Hello, and if it’s not completely ridiculous to say so, Happy New Year!

I hope 2024 has gotten off to a flyer and you’re looking forward to the season ahead, as much as I am?

For my first Coach’s Corner of the year I want to highlight the importance of having good information for you to act on, especially when deciding what matters to your golf game. 

You’ll know by now that there is a ton of advice in golf that poses as fact – question it all and if you can’t get a sensible, fact-based answer then treat it VERY carefully.

Let’s talk performance, and specifically the quality of the shots you are playing – do they have a value, and if so, what is it?

Traditional golf stats like Fairways Hit / Greens in Regulation / No. of Putts tell us what we did, but they don’t tell us how we did, or how that compares to others.

The best way we currently have to measure our performance is using something called “Strokes Gained”. 

If you are not familiar, Strokes Gained (SG) is the brainchild of Mark Broadie, a Business Professor at Columbia University in the US, and it is a quantitative measurement tool that allows us to better understand the quality of any shot taken during a round of golf, relative to a specific benchmark.

I don’t want to get too much into the weeds here, but at it’s most basic, it is a calculation of the Loss / Gain from the shots you have played vs those of the benchmark player (preferably someone of equal ability to you).

For example, a tee shot that travels 250 yards down the fairway on a 450-yard par-4 doesn’t have the same value for all golfers. 

If you’re a PGA TOUR pro, this shot might have a negative Strokes Gained value because, on average, PGA TOUR players hit the ball further, which leaves a shorter approach shot which, on average means fewer shots to hole out and a lower score.

However, for the average 18 h/c player, a 250yd tee shot would produce a positive Strokes Gained measurement because the average driving distance for higher-handicap players is less than 250 yards, which leaves them a longer approach shot which, on average means more shots to hole out and a higher score.

Make sense? 

The value of the 250yd shot if you’re a Pro is negative because the average Pro (the benchmark) typically does better than that, and the value of the 250yd drive to an 18 h/c player is positive because they’ve done better than the average 18 h/c (their benchmark) does. 

Anytime you hit a tee shot that does not lose strokes, you have hit a VERY GOOD shot. They should be celebrated!

So, that begs the question then - How far do you need to hit your tee shot so that the SG for that shot is 0.00 or better (ie. you’re not losing shots)?

Below is a table showing the distance you need to hit your tee shot in order to leave you SG 0.00, if you hit the fairway.*

For example, on a 300 yard hole, a Scratch h/c player needs to hit their tee shot 205 yards into the fairway in order to get 0.00 Strokes Gained.

Anything longer than 205 yards in the fairway will gain strokes. Anything shorter than 205 yards in the fairway will lose strokes.

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Interesting huh? How did you compare – are your tee shots better than you realised, or worse?

*data from Lou Stagner, an Arccos Golf Representative. 

I have a partnership with Arccos too – you can check them out here ArccosGolf.com, and use code SHAUNFERGGOLF to save yourself 15% on purchases from them.

Did you know that Inrange offers you valuable information on your performance (including Strokes Gained) right there in the App?
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Log in and see it for yourself – it can steer you in the right direction and highlight the exact clubs / shots that you need to work on when you practice. Fact, not conjecture.

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And that’s it for this month.

Whenever you’re ready, there’s 2 further ways I can help you :

• A face to face lesson at Greenwich Golf Range – the best, and fastest, way you can make meaningful change in your golfing abilities. Whether you want to be better on the Course or simply less embarrassing when you visit the Range with your friends, nothing beats personalized coaching;

• The “Learning Hub” section of my website ( www.shaunfergusongolf.com ) where you will find a selection of downloads and resources to improve your Golfing IQ, as well as comprehensive information on what I do and how I do it in the “Lesson Info” section.

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Enjoy your golfing and thanks for reading,

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