Data runs the world. We are a society addicted to data and few places show this more than the world of elite sport. As competition grows ever tighter, athletes from all disciplines are looking at their skills in finer and finer detail. Golf is no exception and top players now have access to more information about their game than ever before. At All Square we want to keep you up to date with some of the less obvious trends on tour too.
Go on any of the main golf tour websites these days and you’ll see stats on players that never used to exist. Things like ‘strokes gained putting’ and ‘strokes gained driving’. Players are under the microscope these days. What do they do with this data though? Data is only as good as the person processing and interpreting it.
Helping Pro’s Win
That’s where 15th Club come in. From their base in London, they analyse the information gathered during the rounds of top golfers. The team at 15th Club is made up of passionate golfers, data scientists and software engineers. You must imagine these guys have had some tough conversations with players. Imagine having to tell Darren Clarke, who has used the company’s services before, that he isn’t good enough at a part of his game!
“I was blown away with what 15th Club showed me!”- Darren Clarke
Data us useless when badly presented. It’s also important that the golfer understands the information when away from the experts too, this is certainly a challenge. When a member of the 15th Club team goes through the information with the player it’s all well and good but that golfer must be able to make sense of it when he/she leaves too.
Intuitive and Powerful Data
Clients of the company get beautifully presented graphs (images are available on their Twitter feed (@15thClub)). Really intuitive depictions provide lots of key information to the client. One thing is clear, we can tell ourselves that a part of our game is strong but you cannot hide from the data. If the 15th Club give you a graph telling you that you need to putt better if you want to win, then guess what? Yes, you’ve guessed it.
Companies like this are another part of the arsenal of today’s tour pro and those aspiring to the status. This kind of service will only become more important to players with time. If you’re serious about making it as a golfer then this is a company that you have to speak to!
