Putts Per Round - Overrated Number?

I never thought about keeping track of my putts. I have a difficult enough time keeping track of my strokes. I run out of fingers on some holes, and now that I wear shoes, I can't use my toes to count.
 
I averaged 28.7 putts this past season, but that really only told me my short game was okay. This thread reminded me to start keeping track of putts based on GIR, which isn't all that many.
 
I add em up too. It doesn't mean much though. It's easy to two putt when you are 10' or less from the pin. I tried to keep track of length of first putt for awhile but it was awkward trying to pace it off with other players. This year I'd range from 30 best to 44 worst and still shoot the same score.
 
For the average golfer who may hit 10-11 GIR, Putts per round is a meaningless stat. To the low HDCP to pro who may hit 14+ GIR it is telling. Like they say there are Lies,Damn Lies and Statistics. It all comes down to the context. 28 Putt with 9 GIr tells you you can chip. 28 Putts with 14 GIr and you shot 67
 
10-11 girs is avg? man i am wayyy behind
 
For the average golfer who may hit 10-11 GIR, Putts per round is a meaningless stat. To the low HDCP to pro who may hit 14+ GIR it is telling. Like they say there are Lies,Damn Lies and Statistics. It all comes down to the context. 28 Putt with 9 GIr tells you you can chip. 28 Putts with 14 GIr and you shot 67

From the PGATOUR.COM website:

Greens in Regulation Percentage

Rank Leader Rounds Total
1 John Senden 103 72.49
2 Kevin Sutherland 86 71.96
3 Joe Durant 67 71.95
4 Charles Warren 64 71.74
5 Troy Matteson 84 71.43

TOUR Average 79 66.26

Tour Average is less than 12 G.I.R. per round. And these guys average 71.15 as a group.
 
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While we're at it (They have putts per round. I couldn't find an overall Putts per GIR):

Putts Per Round

Rank Leader Rounds Total
1 Brandt Snedeker 89 27.97
2 Brian Gay 101 28.02
3 Mike Weir 59 28.16
4 Carl Pettersson 99 28.24
5 Chad Collins 87 28.28

TOUR Average 79 29.40

But here's all the putting stats you'd ever want to know:

http://www.pgatour.com/r/stats/filter/?1
 
I was having trouble with my putting as I was always relating it to a number 25,awesome, 27,good,31,okay,34,rubbish,36,man you suck!!My self worth as a golfer was related to the result of my end of round putting stat.I would tell people how many putts I had if it was a bad round.Now having read some great books and received some good advice from a coach I no longer count the number of putts.The result is not relevant to the process of putting.I putt a lot better and much freer now because I`m enjoying putting as I`m not chasing an end of round number to validate myself as either good or bad.
 
i like to track my putts - if for no other reason to shame myself into practicing it more. 38 putts a round does not a good score make. haha.

I agree with you - i would much rather have my 3rd shot be a 22 foot breaking putt downhill - than a chip. Chip = my nemesis. Just so many factors - hit it crisp - dont skull it - is it gonna sit in that grass, which way is the grass growing.. how many hops... how many hops is it before it starts to roll on the line... jesus how much rollout-

I just feel more comfortable with a putter - so i agree GIR is where the scoring is at. some math geek write us a new formula for GIR + PPR relative to our handicap lol
 
I agree, this statistic can be very misleading. I think a much better one that they do use on the PGA tour is Putts per green in regulation. If you took that stat, and coupled it with your up and down %, you are going to come away with a much better indicator of how you are faring with your short game.

Even this can still be misleading, be cause you still don't know how far that first putt is from the hole.

Unless you rank them by overall distance of first putt, its hard to tell if a player is a good putter, a good iron player, or a good chipper. You can tell a poor putter if he is consistently over 36 putts per round, but someone in the range of 29 or 30 putts per round might be any of those three categories. Just counting the putts doesn't really tell you much.
 
I agree, I think feet per putt or putts per GIR is the better way to judge your putting.
 
10-11 girs is avg? man i am wayyy behind

Yeah, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration too. I've shot 1 over par before and didn't hit 10 GIR.
 
I pretty much fully agree with everything said.

That's why I track a combination of putting/short game stats. My pro has set me the target of having my "made putt distance" in feet add up to over 100ft for the round...then he rekons I'll be putting at a good standard.

I'll also look at putts GIR-1 and putts after chip. With the target of keeping the putts per GIR below 2 and the putts per chip down at 1.2/1.3 (currently 1.5).
 
Hogan said the second most important shot is you Tee ball. While some courses may not penalize as much as others, you have more control from the fairway. Whiile the PGA tour avg is 11-12 if you look at when they score well they are hitting 13,14, GIR. Tracking you stats is important only if you are going to concetrate on the areas you struggle in. Putts on GIR is a better judge of putting if you do miss a green and chip to 5-8 feet how many of those do you convert? and what do you have do do to make those chip shots 2-4 footers?

Like the sayibg goes the more you know the more you need to know. the more you work at golf the more you need to work at golf. Or just have fun and enjoy your time outside.
 
i think ppr only count at a mini golf course
anywhere else you have to combine it with a bunch of other stats to give it any kind of meaning
 
JB
I think you are right to an extent. If all someone is keeping track of is their score and their ppr than they aren't really doing themselves any favors. I have tried to keep all of my numbers, fir, gir, misses off the tee left or right, sand shots, chips, penalties for each hole. I found an app on my phone and used that at first, then I got a GPS that holds this info. But usually I put it on my card and keep track of it later.

