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Hit it longer to score lower. Here’s why – Shot Scope

Shot Scope have reviewed statistics for amateur golfers to shed some light on how different handicaps play, to provide a snapshot into the club golfer.

When you are playing, do you ever wonder what lower players do differently? We all have an idea in our heads like scratch players hitting every fairway and hitting approaches to 2ft consistently, but is this actually the case?

Looking at various aspects of the game including tee shots, approach shots, short game, and putting, we will share some surprising statistics that will change your perception of your game and your competitors.

Starting with the tee shot, let’s look at two key statistics; distance and fairways in regulation. Shot Scope Performance-Average (P-Avg.) gives a true representation of a well struck shot as it removes extreme outliers from the data, both good and bad.

Contrary to popular belief, the scratch golfer does not hit every fairway, and they certainly do not hit a lot more than any of our other handicap benchmarks.

However, we also see that the scratch golfer is considerably longer than the other handicap benchmarks, 24y longer than the low single figure, 5hcp player.

Without getting too bogged down in the distance debate, it is clear to see that hitting it further is advantageous and as handicap decreases, distance increases.

The 5hcp presents an interesting anomaly of sorts, hitting 1% more fairways than the scratch player and only two yards longer than the 10hcp. Every other handicap bracket has a considerable increase in distance from one to the other.

What is the benefit of being longer off the tee, or longer in general? Approach shots become easier

Let’s say for example that we are playing a 400 yard Par 4, using the driver distance from above what club would our amateurs be playing for their second shot? Assuming there is no wind, just a normal shot.

Approach-shots

25hcp 3 Wood P-Avg. 178y

When we look at the club that players would hit into the green for their second shot the difference in length becomes even more apparent.

We must mention that the 25hcp player, based on the data, would not be able to reach the green with their 3 wood from 196y.

The 5hcp player’s chances of hitting the green are almost like a flip of the coin and the 10hcp player will hit the green twice for every five attempts.

Our 15, 20, and 25hcp golfers are more than likely to miss the green with their second shot. The most common miss with every handicap is short, this could be for a couple of reasons.

Non-performance trackers will not have P-Avg. club distances and may be playing for their Sunday best shot rather than their actual club distance. Inconsistent strike which ties in with the previous point. Or, if they do not have a distance measuring device, like a laser or GPS watch, just not knowing how far they have to the green.

Whatever the reason, here are statistics on all approach shots from all lie types:

For all the mid to high handicappers, if there is one thing that you takeaway from this article, take more club on approach shots!

If you are looking to improve at golf or gaining insight like this into your game is the first step. Check out the range of performance tracking products at Shot Scope. There is a product for every golfer’s needs and budget.