Golf

How advanced analytics (like strokes gained) are changing women’s golf

The LPGA Tour partnered with accounting agency KPMG two years in the past to deliver advanced analytics to ladies’s golf.

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Advanced analytics has taken over sports activities up to now decade. From the hardwood to the diamond (and past), number-crunchers have reshaped the way in which sports activities are performed on the highest degree. The biggest emphasis has been on effectivity and it’s made all the things from coaching to gameplay a science greater than an artwork.

The identical is true in skilled golf. With knowledge like smash issue and strokes gained accessible to the highest gamers on this planet, the sport has modified measurably within the present period.

However, till just lately, that luxurious was not accessible within the women’s recreation as strokes gained have been solely accessible on the PGA Tour. The women on the LPGA Tour solely had entry to rudimentary stats.

That modified two years in the past when the LPGA Tour partnered with accounting agency KPMG to deliver advanced analytics to the women’s recreation.

“There’s a disparity between what the men enjoy in terms of data and analytics and what the women have,” KPMG CEO Paul Knopp stated on the time. “We thought that was not right. We wanted to see a more equitable world when it comes to the game of golf.”

The KPMG Performance Insights platform was launched on the 2021 Women’s PGA Championship, and this week they have fun two years because the preliminary rollout. In that point, KPMG has collected 1.5 million pictures from LPGA execs, giving gamers essential data wanted to diagnose flaws of their video games and enhance efficiency.

“It’s been really gratifying to see what that can do for the LPGA,” stated Shawn Quill, Managing Director, KPMG Sports. “It’s been really cool to see how the players interact with the data and how it’s been helpful to them in honing and refining their game.”

With advanced analytics like strokes gained accessible to LPGA execs, they’ve been capable of get an entire perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of their video games. With the flexibility to check their stats towards different execs, they’re capable of see the place they are gaining — and dropping — pictures towards their friends on a weekly foundation.

Nelly Korda hits an approach shot to the 18th green at Baltusrol Golf Club's Lower Course during a practice round for the KPMG Women's PGA on Tuesday, June 20.

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America Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis has been utilizing these insights to organize for this fall’s biennial staff competitors as nicely. With KPMG giving her entry to strokes gained knowledge for potential Solheim Cuppers, she’s utilizing analytics to tell her picks and pairing as a lot as she will be able to.

“You can go all the way to down to what type of player is going to play best on the golf course,” Lewis stated final winter. “We’re going to use [analytics] as much as we can.”

Access to those stats has additionally modified the way in which the women’s recreation is roofed by the media and consumed by followers. With sturdy knowledge accessible to scribes and broadcasters, it’s simpler to contextualize efficiency and inform richer tales about one of the best golfers on this planet.

“It’s provided a really interesting backdrop to women’s golf that has always been needed,” Quill stated. “Numbers are so huge in sports. They really bring alive the performance of the athlete. To be able to have that for the LPGA Tour has been great to see.”

Strokes-gained knowledge is just not solely reserved for these within the inside circles of professional golf anymore, both. This week, KPMG and the LPGA Tour introduced the launch of a new web portal, which offers followers entry to the identical knowledge the professionals have.

“For many years, men’s professional golf has provided fans access to advanced shot-level data,” stated LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “The KPMG Performance Insights program has been a gamechanger for the LPGA Tour and our tremendous athletes. KPMG is helping us level the playing field, supporting our players in reaching peak performance and enhancing how coaches, fans, and the media, analyze and experience the game.”

Just two years faraway from the launch of this system, nevertheless, this system has solely scratched the floor of potentialities. As this system continues, count on to see much more sturdy use of the KPMG Performance Insights program from gamers, media and followers.

“I think we’re just getting started,” Quill stated. “The more data you collect, the more insights you can gain. I think it brings to life the quality of the competition. And it enables comparison, both historical and current, which will be very interesting.”

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and modifying. Prior to becoming a member of the staff at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers newbie and women’s golf. He might be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.


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