FAQ

Quickstart: Is there any sort of instructional guide?

There is significant detail on how to use the app in the various help menus at the bottom of the app indicated by the “?”. However, here is a “quickstart” guide:

. Once you have registered and subscribed, start by pressing “Add Round”

. Start by adding your first course. This can be done by typing the name of the course in the textbox that is labeled “New”. Once entered, the app will remember the name in the course dropdown.

. The player name and date can be changed, otherwise, click “Add Round”

. The round will now appear in the round list. You can start by adding shots by tapping the round just created.

. Shots are added by pressing “Add Shot”. To get accurate Strokes Gained calculation, it is important to enter the correct start location (Tee, Fairway, Sand, Rough, Green) and distance to the hole (feet for green, yards for all others). The app will default to start location based on prior shot.

. To enter a single shot, press “Add”. Multiple shots can be added by pressing “Add/Next” and then “Add”
after the final shot.

. When this is done, the Strokes Gained will be displayed for each shot as well as the total.
Swiping or using the hole dropdown will move to the next hole.

. To view overall results, press the Round Tab and all the results can be viewed by swiping.

Is there a video i can use to learn how to use the app
Strategy: “help me strategize how to potentially change how I play certain holes at the courses I regularly play?”
Trend Report Questions

Q. Can you please help me understand the trend report better? It is not showing calculated or average SG per bucket because it shows positive SG. Does it take the average total SG and then compare the bucket to that average?

A. All results in the trend report and charts are relative to your own average. So if you went from -8 sg total to -6, it would show ad a gain of 2 sg per round over the time period.

Q. What does number of buckets mean and rounds per bucket in the new trend feature on the app?

A. Suppose you select 20 rounds for reporting.
In the trend reports section, if you choose 2 buckets, then the earliest 10 rounds will go into the first ‘bucket’ (i.e., first bar on the chart) and the most recent 10 rounds will go into the second bucket (i.e., second bar on the chart). If you choose 8 buckets, then the rounds will be ordered sequentially in time (from earliest to the most recent) with either 2 or 3 rounds per bucket (or bar).

Q: “What do the trends actually show , I have input 2 rounds worth of details and on the PDF generated report (Trend report page) my all shots figure shows -387.2 in the 8 day round improvement column ..what does that actually mean ? is it just there is not enough data in the system for me yet ?”

A: That’s correct. The trend reports make much more sense when you have 8 or more rounds, not 2. Extrapolating from 2 rounds leads to nonsense results, as you saw.

How do I use the new course name change feature?

Check the course you would like to change the name of and then press the Wrench icon at the bottom. In the “Replace Course” textbox, enter the course name you would like and press “modify” and the name will be changed.

Driving practice round: How do I set up one up on the app?

I create a new course, e.g., ‘drive practice’. Then enter shots into the app. For example, suppose on ‘hole 1’ you hit a drive 250 yards into the rough. You could set the length of the hole to 400 (from the tee) then enter 150 rough for the start of the second shot. Then press the SG for shot 2 to turn it into a ‘pickup’ shot, so the app doesn’t think you holed out from 150 yards. Go to hole 2 to enter your next drive, etc. Then hit ‘results’ to get a driving report.

Benchmark Updates Just wondering, is the SG Pro and Scratch data up to date? In other words, is SG an average figure of last ten years or based solely on 2022 data?

The PGA Tour and scratch (and higher handicap) benchmarks change very slowly. Our benchmarks use several years of data and are updated when needed.

Does subscription auto-renew? If so, how does one opt out?

Subscription is NOT auto renew, therefore nothing needs to be done

Strokes Gained and OWGR

Q: How can I convert my strokes gained into performance points like they do in the OWGR ?

A: Sorry, but that’s not really possible. The ‘strokes gained world ranking’ on the OWGR website uses professional scores of players playing in the same events in the same rounds, which doesn’t happen here. A rough rule of thumb is that you’d need to be a +6 to +9 handicap in all shot categories in the Golfmetrics app to be close to PGA Tour level skill.

Q: Thank you so much for your answer. When I look at the strokes gained and performance points on the OWGR, the ratios varies considerably and I cannot understand why. Here are a two examples:

1. McIlroy Strokes gained 2.37 Performance points 14.52 Ratio 6.13
2. Thomas Strokes gained 1.96 Performance points 9.63 Ratio 4.91

I heard that you had worked with the OWGR and maybe you can tell me how the performance points are computed that would explain different ratios.

A: This is an OWGR question, not Golfmetrics. The performance points are an exponential transformation of strokes gained values. You can see this curve by downloading the file from the OWGR website here

Decimal Places: Has there been any thought to adding a decimal place on certain figures. (i.e – SG on the Scorecard & the SG breakouts of each category.

In the 3-bar menu on the round tab, you can choose ‘decimal places’ to toggle between 1 and 2 decimal places on the reports. Is yours currently 1?

“Forced Layup”: my course have a number of par4 dog leg. From the tee you cannot hit directly towards the hole due to some berry tall tree. When hitting a parfect iron into the fairway I lose strokes gained. Any pro / scratch golfer can gain better due to the nature of the shot. How to alter this so i gives me 0 SG for a shot in the fairway?

For a ‘forced layup’ shot you will have a negative SG, but this is a better choice than taking a driver and hitting into trees or worse trouble. This is a situation where the SG for a given shot is not as accurate as it could be. However, if you track your results over time at this course, overall changes will indicate progress.

The only other ‘solution’ is to ‘artificially’ increase the hole length. This would change the SG (but would also incorrectly factor into the drive distance standard statistic).

Benchmarks: Any plans to add benchmarks for SG OTT, ATG, or T2G? Or does user just add them on their own?

These are in the reports, just under different names.

The results in the GM app have SG driving (which is SG OTT) and SG short game (SG ATG). Also the approach, short game and putting are broken down into many subcategories to be more useful.

The app doesn’t directly have SG T2G, but you can get it from SG total minus SG putting.

What is the Good vs Poor Report and Table?

The good-vs-poor round analysis shows what a player does well when in his or her good rounds and what a player does poorly in his or her bad rounds.

