On the Telephone With Brian Gay

[Yoda]

Was on the phone earlier this evening with PGA TOUR player Brian Gay, and I congratulated him on his recent fine play. The conversation went something like this...



Brian: Well, thanks there, Yoda. This TGM stuff is making a lot of sense, and I'll admit I have been hitting the ball better. Just haven't been making the putts.

Yoda: Brian, I must share something with you.

Brian: What's that, Green Thing?

Yoda: The latest stats are out and the jig is up: With an average of 27.37 Putts per Round, you now are officially ranked the #1 Putter on the PGA TOUR.

Brian: Really!

Yoda: Yep. 520 putts divided by 19 rounds equals 27.27 per round. Can't argue with the math.

Brian: Well, yeah, but that's just because I'm a good scrambler. How about my Putts per Green in Regulation?

Yoda: More bad news, Brian. At 1.677 per GIR, you're #2 in that category. And that 4th round at the Chrysler? The number was 1.429. You didn't miss anything under 10 feet. Outside that distance, you made one-third from 10-15 feet, half from 15-20 feet and two-thirds from 20-25 feet. Let's face facts, Brian: You're a good putter.

Brian: You think?

Yoda: You've made 75 birdies so far this year, one for every third green you've hit. That's better than David Toms, Davis Love, Stuart Appleby and Sergio Garcia, to name a few.

Brian: Okay, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about my putting. But, seriously, I do seem to be missing more lately.

Yoda: Brian, please. You shot 30 on the back nine Sunday on your way to a 66. Passed a lot of fine TOUR folk on your way to the pay window, too. You don't do that without making putts. But...I know your problem.

Brian: What's that?

Yoda: Did you look at your GIR stats at the Chrysler Tuscon?

Brian: Not yet. I got in from Tuscon about 1:30 AM, logged onto LBG to check the latest, then hit the sack.

Yoda: You're sitting down, right?

Brian: Of course, I'm in the car headed to Doral.

Yoda: Good. At Tuscon, you averaged 14 greens per round. The final round was even better, 77.8 percent.

Brian: Really! My average last year was 62.3 percent.

Yoda: That was last year, Brian...last year.

Brian: So, I'm hitting more greens, and that makes me feel like I'm missing more putts, even though I'm making more than anybody else?

Yoda: Something like that. But it gets worse.

Brian: Whazzupp?

Yoda: Your Driving stats.

Brian: Naah, I'm short.

Yoda: Not any more. Your 4th round average was 316 yards.

Brian: Really! You know, now that you mention it, I have been hitting it further.

Yoda: Yes you have, and that has had more than a little something to do with the four eagles you've made on the 5-pars this year. Not to mention last week's double eagle at the Nissan, the first on the PGA TOUR this year. But...I have more bad news.

Brian: I can hardly wait.

Yoda: You hit 85.7 percent of the fairways.

Brian: Really!

Yoda: Yeah, it's a nightmare: You're long and straight off the tee. You hit a ton of greens. And statistically, you're the best putter on the PGA TOUR.

Brian: Hmmm...that's pretty interesting stuff there, Yoda. I've been out here eight years. Maybe things are starting to turn my way.

Yoda: It's you, Brian. You've put in the time. You've done the work. Now comes the reward.

Brian: Hey, gotta go, Green Thing...I'm turning into the parking lot and the Blue Monster's waiting. Anything else I should be doing?

Yoda: Deltoid exercises, Brian. You gotta start working the right delts. Those trophies are heavy. And you never want the guys behind the cameras see you sweat.

[FL-John]

Green thing:

Gotta love it...thanks for the quick snipet! I know we'll all be wishing Brian the best of luck and will monitor his progress this year!!

If I might ask, what was the focus of your and Brian's work together? Usually at the PGA Tour level, there is some minor tweaking that happens...any insight in which you (and Brian) would mind sharing would be great!

Thanks in advance!

FL-John

[Delaware Golf]

The Laptop and the PGA Tour Player....

If I was on Tour...I would be spreadsheeting my stats...then slicing and dicing them in all kinds of ways....daily stats, stats relating to a particular course, looking for problem areas, etc....getting creative with the stats and building a game plan from them. Possibly seperate the stats according stroke execution versus more course strategy stats....then after that I would take the stats of the 5 to 10 best players and analyze them the same way. I bet if a player did that they would come up with some interesting insights...in the world of business we do that, the world of professional golf is no different, it's a business.

In a lot fields, to get ahead in that particular field one needs a real edge over the other participants...being a professional golfer is one of those fields. I say get stat happy!!!

DG BBA 05' Wharton School

[6bmike]

Nice to share that with us Lynn, ahh Green Thing ! Lots of new Tour guys to cheer for. Can't wait to see JR and BG holding the big cardboard check some Sunday afternoon.

Deltoid exercises? Not the Bertholoy dumbells?

Of course, Yoda, you can hold the trophy as their hold the big check !

[tongzilla]

For those who are interested:

http://pgatour.com/players/stats/149707/2006

[Delaware Golf]

One of the most common strong points for the top pros is GIR "Greens in Regulation" and Power....accuracy takes a back seat to those two stats. Interesting...

No wonder Tomasello placed an emphasis on POWER...I didn't get to study with Tomasello long enough... but I know from other students that Tommy had his students track each of their rounds with a unique tracking method...

DG

[phillygolf]

Was on the phone earlier this evening with PGA TOUR player Brian Gay, and I congratulated him on his recent fine play. The conversation went something like this...



