IT'S GOOD FOR YOUR GAME

Spieth knows 'the big fit'

By T.J. Tomasi

Everything Jordan Spieth does as a golfer is good, but nothing is remarkable — except his scores. That’s because scoring is influenced by expertise in many different areas that must complement one another. Driving, chipping, pitching, putting, scrambling, health, mental toughness and, of course, luck, are all parts of the scoring equation. This makes it almost fruitless to single out one statistic as the most important.

By example, key 2015 stats show how Spieth parlayed a bunch of mostly average tour stats into great scoring by satisfying what I call “the big fit” — how your stats fit together as pieces of the scoring puzzle.

In professional golf, you get paid on the basis of your score, and to score well, you have to make a lot of birdies to get under par. But if you can’t save par when you miss the greens, your birdies are eaten up by bogeys.

In 2015, Spieth was second on tour in birdie average, making 4.5 birdies per every 18 holes, but that wouldn’t do him much good if he made a lot of bogeys when he missed the greens. A player who wastes birdies like this has a bad fit.

But Spieth, the No. 1 money winner, was fourth in making par or better when he missed a green in regulation. He missed 509 greens, but saved par or better 331 times (65 percent). Thus, a high percentage of his birdies did not have to be used up covering bogeys, and the good fit between scrambling and birdies helped him win the scoring title for 2015, even though many of his other stats were surprisingly average.

Compare this to J.B. Holmes, who also made a lot of birdies in 2015, averaging more than 4 per round, but saved par or better only about 59 percent of the time — a whopping 6 percent less than Spieth. This forced him to use up valuable birdies to cover the bogeys as he finished 45th in scoring at 70.5 strokes per round.

Insider Takeaway

If you want to improve your golf game, proceed the way you do with your health. Take your game to an experienced golf doctor who understands how to read the lab tests (golf stats).

Dr. T.J. Tomasi is a teaching professional in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Visit his website at tomasigolf.com.

At top, Spieth’s back is straight from the top of the spine to his tailbone. His legs are athletically flexed with his hands/arms relaxed. In the right-hand photo, Spieth’s relaxed setup translates into a functional impact position, with his right elbow on his hip and his left hip rotated over his left heel.