Following the announcement of an exciting new partnership between golf data giants, Arccos, and European Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari, the three-time DP World Tour winner had a clear message for all amateur golfers.
In an interview with Edoardo, and Arccos founder Sal Syed, the pair shared the importance of data analysis for making progress in the amateur game, and outlined how the combination of Arccos technology and the brilliant stats mind of Molinari will help to 're-define analytics in golf'.
How Embracing Data Can Support Amateur Development
As the new Chief Data Strategist and Lead Tour Ambassador at Arccos, Edoardo Molinari believes all amateurs should embrace data in their pursuit of improvement on the golf course.
"I feel like if you if you're not tracking data on your own game, you're just losing an edge. These days, you know, especially for for the top players, but even for the weekend golfers.
"If you don't know where you're leaking shots, or where you're making shots on the field, you're just not going to spend your time efficiently enough on the range.
"They (amateur golfers) go to the office Monday to Friday, and then come Saturday morning they warm up and they go play most of the time. So you need to find an easy way for them to shoot better scores without asking them to spend three hours a day on the range, because they simply don't have time to do it."
This theory was supported by Arccos Founder, Sal Syed, who suggested that data tracking will become the norm in the future at all levels of the game.
"In my mind, when you look at the future, which might be like 10 or 20 years out, it will be inconceivable to not be capturing and tracking your data because you will literally be giving up strokes to everybody else. You will not be able to compete with players who actually have that information."
Using the insights that Edoardo has developed throughout years of supporting tour professionals to develop their game, it amplifies the potential gains that amateurs could make with access to this information.
Sal explained: "Edoardo is on the cutting edge. He has to help golfers gain fractions of strokes, which translates potentially into major championship victories. Now, when you scale that to the amateur golfer, those insights will deliver a lot more strokes, so I think that's what we're very excited about."
When looking to improve their performance, many amateurs will immediately set about trying to correct swing faults or look to improve the power in their golf swing, but Molinari believes there might be some much quicker wins that they aren't accessing.
"It's easy to say, oh, if you gain 10 yards off the tee, you're going to shoot one shot better per round. But then how long is that going to take you to to gain 10 yards off the tee? You need to go to the gym for six months, or you need to make a swing change, while other times there's some lower hanging fruits that are easier to to catch for the amateurs."
Understanding course management, like how to navigate a tight tee shot or how far you need to lay up to give yourself the chance to score, can be game-changing for golfers at all levels, and this is something that has helped Edoardo in his professional career.
"I was convinced that I was extremely good from like 80 to 100 yards with the wedges. Then, I found out that actually my proximity is better from 100 to 115 yards, historically. So then I always keep an eye on it.
"If that doesn't change, when I lay up on a par five, I'm not taking more risk to have a shorter third shot, If then I know that I'm going to hit it further away from the pin."
For golfers at all levels those don't currently track their data, it can be very hard to accurately pinpoint areas for improvement in their game. While many might think they have a good idea of what they need to work on, Molinari believes that often this can be misleading.
"It doesn't matter how good you are, even at our level, it's very difficult to get a clear understanding and a clear picture of what your game is like, and where you're making shots or losing shots.
"I mean, it's absolutely impossible, and I get examples of this every day. Usually the first time I send a report to the players, I always ask them, what's your feedback? What's your idea of your game? And every time, I promise you, it's completely wrong because you're influenced by, you know, maybe you hit it one driver to the right in the trees, and you miss the cut by one, and then, oh, I'm always missing to the right.
"But then, you miss the last four fairways to the left and you forget about it. So, it's having an objective way to measure your golf game and understanding what you need to do. I think it's very, very important."
