Golf Stats – Syndication Server

Arccos Link Pro is a massive step forward in data collection for amateur golfers

Arccos Link Pro silently and accurately gathers data about your golf game.

When Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau walk to the first tee to play in a PGA Tour event, the best data-collecting system in golf, ShotLink, follows their progress and records every imaginable thing about their rounds. The players don’t have to do anything, wear anything or think about data production. An army of volunteers and a pair of 18-wheelers parked on-site gather the data and crunch it, then send each player a sophisticated package of statistics and information after each tournament.

With the release of the new Link Pro, Arccos – the Stamford, Connecticut-based company that recently became the Official Game Tracker of the PGA Tour – has taken the most significant step in the company’s history in replicating the ShotLink experience for recreational golfers.

For more than a decade, Arccos has allowed golfers to track what club they use, how far each shot goes and more by wirelessly connecting tiny sensors on their clubs to their smartphone and an Arccos app.

In the beginning, golfers had to play with their phones in their pockets, but a few years ago Arccos released the first generation of Link, a matchbook-size device that clips to a players’ clothes or can be worn on a belt. Link acted like a tether and allowed golfers to keep their phones in the cart or a golf bag. Now Link Pro goes one step further on more than 40,000 courses.

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On the first tee, after a player removes the unit from its charging case and turns it on, Link Pro connects to a smartphone and the Arccos App. After selecting the course about to be played and setting Link Pro as the shot-tracking method, all a player has to do is put the Link Pro in one of the front pockets of their pants, skirt or dress and play. That’s it – there is nothing else to do. Yes, for extra accuracy golfers can press a small button on the side of the unit after they take the ball out of the hole to indicate to the system exactly where the hole is located, but they can do that without taking Link Pro out of their pocket. Players can forget Link Pro until they walk off the 18th green.

Link Pro allows golfers to leave their phone in their golf bag, in the clubhouse or even in their car. After finishing play, when Link Pro gets close enough to your phone while the Arccos app is open, the data from your round will automatically upload into the Arccos system. The only time when you will need to use your phone is when you are selecting the course you are about to play, selecting the Link Pro as your data-gathering method and starting your round.

Link Pro makes the process of gathering data about a player’s game as unobtrusive as ShotLink, which is a massive step forward because the more players have to think about devices they are wearing or using, the more it takes away from playing the game. Link Pro, which costs $224.99, makes a ShotLink-style experience possible for golfers in their Thursday evening league or weekend matches.

This is all possible because Link Pro has improved microphones that allow the system to “hear” shots more easily. An upgraded GPS chip also allows Link Pro to connect and lock with satellites more quickly. The Link Pro charging case holds enough energy for 12 rounds before the case has to be recharged.

Arccos Caddie Strokes Gained Analytics provides a very detailed look at performance on the course. (Arccos)

In addition to tracking shots, Arccos provides players with a virtual rangefinder that uses artificial intelligence to provide yardages while accounting for things such as slope, wind, humidity and altitude. Arccos also uses the data it collects to provide Strokes Gained insights that reveal not only strengths and weaknesses but also tendencies and how a player stacks up against other players of different ability levels. This is really helpful because it allows golfers to concentrate on the specific areas of their game that are holding them back.

The Arccos Smart Sensors required to make Link Pro work are sold separately. With the purchase of the sensors, golfers get a one-year subscription to the Arccos app, with subsequent years costing $155.88 per year.

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PGA Tour stats detail Scottie Scheffler’s putting struggles this season

Breaking down Scottie Scheffler’s putting stats over his four seasons on the PGA Tour.

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Scottie Scheffler was in the mix for what would’ve been a third win of the season Sunday at the 2023 BMW Championship.

With Viktor Hovland in the clubhouse lead at 17 under, Scheffler had a 26-foot putt for birdie on the 17th hole to tie the Norwegian, but instead three-putted for a disappointing bogey. That meant he had to hole-out from the fairway on No. 18 if he was to force a playoff with Hovland, who instead walked away with a two-shot win after Scheffler made par.

