ability is by reducing the number of 3 putts. So if you are not a PRO member this might be your best option to identify and set goals for yourself.
As you can see in my stats in the previous graph I showed, I make about 1.5 3-putts per round. And I could stop at that but there is a mental aspect that is really important and that’s where Streaks come into play highlighting your ability to stay focused. But most importantly breaking down how that 1.5 average takes place during your play.
In my case you don’t see constant streaks. They really vary from 2 to 45 holes. Meaning that my ability to stay 3-putt free varies a lot and if I could only stay on that zone more frequently I could really shave a lot of strokes.
Note: I took this screenshot during Master’s Week where we pay a tribute to the Masters by changing our colors.
But how do I get better? Why do these stats matter?
First of all, stats are just a way to identify areas of opportunity. But if you don’t use that information to then go and practice those particular skills then knowing them won’t help you get any better.
For putting in particular most golfers don’t have structured practice. And at most, what you see, is golfers maybe focusing on improving their lag putting ability, which is very important and maybe the most impactful thing you could do.
However, you rarely see golfers practicing a particular distance, because most golfers assume that practicing any distance translate into putting better. But getting really comfortable over 7 footers and 10 footers could be really really impactful for someone who doesn’t hit many GIR.
Putting is a very complex stat to draw insights from if you are not looking at every putt like PGA Tour players do. However, with TheGrint and the data you can track you can learn a lot. Hopefully this piece helps you realize how much info you have at your finger tips and what to do with it.
I look forward to reading about how you use TheGrint Putting stats in our comments section, as I am sure we could learn a lot from you.
Cheers,
Grinter001
