Putting Strategy... How to use our trends graphs

grinter001

6 minutes

Our Putts graphs are the second step to begin your performance analysis. To be able to see this graphs you need to make sure to track your putts on a hole by hole basis.

Looking at your putts you can understand 2 parts of your game:

  1. Putting ability
  2. Short game (chip shots) ability

Putting

I am sure you have already heard that putting is half of game. But most people don't give enough attention to understand what are the areas that they need to improve. Analyzing your putts using the GIR and non-GIR comparison is a great way to understand the two main aspects of putting: 1) lag  and 2) getting the ball in the cup. Let me explain

Lag putting is the ability to hit long putts with the right distance. This is a critical ability to lower your putts per round. Your Lag putting ability is reflected by your GIR putts because you should assume that when you hit the green in regulation, you will be farther away from the cup. When you are not in regulation you will likely be chipping to the green and leaving it closer to the hole. (This is not a good assumption for 25 and higher handicappers)

Getting the ball in the cup sounds obvious, but is my way of saying: Within 6 feet, can you read the putt and hit it with the right speed and direction to put it in? A good measure of this ability is the Non-GIR putts average. Because you should be leaving your chip shots closer to the hole. (This is not a good assumption for 25 and higher handicappers)

Short game ability

Similar to what we said before. The purpose of the short game is to reduce the number of putts you will need to put the ball in the cup. So, the number of putts per round, and specially the number of 1 putts per round gives a good indication of how good your short game is. The main indicator is the Non-GIR putts, because it shows how many putts you made after having (in most cases) a chip shot. (it is true that the data will be contaminated by recovery shots, but in general it will be a good indication)

Now, let's take a look at how to read our graphs and analyze your putting ability

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All Putts


Purpose: Measure your overall putting performance
Tip: My rule of thumb is

  • >30 Handicap golfer should aim for <40 putts
  • >20 Handicap golfer should aim for <36
  • >10 Handicap golfer should aim for <33
  • <10 Handicap golfer should aim for <30

Note that it will also depend on your GIR%

Strategic Relevance: MID
Strategic purpose: Understand your potential and set expectations for each round

GIR Putts


Purpose: Measure your putting ability and lag ability.
Tip: You will make 3 putts once in a while, so an avg of 2 or less in this aspect of your game means that you are a good putter

How to read?
Each column represent the avg putts you made per hole that you landed in regulation

Strategic Relevance: MID
Strategic purpose: This will help you decide length of putts to focus on the putting green

GIR Vs. Non-GIR putts


Purpose: Compare your ability on longer and shorter putts. Show your chip shots ability
Tip: Your non-GIR putts objective depends on your handicap. For 25 or higher handicappers having an avg of 2 putt is good. Lower handicappers (<15) should aim for less than 1.7, since their short game should be giving them a lot of 1 putt opportunities.

How to read?
Each column represents how many putts on avg. you hit per hole compared to when you are on regulation and when you are not

Strategic Relevance: MID
Strategic purpose: Determine which area of your short game needs practice

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

Enjoy your golf!