In more detail, when two or more rounds are selected for reporting, the rounds are split into the best half and worst half based on SG Total. Then strokes gained (SG) analyses are run separately for the best rounds and worst rounds. Finally, the results are normalized to each player’s SG by subtracting the average SG (in each shot category) over all selected rounds.

Example: Suppose a player’s good round SG total is +3 and poor round SG total is -3 with an SG difference of 6. This means a player’s good rounds are 3 strokes better than the player’s average and poor rounds are 3 strokes worse. The 6-stroke difference is further split by shot category. For example, suppose the difference in drives is 1, approach is 2, short game is 0.5 and putting is 2.5. This indicates that a player scores the best when he or she is putting and hitting approach shots well (and also scores the worst when these parts of the game are off). Similar calculations are done for shot subcategories (e.g., putting 7-21 feet) and for driving distance.

What is the (new) Trend Chart?

Trend charts show changes in SG per shot over time. When 2 or more rounds are selected and results are run, the ‘trend’ charts show SG per shot trends for all shots and for the four main shot categories (drive, approach, short game and putting) and for the subcategories. The number of buckets can be changed from 2 to 8 (if enough rounds are selected).

Putting Questions

“How do add a putt that is a tap in? I’ve been adding it as a 1 foot putt, is this correct?”

Yes, input as 1 foot.

“For tap in putts, is it possible to record your putt in inches, or is 1 foot the smallest? ”

1 foot is the smallest. There is no difference in SG between 1 inch and 1 foot, so no need to distinguish.

“Even if I two putted all of those , surely that wouldn’t be a handicap of 30 worthy?”

From 7-21 feet, the average strokes to hole out is less than 2.0. For example, for a scratch golfer from 17 feet is about 1.9. To simplify, let’s ignore 3 putts. Then the one-putt probability is 10% and the 2-putt probability is 90%. So a 2-putt from 17 feet has an SG of -0.1. Do that on 18 holes and you’ll lose about 2 strokes putting in the round and your putting handicap would be about 10 (give or take).

Now going through the same analysis from 10 feet, i.e., 18 two-putts from 10 feet, each losing 0.3 strokes per hole, would have a total SG putting of around -5 to -6 and a corresponding putting handicap of around 20-25.

You’d get a handicap of 30 if you also had some 2-putts from under 7 feet.

If you putt from 10 feet and leave yourself a 5-footer, your SG on the 10-foot putt will be much worse than if you leave the 10-footer 1 foot away. The SG from 10-feet doesn’t care whether you make or miss the 5-footer, for that counts for the SG for the 5-foot attempt (and goes into the 0-6 foot SG bucket).

So it seems like you missed every attempt in the 7-21 foot range and some of the were not tap-ins. Your 0-6 SG was great, consistent with your comment about two-putting them all.

Not all two-putts are created equal – a 10-footer hit to 5 feet and a sunk 5-footer is not the same as a 10-footer hit to 2 feet and a sunk 2-footer.

Also, the handicaps for one round can be quite variable. See what happens with a few more rounds of data.

I am over 70… so on your program will my driving stats be based on that as a 5 handicap my driver distance is 225 yards? Can I base my rounds on 3-5 handicap or are they based on pro or scratch?

It is most useful to know where you are gaining and losing strokes, and it sounds like distance is one place. There are also two reports that are helpful to monitor: trend reports (e.g., to see if you are gaining or losing distance, getting better or worse in SG in various shot categories) and good-poor round analysis (which compares your own good and poor rounds).
(We will be adding additional benchmarks in the new year.)

Scramble: I’m playing in a Las Vegas scramble where 4 players play a scramble off the tee and then play their own ball from there. Could you still enter data on the holes with my drive and then do pick up on holes that my drive is not used? Would you recommend a different way?

Yes, that’s the best way. The issue with a ‘pickup’ is that it automatically turns all subsequent shots into pickups.
Note that if another player’s drive is used, and you hit the second shot, that can be entered (e.g. just enter a shot starting from 213 yards in the rough).

Is Golfmetrics tournament legal?

The answer is yes, it is legal. You are allowed to record any information during the round. You just aren’t allowed to receive advice (which Golfmetrics doesn’t provide), so it is legal.

Driving Distance Questions

How accurate is the driving distance measurement? I’m assuming there’s a small margin for error with changing pin locations. Would this probably even out over the course of the season?

Yes, changing pin locations make a small difference on each shot that tends to even out.
There are also differences due to elevation, temperature, wind, etc. that affect driving distance, but mostly tend to even out (assuming you play on similar courses).
Finally, on straight holes driving distance is slightly underestimated and on dogleg holes it can be slightly overestimated.
But the app does all of the consistently, so the main thing to look for are trends – changes up or down assuming you are playing on the same courses(s).

When inputting the distance off the tee box I typically use the distance listed on the score card. However how does that affect my actual recorded driving distance if the pin placement is in the back which is making the hole longer?

It depends on how precise you want to be. Most players just use the scorecard distance. If you find it easy, it is slightly more accurate to adjust for the distance from the actual tee to the tee marker and the distance of the hole from the center of the green. I’d say on balance it’s not worth the extra effort.

How is the best way to ensure the tee shot distance accurately reflects the club used?

In the ‘standard statistics’ report, refer to the ’75-pct driving distance’. If you use a non-driver on two or three holes per round, these get ‘filtered out’ of the 75-pct value.

Elevated Tees: how does ‘Strokes Gained Driving’ adjust for tee shots from very elevated tees?

There are no adjustments for elevated tees, wind, temperature, etc. One of the reasons for measuring drive distance using the ’75-th’ percentile of distance is to mitigate these factors (and to account for some holes where the player doesn’t hit driver). In addition, adding this info to the data entry would be quite burdensome with relatively little in return (it would be more accurate but at a large ‘data entry’ cost).

Select All: It would be nice to have a “select all” option as the number of rounds I have collected is getting long.

