A GPS watch can save you half a stroke on a single approach. A swing sensor can tell you your tempo is 3.1 to 1 and change nothing about your score. Here is what each type of golf wearable measures, what it is worth, and how to find out if yours is helping.
Match play quietly wrecks your stats. Gimmes, picked-up holes and hero shots you would never try in stroke play all end up in the data. A few simple rules keep the match fun and the numbers honest.
A scratch golfer beats par on par 5s. A 25 handicap plays them two over. Here are par 3, par 4 and par 5 scoring averages from 0 to 25, and where the strokes over par come from at each level.
A scratch golfer pars almost two holes in three. A 15 handicap pars about one in four, and a 25 handicap one in seven. Here are pars per round from 0 to 25, next to the birdies, bogeys and doubles that make up the rest of the card.
A scratch golfer saves par from greenside sand a little more than one time in three. A 25 handicap does it one time in ten. Here is sand save % by handicap from 0 to 25, with the rest of the stat line next to it.
A 40 handicap shoots 112 on a good day and roughly 115 to 118 on a normal one. Here is what the published data says about golfers from 36 to 54, what it leaves out, and how a 40 compares to scratch through 30.