Recognize the title of tonight’s blog?  It happens to be the title of a very insightful book written by Mark Broadie exploring a statistic in golf that he created called strokes gained.  And I had the opportunity today to hear him speak in person!  What better way to learn about how this statistic can drive practice sessions and help you better understand your golf game than from the man who created it?!

Here are some of my takeaways from his presentation:

• Knowing your shot pattern is key, that will help you decide which distances you can be more aggressive with and when to be conservative.
• By understanding your tendencies better on the course, you can make smarter decisions.
• When it comes to putting, focus on the 5 footers.  The closer you are to the hole, the fewer number of putts needed on average.
• The best putters in the world do not worry about three putting.  In fact, when they miss a putt, most of the time they have to mark the ball because it’s outside of tap in range.
• When deciding on a target, consider where the trouble is.  If you have OB right, you may want to shift your target to the left of the fairway to account for your dispersion.
• By identifying your weaknesses, you can have a path to the quickest improvement.  If you look at the statistics on the PGA Tour, whatever area a player was weakest in one year usually has the greatest improvement the following season.

I could keep going on, but first I want to read the book!  Thank you Amazon for quick delivery!

-S