Scheffler was first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Approach to Green and Tee to Green on the week. In a field of 50, he came in 38th in Strokes Gained: Putting, where he lost 1.891 shots to the field. Round up, and there’s the two shots that could’ve forced a playoff.

The 25-year-old’s week at Olympia Fields Country Club’s North Course in Illinois was obviously nothing to scoff at with scores of 66-69-64-66. It took a career low and course record (by Hovland) to beat him, after all. But his performance at the BMW highlights a trend that we’ve seen all season from the World No. 1: the game overall is tight, but the putter is too loose.

“The things that I’m working on right now I feel very excited about. I’m hitting a lot of good putts,” said Scheffler before the Open Championship in July while arguing his putting wasn’t a problem. “Pretty soon, a lot of those good putts will start falling in the middle of the hole instead of dodging around the side of it.”

Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the ninth green during the first round of the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. (Photo: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports)

That’s the kind of confidence that gets built up over four years of early success on the PGA Tour. In 110 starts, he’s racked up nine third-place showings, seven runner-up finishes and six wins with 91 made cuts. In 22 events this year alone, Scheffler didn’t miss a single cut and was in the top 25 in 20 of those starts, with 16 top 10s and a pair of wins and runners-up.

The fact he’s been so successful with such below-average performance on the greens makes Scheffler’s start to his professional career all the more impressive.

Here’s a look at Scheffler’s putting stats over his four years on the PGA Tour.

Scottie’s struggles

Scheffler had a bounce-back season last year in SG: Putting, but even then he was only ranked 58th and still managed four wins. This year is his worst SG: Putting on Tour since the 2019-20 season, not to mention his total putting ranking has triple digits for the fourth consecutive season. On top of that, his overall putting average (103rd) has gotten worse the last two seasons.

His one-putt percentage is drastically different (67th to 139th this year), which comes as a tough look seeing as he leads the Tour in SG: Approach to Green and greens in regulation and sits 12th in proximity to the hole.

The only distance putting category where Scheffler is inside the top 40 this year is putts from 25 feet or farther. Over the last three years he was top 40 in at least three distance categories.

Stat	2022-23 ranking	2021-22 ranking	2020-21 ranking	2019-20 ranking
SG: Putting	145	58	107	117
Total putting	115	120	101	114
Overall putting average	103	82	43	56
One-putt percentage	139	67	58	57
Putting from 20-25 feet	124	5	40	68
Putting from 10-15 feet	170	9	160	52
Putting inside 10 feet	135	155	81	161
Putting from 10 feet	183	25	91	144
Putting from 8 feet	174	159	163	121
Putting from 5 feet	164	174	62	75
Putting from 4-8 feet	172	180	102	126
Putting from 4 feet	131	107	142	171

Scottie’s successes

Despite some glaring concerns, Scheffler comes in 24th in putting average and 32nd in birdie or better conversion percentage (though both of those are worse than years prior). The 2022 Masters champion is third in birdie average and first in scoring average. Scary thought? He should be scoring even more.

The stats also show that Scheffler is putting significantly better in the final round compared to the first three, which hasn’t been the case over the years.

He’s down to 62nd in putts per final round from 122 and 124 in the last two years, but with that said, his numbers have inflated across the board from Thursday-Saturday.

Aside from his three-jack at the 17th on Sunday, Scheffler has done well to minimize his three-putt percentage and now ranks 13th on Tour.

