Data insight Into The PAC - 12

Introduction

In 2022, seven of the Pac-12 colleges (men’s teams) used Upgame to collect and analyse their data, entering more than 500 rounds into the pro app and more than 200 rounds in the basic app. With this information, we are able to get some incredible insights into how golfers at this college level play, and more importantly, how they can succeed.

Upgame is a data intelligence and tracking platform for golfers, with an extremely user-friendly drag-and-drop system which allows golfers to collect large amounts of information in a short amount of time. Using upgame players are able to collect information from strokes gained to hole proximity, giving users a detailed insight into their game and how they can improve.

Across the more than 700 rounds of data we have from players in the Pac-12, the average strokes gained total per round was -1.93, with a scoring average v par of +1.08. This Strokes gained measure the performance against the PGA tour benchmark. What this information gives us, however, is not only a good indication of how good an average Pac-12 player is compared to an average PGA tour player but also tells us what you need to be doing to be better than the average Pac 12 player.

For example, one player who entered 18 rounds into the app had an average strokes gained total of -0.42. Whilst he is losing strokes to the average PGA player, he is gaining significantly on the average Pac-12 player. As a result, he finished inside the top 20 for scoring average in the Pac 12 in 2022 (according to golfstat.com).

This is only the start of the information that we are able to dissect from upgame. Let’s take a look into the different areas of the game to see.

Off the tee

The average strokes gained off the tee for these players was +0.06, with an average driving distance of 294.6 yards and an average driving accuracy of 60.0%. However, the driving accuracy stat has some flaws because it is very much dependent on the width of each fairway.

Using upgame pro we are able to better analyse driving accuracy by measuring a player’s distance from their intended target line. This takes away the variable of fairway width and allows for an equal comparison of accuracy across all tee shots.

After analysing the data of all the Pac-12 players using the pro app, we saw that the average distance from the target line was 15.6 yards. For those players who gained strokes off the tee, their average driving distance was 295.9 yards and their average distance v target off the tee was 11.2 yards. We can see that these players were not only slightly longer, but they were significantly straighter off the tee.

By further analysing the tee shot data we saw that the average in-play % off the tee was 79.4% and the average major/penalty miss % was 6.7%. For those players who were performing better than average, their in-play % was 84.5% coupled with a major/penalty miss % of 4.9%.

Approach play

The average strokes gained approach per round for these pac-12 players was -0.41. However potentially more important than this is where these strokes have come from. Below is a graph of the distribution of approach shots across different distance ranges. The reason this is so important is as golfers we want to be the best at the shots we have the most of.

We can see from the graph above that the majority of approach shots in the Pac-12 are falling between 125-175 yards. Being strong in these areas will be key to being successful. The top 5 players in terms of average strokes gained total per round, gained on average +0.37 strokes per round between 125-175 yards.

Below we can also see a breakdown of the average proximityto the hole and average green hit % from each distance range. Having knowledge of these numbers will give these and other players in the PAC-12 an excellent benchmark of what is a good proximity. It is something that they can track going forward and factor into their practice.

The top 5 players’ average proximity from 125-150 yards was 28.1ft, hitting the green 78% of the time. From 150-175 yards their average proximity was 29.0ft, hitting the green 72% of the time.

Short Game

Players in the Pac-12 averaged -0.47 strokes gained around the greens per round with an average proximity of 11.7ft. With upgame pro, we are able to apply a lot more context to these numbers. The main flaw with the strokes gained around the green stat is it doesn’t really distinguish between the difficulty of different short-game shots. Using upgame pro we can add the detail of whether a shot is ‘easy’, ‘medium’ or ‘hard’ and therefore we can better analyse a player’s short game.

By analysing all the pro users in the Pac-12, we saw that the average strokes gained was +0.11 strokes per easy short game shot, -0.04 strokes per medium short game shot and -0.28 strokes per hard short game shot. This outlines how important it is to miss in the correct areas with your approach shots. On average, 21% of a player’s short-game shots were from hard spots. For the player who gained the most strokes around the greens, only 10% of his short-game shots were from hard spots.

Putting

The average strokes gained putting per round was -1.11. Below is a graph that outlines the make % from different distance ranges, compared to the PGA tour average make %:

The biggest difference can be seen between 5-10ft and 10-15ft. This is a big ‘separator’ area from players when it comes to putting. What this means is that between 5-15ft is where the best putters separate themselves the most from the rest. This can be outlined by the player with the best strokes gained putting stats from our Pac-12 data, where he gained +0.80 strokes per round between 5-15ft.

Summary

By analysing the data from more than 700 rounds of players in the Pac-12, we can see what the requirements are to be successful.