A Review of Scoring in Women's Professional Golf

GolfWeek Senior Staff writer Beth Anne Nichols recently called for the powers that be to set up LPGA courses easier with hopes of lowering scores and ultimately enticing more fans. Writer agrees. Subtitle: Writer Wrestles with the Aggregator title.

Women's golf had the most of the spotlight this passed weekend, with the playing of the US Open at Olympic in San Francisco and so I wanted to shine light on and what I feel is an important issue facing the women's game, particularly on the highest stage. In a podcast previewing the tournament, I heard Beth Anne Nichols make a call for easier course settups on the LPGA Tour with the intention of bringing more fans to the game. Beth Anne provided a great anecdote supporting how courses are set up easier for the PGA Tour versus the LPGA Tour. Before I get to her point, some background.

In pro golf, the magic number is 59, a number most of the golfing population can hardly fathom. However, since the turn of the century, something happened in the men’s game where shooting in the 50s became almost... commonplace? Since 2000, men’s tours including the PGA, European, KFT, and a variety of other lower level tours have seen approximately forty rounds in the 50s! That averages about 2/year. Sheesh, guys! This doesn’t even count Outlaw Tour 59s (1)! Double Sheesh!

Okay, so you’d think the women would have a similar number because courses are set up to be relatively an equal challenge, right? We know that tournament courses aren't set up to be as long because, on average, female professionals don’t hit it as far. In 2019 men's major championship courses played an average of 7300 yards, while women's major courses averaged 6600 yards. That seems... fair?

Okay, so knowing what you know, guess how many women have shot 59 or better since 2000. Do it, guess, and while you guess, know that the anecdote is forthcoming.

The answer is one. Annika Sörenstam in 2001.

That’s it, that’s the list as far as I (and, assumingely, Beth Anne) can determine. In all professional events, from the top tour down through smaller developmental tours, just one round in the 50s. As an aside, I love that it was Annika to do it, possibly the most dominant golfer ever. You can watch it unfold here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNGvp8JiJXE . She won the tournament, by the way.

Figure 1: Goat shit. Annika proudly poses with her 59 scorecard, a round that featured 13 birdies and 5 pars. She opened her round with 8 straight birdies. Is that good?

While we love Annika, the fact she is the only woman to accomplish the feat cannot be ignored and is an indicator that something is up when only the greatest modern day woman can accomplish a triumph that something called a Paul Goydos can (Sorry, Paul). Beth Anne points to this discrepancy as such a good indicator that courses are NOT set up the same between men and women, and that's what I want to look into in this post. And for the people that are saying right now: “yea, well going really low is boring anyway.” It’s not. Point to any example, such as Spieth's Thursday’s round at Colonial (63), or Hideki’s 30 on the back (ahem, “second”) nine on Saturday at Augusta, or any of Phil’s runs at this years PGA championship. It’s exciting, captivating, nerve wracking, out-of-body; it's all of the feelings players to and viewers aspire to watch.

So, having established that there would appear to be something going on, I want to dig deeper.

The first thing I thought to look at is relative length to average driving distance. What I felt this would to do is support whether the average distances are comparable between genders. I sampled course length on both tours in 2019, the year both men and women had full schedules.

Figure 2: Men's and Women's driving distance appear to be relatively equal at 4.0% and 3.9% of total course distance, respectively.

I was at first surprised by these findings, because I initially thought that courses were set up to be relatively equal in length, and, therefore in difficulty. And while this may be true for driving distance, the key is not the yardage left from the tee shot, but instead the club that one is hitting for their approach shot. The above table, albeit very simple, indicates a trend that continues down through golf bags between men and women: men hit the same club further than women. So, for men and women to be challenged equally, women should be hitting the same club into the green, not have the same yardage.

Consider this example:

Say we have a par 4 on the PGA Tour that measures 404 yards (7286 yards / 18 holes). The average player will hit his tee shot 294 yards and have ~110 yards remaining, which would probably mean approaching the green with a Sand Wedge. With a Sand wedge, players are looking to attack the hole location in many instances. From 100 to 110 yards and in the fairway, PGA Tour players hit ~25% of their shots inside 10 feet (Source: Lou Stagner, Twitter).

FIGURE 3: Trackman data for PGA Tour players for the 2019 season.

On a proportional LPGA Tour par 4 of 363 yards (6542/18), an average player will hit driver 258 yards and have 105 yards remaining. Despite being 5 yards closer to the hole, a female pro will probably still hit a longer club (Gap wedge or, more likely, Pitching wedge). For those keeping track at home, this is a difference of two clubs, and will have an impact on proximity to the hole. Unfortunately, I do not have any data to support this; another area of discrepancy between PGA and LPGA Tours is in data, but I digress. Rest assured, though, that this is where the difference in scoring lies.

FIGURE 4: Trackman data for LPGA Tour players for the 2019 season.

These differences are subtle. Look beyond the carry yards and club head speed in the above tables and look at the spin rates, max height, and landing angle. With the same club, men can spin the ball more, hit it higher and have the ball come down at a steeper angle than women. These three factors contribute to male pros being able to stop approach shots faster when hitting from the same yardage as a female pro.

The advantage a PGA Tour player has with 110 yards versus a LPGA Tour player with 105 yards is further exasperated if both players are playing in the rough, as opposed to the fairway. The thicker, longer grass will slow club head speeds of both players, but the higher spin and launch of the man will allow them to remain aggressive, while the women may struggle to keep their golf ball from rolling through the green. This philosophy was supported by the most recent playing of the men's US Open at Winged Foot, where Thicc boi was smashing wedges of the rough and able to get into decent spots, versus other shorter hitting players who, as a result of hitting longer irons, could not launch the ball high enough to contend.

Conclusion

It becomes evident that LPGA tournaments should not be settup with the aim to have women having the same yardage into holes for their approach shots as men. Officials should assess what clubs are being used to approach greens on the PGA Tour and try to emulate this on the women's tour. From the same distance, even if it's less than 150 yards, women, on average, will have longer birdie putts and higher scores than men. Furthermore, LPGA officials should push the envelope on risk-reward holes, making all or at least most par 5s reachable in two shots, and have the odd par four driveable, much like in the men's game. It's time that the LPGA Tour fully commit to the old PGA Tour slogan: Live (Waaaaaay) Under Par.

The goal is for more people to be drawn to the women's game and I feel that the current crop of players, as talented, young, and, dare I say, cool as ever there is serious momentum that should be further capitalized. I want to see a 59 within the next year, goddammit. It would be very cool to see the kid from Lanark County do it, but I'm willing to settle.