Stat	2022-23 ranking	2021-22 ranking	2020-21 ranking	2019-20 ranking
Putting average	24	4	10	36
Birdie or better conversion %	32	8	12	13
Putts per round total	103	82	43	57
Putts per round 1	87	77	17	11
Putts per round 2	145	90	52	21
Putts per round 3	129	71	89	108
Putts per round 4	62	122	124	162
3-putt avoidance	13	80	49	113
Putting from less than 25 feet	39	50	33	14
Putting from 15-20 feet	56	145	47	25
Putting from 9 feet	50	120	58	146
Putting from 7 feet	70	143	56	100
Putting from 6 feet	84	159	129	167
Putting from 3 feet	77	132	42	169

It’s difficult to pick apart the game of a player who just made a record $21 million on the course and has a firm hold of the world No. 1 ranking. But with that skill and success comes scrutiny when you don’t perform at your best. Statistically speaking, Scheffler’s never been a great putter, and this season has been worse on the greens than the previous three. It’s also arguably his best season overall on Tour.

Just imagine the level of golf we’d be seeing if a few more putts fell.

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Statistics via the PGA Tour.

Arccos raises $20 million in funding from PGA Tour and equipment makers

The funding will allow Arccos to accelerate the release of products and data-driven services for recreational golfers.

Golfers on the PGA Tour have nearly all their shots tracked by ShotLink, which uses a sophisticated system of laser measuring devices, radar and an army of volunteers. You don’t have access to that technology, but Arccos has been enabling recreational golfers to track their shots and collect data on their game since 2012, and on Monday, the company announced that as a part of a $20 million Series C fundraising, it had become the “Official Game Tracker” of the PGA Tour.

Along with the investment by the Tour, other investors include Ping, TaylorMade, Cobra Puma Golf and Topgolf Callaway Brands.

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Arccos, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, is a shot-tracking system that uses a series of small screw-in tags to tether a golfer’s clubs to a smartphone app, which then uses GPS to track the location of every shot a player hits, along with information on the club used and the location of the bullet hit (fairway, sand, rough, the green). Using that data, Arccos develops ShotLink-style stat packages that can reveal information about player tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, along with suggestions on what to practice. The Arccos Caddie app can also use that data to provide caddy-style club recommendations too.

“This investment shows that data is here to stay and that it is going to help everybody,” said Sal Syed, Arccos Golf’s CEO and co-founder in an exclusive interview with Golfweek. “Whether you are a player looking to improve or an instructor looking to teach better, a fitter looking to be smarter or even a manufacturer looking to make better tools for golfers, this data is going to help every aspect of the industry. That’s why you are seeing the industry kind of coalescing behind Arccos. It’s going to help everybody.”

To date, Arccos members have used the system to track more than 750 million shots during over 16 million rounds in 162 countries. That database provides the foundation for the power of the system.

Asked what Arccos plans to do with the capital it has raised, Syed said the infusion of money will allow the company to accelerate its product roadmap.

“We can invest more in data science, make the system more accurate, easier to use and more available to a wider array of golfers.”

Players on the Tour now create strategies for how they will play specific holes using data collected by ShotLink, and many modify their schedules to include courses that data shows match their game especially well. In some cases, they skip tournaments where data shows they might struggle. Syed hopes that as Arccos grows, recreational golfers will be able to make data-based decisions like the pros.

“Every decision that is made in golf should be based on your on-course, real performance,” he said. “Eventually, we want to be able to show, using data, which putter is better for you, what shoes you should play with. Today, no one is basing those kinds of decisions on actual performance data. What we have touched is not even the tip of the iceberg.”

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Former No. 1 Stacy Lewis tabbed to lead Team USA in back-to-back Solheim Cups in 2023 and 2024

With the Solheim Cup being contested in back-to-back years, Lewis, 37, will lead the American team both in Spain and Virginia.

Stacy Lewis has yet to lead Team USA into battle at a Solheim Cup, but she already has the job lined up for a second time. With the Solheim Cup being contested in back-to-back years, Lewis, 37, will lead the American team both in Spain and Virginia, the LPGA has announced.

Already the youngest captain in Solheim Cup history, she’ll be 38 when Team USA tries to take back the Cup from Europe on Sept. 22-24 at Finca Cortesin in Spain. The youngest U.S. captain to date was Patty Sheehan in 2002 at age 45.

