3Jack's 2009 PGA Tour Total Driver Swing Efficiency Rankings

[Richie3Jack]

A few weeks ago I saw that the PGA Tour started keeping more ‘radar stats’ when it comes to golfers. I’m guessing they got this from Trackman, but they measure things like clubhead speed, carry, etc.

With that, I came up with a stat called ‘Total Driver Swing Efficiency.’ What I did was take the Total Driving Distance Efficiency (driving distance / clubhead speed) and add driving accuracy to that.

Here are the rankings:

1…..David Toms
2…..Darron Stiles
3…..Chez Reavie
4…..Heath Slocum
5…..Brian Gay
6…..Jeff Maggert
7…..Kirk Triplett
8…..Nick O'Hern
9…..John Mallinger
10…..K.J. Choi
t10…..Glen Day
12…..Alex Cejka
t12…..Zach Johnson
t12…..Tim Clark
15…..Mark Wilson
t15…..Jay Williamson
17…..Justin Leonard
18…..Brandt Snedeker
t18…..Colt Knost
20…..Kenny Perry
t20…..Scott Verplank
22…..D.A. Points
23…..Jason Bohn
24…..Boo Weekley
t24…..Mark Brooks
26…..Steve Elkington
27…..Brian Davis
28…..Jason Gore
29…..Paul Goydos
30…..Hunter Mahan
31…..Tommy Armour III
32…..Billy Mayfair
33…..Cliff Kresge
34…..Greg Kraft
35…..Ian Poulter
36…..Vaughn Taylor
t36…..Patrick Sheehan
38…..Jeff Quinney
39…..Matt Kuchar
40…..Ben Crane
41…..Ernie Els
42…..Mathew Goggin
43…..Tom Pernice, Jr.
44…..Justin Rose
t44…..Bob Heintz
t44…..Peter Lonard
47…..Aron Price
48…..Kent Jones
49…..Steve Lowery
t49…..Lucas Glover
51…..Vijay Singh
t51…..Steve Marino
t51…..Chris Riley
54…..Bo Van Pelt
55…..Peter Tomasulo
t55…..Richard S. Johnson
57…..Marc Turnesa
58…..Camilo Villegas
t58…..John Rollins
t58…..Corey Pavin
61…..D.J. Trahan
62…..Matt Weibring
63…..Tim Petrovic
64…..Ryan Palmer
65…..Webb Simpson
66…..Chris Stroud
67…..David Mathis
68…..Steve Stricker
69…..Will MacKenzie
70…..Bill Lunde
71…..Kevin Sutherland
72…..Bryce Molder
t72…..Jeff Klauk
74…..Rocco Mediate
75…..Geoff Ogilvy
t75…..Ben Curtis
77…..Rick Price
78…..Jerry Kelly
t78…..Ryan Moore
t78…..Robert Allenby
81…..Todd Hamilton
t81…..Tom Lehman
83…..Jim Furyk
84…..Joe Ogilvie
t84…..Ted Purdy
t84…..Bart Bryant
87…..Carl Pettersson
88…..Nicholas Thompson
t88…..Johnson Wagner
t88…..Scott McCarron
91…..Joe Durant
92…..Charles Warren
93…..Matt Bettencourt
t93…..John Merrick
95…..Casey Wittenberg
96…..Jason Dufner
97…..Parker McLachlin
t97…..Anthony Kim
t97…..Cameron Beckman
t97…..Rod Pampling
101…..Chris DiMarco
102…..Briny Baird
103…..Stewart Cink
104…..Rich Beem
105…..Daniel Chopra
106…..Michael Allen
107…..Pat Perez
108…..Martin Laird
109…..Greg Owen
110…..Jonathan Byrd
111…..Charlie Wi
112…..Kevin Stadler
113…..Robert Garrigus
114…..Davis Love III
115…..Scott Sterling
t115…..Bob Estes
117…..Brendon de Jonge
t117…..Mike Weir
119…..Steve Flesch
120…..Spencer Levin
121…..Rory Sabbatini
t121…..Sean O'Hair
123…..Brendon Todd
t123…..Woody Austin
125…..Fredrik Jacobson
126…..Michael Letzig
127…..Chad Campbell
128…..Kris Blanks
129…..Fred Couples
t129…..Jason Day
131…..Brian Bateman
132…..John Senden
133…..Dean Wilson
t133…..Stephen Ames
135…..Ryuji Imada
136…..James Nitties
t136…..Tiger Woods
138…..Andres Romero
139…..Greg Chalmers
140…..Dustin Johnson
t140…..Lee Janzen
142…..Mark Calcavecchia
143…..Brad Faxon
t143…..Kevin Streelman
t143…..Luke Donald
t143…..Kevin Na
147…..Ken Duke
148…..Tim Herron
149…..Troy Matteson
150…..Adam Scott
t150…..Nathan Green
152…..Y.E. Yang
153…..Harrison Frazar
t153…..Scott Piercy
t153…..Marc Leishman
156…..Bill Haas
157…..J.B. Holmes
158…..Brett Quigley
159…..Padraig Harrington
160…..Brad Adamonis
161…..Tag Ridings
t161…..Charley Hoffman
t161…..Jarrod Lyle
164…..Stuart Appleby
t164…..Charles Howell III
t164…..George McNeill
167…..Matt Jones
168…..J.J. Henry
169…..Phil Mickelson
170…..Angel Cabrera
171…..Leif Olson
172…..Sergio Garcia
173…..Eric Axley
174…..Nick Watney
175…..Retief Goosen
176…..Jeff Overton
177…..Ricky Barnes
178…..Gary Woodland
179…..Derek Fathauer
180…..Aaron Baddeley
181…..David Duval
t181…..Bubba Watson
183…..Jimmy Walker