Brian: Well, thanks there, Yoda. This TGM stuff is making a lot of sense, and I'll admit I have been hitting the ball better. Just haven't been making the putts.

Yoda: Brian, I must share something with you.

Brian: What's that, Green Thing?

Yoda: The latest stats are out and the jig is up: With an average of 27.37 Putts per Round, you now are officially ranked the #1 Putter on the PGA TOUR.

Brian: Really!

Yoda: Yep. 520 putts divided by 19 rounds equals 27.27 per round. Can't argue with the math.

Brian: Well, yeah, but that's just because I'm a good scrambler. How about my Putts per Green in Regulation?

Yoda: More bad news, Brian. At 1.677 per GIR, you're #2 in that category. And that 4th round at the Chrysler? The number was 1.429. You didn't miss anything under 10 feet. Outside that distance, you made one-third from 10-15 feet, half from 15-20 feet and two-thirds from 20-25 feet. Let's face facts, Brian: You're a good putter. You've made 75 birdies so far this year, one for every third green you've hit. That's better than David Toms, Davis Love, Stuart Appleby and Sergio Garcia, to name a few.

Brian: Okay, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about my putting. But, seriously, I do seem to be missing more lately.

Yoda: Brian, please. You shot 30 on the back nine Sunday on your way to a 66. Passed a lot of fine TOUR folk on your way to the pay window, too. You don't do that without making putts. But...I know your problem.

Brian: What's that?

Yoda: Did you look at your GIR stats at the Chrysler Tuscon?

Brian: Not yet. I got in from Tuscon about 1:30 AM, logged onto LBG to check the latest, then hit the sack.

Yoda: You're sitting down, right?

Brian: Of course, I'm in the car headed to Doral.

Yoda: Good. At Tuscon, you averaged 14 greens per round. The final round was even better, 77.8 percent.

Brian: Really! My average last year was 62.3 percent.

Yoda: That was last year, Brian...last year.

Brian: So, I'm hitting more greens, and that makes me feel like I'm missing more putts, even though I'm making more than anybody else?

Yoda: Something like that. But it gets worse.

Brian: Whazzupp?

Yoda: Your Driving stats.

Brian: Naah, I'm short.

Yoda: Not any more. Your 4th round average was 316 yards.

Brian: Really! You know, now that you mention it, I have been hitting it further.

Yoda: Yes you have, and that has had more than a little something to do with the four eagles you've made on the 5-pars this year. Not to mention last week's double eagle at the Nissan, the first on the PGA TOUR this year. But...I have more bad news.

Brian: I can hardly wait.

Yoda: You hit 85.7 percent of the fairways.

Brian: Really!

Yoda: Yeah, it's a nightmare: You're long and straight off the tee. You hit a ton of greens. And statistically, you're the best putter on the PGA TOUR.

Brian: Hmmm...that's pretty interesting stuff there, Yoda. I've been out here eight years. Maybe things are starting to turn my way.

Yoda: It's you, Brian. You've put in the time. You've done the work. Now comes the reward.

Brian: Hey, gotta go, Green Thing...I'm turning into the parking lot and the Blue Monster's waiting. Anything else I should be doing?

Yoda: Deltoid exercises, Brian. You gotta start working the delts. Those trophies are heavy. And you never want the guys behind the cameras see you sweat.

Excellent post Yoda....

Not necessarily because it's Brian Gay, PGA Tour Player (though that does add to the it!)....

And not because, as his teacher, you have sliced and diced his pertinent statistics, which obviously displays a true interest in his improvement...

No sir.

Know why (in my opinion at least)?

Psychology.

No Maslow. No (thank God) Freud. Nope. Just the plain old facts (or is it Plane ole facts).

Yes sir.

You have taken, backed with real life statistics, what he perceives (the operative word) to be a weakness and educated him on what he is really doing - versus the perception he may have, and hopefully he can use that as a spring board to reach his goals/dreams, etc.

And that, my friend, is what separates the mens from the boys (from both a teaching and playing perspective)!!!!!!!! Great stuff!

-Patrick

[Yoda]

Brian Gay made six -- double bogey -- on his first hole at this week's Byron Nelson.

He followed it with a birdie.

But two more bogies followed and he turned in 37 -- three-over on the Par 34 front side of the very tough Cottonwood Valley Golf Club. The PGA TOUR is the Land of the Meateaters, and three-over after the first nine holes can make for a short week.

Gut-check time.

Birdies on the 11th and 14th followed. And then the eagle three on the par five 16th.

37-32 = 69.

Another 69 followed on Friday and then 68 today.

In a field that began with 144 of the best players in the world and starting with double bogey six, Brian goes into the final round tied for 18th.

When we began our day together in Atlanta on Monday, I asked him what he was working on.

"Same things."

"What do you like best about what we've done?"

"It's simple."

Doesn't sound much like The Golfing Machine, does it?

Good luck tomorrow, Brian. You've earned your spurs, and you've waited your turn.

Good things lie ahead.

[Mathew]

Im thinking of putting a bet on him to win a major next year after these new alignments really get ingrained into his subconcious.... I think it will be alot better odds than the bookmakers are giving....

[Yoda]

Im thinking of putting a bet on him to win a major next year after these new alignments really get ingrained into his subconcious.... I think it will be alot better odds than the bookmakers are giving....

Next year, Mathew?

How about next month!

Winged Foot.

The United States Open Championship at Winged Foot.

Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Warp speed.