Here's a New Year's resolution for you: Promise yourself you'll start keeping stats on all your rounds, both practice and tournament. Stats should include fairways and greens hit. When missed, track where the misses are to see if you have trends, like left/right, and sometimes for fairways: are they straight or doglegs left or right? You may find, for example, that you drive well on right to left but poorly on left to right.
It could be the shape of the hole, alignment problems, or maybe you need to work on a cut or fade to shape the drive to move left to right. Your stats might reveal that maybe you miss hit one club way more than others. This is a clue to get that club checked. If you are missing greens consistently left or right, the lie angle may be off, or the shaft flex does not match the rest of the set. Missing short or long, the loft may be wrong.
You might say, 'Surge, I'm a high handicapper. I only play once a month. What good '¦' I'll stop you right there. If you want to take your game to the next level, you need two things: the PPGS and your stats. he more you break them down, the more you find your strengths and weaknesses and what needs more work, and for clubs, what needs to be checked or changed.
When I deal with good players, and they say or complain that they have problems, I will ask about their stats. They better have them. I feel that my time and energy to work with them is compromised if they don't know what is going on with their game. When I play, practice or tournaments, I run my stats through my head driving home or to the hotel. (Note: this is not the same ask talking or texting while driving!)
After every round DJ plays on Tour, the first thing I go to on the computer is his stats. When I talk to him, I know what to compliment and what to ask about. His answers lead to my recommendations on what he needs to work on.
What's the definition of insanity? Something like, doing the exact same thing again and again and expecting a different outcome. That slice? That hook? That worm burner? Again?
Not knowing your stats is like not knowing the balance in your checkbook. One of the easiest ways to improve your game is to keep and study your stats. Believe it or not, it actually can be fun.
The Surge!