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I think as golfers we can all agree that one of the most annoying things that can happen during a round of golf is putting a 3. Whether it’s because we put ourselves badly on the green away from the flag, or we get too aggressive or tentative On the first try, there is no good way to make three strokes on the green.
But could there be such a thing as a reasonable triple draw? And how often should we expect to be a 3 pitcher based on our handicap, and how does it compare to professionals at the highest level?
Let’s find out.
Positives
When looking at data from the PGA Tour, the average tour tells us that a player will drop a 3 2.73% of the time, so for every 1,000 holes played, they are 27 times more likely to drop a 3 than they are. Another way to put it is that the average PGA Tour player will make three strokes once every two rounds of golf.
Given how many players there are on the PGA Tour, it’s surprising to see that Maverick McNealy is the only player with a 3-pitch par of less than 1%, which means he has to play under 108 holes, or seven rounds of golf, before he can potentially score. He does three strikes (pretty crazy numbers)!
Now, if you’re wondering how your game stacks up on the greens—and if you’re doing better than most or need to really work on your putting—we’ve got data from Arccos Golf on how often you’re likely to make a 3-putt based on your handicap.
3. Puts on the basis of disability
Data collected from Arccos Golf users shows us that even the average golfer is likely to hit a par 3 at least once per round of golf, and as you might imagine, the higher the handicaps, the more par 3s per round.
This is in line with a lot of other handicap related data showing that the best way to lower your score is less worrying about making birds and more about reducing the big numbers on your scorecard. Similar to a 3-course, the same can be said for the club on the other end of your golf bag with the driver, because penalty shots that miss the tee result in a huge disadvantage on the approach to the greens, and from there try it. Saving shots when you really feel like you have to catch up can lead to compound errors.
Average birds per round:
Scratch players:
▶️2.220 players with disabilities:
▶️0.3Scratch players make 1.9 more birds per round.
For the amateur, the biggest component to improving golf is not more birdies, but less bogey, less doubles, and less of the others.
– Lou Stagner (Golf Stat Pro) (LouStagner) August 25, 2021
So next time you’re on the course and you happen to be with a 3-putt, remember that depending on your handicap – even if you’re a scratch golfer – there’s a very high chance that it will happen twice a round, as long as you can keep it below average expected, there is Good chance that you will do better at the end of the day.
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