There was a time when the only measure of a players ability in terms of their iron game or approach play was the greens in regulation statistic. This is very limited and can be extremely misleading, however. For example, the GIR stat is hugely related to the quality of a players tee shots. If that player spent all day in the trees and fairway bunkers then 10 greens in regulation might be a fantastic return! Whereas if the same player was 330 yards in the middle of every fairway from the tee, 10 greens would likely be deemed a poor day with the irons.
Furthermore, just simply counting whether the green was hit or not gives very little indication of the quality of the approach shot. For example, hitting it to 8 feet from 220 yards should not be given the same level of success as a 100 yard wedge shot to 60 feet!