The 2024 Solheim Cup will take place Sept. 12-15 at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Lewis will be the fifth player to captain Team USA more than once, joining Juli Inkster (2015, 2017, 2019), Judy Rankin (1996, 1998), Patty Sheehan (2002, 2003) and Kathy Whitworth (1990, 1992).

“This is such an amazing honor, to be asked to again captain the U.S. Solheim Cup Team. Receiving the first call was one of the highest points of my career, and I am truly grateful to add this second opportunity,” said Lewis in a release. “I’ve said it many times – representing the United States and wearing our colors are experiences that stand out in any player’s career. To have the chance to lead our country’s best players twice, and especially in 2024 outside our nation’s capital, is a true privilege.”

Stacy Lewis of team USA holds the Solheim Cup trophy at the closing ceremony of The Solheim Cup at St Leon-Rot Golf Club on September 20, 2015, in St Leon-Rot, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

A 13-time winner on the LPGA who ascended to No. 1 and won two majors, Lewis is a big-picture thinker and straightforward communicator. She’ll take advice and she’ll compromise, but there will be no gray area. While her Solheim Cup record is lacking at 5-10-1, she’s open about what she has learned over the years and wants to improve on every aspect of the event that she can.

“I want to figure out what we’re missing,” said Lewis last February. “The pieces that we’re missing to help these girls play better and help make it be a better experience for the fans or whatever it may be.”

To that end, she has already put in place a new stats system to help identify potential pairings. After reading about the stats systems both Ryder Cup teams (and Presidents Cup teams) have relied upon in recent years, Lewis went on a mission to get something similar for her team.

“In the past, we’ve made pairings based on being friends or who gets along,” said Lewis, “there’s really been no rhyme or reason. Juli did the personality test and things like that because we’ve never had stats to put to it.”

Lewis met with the stats groups that work with the U.S. men (Scouts Consulting Group) and Europe (Twenty First Group). She knew she’d have to find a creative way to fund the program outside of the Solheim Cup budget. That’s when KPMG stepped up to help, creating an extension to the already existing KPMG Performance Insights with the continued help of the Twenty First Group.

By the time the 2023 Solheim Cup is staged, there will be two years’ worth of data to analyze.

“It’s going to help project who’s going to make the team and then from that,” said Lewis, “making your picks based on pairings and who will pair well together.”

The data will also be specific to the golf course, looking at details like what kinds of shots will be hit from the tees and how many of the par 5s are reachable.

Lewis plans to keep some of the pod system that three-time captain Juli Inkster put in place but make it more flexible. After being forced to withdraw from the team in 2019 due to injury, Lewis served as an unofficial assistant captain under Inkster. She worked in that role in an official capacity under Pat Hurst in 2021.

“It comes down to making putts,” said Lewis after she was named captain the first time around.

“We didn’t do enough of that at Inverness. That’s what I talked about, being in these last groups and learning how to handle the pressure and the emotions of it. That’s really what the putting comes down to.”

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Arccos limited-edition Smoke Smart Sensors Gen3+ system

Arccos continues to roll out new hardware designed collect shot information and reveal how players can improve their game.

For the past few years, Arccos has concentrated on improving the software and the algorithms it uses to give golfers deeper analytics and more information about how they can improve their games. And in 2022 the Stamford, Connecticut-based company has rolled out new hardware.

Last month Arccos introduced the Gen3+ sensors, which help the system do a better job of detecting shots, ignoring practice swings and locating you on the course. Two weeks later it released the second edition of the Arccos Link, a small device that clips to your belt or a pocket and allows players to use Arccos without keeping their smartphone in a pocket. Now comes the limited-edition Gen3+ Smoke sensors, a black version of the newest screw-in sensors that help power the shot-tracking system.