To “select all”, there is a filter icon (a funnel) at the bottom of the Round tab.
When pressed, there are buttons for “close”, “reset”, and “filter”. By pressing Filter without any other selections, all rounds will be selected. – Lou

Team Option: Regarding the team option, what are the extra functionalities and how many players can I add

The team option was developed to satisfy requests we had from academic based teams (e.g. American Colleges) and golf academies that needed:

  • Ability to have a single invoice for up to 14 members (one of which is the “coach” or “manager”).
  • manager capability to form the team without intervention from Golfmetrics
  • more attractive per player pricing
  • data sharing capability. Each team member can download all team member rounds (in read only mode)
  • reporting across all team members. This is powerful for the coach where it is clear where individual members need improvement. It is anticipated to create excitement and competition among players as they can see each others strengths and weaknesses.
Team; getting started I have purchased the “team” subscription. Please let me know how best to proceed.

On the app there is an option under 3bar>manage team. From that screen you can:
1. “create” a team by giving it a name
2. enter the IDs of the proposed players. Each entry will initiate an email to be sent to each player inviting them to join the team
3. upon their registration with the app, they will be subscribed.

Check this FAQ for further info including “a getting started” video

Sync Questions

Q: How can I sync my phone and IPad? Rounds appear on phone but not on IPad.

A: Press “options(3bar)>restore rounds”.

Q: I have entered 3 rounds via the app but I can only see the first 2 in the online version , does it take a while to filter through?

A: Syncing takes place in two instances 1) on app startup and 2) when the options(3bar)>team share button is pressed. After either case, the rounds should be available on the web (for the csv downloading)

Calculation Questions

1. Is SG per shot approximately normally distributed?
Nowhere is this used or needed in any calculations.

2. For a X-shooter, one can deduce the average SG per shot and then map their expectations against that. So, eg for a 90-shooter, about 2.5 shots of the excess over scratch comes from putting, so the balance – 15.5 comes from off green. On basis of scratch taking 32 putts, this means the 90-shooter takes 55.5 shots to the scratch golfers 40. Hence a typical shot is -0.28 SG. It would be reasonable for a 90-shooter to recreate the tables using a factor of 0.72 to work out where to expect to be and hence then derive SG against personal expectation. Is this valid and/or has this already been derived???

We will be adding additional benchmarks for 80-, 85- 90- 95-golfers to the app. Your method isn’t quite the way we go about it, but it seems to be quite reasonable.

3. The Green, Proximity and Putting Results page shows my sand from 0-50 as 64 ft. I only had one shot from 0-50 yards recorded for the full round. I played the 380 yard hole as follows: Tee shot to fairway, 164 yards to pin, hit it into greenside bunker, 7 yards to pin, hit it on green, 18 feet to pin, two putt. I entered the info as Tee 380, Fairway 164, Sand 7, Green 18, Green 1. Did I enter the info incorrectly so as to get a 64 ft average on sand shots inside 50 yards?
The proximity numbers are ‘normalized’ to the midpoint, i.e., 25 yards. That way more shots from 8 yards than 48 yards won’t make your proximity results look ‘artificially’ better.

Desert Lies: Here in New Mexico we don’t have trees or grass between fairways, but we have desert–could be sand, gravel, rocks, shrubs…if we end up in this area, would you recommend using “rough” or “recovery” (assuming that I have a shot). Or is there another choice more appropriate?

I’d use rough usually. If you don’t have a shot, then recovery. If you have a partial shot, then deep rough.

Benchmarks: Is there a way to benchmark relative to a student’s current skill level instead of scratch or pro?

Handicaps are provided for every part of the game (e.g., if you are a 15-handicap player but a 10-handicap driver and 19-handicap putter, then the player’s driving is strong and putting is weak relative to the overall handicap).

Driving Distance Questions: All the trend numbers are based on SG, i.e. (n day or yearly) SG per round improvement. How will the 75% driving distance be determined as it is in distance? And the driving distance is calculated by selecting driving distance based on: (Par4 or Par5) and startPos==’tee’ and not a pickup shot). This will be used to for trend driving distance determination?

” How will the 75% driving distance be determined as it is in distance?”

Where there was a number, say, SG drive round 1, SG drive round 2, … replace by 75-pct drive dis round 1, 75-pct drive dis round 2, …

” And the driving distance is calculated by selecting driving distance based on:”

This is already calculated in the ‘standard statistics report’ so that same number should be used. No need to recalculate it.

Shot Entry Timing: Weighing the option of adding my stats after every shot, after every hole or after every round. Based on your experience, is there any downside to logging after the round vs during ? Do you have specific SG scorecards to help manually capture all the data needed?

This is really a personal preference. I log after every shot and then forget about the shot and the hole score. Others enter all shots for a hole between holes. Finally, many enter after the round. This requires a few notes on a scorecard (we don’t have a special scorecard). You can find an example of these ‘notes’ here: https://twitter.com/Fit_For_Golf (not sure exactly where in his feed it is, since he tweets a lot).

Downside of during the round: Some people think during the round interferes. (Me: I log shots instead of using a scorecard.)

Upside of during the round: No note needed, report available immediately after the round, no time wasted entering data post-round.

Bunker shots If I’m in a fairway bunker and cant reach the green due to the lip, do I put the location as deep rough or sand ?

I’d suggest putting it as ‘deep rough’. If you can’t reach the green because of the lip, the cause was the previous shot, not the shot from the sand. Marking the lie as ‘deep rough’ correctly allocates the ‘blame’ on the previous shot where it belongs instead of the shot from the sand.

SG over Time When I think about tracking strokes gained over time, should I look at it on average during a round, or in total during a round?

I generally look at total over time, as that directly affects score. SG per shot is better for measuring skill at a particular type of shot, but doesn’t take into account the number of shots per round (e.g., 70-yard sand shots could have a poor SG per shot, but with few of these shots per round, they don’t affect the score much).

One way to look over time is to do a report with the most recent, say, 7 rounds and create a pdf and the previous 7 rounds and create a second pdf and compare to see trends.

What is the Mental Feature?

