SwingU Pro features an integrated strokes gained analysis system that tracks and analyzes every facet of your game from tee to green. SwingU Pro subscribers can keep and analyze their stats as if they were a Tour pro, but at a more relatable and productive level.
Whether you’re a scratch player trying to reach elite amateur status or a bogey golfer trying to reach a single-digit handicap, choose a target handicap and find out after each round what area of your game should receive your highest priority for immediate improvement.
SwingU Pro will let you know how you stack up across five key areas of the game: Driving, Approach Shots, Chipping & Pitching, Bunker Play and Putting. Each facet of your game will be given a “relative handicap,” so you can easily and accurately identify the area of your game that needs the most attention.
In addition to the data, SwingU’s AI-driven algorithm will assign you a prescriptive drill, focusing you on the game-improvement priority that will lower your handicap and scores fast!
The quest to play your best golf just got smarter, faster and easier with SwingU Pro.
With the help of Peter Sanders, the founder and owner of ShotByShot.com, which powers SwingU Pro, here are some of the most frequently asked questions that may help you as you begin to navigate your journey to better with SwingU.
Q: In the broadest and briefest terms, what is strokes gained and what does it accomplish?
In brief, strokes gained is a detailed quantification of each stroke played as it relates to par. Each position (Tee, Fairway, Rough, Sand) and distance from the hole has what we to as a “down-in” value. This is the exact number of shots it takes for the scratch golfer to hole out.
Picture a large board with the image of a golf hole. As one moves from place to place, closer to the hole, they land on smaller down-in values. The bigger and more positive the jumps, the more strokes that are gained.
Example: An approach shot from 150 yards in the fairway carries a down-in value of 3.00 meaning that the average scratch golfer will hole out from there in 3 strokes. If the golfer hits the green with a 27-foot putt (the distance at which the down-in value is 2.00), the golfer’s strokes gained for his approach is 0.0 – he advanced a value of 1.0 position in 1 shot. The golfer has not gained or lost strokes with the approach.
The formula is: value start position – (value of finish position + strokes to get there). If the golfer were to have hit the approach from 150 yards in the fairway to 7-feet (down-in value 1.50), the golfer would have gained half a shot. 3.00 – (1.5 + 1) = +0.5.
This precise quantitative system of analysis has transformed the analysis of golf from a slightly educated guess into a certainty. We can now accurately determine a player’s true strengths and weaknesses as well as exactly why. This allows them to play to their strengths and focus on improving their weaknesses.
Q: How is each target handicap level within SwingU calculated?
The SwingU model is based upon the scratch male golfer. We take all the rounds that equal zero differential from slope-adjusted course rating (true par) from our database of now over 400,000 rounds.
Next, we compile or Target Handicap Groups by grouping all the rounds in their scoring range. We run each Target through our scratch strokes gained model and determine the exact number of strokes that are being lost in each facet to the scratch player.
When any single player’s rounds are run against our scratch golfer database, we compare their strokes gained numbers to the averages of their Target Handicap. Strengths and weaknesses always stand out clearly.
Q: What portions of the game fall under each category?
We analyze the 5 major facets of the game:
- Driving – Tee shots on all par-4 and par-5 holes.
- Approach Shot – All attempts to hit the green from greater than 50 yards of the hole. (We do not consider driving attempts to hit the green on par-4 holes to be Approach Shots; they are still considered Drives.
- Chip/Pitch – All shots within 50 yards of the hole, excluding sand shots from the same yardage.
- Sand – All shots within 50 yards of the hole from a sand trap.
- Putting – All shots from the green
Q: Driving: What constitutes a “good lie” versus a “bad lie” when entering my driving position?
A “good lie” means a good opportunity to fairly easily accomplish the next goal, be it to hit the green in regulation or advance the ball on a par-5. By contrast, the “bad lie” means that one could accomplish their next goal, but it will take a very good shot to do it.
Simply be consistent. Make the determination before hitting the shot so as not to be influenced by the outcome. There is not a large difference between the two values, but if you were to consistently overstate the difficulty of the shots, for example, it will impact the accuracy of your analysis by hurting your driving and overstating your approach skill, and vice versa.
Q: Driving: Will my strokes gained: driving be hampered if I hit less than driver off the tee?
Success in the strokes gained world is based upon a combination of distance and accuracy – efficiency in the number of strokes that it takes to hole out. We know that over 80% of double bogeys recorded by single-digit golfers follow a mistake off the tee.
Further, it is the frequency and severity of mistakes that do more to influence a score than do all the good and average shots – at all levels, including on the PGA Tour. We should all be hitting the longest club off the tee that we can keep in play and avoid errors.
Similarly, the direction in which you miss fairway from a purely statistical standpoint is moot. Whether you are right or left of your intended target, there is little actionable bearing from a numbers perspective, which is why that statistical function has been removed.
Q: Approach: When playing a par-5, how do I accurately input my approach distance, especially if I’m going for it in two?
The system assumes a second shot advancement on every par-5, so a data entry will not be required if you’re laying up.
The approach is the first attempt to actually hit green regardless of where it falls in the shot string. When going for the green in two, the second shot is the Approach, and should be recorded as such. The system is intelligent and will know based upon the shot selection that follows as well as the score for the hole what categories should be impacted beyond the Approach.
Example: Faced with a 255-yard shot from the fairway for your second shot on a par-5, if the golfer hits a club that has a chance to reach the green, 250+ yards should be entered as the Approach distance. Conversely, if the golfer selects a 5-iron for the second shot that couldn’t reasonably reach the putting surface, the third shot will be considered the Approach.
Q: Putting: If my approach shot comes to rest on the fringe of the putting surface, should I consider my next shot a chip/pitch or putt?
Similar to the “Good Lie” / “Bad Lie” and Hit Fairway when in the first cut of rough, the key is to be consistent and pragmatic. Every input you log will have an effect one way or the other on another aspect of your game.
If you feel you will better be served from a game-improvement standpoint by counting first cut of rough off the tee a fairway hit and a fringe hit a putting opportunity, so be it. If you prefer to go by the letter of the law — in the fairway/on the green or not — so be it. Your output will be impacted somewhat however you decide to enter your information.
If you have further questions about SwingU Pro, please email us at support@swingu.com.