 

[dbl]

Seems like that measure factors in accuracy too greatly.

I'd suggest 3 parts distance/speed and 1 part accuracy.

 

[Richie3Jack]

It's a stat I'm thinking of tweaking, but the accuracy component is a big part of it because while somebody may hit it much further than their swing speed, who really cares if they hit it all over the lot.

I do think it shows one can hit up with the driver and be very accurate.






3JACK

 

[MikeD2]

Fun stat, Richie. Nice work!

 

[Jared Willerson]

Wow...favors the short hitters. I don't believe for one second Chez Reavie and Brian Gay are two of the most efficient drivers on tour.

 

[mgranato]

If you don't have horsepower - accuracy matters more.

If you have horsepower - accuracy doesn't matter as much.

One look at the LPGA will tell anyone that hitting up is an accurate way to hit driver.

I don't think the Tour publishes AoA, do we know who on that list hits it up/level/down (on average)?

 

[Richie3Jack]

Wow...favors the short hitters. I don't believe for one second Chez Reavie and Brian Gay are two of the most efficient drivers on tour.

Not most efficient drivers on tour. Probably best to say that they have equipment and attack angle that fits them most efficiently, given their swing speeds. Most efficient driver would be total driving, IMO.

Part of this is while it fits the shorter hitters, these guys are also very small in stature, so they are finding ways to make the most out of their limitations.





3JACK

 

[Richie3Jack]

If you don't have horsepower - accuracy matters more.

If you have horsepower - accuracy doesn't matter as much.

One look at the LPGA will tell anyone that hitting up is an accurate way to hit driver.

I don't think the Tour publishes AoA, do we know who on that list hits it up/level/down (on average)?

PGA Tour average is -1.3* for the driver according to Trackman's latest findings. I would imagine most of the top guys in this list along with the driving distance efficiency rankings hit up on the ball. Trackman said that Kenny Perry has a path of +6 with his driver and has 110 mph clubhead speed, yet he's usually one of the tops in driving distance. I think it's pretty logical to reason that he hits up on the ball quite a bit and is still quite accurate.

I think it's a big reason why Perry is so successful, he probably truly plays more par-72 courses as par-68's than most golfers because somebody longer like Garrigus, has a much harder time finding the fairway and doesn't have as good of a shot at reaching a par-5 in two (or has more risk involved with worse lies). I wish the MIT guys would examine that.





3JACK

 

[AndyC]

So assuming your ratings are accurate, what do your rankings say about the affect of efficient driving on performance? Is there any correlation whatsoever?

 

[Richie3Jack]

So assuming your ratings are accurate, what do your rankings say about the affect of efficient driving on performance? Is there any correlation whatsoever?

I think it's a case by case basis thing.

Phil Mickelson didn't rank high, mainly because he's woefully inaccurate off the tee. But, he hits it a mile. From what I've been told, he does hit about -1* down with the driver.

So his super length and great short game (sans his putting which isn't very good) and his ability to overpower a course and hit phenomenal shots keep him atop.

Somebody like Charles Howell III, once known as a great ballstriker who is really struggling to hit greens and has driving accuracy issues, it may kind of tell what's going on. I think for starters, he's hitting too far down on the driver which is causing problems. But, we won't know that until he gets on a Trackman.

