You’ve all probably heard this saying before and are thinking that I’ve gotten it backwards… but since the ShotLink era on the PGA Tour we are now able to prove with 100% accuracy that the number one statistics correlation to where you finish on the money list is not Putting!!
Now I’m sure that many of you remember the amazing putts that Tiger used to make coming down the stretch to win tournaments and you’re questioning this Drive for Dough concept. The thing about these wins is that when you look at how Tiger performed against the Field, the wins were rarely due to his putting, but usually his Tee to Green play.
The #1 statistic that correlates to how much money you make on the PGA Tour is…. Strokes Gained Tee to Green! In other words, it’s how well you hit the ball from the Tee to the Green relative to the rest of the players.
What is Strokes Gained? The basic concept is that if the PGA Tour averages 1.8 strokes on a 10 foot putt and you make the putt… You’ve gained 0.8 strokes on the field. Miss that putt and you’ve lost 0.2 strokes to the field. Click HERE for the detailed answer.
Let’s look at the current Money List compared to Strokes Gained Tee to Green Vs. Strokes Gained Putting….
| Money | Player | SG Tee to Green | SG Putting |
|
1 |
Justin Thomas | 10 | 27 |
| 2 | Jordan Spieth | 2 | 29 |
| 3 | Dustin Johnson | 1 | 60 |
| 4 | Hideki Matsuyama | 4 | 148 |
| 5 | Jon Rahm | 6 | 22 |
| 6 | Rickie Fowler | 13 | 2 |
| 7 | Brooks Koepka | 61 | 21 |
| 8 | Kevin Kisner | 32 | 13 |
| 9 | Brian Harman | 92 | 6 |
| 10 | Marc Leishman | 16 | 45 |
| Total | 237 | 373 | |
| Based on 2017 Stats as of 9.7.17 | |||
So let’s learn to hit the ball further so that you can hit shorter clubs into the greens, then we’ll work on hitting the approach shots closer so that you can improve your Strokes Gained Tee to Green!
Here’s a couple Stats programs where you can keep track of your own Strokes Gained!
In the meantime, here’s a few tips on how to hit the ball further!