Golfing Terms and Golf Stats

How do the PGA golf tour professionals know which parts of their game need work and practice? When is a hiccup turning into a trend? How can they target their practice sessions to maximise the benefits?

Its simple. The golf pros keep a record of each round they play. With just a few simple key statistics any problem areas can be discovered and corrected.

The great news is you too can record these key statistics as you play your round and then use Chart My Golf's powerful free online golf-charting software to do all the complicated calculations for you. Next time you want a lesson from your local pro or even if you want to practice by yourself, you will know you are maximising your time and potential.

So what should you be recording? Well, its really up to you. There is no wrong answer but the more you record the more informative the results will be. You should record your score, but at the maximum only need to record your fairways hit, fairway bunkers, water, penalties, approach shot, greenside bunker, off green chips and putts. All the other statistics can then be calculated by the software. Here are some of the key areas.

Strokes

This is the total number of shots, including penalties, you have taken for each hole.

Fairways Hit

This is a percentage value telling you how consistently you are hitting the fairway with your tee shot.

This is recorded as a yes or a no for each hole. If you hit the fairway with your tee shot you record a yes and if you did not, if it went to the left or right, you record a no.

Note: on par 3 holes, where you are meant to hit the green with your tee shot, you do not record fairways hit, instead recording no-score.

Fairways hit is then presented as a percentage of successes against failures. The nearer you are to 100% the better you are at this aspect of your game.

Greens In Regulation (GIR)

This is also a percentage value telling you how consistently you are reaching the green (the putting surface) within the expected number of shots.

This is recorded as a yes or a no for each hole. If your ball lands on the green surface within the par of the hole minus 2 shots you record a yes. So for example on a par 5 hole you would want to hit the green within 3 (5 - 2) shots.

Then, similarly to fairways hit, greens in regulation is presented as a percentage of successes against failures.

Putts

This is the number of shots per hole you hit with the putter.

Sand Saves

This is another percentage value telling you how consistently you are holing-out within 2 shots when you land in a greenside bunker. If this percentage is high the golfer knows hitting a greenside bunker has only a limited effect on their overall score.

When you land in a bunker beside the green you would ideally still want to get into the hole within 2 shots. If you do it is considered a sand save and is recorded as a yes. If you land in a greenside bunker but take 3 or more shots to get into the hole then a no is recorded. If you do not land in a greenside bunker you record a no-score.

Sand saves are then presented as a percentage of successes against failures, just like fairways hit.

Up and Downs

This is a measure of the consistency with which you hole out within 2 shots when you land just off the green with your approach shot.

When you miss the green with your approach shot, but do not land in a greenside bunker, you will still be aiming to get into the hole within 2 shots using an iron/putter and then your putter. If you can get into the hole from this greenside location within 2 shots you record a yes on this hole for Up and Downs. If you take 3 shots or more you record a no. If you hit the green with your approach shot you record a no-score.

Up and downs are then presented as a percentage of successes against failures, just like fairways hit.

Other Terms Found in ChartMyGolf

Par: The number of strokes a scratch golfer is expected to complete the hole.
Stroke Index: The holes are ordered 1-18 to determine the shots received per hole for players of different handicaps.
Yards: The distance from the tee to mid-green.
Dogleg An indication if the hole is straight, or curving to the left or right.
Slope: An indication whether the hole is flat, up or down hill.
Score: The total number of strokes taken for the hole.
Fairways Hit: If you hit the fairway with your tee shot you have achieved a fairway hit.
Fairway Bunker: The number of times you hit a fairway bunker.
Water: The number of times you hit the water.
Penalties: The number of penalty strokes you have received.
Approach: An indication of the landing position of your shot to the green, ie off green or measured by the length of the putt.
Greenside Bunker: The number of times you hit a greenside bunker.
Off Green Chips: The number of off green grass shots you take with an iron or putter.
Putts: The number of on green putts.
Fairways Total: The total number of shots you take getting to the green.
Greens in Regulation: If you reach the green within 2 less than par you have achieved a GIR.
Greens in Regulation + 1: If you reach the green within 1 less than par you have achieved a GIR+1.
Greens in Regulation + 2: If you reach the green within par you have achieved a GIR+2.
Greenside Total: The total number of shots you have taken around the green.
Up and Downs (Scramble): You achieve an Up and Down if your approach shot lands off the green, not in a bunker, and you still manage to complete the hole with another 2 shots.
Sand Saves: You achieve a Sand Save if you land in a greenside bunker and you still manage to complete the hole with another 2 shots.
Greens In Regulation per Fairway Hit: The GIR when you score a Fairway Hit. It measures your success at converting a fairway hit to reaching the green as expected.
Greens In Regulation + 1 per Fairway Hit: The GIR+1 when you score a Fairway Hit. It measures your success at converting a fairway hit to reaching the green as expected.
Greens In Regulation + 2 per Fairway Hit: The GIR+2 when you score a Fairway Hit. It measures your success at converting a fairway hit to reaching the green as expected.
Greens In Regulation per Fairway Miss: The GIR when you fail to score a Fairway Hit.
Greens In Regulation + 1 per Fairway Miss: The GIR+1 when you fail to score a Fairway Hit.
Greens In Regulation + 2 per Fairway Miss: The GIR+2 when you fail to score a Fairway Hit.
Greenside Save: This is achieved if you manage to pick up shots around the green when you lose shots reaching the green.
Fairway Miss Save: This is where you miss the fairway with your tee shot but still get to the green in the expected number of shots.
Fairway Bunker Save: This is where you still get to the green in the expected number of shots after hitting a fairway bunker.
Greenside per Off Green Approach: The greenside score for offgreen approaches.
Greenside per Long Putt Approach: The greenside score for long putt approaches.
Greenside per Mid Putt Approach: The greenside score for mid putt approaches.
Greenside per Short Putt Approach: The greenside score for short putt approaches.

Summary

These are just some of the statistics you can easily record while you are playing your round. When you get home, or in the club house on your laptop, you can enter these into Chart My Golf. It will make all the calculations for you and present your golf stats in a multitude of colorful graphs and tables.

Now you can see trends in your golf stats rather than just individual data. Now you will be able to react to problem areas just like the pros and even predict potential areas of concern before they fully manifest with our unique and simple green-is-good, red-is-bad Progress Charts.

If you maximise your practice, improvement will surely follow.

See how to fill out your scorecard with your golf stats go to this link. For a golf stat glossary you can link here.

To see some of the leading golf pros golf stats go to this link and find the Season Statistics.