Q) What is the new mental feature?
A) The new mental feature is an addition to the existing shot entry system under which each golf shot hit is given a mental score between 1 and 5

Q) What is a mental score?
A) A mental score is a number assigned to a golf shot based on a number of different criteria such as the process one has towards the golf shot, clarity of shot one plans on hitting and the commitment level of the golf swing.

Q) How does one rate a shot mentally?
A) A mental rating is based on the level of commitment one has on the shot. The result of the shot should not influence this rating but rather the commitment to the pre-shot routine, clarity of intended shot in the mind and freedom of the swing should be key factors in determining the mental score for the shot.
A shot with minimal to no commitment in the pre-shot routine, lack of clarity with intended shot and no trust in the swing should be given a 1 while a shot that has a great pre-shot routine, clear vision of the shot one plans on hitting and complete trust and freedom in the swing should be given a 5.

Q) What is the process and commitment to a golf shot?
A) The process of a golf shot refers to the pre-shot routine that one has for every shot they hit. This routine is something every golfer can rely on in pressure situations. Having a consistent pre-shot routine which includes planning and visualizing a shot as well as making a committed golf swing can have a major impact and improve a golfer’s strokes gained per round tremendously.

Q) How do we log in the mental score for every shot?
A) While logging in the start location for a shot, on the same screen at the bottom there are 5 mini boxes with each labelled from 1 to 5 with the number selected being the mental score assigned to that particular shot.

Q) Does one have to log in a mental score for every shot hit?
A) You may choose which shots you would like to log your mental score for. For example, if you have a tap in putt or a chip out from the trees you may not feel the need to log in the mental score. In such cases the strokes gained for those shots will not be used in the mental game statistics.

Q) What if I am not confident over the golf ball and yet hit a great shot? What score should I give myself?
A) To rate the mental score for this shot, we must ignore the end result of the golf ball and only focus on the process and mindset in the golf shot. Since a person in this scenario did not have any commitment to the process or confidence and commitment in the shot hit, the mental score should be very low.

Q) What is the use of the Mental feature
A) The mental feature is aimed at bringing a direct relationship between the commitment to the process of hitting a golf shot and its subsequent result. One major aim for this feature is to show that the result of a golf shot isn’t always directly linked to the technique one has but is also influenced by other factors such as clarity of shot one intends on hitting and trust in the swing one makes. Oftentimes not having a clear vision of the type of shot one wants to hit can result in feeling uncomfortable over the ball resulting in a bad shot that has a loss in strokes gained. Such a shot would clearly show in the mental statistics as a loss in strokes gained caused by a low mental score.

Q) What is SG vs Mental?
A) SG vs Mental is a chart that uses the mental score logged in for each shot and connects it to the strokes gained for those shots and presents a bar graph to show an average strokes gained per shot for different mental scores.

Q) How can the SG vs Mental graph be used to improve my game?
A) The addition of this graph will show a correlation between every mental score and the subsequent average strokes gained per shot for that mental score. Seeing this graph, a golfer will learn to spend more time working on the process and visualization of each shot rather than simply working on the technical side of the game.

Deep Rough There is mention of selecting ‘recovery shot’ when the rough is so deep that you have to use a 8 iron instead of a 5 iron. Is the ‘deep rough’ option a new option and should it be used for such cases instead of selecting ‘recovery’, or is the ‘deep rough’ option intended as an in between normal rough, and rough so bad it fits the criteria for ‘recovery shot’?

Exactly right, Deep rough is intermediate between recovery and rough. If you have to punch out from trees, that is a recovery shot, or if you have to hit a wedge out of deep fescue, that is also considered a recovery shot. Deep rough is typically an unobstructed shot but deep enough that you can’t hit the normal club that you would from the rough and probably can advance it further that a recovery shot be can’t reach the green.

Deep rough is intended to give the ‘appropriate’ cost allocation to the previous shot versus the recovery / deep rough / rough next shot.

Course entry: I don’t understand how to pick a course or location. It is just blank and don’t understand what new means.

When you create a round, place the cursor in the “New” field,
add a course using the keyboard and press “add round”. This will then
begin a list of your courses. Next time you add a round, that course
will appear in the “course” select field. Once there are courses in the
app, if you edit a round (checkbox and press the wrench), you can select
the course from the select box. There is detail in both the help
sections at the bottom of the screens and also at the “FAQ” which can be
found under the “?” help on the Round tab

Every Shot Counts Comparison: “In the Introduction to “Every Shot Counts” by Mark Broadie, in the section titled “The Problem with Traditional Stats”, an image is shown of a sample Golfmetrics yardage book. How can I get such a yardage book for the courses I play, so I can use it to gather data in a round of golf to enter into the golfmetrics app?”

The book referenced the desktop Golfmetrics version which is different than the Golfmetrics app. The GM app does not require nor use yardage books and it does not rely on GPS. So the GM app can be used with any course. The tradeoff is that you don’t get satellite images on which to view shots.

Distance to the hole Just so I am understanding you correctly, for the entry on any hole should it be (1) the distance of the hole or (2) the distance I have left after my tee shot?

The “Distance” entered is always the distance of the ball to the hole at the beginning of the shot. For example, the tee shot of a 440-yard hole ends up in the rough 165 yards from the hole. So you’d enter 440 for shot 1 and 165 for shot 2.
And…
You should always enter the distance to the hole and never the shot distance. This always, or almost always, makes data entry much easier (not sure how shotscope presents the data).

Course Maps: I was just wondering if you have my course mapped in your database.

The GM app doesn’t need any course maps, it can be used with any course (including practice sessions), because it is not GPS-based.

Double chip: How would you enter a double chip into golfmetrics?

Interesting question that I hadn’t considered. Luckily an easy answer. It would be a chip followed by a penalty, .e.g., if shot 3 is the double-chip that finishes on the green:

Shot dis condition
3 14 yds rough
4 penalty
5 12 feet green

First Cut: My coach and I have been discussing how to classify shots that miss the fairway and end up in very short rough/first cut. My coach says that for handicap players it is actually easier to hit a ball that sits in the short rough as opposed to the fairway, particularly in summer when here in England our fairways are hard.

