Golf Hacks - Using your stats

Ok,
If you didn't read the post before about starting to keep your stats, then you need to read it as this won't make much sense to you otherwise. Or, if you just don't feel like it, you are free to use my stats as a base line and adjust accordingly (not recommended!).

Using my stats from before, we saw that I used my putter, woods, and wedges the most. If you want to count the higher irons (8-9) as a "wedge" then I rarely pull the other clubs from the bag. My longer irons are only used if I've hit a bad shot before (most common) or if it is a longer yardage hole (maybe once or twice a round). So knowing what I use, I adjust my time at the range accordingly.

This is a sample hour or so spent at the range (I usually go about every 10-14 days), cut this in half for a good pre-round warm up.

1. stretch - swing 3 clubs, then 2, then 1, then the usual touch the toes, stretch the back etc...
2. putting (25-30 minutes) - start with short, then long, then lags, then fringe putts.
3. chipping / pitching (15 minutes) - high and soft then low rollers.
4. range (15 minutes) - full and 3/4 shots with one of the wedges, full with one midrange iron, 3 wood, and finish with the driver.

Your stats may be different from mine and you should adjust your practice accordingly.

The other thing you may need to work on is the flight of your shots. Check your little book and see how many went off line and how they went off line. If you are slicing or hooking the ball out of play, you need to get that sorted out. If I had an easy tip to cure a slice... I'd be making big bucks selling it on golf infomercials at 3.00am. If its a straight shot to the left or right, it could just be your alignment. Are you coming up short or hitting them long? You might not know your yardages or you could have a gap in your lofts.

By tracking my stats I found that from 95-110 yards I kept coming up short with my SW but my PW was often times to strong, the problem was two fold, #1 I didn't know that my carry with my SW was only about 90 yards tops. #2 I didn't realize that I had a gap in my club lofts. My PW is at 48* and at the time I was carrying a 56* and a 60*, which meant I had 0 clubs in the bag that I could swing a full shot and hit it 100 yards! So I swapped out the 60* for the 52* UW and problem solved.

That's it for today! I will cover each of the practice zones in future Golf Hacks along with a great way to get your distances for each club.