Like the standard black and green Gen3+ sensors, 13 Smoke tags come in the box alongside a smaller 14th sensor designed for your putter. After installing them and going through a one-time pairing process that takes about two minutes, the Arccos smartphone app recognizes which clubs you use on every shot and can overlay that information on over 40,000 courses around the world.

By connecting one shot to another using the GPS in your smartphone, Arccos can determine how far each of your shots goes, whether it lands in the fairway, sand or on the green, then compile detailed stats and analytics that reveal your strengths, weaknesses and areas you should practice.

The batteries in the Smoke Smart Sensors should last about two years with normal use.

The Smoke edition of the Arccos Smart Sensors Gen3+ costs $224.99 and comes with a one-year subscription to the Arccos Caddie app.

Our readers can get a 15% discount by using the code GOLFWEEK on any Arccos product.

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Irons used by the top 10 golfers in strokes gained approach the green

Check out the irons currently being used by the PGA Tour’s best ballstrikers like Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Will Zalatoris.

Two weeks ago, we revealed the drivers being used by the golfers who lead the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee, a critical statistic for success. However, if there is a stat that holds even more value for the game’s elite players, it is strokes gained approach the green.

Sure, everyone wants to hole more putts and get more distance off the tee, but pros have accepted the notion, based on analytics, that the more birdie chances you have, the lower your scores will go, even if you are not a great putter. Distance off the tee can help, but accuracy and consistency from the fairway with your irons will translate into birdie chances and keep big numbers off your scorecard.

Below is a list of the players who lead the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach the green, along with the irons they currently play.

KPMG: New analytics platform to help narrow divide between men’s, women’s game

Closing the outrageously wide analytics chasm between the men’s and women’s game seemed a natural fit for KPMG.

ATLANTA – The question from KPMG was simple: What’s the LPGA’s No. 1 pain point?

Answer: The lack of statistics and analytics.

Seven years ago, KPMG stepped in as title sponsor of the revamped Women’s PGA with a commitment to take the championship to premiere courses where men have typically played. This week marks the first time a women’s major has been held on the Highlands Course at Atlanta Athletic Club. Upcoming venues include Congressional in 2022 and Baltusrol in 2023.

The purse size has doubled to $4.5 million. Weekend coverage will be on NBC. In the Women’s Leadership Summit, KPMG created a model that tournament after tournament on the LPGA was eager to follow.

But KPMG, a Hall of Fame kind of LPGA partner, wanted to do more. Closing the outrageously wide analytics chasm between the men’s and women’s game seemed a natural fit for the goal of continuing to elevate the women’s game.

“We do data and analytics for a living,” said Paul Knopp, KPMG U.S. Chair and CEO.

The KPMG Performance Insights technology platform launches this week at Atlanta Athletic Club, though players and caddies took part in a soft launch, gathering data in the weeks leading up to the event.

The official release for the program described the LPGA’s current stats program as “similar to what some weekend golfers calculate after their rounds.” That’s precisely accurate.

“We were surprised at that disparity,” said Knopp, “and we very much wanted to be a partner in wanting to do something about it.”

The KPMG program will be similar to what’s on the European Tour, with caddies recording shots, club selections and the lie of every shot. They’ll turn in a special scorecard after every round and get paid a stipend for the efforts. KPMG is covering that, too.

Overall strokes gained and strokes gained by game area (off the tee, approach, around the green, putting) will be available as well as deeper insights into individual strokes gained by 25-yard increments and individual shots taken. Players, fans and media will know how close players hit it on average from certain distances. There will be shot dispersion charts, average birdie putt length and performance indexing over time against the field.

It’s not ShotLink, but it’s a quantum leap in the right direction.

Preaching the need for better analytics

KPMG ambassador Stacy Lewis stayed with COO Laura Newinski while competing in the Gainbridge LPGA at Lake Nona and talked at length with her about how stats would not only help players better identify strengths and weaknesses, but also vastly improve TV and print coverage of the tour.