We suggest first cut (i.e., one yard wide intermediate cut) be classified as fairway.

New local OB rule Message: Are you planning to modify app for new local rule for out of bounds play? Have have just been doing it the old way but might be nice to have a way to do it without going through 3 steps.

With the new local OB rule, suppose you hit your tee shot OB and then drop with a 2 stroke penalty and hit from 250 yards in the fairway.
You can enter the tee shot, hit add/next, press the penalty button and add/next, press the penalty button and add/next, then press ‘fairway’ and 250. Is that how you’ve been doing it? I would not use the ‘double penalty’ button for this.

Gender: What about female golfers? Are SG numbers different for them for driving, approach, etc?

I’ve found that the male / female distinction is not so important. There are older golfer who hit is short, young golfers who hit is short, players who are very long, but wild and don’t score well, etc. In short, what matters are the shots and not so much the sex of the golfer.

The Golfmetrics system gives handicaps, and a 5-handicap does refer to the USGA male 5 –handicap, while the female USGA handicap would be a bit different. Most female pros use the ‘scratch benchmark’.

Proximity: How is the proximity computed exactly?

Suppose a shot starts 125 yards from the hole and the end of the shot is 10 feet from the hole. Then the player’s average proximity from 100-150 yards is 10 feet. However, suppose the player’s shot started 150 yards from the hole. Then a shot to 10 feet from the hole from 150 yards is better than one starting from 125 yards, so the ending distance to the hole is scaled to reflect that difference. In particular, the proximity is reported as 10*125/150 = 8.3 feet. In this way, the proximity results a more consistent with each other when there is a limited amount of data.

In addition, proximity is computed as a median value, not an average. For example, suppose a player had three shots starting from 125 yards in the fairway. Shot 1 ended 10 feet from the hole, shot 2 ended 14 feet from the hole and shot 3 ended 100 feet from the hole. The median proximity of the three shots is 14 feet (the middle value of 10, 14 and 100). Using the median value gives a better measure of proximity than the average value because it is not heavily influenced by ‘outlier’ poor shots (in this case the shot that ended 100 feet from the hole).

Adjacent Fairway: How would you classify the lie if you hit your tee shot into the fairway of a different hole? Especially if the recovery category doesn’t apply? Like I big slice into the next fairway but the approach shot is generally unobstructed to be green or small trees to hit over…or you are in the fairway but have to hit a huge cut or hook to get to the green from a different hole’s fairway?

To get the ‘fairways hit’ stats correct, I’d recommend labelling ‘missed into another fairway’ as ‘rough’ (which would be more consistent with the way it is done elsewhere).

Doglegs: When inputting distance to hole from the tee on a dogleg par 4/5, is it best to use the direct as-the-crow-flies GPS distance or the distance as measured on the scorecard? For example, on my home course, there’s a dogleg left par 4 with a scorecard distance of 434 (I’m assuming this is based on route to bend of dogleg), but the direct line distance is around 400

For consistency, it is best to use the scorecard distance (adjusted up or down a bit considering the placement of the tee markers relative to the hole yardage plate).

Lots of reasons for this, but it is a reasonable choice given a number of factors. Similarly, we don’t adjust approach shot distances if the hole is playing uphill versus downhill, into or against the wind.

Sand: Is it possible to split the SAND stats in fairway bunkers and greenside bunkers? Or do you consider fairway bunker recovery shots. Is all sand shot from within 100 meters are considered the same?

Currently there is a ‘sand 0-100’ category. Results from, say, 100-150 yards, are not currently split into fairway, rough and sand (but that is something we are planning for a later release).

A fairway bunker shot is typically not a recovery shot, but could be. To be called a recovery shot, the ball should be in a position where the player cannot play a ‘normal’ shot to reach the green. For example, if the player could reach the green with a 5-iron but the lip of the bunker forces the player to use a pitching wedge that can’t reach the green, then that should be labeled a ‘recovery’ shot. Otherwise it should be labeled ‘sand.’

Miss left/right: Will there be an option to enter if you miss the fairway left or right and also the approach to the green left/right/ short or long?

Not currently, but that is another feature we are intending to add at some point in the future. (Same with missing a putt short/long, left/right, high/low.)

Pro vs Scr: But if I enter 6 foot in the app that I hole I gain 0.44 strokes. Where does this difference com from.

If I use the table from the book and I enter a stroke from one these distances in the app I get different strokes gained numbers. In this case, the table says a 6 foot putt is average 1.34. So if I hole a 6 foot putt I assume you would win 0.34 strokes. But if I enter 6 foot in the app that I hole I gain 0.44 strokes (see attachment). Where does this difference com from.
The GM app computes both ‘Pro SG’ and ‘Scr SG’ (professional and scratch). You can toggle between them by pressing the text. You get a gain of 0.44 relative to a scratch golfer and 0.34 relative to a Pro golfer.

Short Game Distances: Is there a table with short game distances with SG numbers. In the table from the book it is limited to 20, 40, 60 and 80 yards. I would like to know the numbers for 15, 25, 30, 35, 45, 50, 55, 65, 70 and 75 meters from fairway, rough and sand. Is there a way to use the app to do this, if yes how. This would also solve the yards/meters issue if I can use the app for this.

You can enter any distance, e.g., 55 meters rough, and the app will give the SG value for the shot, which then gives the average strokes to hole out. For example, from 55 meters in the rough the SG is 1.75, which means a ‘hole out’ would gain 1.75 strokes (for the Pro benchmark). The average strokes to hole out (for a pro) is therefore 2.75.

You can change between yards and meters using the ‘3-bar’ menu in the round tab and select ‘Units’ to toggle between yards and meters. (Note that the reports use 100-150 always to mean yards.)

Peer groups/handicaps: Will there ever be any option of choosing a different peer group? i.e. 80s shooter versus pro or scratch only?

We thought it would be clearer to present the info using handicaps. The handicaps are a direct way to compare SG results in different categories to different peer groups. For example, if your driving handicap is 12 and your putting handicap is 2, then your driving is worse than an 80-shooter (about 6 handicap) and your putting is better than an 80-shooter.

