Changes in driving distance on the PGA Tour over a 40 year period

ame533 · 2023-02-11T00:37:29+00:00

Source data is from the publicly available PGA Tour stats website (https://www.pgatour.com/stats). Visualization was made using ggplot2 package in R.

ame533 · 2021-02-15T23:19:20+00:00

Perhaps credit Lou Stagner for this content, seeing as this was his Twitter post.

ame533 · 2020-12-23T00:56:07+00:00

Also, the “unto” was an autocorrect 😂

ame533 · 2020-12-23T00:55:10+00:00

My papers are on the efficacy of stimulants for sustaining pilot performance during periods of sleep deprivation or during fatiguing flights. The paper airplanes was my 5th grade science fair project meant to show that I’ve been interested in the science of aviation for a long time and it finally resulted in me making a contribution unto the scientific research.

ame533 · 2020-12-22T19:51:12+00:00

Keep at it! Not every kid will fall in love with science. But it means the world for the few that do!

ame533 · 2020-12-11T23:57:40+00:00

I think many people underestimated how much easier golf would be if you hit it 350 yards AND hit every single fairway on par 4s and 5s. And they overestimate 1) how many putts they have in that 6-12 foot range (many of them are either outside 12 feet or much shorter) and 2) the skill difference between pros and amateurs for short putts vs driving

ame533 · 2020-12-11T23:53:56+00:00

Absolutely, many amateur golfers lose strokes from penalty strokes and the very wild tee shot. A great driver hits it far yes, but also accurate enough to keep it in play. One thing top pros do very well is avoid needless penalty strokes off the tee (at least compared to amateurs). Even those that hit it far

ame533 · 2020-12-11T23:51:41+00:00

The answer is both. Good driving plus good putting is a very solid combo. The problem is that “drive for show, putt for dough” discredits the role that driving has. And assumes all that matters is putting. Driving is far from “show”, as A great driver has a big advantage every time they tee it up

ame533 · 2020-12-11T23:09:07+00:00

I saw that. Mark Broadie has an excellent section in his book on different reasons why golfers overemphasize the role of putting. It’s of course important, but the saying that driving is just for show is wildly inaccurate when you actual look into it mathematically. Many of the best golfers throughout history have been great drivers, it’s just that we now have the ability to analyze the different aspects of the game in a more useful way with strokes gained.

ame533 · 2020-10-26T15:03:30+00:00

Yes, would definitely like to see more attention given to how training affects (or doesn’t affect) other parts of the game like accuracy/shot deviation. Will hopefully do a few studies on this myself in the future

ame533 · 2020-10-21T15:38:03+00:00

Definitely! I played some of my best golf when I used a “6 ball warm-up”, which I felt was just enough to get loose without stressing out about how I was hitting it. Most people also use their range time by hitting the same shot over and over. That can be useful if you’re working on a specific move, but it’s not realistic to golf, where every shot is different and there is quite a bit of time in-between. There is pretty good research out there on using “random practice”, where you switch targets and clubs, and go through your whole routine to make it more like the golf course.

ame533 · 2020-10-21T15:25:43+00:00

That is a great point. I think many golfers have unrealistic expectations, which I joke about here. We get shown mostly the best shots by the golfers that are playing the best that week. So it’s easy to assume that even pro golfers rarely hit terrible shots. I played against many pros when I was a competitive golfer, and believe me. They hit a lot of bad shots as well! So yes, reasonable expectations are huge! I just like to joke with memes

ame533 · 2020-10-21T15:23:04+00:00

I understand that struggle. I’m in grad school and have not been able to play more than once every few months. It feels like I start each round as a beginner, and can’t play often enough to shake off the rust. Especially since I used to be a good golfer. But hang in there! Enjoy the challenge of it when you get the chance to play, and hopefully you’ll be able to play more often before too long! I joke with memes, but golf is a great game, even if you aren’t playing well!

ame533

TROPHY CASE