After Rosie had an amazing week putting at Pebble, got me thinking about fewest putts in a round. Not sure how many folks track this stat. Foursum tracks it and had my lowest last week at 27. Previously never broke 30. I'm usually in the 34-36 range. What about y'all?

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23 for me. One chip in included for an eagle. Was one of my best rounds of all time.

khaos288 said:

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23 for me. One chip in included for an eagle. Was one of my best rounds of all time.

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According to Grint, khaos beat me. I had 24 putts, with two 0 putts, one was for par, one was for birdie. It tied my lowest round ever at 75 and is the only time I shot even par on 9 holes.

I think I'm an above average putter. jgh can vouch or refute that. But that is the only TexAg legend I can say, my average drive is about 240 and I hit a seven iron 135 - 145 yards.

Yeah I was actually surprised it was that low. I had to check the grint as well. I would say I'm an average putter. I can hit 28-32 usually, so that was way below average for me.

Never really tracked it because I thought it would only serve to piss me off. Always wanted to putt better; we all want to. So I never found it useful.

I think mine was 27 en route to an 88 or 89 with like 2 gir.

I don't track that stuff on anything but a scorecard so I cant look back but I do remember having 11 putts on the front 9 at my home course in high school

Definitely above average otherwise you would be a 20hcp.

I Completely agree! If you don't hit greens and you chip it close and 1 putt, it can throw everything off. I tried to explain that to someone recently and they didn't seem to get it.

RealTalk said:

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Putts per round stat is kind of useless. It's possible that you can have zero putts per round and still shoot -18. The only correlation is that the fewer the putts, usually the better the score.

Putts per GiR would be a better stat to track.

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It can be a little misleading. I hit 3 greens on the back nine the other day and shot even. Only 10 putts. But that was because most of my missed GIR's were only by 3 - 4 feet, so I was putting a lot from just off the green.

But, I still keep my stats for putting. Lowest I've been able to find quickly is 24 putts.

0 - Kim Jong-il during his only round of golf ever when he shot an 18.

I should feel insulted, but...

I've never really kept that stat, but when I shot 73 about 11 years ago, I made damn near everything inside 20'. It was the best I have ever putted in one round (which coincides with the best round of golf I've ever had)

jgh85Ag said:

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Definitely above average otherwise you would be a 20hcp.

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I'm a terrible putter. My best round is probably 32. I average around 36, I think.

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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I'm a terrible putter. My best round is probably 32. I average around 36, I think.

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Me too. Last round I had 38 putts and shot an 85. For as well as I played I didn't realize how dreadful my putting was.

Some ratio of total distance putted and total distance of made putts would be a much better look when combined with the raw number of putts and a few other stats

36 putts could be a fantastic putting round if you constantly left 25-30 footers and avoided three putts.

I shot 69 at TPC Vegas one time with either 21 or 23 putts. Cant remember exactly. I do remember I only hit six greens.

Pretty sure it was 21. I didnt hit the ball well at all but made everything inside 10 feet and chipped in on 8. Also had a few putts from the fringe that didnt count. Grounded my ass off that day.

Only if your trying to hit the fairway... which I don't try to do every hole

You should really be tracking how far left and right of target you are off the tee so you know your miss. And sometimes being on the back fringe is better than being center of the green. If I hit at a back pin and am on back fringe I have no problem counting that as a GIR and a 2 putt if i know that being just long is better than just short.

I mark my scorecard based on what I was trying to do not what the course thinks I should do. If there is a driveable par 4 and I'm aiming at the greenside bunker and hit it where I'm aiming that goes goes down as a "fairway hit" on my card

This seems crazy to me. But to each his own [stats].

schwabbin said:

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This seems crazy to me. But to each his own [stats].

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Crazy to me, too. If you hit where you're aiming, aim better. If you miss a fairway, you miss a fairway.

Sometimes it's better to not be in a fairway

Rory McIlroy is ranked #130 in fairways hit but ranked #1 in strokes gained off the tee

He doesn't care at all if hes hitting a lot of fairways...he cares about what side of the hole hes on and how far he can or cant hit it on certain holes

Aggie369 said:

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Sometimes it's better to not be in a fairway

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Rough from 140 out vs fairway at 200, I'm with you. But assuming similar distances I think that take is absurd.

Plus I'm not playing in PGA Tour rough so I care a lot more about direction on most holes and if it's where I want to be as opposed in the fairway or not

If there is a dogleg right and the pin is on the right side of the green I would much rather be in left rough than right side of fairway. Right side of fairway gets me a "fairway hit" but puts me in a pretty terrible position to make birdie

I get that you prefer angles over lie...I agree. It's how I justify missing fairways too; my line is always 'it's all about angles'. But it's still a missed fairway.

I'd rather measure good shots based on where I aim rather than the technicality of being in the fairway. Again being in the fairway isnt always the best place to be.

I remember rahm at the Irish open talking about how he would hit it as far as possible to whichever side of the hole where the rough was growing "with" the hole.

The 7th hole at timmaron, my old home course, I would aim down 8 fairway to ensure I'm not in the water and the green opens up from 8 fairway. If I hit it where I'm aimed I dont penalize myself with a missed fairway. I'm much more concerned with hitting where I'm aimed than a pointless count if fairways hit

So I guess I don't even really track fairways hit because it doesnt tell me much

My best is around 25 in my only round breaking 80. Pretty sure I've had 26 with a few chip ins a couple times too, but when the chip ins are to save bogey, it really doesn't matter.

Hitting a fairway and marking it as a good shot and fairway hit but not having a shot to a pin is pointless...that's a bad shot in my book.

Hitting it 5 yards long on a good line in the rough but now having a good angle to the pin is much better for your game and your score... that's why I don't track fairways but track "good shots"

Aggie369 said:

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Sometimes it's better to not be in a fairway

Rory McIlroy is ranked #130 in fairways hit but ranked #1 in strokes gained off the tee

He doesn't care at all if hes hitting a lot of fairways...he cares about what side of the hole hes on and how far he can or cant hit it on certain holes

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Maybe he'd be even better strokes gained if he also got the fairway? Hard to imagine he's aiming for the rough.

Best in the world is ranking.. you mentioned strokes gained.... He'd have a better strokes gained number.

I'm just messing you but he also has the best scoring average as well.

I caddie professionally a few times a year and I'll pass on that hitting the fairway is not always the goal and ball position is a much higher priority. Most of the time it's both but even if 2 of 14 holes dictate ball position over fairway that's 14%

Rory is ranked 130 at 60% of fairways....furyk is ranked #1 at 74%...that's 2 more fairways but 129 spots....its also that same 14% that makes number 1 vs 130

Furyk is the most accurate driver of the golf ball on the planet but his strokes gained off the tee is actually negative and hes ranked 129th in strokes gained

So....hitting the fairway should not always be your goal on every hole....ball position is much more important.