Nine Hole RoundIs there a way to make a 9 holes round?

Do I need to create a new course with just a front nine and another for the back nine so when I play those it will accumulate the stats?

If you enter 9 holes (or any number of holes less than 18) for a “round” and get results, everything is scaled to 18 holes. If you get results for, say, one round with 9 holes and another round with 18 holes, then the results are computed for all 27 holes, then scaled to 18 to give results on an 18-hole per-round basis.

And you can record a ‘round’ with any number of holes. For example, you can record holes 3, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 15 and the GM app will give you a report on that ‘round’ (i.e., with results scaled to an 18-hole equivalent round). If you ask for a report on multiple rounds that includes, say, 41 holes, all holes are included (equally weighted) and then results are compiled and reported on an 18-hole basis.

Tight lies: My course has sand cart paths and many tight lies. How would to enter a shot on a hardpan sandy surface? Sand, rough or fairway?

The question is how similar is the difficulty of the shot from the hardpan to sand, rough or fairway? Many golfers consider hardpan a very good lie and labeling it as fairway would make sense. Others might consider it closer to sand. Sand is more difficult than fairway because the sand might be soft, there might be a lip to clear, etc. I’d say it should be either fairway or sand, depending on your judgment. As with recovery, labeling a shot from the hardpan as “fairway” would say that the previous shot was a good one, while labeling as “sand” would say that the previous shot wasn’t quite as good (and it depends on how you view the difficulty of the shot from the hardpan).

Shot Entry: How would I enter the following shot? I am 20 yards in the greenside rough/treeline with a very difficult lie to a tight pin and fast green, carrying a bunker. After looking at the options, I decide the play is to pitch out to the front of the green in the fairway for a better angle. Do I enter this shot at 20 yards from the rough or do I enter as 20 yard recovery shot?

Since you can’t play the preferred shot toward the hole (or at least toward the green), this should probably be labeled a recovery shot. The effect of labeling a shot a recovery shot is to place most of the “blame” on the prior shot. (Sometimes it isn’t so obvious what label to use, and in those cases “rough” might make more sense.)

Driving results: When I see in my stats drive dis, 75 pct 272 (13). What does this mean? Does it mean that 75 percent of my longest drives were 272?

Drive dis, 75 pct 272 (13).
This means that 3 out of 4 drives were shorter than 272 yards, and 1 out of 4 drives were longer than 272 yards, out of 13 measured drives. The 272 value is an estimate of a player’s driving distance with a “good drive.”

Glossary: Is there a Glossary or explanation of terms?

Glossary:
Tee distance: the distance from the tee to the center of the green measured along the fairway, i.e., the distance on the scorecard.

Fairway distance: the distance from the shot location to the hole. (Note: you never have to enter the distance a shot travels into Golfmetrics.)

Penalty: there isn’t a distance associated with penalty shots. Example: Say your tee shot goes into the water and you make a lateral drop. For shot 2 select
“penalty”. For shot 3 select the ball location (e.g., rough or fairway) and distance to the hole after the penalty drop.

Recovery: A recovery shot is a “condition” like “rough” that should be selected when you can’t hit a “normal” shot toward the hole. For example, if you are in the woods and have
to chip back toward the fairway, that would be a recovery shot. Think of the ball in the “woods” as being in a “recovery location.”

Green: these are strokes on the green whether you use a putter or not. (If you are off the green on the fairway and use a putter the “condition” should be fairway, not green. The club used never matters in determining the location of the ball.)

Data Entry: I am confused on how to enter data into the app for different round. Can you please provide me with a guide for it?

1) press “add round”, enter name and course and then “add round” button. 2)
press “add shot” button and enter shot info. Single shots can be entered (press “add”) or a sequence of shots (press “add/next”). 3) swipe to move to next hole; Strokes Gained will be computed as shots are entered. 4) press results to see more detailed results.

This is detailed in the help pages at the bottom of each tab using the “?” icon.

What is Rough: For shots in the rough around greens (under 20 yards), where you typically chip or pitch from, are those to be classified as rough ?

Yes, they should be classified as rough. The “condition” of the shot is rough if the ball is in the rough, independent of the distance of the ball to the hole (i.e., over or under 20 yards does not matter).

Round filtering: Is there a function to aggregate all the rounds into season long results?

In the “round” tab, there is the filter icon (looks like funnel, second from left, on the bottom). With that, you can “select all” (just press “filter”) as well as more specific selections by date, course, golfer etc.

Strokes Gained categories: What metrics for strokes gained does your app include? Is it just putting or Putting from 0-5\’ 6-15\’ 16\’? And for short game is it total short game or 10-30 yds, 30-50 yds? For approaches does it cover inside 100 yds, 101-150, 151-200, 200-250, 251 ?

The Golfmetrics app gives strokes gained results for four main categories (drive, approach, short and putting) and then breakdowns:

Approach: 100-150, 150-200, 200-250, > 250
Short: 0-20, 20-60, 60-100, greenside sand
Putting: 0-6, 7-21, 22+

Practice Rounds: I’d love to be able to use the app to record specific practice sessions to track my progress. For example, I play 18 hole rounds on the practice green, using a random number generator on my phone to determine the length of each first putt. I record the results on a scorecard and manually enter them on a spreadsheet that calculates strokes gained based on a database I found online. It would be much easier if I could do that on your app.

You can already do this with the app. When adding a new round, create a new course called, say, prac putt (shorter for practice putt). Then enter data for each “hole,” changing the first shot from “tee” to “green.” As long as your practice session concludes with a hole out, this will compute strokes gained for your practice putting.

You can also do the same with “prac chip”, where if you don’t hole out, you can look at the strokes gained short game results and ignore the strokes gained putting results.

Distance Entry: On any shot, do you use the distance of the hole or distance of your tee shot?

On the Shot Entry tab, all distance entries (including tee shot) are distance to the hole. They appear on the table under “hole dis”.

Will GM use my phone to determine the yardage to the hole? Or do I need to use a different device and write it down?

