Hack It Out Golf

What are you picking? Hit 70% of fairways and drive it 225.. or Hit 50% of fairways and drive it 250?

How often do you three-putt? Here are three-putt rates for scratch and 12 index golfers from 5 feet all the way out to 70 feet. Data from Arccos Golf.

Huh? Why do college golfers struggle the most on their first hole? Many college tournaments use shotgun starts. One player’s first hole might be hole 12, while another’s might be hole 3. I looked at each golfer’s round in the order they played it and compared their score with what the field averaged on that hole. Looking at round 1 across many hundreds of events, the first hole a player played was their worst. They improved over the next few holes, then level off around their sixth hole. The shape of the data stays the same when you break it down by hole difficulty or player skill level. What’s behind it? ▶️First-tee nerves? ▶️The 20+ minute gap from when they hit the last warm-up shot to when they start the round? ▶️Something else? Thoughts?

This is definitely the worst rule in golf! 😀

Can they get to 50 under? Current group chat discussion: Can four Division 1 men’s golfers get to 50 under playing a four-man scramble over 72 holes at a U.S. Open. Course is playing "tough" and the winning individual score from a tour pro is around 5-under for 72 holes. Assume all four are ranked inside the top 300 in college golf (around +5 tournament handicap index).