SUUNTO Golf User Manual

SUUNTO ON

How Not

Rely on Luck

WHEN LOWERING

YOUR HANDICAP.

GOLF GUIDE

OLF IS HARD. It t

akes a lot o

high

mak

want to lower your handicap and when you get it down,

ere comes a day when you wish it could be a little

you can make it a bit easier. Knowing exactly what to

ractice and knowing exactly what to do on the course

2 GOLF GUID

f time and effort. You

er. It is a game you sometimes hate to love. Well,

es golf somewhat less frustrating

CONTENTS

GIR

STRO

MATC

SCO

OLF STATISTIC

6SCORIN

DRIVING — DISTANCE AND FI

— GREENS IN REGULATION

12 PUTTIN

15UP-AND-DOWN

AND SAVE

KE PLAY— SCRATCH AND HANDICA

H PLA

CORING IN MATCH PLAY

TABLEFOR

TABLEFORD

TEMPO AND RHYTHM OF THE SWIN

LENGTH AND SPEE

TRAINING EFFECT

RIN

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resp

we ca

hig

GOLF STATISTICS

he best golfers are usually professionals. And the top players battle for victo

ies in the most important tournaments of the game. That is where the biggest

urses in pro golf also exist

he Official Money List is a traditional way to follow how the players perform on rofessional tours. The winner of the Money List at the end of a season is highly

ected when the best players are being compared

or a professional golfer to be able to win the Money List or Major Championshi every part of the game has to be on the top level. You have to be ranked highly in many categories of the game’s crucial statistics.

very swing in every tournament on top pro tours is put into statistics. This is how

n analyze the game of the players and how they rank among peers

or an amateur golfer, one of the best ways to follow the improvement of his

wn performance is the handicap system. But when lowering your handicap, it is essential to learn more about your game. Amateur golfers do not necessarily

ave to keep as good a count of their every shot as pros, but learning more about

tats and keeping score on some of the most important statistical categories will

rove your game effectively. By taking a close look at stats we can find the

hs and lows of our game. In this guide we introduce you to golf statistics and

ow to understand them when improving your own game

4 GOLF GUID

DID YOU KNOW

The Official World Golf Ranking, which is endorsed by the four Major Championships and the five professional tours whic make up the International Federation of PGA Tours, is issue every Monday, following completion of the previous week’s tournaments from around the world. This statistic is the average number of points earned per event in the last 104 weeks. These

oints are awarded based upon finish position as well as the

verall performance level of competitors. The points are initially worth double their original value and decline gradually over this two-year period. There are 8 13-week periods and points decline

y .25x their value each perio

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SCORING

he score of your golf round is the most important number in your game. The ne who scores the lowest is the winner. That is very simple, but how your total

core is actually made up is more complicated. Did you score well because of your

riving off the tee or your performance on the putting green?

ou can divide your round of golf into games-inside-the-game

ook at each category of the game you can easily notice which part of your golf

eeds to be improved for better results. By analyzing statistics we can also notice

the big gap between amateur golfers and professionals.

ros hit their driveslonger and more accurately. Off the tee, amateurs playing

ith a high handicap often give pros 100 yards advantage. And tour professionals

sually hit the fairways when even advanced amateur golfers hit approximately

every third fairwa

e difference between amateurs and pros gets even wider when approaching the green. When the best players in the world hit three out of four greens, for an amateur golfer one successful approach shot in every four is a good ratio

Up-and-down — the percentage of times a player misses the green in regulation

ut still makes par or better — is a crucial factor in scoring. On professional tours,

the average up-and-down percentage of the top players is around 60, when high

andicappers usually manage up-and-down in only one out of five attempts

e closer to a hole we get, the bigger the margins between pros and amateurs

re. Putting is often considered as a game of its own. And the putting surface is the place where high handicap players give 10–20 strokes to the world’s best in every roun

ou can also examine your game after a round of golf by taking a closer loo

ow you did on par-3s, par-4s and par-5s

ext time you tee off, remember to keep better score of your games-inside-the-

ame. This is how you will be on the way to being a more improved golfer

By taking a closer

6 GOLF GUID

troke Average is defined as the average number of strokes per

ound played. Birdie Average is the average number of birdies

made per rounds playe

DID YOU KNOW

On the PGA Tour, Scoring Average is a weighted average whic takes the stroke average of the field into account. The adjust ment is computed by determining the stroke average of all com

etitors for each round played.

The All Around statistic is computed by totaling a player’s rank in each of the following statistics: Scoring Leaders, Putting Leaders, Eag

e Leaders, Birdie Leaders, Sand Saves, Greens in Regulation,

Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy

DID YOU KNOW

The statistic category Bounce Back measures the percentage of time that a player is over par on a hole and then is under par

n the following hole. John Daly led this category in 2004 with 32,6. After making a bogey or worse 233 times he was capable of bouncing back 76 times to go under par next hole

GOLF GUID

DRIVING

You drive for show but you putt for dough.” This famous old line is still true. But

hen you take a good look at stats on professional tours, it is fair to say that you also drive for money. Today, pros hit very far and the stats also tell us how impor tant it is to have distance and accuracy off the tee to be a successful player

ebate about driving distance versus hitting fairways is common and never end

he best golfers outperformed the others by the widest margins on par-5s. Par-5s eed distances off the tee and for a long hitter, they are played as par-4s. Birdie

average is heavily weighted toward par-5s. 50 percent of the birdies on the PGA

our are made on par-5s, even though they make up just 20 percent of the holes

riving distance is one of the key factors that separate amateur golf from pro

tours. Long drives are important in an amateur’s game and when you put down

our distances off the tee, be honest with yourself. It is the only way to make sta-

tistics work for you

TIP

For amateur golfers, more emphasis should be put on the ac-

uracy of drives. Next time you head for the first tee, remember to keep score of every fairway you hit. Hitting the green is muc easier from the fairway than from the deep roug

8 GOLF GUID

ACT

FAIRWAYS IN REGULATION — FIR Fairways In Regulation, or

riving accuracy, is the percentage of times a player is able to hit

he fairway with his tee shot. It can also be defined as the aver

ge number of fairways per round. FIR is not used in par-3s.

riving Distance is the average number of yards per measured rive. On professional tours these drives are measured on two oles per round. Two holes that face in opposite directions, to

counteract the effects of wind

o the point they come to rest regardless of whether they are on he fairway or not

Next time on a golf course, ask your playing partner for a stats challenge. Give one point for every fairway hit, green in regula

ion, sand save and up-and-down. At the end, the one with more

points usually ends up with the better score

TATISTICS Driving Distances

are selected. Drives are measured

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shot.

GREENS IN REGULATION — GIR

ne of the most widely used golf statistics is GIR — Greens In Regulation. On professional tours or at your local golf club, many players rate their rounds according to GIR.

reens In Regulation measures very effectively your play from tee to green and

ums up a long game, excluding putting.

o achieve a green in regulation, the ball must be on the putting green in the expected number of strokes in relation to par. The par for a hole always includes two putts, so to achieve a GIR on a par-4, you must reach the green with your

IR means that the ball must be on the putting surface. If it is a couple inches off

in the fringe of the green and you are able to putt it, it does not count

GREENS IN REGULATION is defined as both the average

number of greens per round and as a percentage of greens hit.

Green In Regulation is defined as the number of shots that

a player should take to reach the putting surface on any given

ole, being one for par-3s, two for par-4s and three for par-5s.

green is considered hit in regulation if any part of the ball is touching the putting surface and the number of strokes taken is 2 or more less than par

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