Matt Kilgariff, PGA Director of Player Development at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.), says many students believe that they should shoot close to the same score every day, if not better. Look no further than the top players in the world to dispel that, however.
One thing I hear from players who want to improve their game is that they want to become more consistent. They share that one day they play well and the next they play like a different player. Somehow in their minds they believe that they should shoot close to the same score every day, if not better. At a minimum, they think the range should be very tight.
It is likely that this perception is a product of the “seemingly” consistent play of the world’s top players that we see regularly on television. However, if you look at the numbers in detail, you realize how inconsistent all of us really are.
Look no further than histograms (Below) that chart the performance of the top two players on Tour last season, Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith.
Like all of us, their scores collect around an average and fan out over a wide range, much wider than most of us realize. For instance, there was a 14-stroke range between Scottie’s best and worst round last year (62-76). Cam Smith had a 13-stroke difference between his best and worst (64-77).
These are two of the most “consistent” players on the planet. So, it is reasonable to expect that we mere mortals should have a slightly wider range of scores. Most people score about 90% of their rounds in a 12-stroke range.
Sheer randomness can often account for a five-stroke swing either way, before you even factor in the quality of your play on a particular day. Remember that plugged lie in a bunker, a bounce off a cart path into a bush, or better yet, an extra 50 yards down the hole in a good lie with a clear shot? These are the types of things we often overlook at the end of the round, but they may drastically impact our score. This is the nature of golf, and why no golfer is truly consistent.
It is easy to look at good rounds, while completely overlooking good breaks or shots we “got away with.” Most of us do not play enough rounds in a year to get a genuinely good sample size to measure our performance. Therefore, it is important to not worry excessively about performance and enjoy the day.
I recommend tracking simple metrics over a period of 20 rounds. This will allow you to get valuable data to evaluate. Track simple things such as fairways hit, greens in regulation and number of putts. This method may not be exact, but is a terrific way to get a good picture of your game over a measured period.
There are several great tools out there now that can help you get more information out of your game and figure out your best opportunity to improve. The ones I like are Decade Golf (birdiefire.com), and MyTaylorMade+ app (taylormadegolf.com). Give them a try. I know they will help you lower you handicap and turn your weaknesses into strengths in your game.
Matt Kilgariff is a PGA professional who spent much of his career working for Butch Harmon and the Harmon Family. He is currently the Director of Player Development at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. Prior to joining The Bridges, Kilgariff was Director of Player Development at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. Matt has also been part of TaylorMade’s National Advisory Staff since 2012.
Tell Us What You Think!
You must be logged in to post a comment.