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Putts Per Round: STOP Using This Stat!

Tracking stats in golf is crucial for understanding and improving your game. However, not all stats are created equal, and some can lead you astray. A prime example? Putts per round. While it might seem like a straightforward measure of your putting ability, it’s deeply flawed—and often misleading. Let’s dive into why putts per round fails as a meaningful metric and explore a better way to gauge putting performance.

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The Problem with Putts Per Round

At first glance, putts per round appears to be a simple way to track your putting. Fewer putts equal better putting, right? Not quite. This metric ignores context, like the number of greens in regulation (GIR) you hit. Here’s why this matters:

• More Greens Hit = More Putts
  When you hit more greens in reg, you’re often left with longer first putts compared to missing greens and chipping close. For example, hitting a green from 150 yards away might leave you with a 40-foot birdie putt. By contrast, missing the green and chipping to less than 10 feet sets up a short putt that’s easier to hole.

• Fewer Greens Hit = Fewer Putts
  Conversely, players who miss greens and rely on chipping often have shorter first putts, leading to fewer total putts per round. Does this mean they are better putters? Not necessarily—it simply reflects the types of putts they face.

The Data

Let’s look at some numbers. The chart below shows the average number of putts per round for a 10-index player by the number of green hit. This chart has the same shape for every skill level.

This highlights the issue perfectly. The player who hits more greens takes more total putts because they tend to have longer first putts.

When you use putts per round, a two-putt from 60 feet is treated the same as a two-putt from 5 feet. Both of those situations count as two putts. That’s fundamentally flawed.

What You Should Track Instead

To truly evaluate your putting performance you need Strokes Gained Putting!

Strokes gained measures your putting against a baseline (the average shots to hole out from a specific distance for golfers at your skill level). Using strokes gained gives you a clear picture of how much your putting is helping (or hurting) your game. For example, as a 10 index if you two-putt from 60 feet, you would gain 0.49 shots. If you two-putted from 5 feet, you would lose 0.52 shots. This gives you a far more accurate way to evaluate your performance.

Final Thoughts

Tracking putts per round might seem intuitive, but it’s a classic example of how stats can be misleading without context. If you want to truly understand your performance, focus on strokes gained. This gives a more accurate picture of your game and helps you identify areas for improvement.

So, next time you glance at your putting stats, remember: fewer putts doesn’t always mean better putting.

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