Message from the new PGA Tour CEO

Yesterday, the new CEO of the PGA Tour, Brian Rolapp, sent an open letter to the world of golf as he begins his tenure. Brian came over from the NFL where it was reported that he was on the short list to take Roger Goodell’s job. He has a pretty impressive resume.

Brian’s letter really resonated with me. His tone was positive but also realistic. He acknowledged the hard work that has been done to move the game forward, but admitted “there’s still significant work to do and incredible opportunity remains ahead.”

He signed off his letter by saying:

“Respect the past. Build the future. Let’s move forward together.”

At TUGR, this phrase embodies our mission:

• Respect the Past. Golf is great because of the giants of the game and industry who came before us and we will always respect this legacy that has deeper and longer roots than most sports in America.

• Build the Future. Golf is a game that is slow to change on many fronts, and often doesn’t keep up with innovation and technology. TUGR wants to make a small contribution to this cause of building the future.

• Move Forward Together. At the professional level, golf has had a rocky few years. Hard times create stronger outcomes. Forward!

U.S. Open Recap - From an Analytics Perspective

This U.S. Open felt like U.S. Open’s of old. No graduated rough. No preferred lies. No mercy. It was a game of survival as the USGA sought to ‘protect par.’

From an analytics perspective, once again Strokes-Gained Approach led the way as the most correlated and impactful stat to where one finished, while Strokes-Gained Putting was the least impactful stat for those who finished high on the leaderboard.

That’s 3 for 3 in Majors this year. What does this tell us?

Each major is setup completely different. The Masters targets a winning score of 12-15 under and wants back-nine birdies, especially on Sunday. The PGA Championship wants a difficult but fair test and the winning score is generally around 8-10 under. The U.S. Open protects par and is a game of survival.

Yet through all of these different styles, Strokes-Gained Approach continues to be the highest correlated category to where one finishes in the event.

Drive for show, but hit your approach shots for dough!

Once Again, The Most Predictive

TUGR was once again the most predictive ranking system at The U.S. Open.

By using pre-tournament rankings, we can predict where players will finish to a high degree of certainty. Running this comparison against other systems (OWGR and DataGolf), we can measure which system is the most accurate.

At The U.S. Open, TUGR was able to predict the median finish place of the 130 commonly ranked players in the field better than the other two systems, and posted the lowest standard deviation as well.

Why does this matter? Trust. You can trust the rankings are an accurate reflection of where players stack up against each other in that moment.

In the spirit of Brian Rolapp’s letter, build your future with the help of TUGR. Don’t just rely on guessing what to do; use the most proven analytics platform in golf to confirm what you see and feel.

Rankings are updated: http://tugr.org

Thanks,
Jeff