“It will let people know how good we are,” said Lewis. “It creates interest and gives announcers something to talk about instead of what outfit we have on, or whether she’s happy or not. (Now it’s) how good her putting numbers are or how good she’s driving it this week, and you can back it up with something.”

KPMG Women's PGA Championship — Anna Nordqvist at the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club on Oct. 10, 2020 in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images

For years Golf Channel’s Karen Stupples has been preaching the need for better analytics on the LPGA. Why should sports fans simply believe what someone in the booth says when there are no numbers to prove it?

“In this age of technology, everybody is looking at ball speed and club speed and spin rates,” said Stupples. “It’s a numbers game. And when there are no numbers, it makes it very subjective.

“I think people downplay just how good they are because there’s no way to put a fixed number on how good they are. They’re trying to take our word for it, but why would they take our word for it?”

Some players, like Brittany Altomare, have been keeping their own detailed stats for years. Altomare’s father Tom spent 32 years working at HP and used his penchant for numbers to create a stats system at the request of Altomare’s coach Justin Sheehan. Brittany inputs her own numbers each week. Tom analyzes the trends and puts together a summary. Sheehan breaks it down and delivers the message.

They could analyze 250 shots taken with an 8-iron, for example, and see how far she hits it from the hole on average and how often she converts for birdie.

For coaches who aren’t out every week watching players, this kind of information is invaluable for training.

Santiago Carranza, a former software engineer who now makes a living in finance, started a detailed stats project out of necessity to help girlfriend Gaby Lopez look for areas of improvement. It evolved into ABX Tour, an analytics system that was used by a number of players on tour who were looking for a benchmark of standards so that players can put context to their own personal stats.

Now there’s a standardized system in play for the entire tour that all partners will be able to access.

“When you get actual physical numbers that tell you how good these players are,” said Stupples, “people have to buy in. They can’t dismiss figures.”

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The $2,550 Tag Hauer GPS watch, worn by Tommy Fleetwood

Designed with a titanium body, sapphire crystal display, full-color touchscreen and built-in GPS, this luxury golf watch has it all.

One of the traditional symbols of success is a shiny, gold watch, and companies that make luxury timepieces have been associated with golf for decades. They sponsor tournaments, sign endorsement deals with players and pay to have large clocks strategically places around elite golf courses and resorts. Tommy Fleetwood recently inked a deal with Tag Hauer, a Swiss timepiece maker, and has been wearing one of the company’s watches on the course this season.

Fleetwood’s watch, however, is unique because it is a Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition. It’s a smartwatch, and after being paired via Bluetooth to your mobile phone, it can tell you the time and provide you with a host of other modern features. For example, it can provide you with notifications for incoming text messages, emails and sports scores. A built-in heart rate monitor, accelerometer, internal gyroscope and tilt-detection sensors help it count your steps, monitor your heart rate, help you pay for things using Google Pay and even control music on your smartphone.

Tommy Fleetwood at the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. (Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports)

The Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition comes in a large box that contains two bands. One is golf-themed in white with green trim, while the other is all black. On your wrist, it feels more substantive than ordinary golf GPS watches. It is thick, but the bands have a suppleness and the watch itself has a gentle heft on your wrist. The body is made from titanium, the sapphire screen is scratch-resistant, it is water-resistant to 50 meters and the adjustable clasp opens and closes quickly.

Wearers can choose from a variety of watch face styles and quickly change them anytime. Some look like multi-faced chronographs, while others look like classic Tag Hauer watch faces. There are also modular and customizable faces that let you see elements like appointments, weather and daily step count.

Tag Hauer Connected Golfer Edition watch. (Tag Hauer)

The Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition also acts as a golf GPS watch. It has its own GPS system, so even without your phone, it can display color renderings of holes and green complexes, as well as the distance to greens and hazards on over 39,000 courses worldwide. Its touchscreen makes it easy to see the hole features in greater detail, and the hole diagrams are among the most detailed and easiest to read in the industry.