If you are keeping track of the ppr and you have a low number but a high score than you know it was something else that hurt you out there that day, short game, driving etc. However it is my belief that if you are not keeping track of those other areas then you won't know what you need to be working on to lower your score.

I have resolved to keep this information in a spreadsheet in 2011, looked at some programs for this but I think excel will do just fine.
 
I used to be heavily into keeping stats,but now I don`t keep any.They are an indicator for your game but for me they inhibited my game.I was looking to improve my stat numbers as I played and this just created added tension.I now play with more freedom and enjoy the game more.I fully commit to the shot and focus on the target on all shots and that`s it,no more stats for me.
 
I think that putts per round is overrated. Back in May I was playing a round on a course with some very challenging greens. I had a 4 and a 5 putt on a couple of tiered greens. I finished 18 holes with less than 35 putts. So it looked like I putted poorly, but in reality other than two holes, I putted fantastic.

Love your profile picture/avatar.

For me, I track everything - fairway hits, GIR, bunker save %, up & down %, putts, number of shots under 100 feet (i.e., less than full swing), penalties, clubs used for each shot, driver distance (if available by GPS), direction of missed fairway drive, whether I had a snack at the turn, whether I walked or rode cart, weather, and wind factor.

After a while, I was looking forward to my round, not for the game of golf, but to enter more stats. Now, I don't track stats. Just my score, which has increased by an average of 5.8 strokes in the last 6 weeks. Man!!
 
JB - agreed, too tied to GIR to be meaningful. I remember my 3 putts all too well, but I really should track puts missed inside 10 feet as a guage of my putting.
 
i think is its a matter of individual preference. when I started tracking my ppr, i realized just how may 3 putts per round I had and it was ridiculous. at the time, my goal was to break 100 and stay there. I made a commitment to keep 3 putts and snowmen off my card (aside from water and out of bounds, my 8's and 3 putts went hand in hand) and once I did that I broke 100 and i have stayed there.

for where my game is at this point, decreasing my ppr is a way for me get my scores down consistently. Are there other factors included in that? yes... how well did I chip? was approach shot where I wanted it to be? etc... so if I want to keep the ppr down, improving on those others is a must too... so again, it makes me focus more on the task at hand...

its not for everyone, but tracking my ppr and being commited to keeping them down has reduced my score made me focus on other areas as well. IMO, golf is as much mental as it is physical, if not more. So this is a useful way for me sharpen my mental pencil.
 
I have always battled the putts per round number as a telling statistic. On one hand it tells you clearly how many times you are using your putter. But in my game of golf, I think that is the only thing it does. Why dont I keep a Drives per round, or wedges per round? Let me explain ( my weird thinking anyway).

PPR does not tell me if I am making good putts or bad putts. It does not take into factor any type of scoring whatsoever. I decided to do a little study. My last 5 rounds out (clearly a small sampling), the rounds that I had less putts per round, I had a higher score than the rounds I had more putts per round. Why?

Because in the rounds with less putts, it did not mean I made more birdies. It in fact meant I missed more greens and was chipping on close rather than having a 12-20 foot putt for birdie or par.

To me it is a very misleading statistic. On one hand we all want to make more putts, but on the other hand, someone could quite easily have 18 putts total if they missed every green and chipped on. GIR is a far more telling number and maybe the two combined give some players some semblance of what their round is going to end up or what they have to work on, but I just dont get it.

I think its another number that we worry far too much about when playing rather than just hitting greens and 2 putting. Maybe this is more of a thought than a thread, but I just do not see how the total putts per round plays that much role in score unless you are hitting every green and 3 putting. Because if you miss the green, odds are you are going to have less putts per round, thus rewarding the statistic for taking away from another one.

Thoughts on my rambling?

This exact thing came up today while I was playing in our weekly LGA event. I shot an 83 and had 36 putts. A lady who shot well over a 100 was rewarded with a win (chip in pot for whoever has the least putts) for only having 30 putts. Why heck yeah. She didn't have a single GIR and I had nine. I felt I putted decent today considering I left myself some very long putts at times. There's got to be a better way to measure putting success. It's just too tedious to keep up with for me.
 
This exact thing came up today while I was playing in our weekly LGA event. I shot an 83 and had 36 putts. A lady who shot well over a 100 was rewarded with a win (chip in pot for whoever has the least putts) for only having 30 putts. Why heck yeah. She didn't have a single GIR and I had nine. I felt I putted decent today considering I left myself some very long putts at times. There's got to be a better way to measure putting success. It's just too tedious to keep up with for me.

I agree Kelly....as somebody that keeps track of putting stats like I do...I have started only worrying about 2 stats....Putts per GIR and 3 putts....sorry I keep track of PPR...but the other two are more telling stats to me.

Three things I really work on....more GIR, less putts per GIR and eliminate 3 putts.
 
36 putts coupled with 18 GIR would equate to cooking with gas. But one stat with out the other seems pointless
 
At this point in my return to the game, GIR's are tough to achieve. Seems like I get around 3-6 at this point, and often a 'well-played' hole for me will need a third shot to get 'on the green'. Maybe a PPR based on a GIR+1 type of stat might have a little more relevance (that is PPR on GIR and GIR+1).
 
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