You need to manually enter the distance to the hole. Most golfers know this on almost every shot. The problem with GPS is that it can be quite inaccurate and is unusable for putt distances. Note: you never have to compute how long a shot travels – you only need to enter the distance to the hole.
You can write it down and enter later, but many find it easier to enter while on the course (e.g., after each hole is completed).

If hitting lay up on par five, do you enter the distance to the flag or the distance you are trying to lay up to?

Always enter the distance to the flag.

Is the distance entered the distance he hits the ball or the total ball distance?

The user always inputs ‘distance to the hole’ and never ‘distance the ball travelled’ (so no calculations are ever necessary for the user).

Subscriptions: If I have a subscription on my phone do I need another one for my iPad?

No, one subscription for both devices.

Multiple Devices: Any plans to allow rounds to be shared across multiple devices? i.e. iPhone and iPad?

The “options(3bar)/Restore Rounds” feature will download rounds from the cloud to a second device. At this time it does not simultaneously sync between devices.

SG/Handicap: I think that showing SG per shot in the handicap table might be very useful information.

I tend to agree. I think it might be less confusing to show strokes gained per shot (because that is how the handicap is computed), but the tradeoff is that strokes gained per shot is “different” than strokes gained per round shown elsewhere.

Handicap vs SG: Does it mean that how the calculation of round handicap for a specific category (e.g. Short Game) does not have additive property as stroke gained has ?

Exactly. That’s why I usually prefer strokes gained per round, because you don’t need to spend as much time on improving a skill that has little impact on your score. However, if you just want to measure skill in a given area (independent of the number of shots taken per round), then strokes gained per shot is more appropriate.

Q: Am I correct in that this player is losing 0.2 strokes per shot in each category compared to a Scratch golfer?

A: Yes, that’s correct. The ‘handicaps’ are based on SG per shot.
I often look at the other report that has strokes gained per round. In that report, the SG Total per round is the sum of SG per round in driving, approach, short game and putting.

Handicap Results: What does 5.5 handicap driving mean?

The answer is that handicaps are based on strokes gained per shot, not strokes gained per round. For example, if there was a category of 70-80 yard sand shots, a player could have a terrible SG per shot (high handicap) but with 1 shot every few rounds, it doesn’t much impact strokes gained per round.
“Weird” results like the ones you attached tend not to happen on reports with several rounds.

Penalty Shot Entry: On Penalty shot entry, after I click Penalty, the app is not letting me enter a distance.

For a penalty shot, the distance to the hole at the start of the shot isn’t needed, so the app makes it “easier” by not asking (nor allowing) you to enter that info.

In your example, shot 2 is a penalty, which was caused by the outcome of shot 1, so the strokes gained for shot 1 will suffer. The strokes gained for shot 1, when shot 2 is a penalty, depends on the beginning location of shot 3. So what matters is to enter the distance to the hole at the beginning of shot 3 (and then distance to the hole at the beginning of shot 2 is not needed).

Note: if you hit a tee shot out of bounds there is a “double penalty” button which automatically re-enters the shot 1 info for the beginning of shot 3.

Pickup entry: How to add a made-up shot, or label it as a pickup. Do you mean just add them as penalties?

Suppose you hit your tee shot OB and then pick up.  Say it’s a par-4 and you’d like to record a score of 6. Enter 6 shots, e.g., tee shot, double penalty, re-tee shot, iron shot, putt, putt.   On shot 3, “re-tee shot,” press in the SG column to turn shots 3-6 into “pickups.”  Your shot 1 tee shot and penalty will be recorded as “real shots” for SG purposes, the pickup shots will be ignored for SG results (since they didn’t happen) and your score for the hole will be recorded as 6 (so it’s easy to understand your final round score).

Recovery Shots: Are ”trouble shots” eventually going to be treated different than shots from the rough? Seems like hitting a knockdown onto the green from under a tree (or even getting close) would result in more strokes gained, given the starting circumstances, than doing the same thing from a foot off the fairway.

Yes, recovery shots are treated differently than the rough.  I explain it this way.  If you are in a position where you can’t hit your “normal” shot toward the green (e.g., blocked by a tree, in rough so deep that you need to hit an 8-iron instead of a 5-iron, or in a bunker where you need to hit a wedge instead of a 5-iron), then that should be called a recovery shot, which essentially place the “blame” on your two shots combined to the previous shot (e.g., your tee shot), not the next shot.

Related question: Will you introduce obstructed lies, in addition to sand and rough?

Answer: Obstructed lies are called recovery shots in the Golfmetrics app.

Related question: “I’d like to check and ensure I’m using the “recovery” category correctly, as I don’t want it to artificially inflate my approach SG.

If I hit a driver into the trees, say 130 yards out, and I’m blocked by trees, but can hit a lowpunch draw with a 6-iron to advance it up to or on the green, should that be treated as a “recovery” shot (since I can’t play a normal shot from 130 yards – ie. wedge), or should it be a “rough” or “deep rough” shot so as to not artificially inflate my approach SG when I get it on or close to the green?

Currently if I can’t hit a normal shot in relation to the distance left due to tree trouble I am inputting these as “recovery” situations, which may be increasing my driving handicap, and decreasing my approach handicap, compared to where they would be if these were input as “rough” or “deep rough” situations.”

Answer: There is a bit of judgement involved in choosing the ‘deep rough’ versus ‘recovery’. Generally, if you must chip out and not advance the ball very far, or if it is a very risky shot through a tiny opening, then I label that as a recovery shot. On the other hand, if you have an open shot in the general direction of the green and can hit a good shot close to the green (but a lie that is more difficult than rough), then I label that a a deep rough shot.

So I’d label your ‘low punch’ as deep rough.

Finally, suppose your ‘low punch’ is executed about average for that type of shot. Then I’d look at the SG of the low punch shot and you should see that ‘recovery’ would lead to a quite positive SG for that shot (which is incorrect), where labeling it as ‘deep rough’ should see that lowpunch have an SG closer to 0 (which is correct).

Multiple Reports: Can you do reports on multiple round?