They should be: The Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition costs $2,550.

According to Tag Hauer, the Connected Golf Edition’s battery can last up to 25 hours after it is fully charged, but using the GPS feature while you play golf will drain the battery faster. The company claims that a four-and-a-half-hour round of golf will drain about 60 percent of the battery if you use the watch’s GPS, so it will not last for an entire 36-hole day. However, you can link the Connected Golf Edition with your phone and have it use your smartphone’s GPS to save some battery life.

The obvious and fair question to ask is simple: With so many other golf GPS watches out there for about one-tenth the price, who is buying this?

The answer is a golfer who loves timepieces, obviously, but Tag Hauer is marketing the Connected Golf Edition squarely at young, successful people who want the features and conveniences of a modern smartwatch with the cachet of a luxury brand. You can see someone wearing an Apple Watch or Fitbit everywhere, and on the course you see units from Garmin and SkyCaddie. Tag Hauer’s Connected Golf Edition is for people who want a modern timepiece that will look great in a suit, be at home in the gym and still provide help on the golf course.

The Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition is not for everyone. By definition, luxury items never are. But as more and more people who are tech-savvy gravitate towards golf, the Tag Hauer Connected Golf Edition watch may be one of the first of many golf-themed smartwatches we see come from luxury timepiece makers.

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Masters: Jordan Spieth’s comeback has a ways to go according to the stats

The 2015 Masters champ has turned things around, but is he close to the level of play that helped him win at Augusta National?

Golfers who are in a slump rarely find lightning in a bottle, suddenly contending after missing cuts, but Jordan Spieth found something on the way to Arizona this winter. After missing the cut in three of his previous six tournaments before the Waste Management Phoenix Open in early February, he was in the mix on Sunday and tied for fourth.

Spieth backed up that performance at TPC Scottsdale with T-3 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a T-15 at the Genesis Invitational and a T-4 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Suddenly, after a three-year slump, it felt like the old Jordan was back.

Then, on Sunday, he won the Valero Texas Open, notching his first title since the 2017 British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Now, heading to the Masters fresh off his first win in more than three years, how close is today’s Jordan Spieth to being the player who won at Augusta National, then won the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay two months later?

Spieth’s performance in San Antonio last week, from a statistical standpoint, was certainly reminiscent of his level of play from 2015 and 2016. He finished third in strokes gained tee-to-green and sixth in strokes gained putting, a lethal combination for his competition.

However, as you can see in the chart below, which shows Spieth’s season-ending strokes gained total averages since 2013, heading into last week’s Valero Texas Open there was still a big difference between today’s Jordan Spieth and peak Jordan Spieth.

Strokes gained total is the average of how much better (or worse) a player performed than the field average over 18 holes, measured in strokes. So, for example, if a player has a strokes gained total average of 0.5, he would typically shoot a half-shot better than the field average over an 18-hole round. That may not seem like much, but over 72 holes, that’s two shots, and that can make a big difference.

In 2015, Spieth ranked second in strokes gained total with an average of 2.154, a massive number that means he was more than two shots better than the average player over 18 holes that season. He ranked in the top five in the stats the next two seasons, but his average dropped in 2018 and again in 2019. Last season Spieth ranked 99th in strokes gained total and was barely above the Tour average.

Through the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Spieth’s strokes gained total average for 2021 was up to 0.768 (45th on the PGA Tour). Obviously, he’s playing at a higher level than last season, but he is still almost one-and-a-half-shots worse than he was at the end of his Masters-wining 2015 season.

So where is Spieth losing those shots? As you can see in the chart below, Jordan’s putting struggled in 2019 and 2020, and his ballstriking numbers, reflected in strokes gained approach the green, also dipped significantly after 2017. This season, those numbers are both improving.

Winning on the PGA Tour is hard, especially against power players like Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm. But Spieth is certainly trending in the right direction and starting to blend improved ballstriking and better putting. Now, after a win, he should have extra confidence.

