Golf Performance Tools: How to use our Grints Graphs

grinter001

6 minutes

Our Grints graphs are an important part of your performance analysis to set the right expectations. They tell you how many birdies, pars, bogeys, etc you made per round. There is currently no term in golf for this kind of stat, so we are naming it "Grints" because they are extremely important, like us ;-)

Understanding your Grints graphs is critical to any golfer because it:

  1. Shows the consistency of your game within a round.
  2. Creates awareness and expectation.

Consistency

This graphs will show you how consistent your game is during a round. A consistent game means a very evenly distributed graph with few colors. An inconsistent game is shown by a graph with many many colors not evenly distributed. See the example below.

Having Birdies doesn't mean you had a great round if you waste it with some triple bogeys here and there. You want to see 3 or 4 colors in those bars max. And 80% of the holes should go to 2 colors.

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Most amateur golfers have 2-3 very bad holes that determine the fate of their rounds. These graph won't necessarily show how those shots determined the final score. But they will give an indication.

Awareness and Expectation

In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of golf is mental, no surprise here. And on that note, setting the right expectations for yourself is critical to keep focus and make the right decisions. But to be able to set the right expectations you need to be aware of your ability. Here is an example:

We all know a friend with this profile. Always complaining because he didn't make the Par. A guy who after a bad tee shot that ended in the woods, grabs his 3 wood to try and hit a miracle shot to save Par. Etc, etc. We all know that guy, in fact we all have been that guy ;-)  Let's use that guy as an example. He is a 15 handicapper.

Notice something? He makes a Birdie every ~54 Holes! and he is still trying to aim at the flag every time. He makes 5 pars per round on avg. but he still trying to make par on every hole. He has a problem of expectations. He expects a lot more than what he is capable of, and he is getting worse results by pushing himself too hard.

Try this next time you play

  1. Select what your target score per hole is by using the largest piece of the pie in the graph.  For the guy in the example would be: Bogey (7.7).  That means he should aim to 2-putt for Bogey.
  2. Eliminate the possibility of high scores by avoiding risky shots after a bad tee shot. For the guy on the graph, assume your share of Double Bogeys.
  3. Aim at the middle of the green every time (unless you shot 2 birdies or more per round). Par is great, Bogey is enough.

Apply same logic by Hole Par

There is one more graph we can use. Let's see how the "Grints by Hole Par" looks for "that 15 hdcp guy"

You should look at this graph to adjust your expectations by type of hole. Always understanding the dynamics of each type of hole

  • Par 3 - Always an open shot to the green
  • Par 4- Drive could screw things up bad
  • Par 5 - Two opportunities to screw things up bad. Chance to get there in two (or close) for long hitters is a big temptation

I hope these will help you in taking the most out of our tools.

Enjoy your golf!