You can definitely do reports on multiple rounds! In the round tab, use the check boxed to select rounds then press the results tab. Alternatively, use the “filter / oil can” to select rounds (e.g., by date range), press “filter” button, then press the results tab.

Yardage Entry: Should the yardage entered be the actual, or effective (ie taking slope – and maybe wind into consideration). For instance, SG off the tee might be distorted off downhill holes and uphill/downhill approach shots might show distortion when sorted into the various buckets (150-200 etc).

Because the baselines were created using “actual” yardage, I’d recommend using that. However, you are correct that an argument could be made for “effective” yardage, and that would be fine as well, though being consistent would help. Another reason for using “actual” yardage is that it removes any subjectivity (e.g., do you also include the wind? course elevation? temperature?).

Effect of par: How do the results change for a par-70 course versus a different par?

The par of the course does not affect the strokes gained results in any way. It only affects the “standard statistics” where birdies, pars, bogeys, etc., are reported.

Recovery shots: How does recovery show up in the data?”

Recovery shots are included in the sg calculations for all reports, but are not separately reported (e.g., we don’t have a “Strokes gained from recovery shots” report). We are in the process of adding a number of new reports (strokes gained per shot, greens hit, proximity, and more detailed putting reports). We also plan to add a “best shots / worst shots” report, so this might help to point out, e.g., which shots are leading to more penalties or recovery shots. how does recovery show up in the data?”

Recovery shots are included in the sg calculations for all reports, but are not separately reported (e.g., we don’t have a “Strokes gained from recovery shots” report). We are in the process of adding a number of new reports (strokes gained per shot, greens hit, proximity, and more detailed putting reports). We also plan to add a “best shots / worst shots” report, so this might help to point out, e.g., which shots are leading to more penalties or recovery shots.

Recording shots: What is the best way to record a shot in this situation… par 5 525 tee shot… 250 fairway… 100 fairway… 250 out there’s a hazard and all sorts of trouble. Playing 250 to 100 costs me roughly .25 vs scratch and hurts my approach stats. I agree I should lose .25 but is there a way to reflect it differently?

Not easy to do this any differently. The “better” way to do it would be to have separate baselines for each hole that would take into account, e.g., placement of hazards, but this really isn’t feasible. The second answer is that you might be losing 0.25, but that is better than taking on the hazard and, on average losing, more than 0.25. A “correct” strategy will have a better average strokes gained, but, unfortunately it can appear as a negative number.

Here’s another extreme example. Suppose a player duffs shots from 20-40 yards. So this player lays up to 70 yards and has a negative stokes gained for the approach shot. But for this player it’s still a better strategy than laying up closer to the hole (with would improve his approach shot strokes gained) and then experiencing the more negative strokes gained from 20-40 yards. For this player, I’d hope the negative strokes gained from 20-40 would lead the player to improve that part of his game and it would have the secondary benefit of improving his approach shot strokes gained.

New SG report: About the new SG report per shot , what is IT for , what can we take from this new report ? And also we can see the percent for drive , approach etc , what does the precentage mean ?

The SG per shot is a good measure for practice (e.g., skills tests), since it measures ‘skill’ independent of the number of shots taken in a round. A player’s biggest potential gain is a shot category with a strokes gained per round (which is composed of strokes gained per shots times the number of shots per round).
The % column is the percent of shots in that category in a round.

When to use Tee: When you hit an iron off the tee for position, should you still use ”tee” or recovery as you are not going with driver?

Tee, not recovery.   It is true that hitting an iron off the tee might lead to a negative strokes gained for the tee shot, but it can be a better decision because using a driver would lead to a more negative SG.  ‘Recovery’ should be used as a label for ‘non-tee and non-fairway’ shot where the player is forced to use a different club or different line that would normally be chosen for the shot.  For example, in the rough if you’d normally hit a 5-iron toward the green, but you are in the woods and instead punch out to the fairway.  For another example, in the rough you’d normally hit a 5 iron straight to the green but the rough is so deep that you take a wedge to ‘hack it out’.  In both examples, the lie should be labeled as ‘recovery.’  A ‘recovery’ label places the ‘blame’ for a two-shot sequence on the first shot, not the second shot (i.e., the shot that led to the recovery lie).

Fringe: How should I record a shot from the fringe? Does it matter if I use a putter or other club?

Yes, it should be recorded as ‘fairway’ (whether or not a putter is used)!

Changing Par: how can you change the pars on the course

Just tap the ‘par’ on the scorecard and the par will cycle through 3, 4, 5.  The par will be remembered for the next time.

Clubs: Is it possible to specify which club he has used.

The system does not allow recording of the club used, though we are considering adding this feature.  The main reason is that it is more important to know ‘how close from how far’ and not ‘which club’. And we didn’t want to increase the time for data entry substantially.

Data export: Can you export the data into a .csv or .xls file?

Yes. Go to golfmetrics.com, login using your credentials you registered with and choose “data csv” on right side.

Handicaps: The capture is my last 5 rounds average. And my average results are 5 over. 77 on par 72. Why the numbers are like handicap 0 or better but my scores avrgs is 77?? If I understand the numbers my average round could be around par right?

In the US handicap system, a scratch golfer might have an average score of around 75-77.  Part of the reason is that the worst half of scores are thrown out for handicap purposes. As another point of reference, PGA Tour pros would have handicaps ranging from plus 6 to plus 9.  Finally, PGA Tour pros play on more difficult courses and conditions, so their handicap on a more ‘normal’ course would be about plus 8 to plus 11.

Different tees: How do I record a yellow tee, other white or even red in a variety of courses? Do you create different courses for each tee type or is it ok to have records on the same course with different tee distances each round?

It might be easiest to create separate courses if the tees are significantly different.  For example, naming the Castle Creek course as three courses: Castle Creek white, Castle Creek red, Castle Creek black.  The advantage is that the next time you play the course on, say, the white tees, the hole yardages from the white tees are remembered by the Golfmetrics app.

Alternatively, you could have one Castle Creek course and the app would remember the hole yardages from the last time you played (and you’d have to change if you are playing a difference set of tees than the previous time).