“This sport can take you a lot of different directions,” Spieth said on Sunday evening after being asked about the climb back from his slump. “So I think it’s just most important to embrace when I have moments like this and just really appreciate them. (I need to) keep my head down, keep the process that I’m doing. Obviously, things are starting to work without feeling like I quite have it all, so that’s a really good sign. (I’ll) take some confidence into next week as well.”

The stats say Spieth’s comeback has a ways to go, but that doesn’t mean he can’t contend this week at Augusta National.

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Smart Fitting: Arccos and Club Champion partner to enhance the fitting process

By allowing Club Champion fitters to see a player’s on-course Arccos data, the fitting process can improve.

Working with a well-qualified custom fitter is the best way to ensure that the golf equipment you buy is ideally suited to your swing and the needs of your game.

Golfweek has been hammering that point home for years, and more and more golfers are listening. While most players immediately see the rewards of custom-fit clubs when they play, there can be an adjustment period and questions for others. Will a slice-fighting driver work on the course? Is the lie of a new set of irons just right? Does a player’s sand wedge have enough bounce?

Arccos and Club Champion announced a unique partnership on Monday, and it could make questions like those a thing of the past.

Arccos, based in Stamford, Connecticut, makes tiny sensors that screw into the grip of your clubs. The company also offers grips that already hold the sensors. Once the sensors are linked to Arccos’s smartphone app, the system can use the GPS feature in your phone to track every shot you hit using every club in your bag. Overlaying that data on maps of the holes and courses you play, Arccos creates data-rich stats that can reveal things like your average distance with each club, where you tend to miss and which aspects of your game are strong and which need some work.

Based on your tendencies, weather, elevations changes on the hole and how other golfers with similar abilities have played the hole, Arccos Caddie 2.0 makes real-time club recommendations.

Club Champion, based in Chicago, is one of the biggest and most reputable club fitting companies in the United States. It has 74 stores around the country and is brand agnostic, carrying equipment from every major company and several smaller manufacturers too. Thanks to a unique hosel system, Club Champion fitters can attach any shaft to any club head, allowing golfers and fitters to try scores of combinations. Using TrackMan launch monitors, Club Champion fitters can show clients exactly how different combinations of components work with the player’s swing.

Now, thanks to the partnership, Club Champion will not only sell Arccos sensors and Arccos-enabled grips, but the company’s fitters will also be able to track and see how a client’s gear performs on the course.

After golfers give permission for their Club Champion fitter to monitor their play, Arccos will provide data that lets fitters better understand the player’s game and track their performance after the fitting. The fitters have all trained and certified as experts in the Arccos Caddie platform and the Arccos Dashboard. The dashboard lets fitters see insights, visualizations and shot-by-shot history of a player’s round. They can also see club distance averages, gapping, clubs used, dispersion patterns, miss tendencies and more.

“Having access to our clients’ Arccos on-course shot data allows us to fully understand each player’s unique golf DNA,” said Nick Sherburne, the founder of Club Champion and one of the company’s master fitters. “The data is golden. It helps golfers and our fitters better track performance while gaining an unbiased understanding of where they excel and what they need to improve.”

While some golfers may see an element of Big Brother in this, golfers who get an Arccos system at Club Champion are not obligated to take part in the program. However, the benefits to the player could make it worthwhile.

For example, if a player who used to slice is now hooking the ball using his new driver, the fitter will be able to see the issue, reach out to the player and make suggestions that could solve the problem. Some players also hit shots differently in an indoor fitting studio than they do on the course. Allowing a Club Champion fitter to access Across data could reveal those differences too.

“With Arccos Caddie, every Club Champion fitter can get a contextualized picture of their clients’ games,” said Sal Syed, the CEO and co-founder of Arccos. “This can be a huge positive for the fitter-client relationship before, during and after each studio session.”

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