We’re often asked, “How can I improve my ranking?” It’s not just a good question, it’s the golden question for any player who has dreams of playing at the next level.

We’re going to explore this question in two parts. First, we need to understand how the TUGR Junior rankings are calculated and why they different from every other junior system. Second, we need to understand how 1 shot every round can be make all the difference in your ranking.

Why TUGR is Different

The TUGR methodology is different from every other ranking system in the following ways:

1. TUGR Junior is a pure performance-based methodology; this differs from other systems that are either points-based and/or multi-factor.

2. TUGR Junior measures performance relative to a player’s competitors; this differs from other systems that measure performance relative to a course rating, course slope, finish place, and/or par.

These two major differences have allowed TUGR to consistently be the most accurate system using a variety of metrics such as Finish Place Predictability, Made Cut Expectation, and Head-to-Head win %. In other words, this better methodology has led to better reliability and more accuracy.

Why is this? First off, by measuring performance relative to competitors, and stripping out the arbitrary assumptions needed by points-based or multi-factor systems, we mitigate the bad incentives that are unfortunate biproducts of those approaches. For example:

• Conditions: With legacy systems, bad weather tournaments are generally avoided. With TUGR, bad weather and difficult course conditions should be embraced because your score is measured relative to every other competitor playing in those exact same conditions, and not against a course rating or par that has no way of properly adjusting for adverse conditions.

• Tournament Setup: No tournament setup can be perfectly captured via the course rating/slope numbers. There are too many variables. This is why TUGR measures performance relative to ones competitors, and not the rating/slope numbers that can unfortunately be ‘gamed’ in some regard. We all know that not every 72.4/141 rated courses in actuality play the same difficulty. Just like we know that not every player with the same USGA handicap are the same skill level.

• Tournament Weights: Golf is a continuous game of progression and improvement, especially at the junior level. This is why with TUGR, recent events have a greater weight than older events, thus placing more emphasis on how you perform today, and accurately capturing material improvement year-over-year.

• Event Avoidance: Tournaments at every level (local, state, regional, etc.) should be embraced because there is no arbitrary bias toward certain events or tours. As we’ve said many times, TUGR “sees” players, not tours, tournaments, or courses.

• WDs: WDs do not impact a player’s ranking, however, they are highlighted in a very clear way for college coaches to see and identify patterns.

A mantra within TUGR is this: Play More Golf!

There is no “gaming” TUGR because there are no arbitrary assumptions or imbedded biases that can be exploited. 

That’s the beauty of the methodology. No other system uses the methodology, technology, and approach that TUGR Junior employs.

If you want a deeper dive into the methodology, click here: https://tugr.org/method

What Does 1 Shot Mean?

Does 1 shot make a difference? YES!!!!!!!!

The difference between a player being ranked 800th and 465th is about 1 shot per competitive round. That’s it. You can quite literally jump 300-400 spots in the rankings if you were to consistently shave off 1 shot per competitive round relative to your peers.

Remember, the TUGR output is Relative Strokes, which measures how many shots per round a player shoots higher than the #1 player in the rankings. Let’s take a look at the Relative Strokes breakdown of the top-1,500 ranked Boys:

Similar to what we’ve found with our Pro rankings, the top-200 ranked players are very much in a league of their own; however, once you start looking at players ranked 200-1,500, the talent begins to bunch very quickly. There are A LOT of great players that are separated by a half-shot here, and a half-shot there. Can 1 shot per round make a difference? ABSOLUTLEY!

TUGR Junior has an entire analytics platform to help you identify areas of improvement. Perhaps I should amend the question that we are often asked - instead of asking, “How do I improve my ranking?” The real question should be, “How do I consistently improve my competitive scoring?” As we highlighted last week, not all +3 handicaps are the same, and being able to consistently perform in competition is what separates players.

Our mission is to fuel better decisions, lower scores, and epic days on the golf course. Reach out with any questions.

Quick note for coaches: Very soon we’ll be releasing a Tournaments Database allowing you to quickly find the results of any tournament in our system with detailed info on every player in that event. Stay tuned - coming to the Recruiting Platform soon.

Rankings are updated: http://tugr.org

Thanks,
Jeff