I.T.N. No. 28
PUBLISHED April 6, 2022
NIGHT MODE
DAY MODE
Inside The Numbers ...
is a brief numerical summary of the current happenings in the world golf, published every Monday — hopefully.
Notes:
For this edition of Inside the Numbers we've ranked the 5 hardest around-the-green spots at Augusta National using data from the 2021 Masters. Each green surround is divided into 4 quadrants (long-right, short-right, long-left, short-left), and the 4 pin positions from 2021 are used. We’ve grouped shots together based on pin position, around-the-green quadrant, and lie (e.g. fairway, bunker). We estimate a shot’s difficulty using strokes-gained relative to the PGA Tour baseline (i.e. how close to the pin the shot was hit compared to what we would expect at a typical PGA Tour course). To account for sample size issues — i.e. to fairly compare 20 shots with an average baseline SG of -0.3 to 10 shots with an average baseline SG of -0.5 — we use a simple empirical Bayes method. This gives us a predicted difficulty, in strokes relative to expectation, for each around-the-green “spot” at Augusta National, which we use as the basis of our rankings. For each group of shots we give some summary statistics that are mostly self-explanatory, but there is one value that isn’t: the “short-sidedness” of a shot is the distance between the fringe and the pin divided by the distance of the shot. A lower % means less green to work with. Enjoy!
0.40 STROKES HARDER THAN EXPECTED
"Short Right Fairway" on Hole 6, Round 2.
2021 "Spot" Summary
Shots Hit
14
Average Baseline SG
-0.61
Average Distance to Pin (yards)
17.1
Average Short-Sidedness
66%
Average Proximity (feet)
38
Green Hit
71.4%
PGA TOUR Average (from similar distance/lie)
Average Proximity (feet)
7.7
Green Hit
95.4%
With the pin cut perilously close to the edge of the back right shelf in this green, players got #exposed on this shot. Six out of the 14 did make it to the correct level, but six shots also ended up further from the hole than where they started.
0.31 STROKES HARDER THAN EXPECTED
"Short Left Fairway" on Hole 3, Round 4.
2021 "Spot" Summary
Shots Hit
15
Average Baseline SG
-0.46
Average Distance to Pin (yards)
27.3
Average Short-Sidedness
26%
Average Proximity (feet)
23.6
Green Hit
40%
PGA TOUR Average (from similar distance/lie)
Average Proximity (feet)
11
Green Hit
92.4%
With a left pin on #3 players can't afford to miss left; those that do seem to take their medicine and hit their next shot past the pin — only 1 shot from this location came up short of the green (likely rolling slowly back to the player's feet). A similar pin position in Round 1 led to similar results: 26 shots hit and an average baseline SG of -0.34.
0.27 STROKES HARDER THAN EXPECTED
"Short Right Greenside Bunker" on Hole 15, Round 1.
2021 "Spot" Summary
Shots Hit
13
Average Baseline SG
-0.42
Average Distance to Pin (yards)
12.4
Average Short-Sidedness
34%
Average Proximity (feet)
16.2
Green Hit
92.3%
PGA TOUR Average (from similar distance/lie)
Average Proximity (feet)
11
Green Hit
88.8%
Twelve of the 13 shots hit from this bunker found the putting surface, but the one that didn't ended up wet. Every shot finished past the pin. This pin position proved to be tough from long of the green too, as both Long Right Rough (4 shots) and Long Left Fairway (8 shots) were in the top 10 most difficult spots to play from.
0.21 STROKES HARDER THAN EXPECTED
"Long Right Fairway" on Hole 9, Round 1.
2021 "Spot" Summary
Shots Hit
7
Average Baseline SG
-0.42
Average Distance to Pin (yards)
23.2
Average Short-Sidedness
60%
Average Proximity (feet)
27
Green Hit
85.7%
PGA TOUR Average (from similar distance/lie)
Average Proximity (feet)
9.8
Green Hit
93.7%
Our smallest sample size in the Top 5, but not a surprise to see the 9th green make an appearance. All 7 shots ended up past the pin, with one trundling all the way off the front of the green.
0.20 STROKES HARDER THAN EXPECTED
"Long Right Fairway" on Hole 11, Round 1.
2021 "Spot" Summary
Shots Hit
17
Average Baseline SG
-0.29
Average Distance to Pin (yards)
16.2
Average Short-Sidedness
39%
Average Proximity (feet)
15.2
Green Hit
94.1%
PGA TOUR Average (from similar distance/lie)
Average Proximity (feet)
7.6
Green Hit
95.1%
This group of shots included a hole out (+1.34 baseline SG), so we could be underestimating its true difficulty. Another spot where players just take their medicine: no shots were left short of the green (the single missed-green went into the left fringe).