The problem with stats like this and basically is solely on how it correlates to performance is there are other factors involved in shooting good golf, like iron play, putting, short game, mental management, etc. But it can show that a golfer who is not performing well could do better if they were more efficient with their driver given their swing speed. Or with somebody like David Toms, he really doesn't need to focus his efforts on driving the ball better because he was #1 last year.

I think it needs some tweaking and I have some ideas in my head of how to tweak it so it can be more useful. But driving is only one part of the game and there are so many different ways to just play the game effectively.







3JACK

 

[aaron_lohan]

Shouldn't smash factor be added into this measurement? As smash factor measures the efficiency of the strike.

 

[mgranato]

The 2010 Phil has one of the most upward attack angles on Tour.

As a reference - Phil plays a 6.2* head and launches it at 11.88*. Perry plays a 9.5* head and launches it at 12.09*.

 

[Richie3Jack]

Shouldn't smash factor be added into this measurement? As smash factor measures the efficiency of the strike.

I thought about it.

But I was more interested in the result of distance vs. clubhead speed (which the PGA Tour Web site calls 'total driving distance efficiency). I looked at it this way, your smash factor can be great, but a poorly fitted driver can cause you to not hit the ball as far and as accurate as you should hit it.







3JACK

 

[gmbtempe]

The 2010 Phil has one of the most upward attack angles on Tour.

As a reference - Phil plays a 6.2* head and launches it at 11.88*. Perry plays a 9.5* head and launches it at 12.09*.

I thought this as well, about a year or two ago he changed his setup and ball position to catch it on the upswing......this is when he started hitting it ridiculous distances.

 

[ms1170]

Interesting, but very few wins in top 30-35

 

[Richie3Jack]

Interesting, but very few wins in top 30-35

One of the things that has pretty much no correlation to scoring avg. on the PGA Tour is driving accuracy, driving distance and total driving.

GIR and putts/GIR do. The rest of the stats, really don't.





3JACK

 

[Ringer]

It doesn't seem to me that there is any great revelation about the stat. Not to say Richie that you didn't do an excellent job (and thank you for doing it I know it took some time), it's just that there's no noticeable advantage to be at the top or bottom of the list. Maybe that's the revelation. Driving stats DON'T MATTER?

I'm actually inclined to believe the REAL stat would be who gets it closest to the hole on approaches. I don't even think putting stats, scrambling, or any other stat matters nearly as much as the approach shot.

Think about it, if a guy hits every fairway and every green, but is 40 feet from the hole each time, he'll have about 34 putts and barely break par. But a guy that hits 6 fairways, 12 greens, averages 20 feet on his approach shots that reach the green, scrambles 75% of the time will have 28 putts and will shoot in the 67 or 68 range.

 

[Richie3Jack]

Typically, driving stats do not matter. Driving distance, Driving Accuracy, Total Driving, etc....no correlation to stroke avg. on the PGA Tour.

The list actually got started when I started to wonder why I hadn't heard anything about Charles Howell III. I looked at his ballstriking stats and they were poor by PGA Tour standards. I looked at his driving radar stats a bit more and noticed that his 'driving distance efficiency' was very poor and so was his driving accuracy. So I wanted to see if you combined the two, what would happen.

Most golf stats have no or little correlation to stroke average. But, if you combine them all together, they obviously have a very big correlation. If I was a PGA Tour player, I'd want to be in the top half of this list so I can keep my game sharp and as a way to get better. Somebody like Mickelson or Bubba Watson may want to become more accurate OR figure out why they do not maximize their 'driving distance efficiency' even more.

I'm not sure what the answer to the latter could be. Perhaps the holes they measure distance on they can't go full bore. Perhaps the driver they have doesn't quite fit them for optimal performance. Perhaps because they miss fairways they get a lot less roll.







3JACK

 

[mgranato]

What about “carry efficiency”? Seems that would be a more indicative gauge of what the player has the most control over. So much “luck of the bounce” is in total distance that I would think a better correlation could be drawn from carry efficiency.

 

[Richie3Jack]

What about “carry efficiency”? Seems that would be a more indicative gauge of what the player has the most control over. So much “luck of the bounce” is in total distance that I would think a better correlation could be drawn from carry efficiency.

They do have carry efficiency. You could be onto something because a player may choose courses with faster running fairways or slower running fairways. But a lot of it to me is the golfer who finds what they can to optimize their driver distance given their clubhead speed. So a golfer may carry it well, but has a very high spin rate and isn't optimizing their driver. I think the Tour average for spin rate is at 2,600 rpm's or so.






3JACK