Opinion & Analysis
The “70% Rule” is still the winning formula on the PGA Tour

In June of 2010, a year before the Tour launched Strokes Gained Putting analysis, I published an article on my blog (www.NiblicksOfTruth.blogspot.com): “PGA Tour Winner’s – 70% Rule.”
I had been studying the winners of each tour event for years and realized that they all had specific success in three simple stats–and that the three stats must add up to 70 percent
- Greens in Regulation – 70%
- Scrambling – 70%
- 1-Putts from 5 to 10 feet – 70%
Not every one of the three had to equal 70 percent, but the simple addition of the three needed to equal or exceed 70 percent. For example, if GIR’s were 68 percent, then scrambling or putting needed to be 72 percent or higher to offset the GIR deficiency—simple and it worked!
I added an important caveat. The player could have no more than three ERRORS in a four-round event. These errors being
- Long game: A drive hit out of play requiring an advancement to return to normal play, or a drive or approach penalty.
- Short game: A short game shot that a.) missed the putting surface, and b.) took 4 or more total strokes to hole out.
- Putting: A 3-putt or worse from 40 feet or closer.
In his recent win in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Kevin Na broke the rule… by a bit. He was all good on the 70 percent part of the rule
- GIR’s: 75 percent
- Scrambling: 72 percent
- 1-Putts 5-10 ft.: 73 percent
But not so good on the three-error limit
- Long game: Two driving errors and one approach penalty (three errors).
- Short game: A chip/pitch shot that missed the green and took FIVE strokes to hole out (one error).
No wonder it took a playoff to secure his win! But there was another stat that made the difference…
The stat that piqued my interest in Kevin’s win was connected to my 70 percent Rule. It was his strokes gained: putting stat: +3.54, or ranked first. He gained 3.5 strokes on the field in each of his four rounds or 14 strokes. I have never seen that, and it caused me to look closer. For perspective, I ran the putting performance of all of the event winners in the 2019 Tour season. Their average putting strokes gained was +1.17.
Below, I charted the one-putt percentages by distance range separately for Kevin Na, the 2019 winners, and the tour 2019 average. I have long believed that the 6–10 foot range separates the good putters on Tour from the rest as it is the most frequently faced of the “short putt” ranges and the Tour averages 50 percent makes. At the same time, the 11-20 foot ranges separate the winners each week as these tend to represent birdie putts on Tour. Look at what Kevin did there.
All I can say again, I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS. Well done Kevin!
For the rest of us, in the chart below I have plotted Kevin’s performance against the “average” golfer (15-19 handicap). To see exactly how your game stacks up, visit my website.
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Podcasts
TG2: Shooting Tiger Woods’ Clubs with Greg Moore, legendary GolfWRX PGA Tour photographer

Greg Moore is the man who provides you with all the WITB photos from the PGA Tour on GolfWRX. He shares some stories about handling Tiger’s clubs and his relationship with Joe LaCava. He lets us in on who is the hardest to photograph and shooting prototype gear on Tour.
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Podcasts
Club Junkie: Building a Tiger 3-iron and the most comfortable golf shoes I have ever worn!

Tiger’s new 3-iron is a P770 head with a Dynamic Gold Mid shaft! I have a P770 head laying around so I decided to build it up with a different shaft, but I was inspired by Tiger! Walk through a few clubs that are going into the bag this week for league. And finally review of what might be the most comfortable shoes in golf, The Asics Gel-Kayano Ace!
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Opinion & Analysis
The Wedge Guy: Do irons really need to go longer?

At Edison Golf, we put high emphasis on getting the right lofts in our customers bags to deliver precision distance gapping where distance control matters most – in prime scoring range. Our proprietary WedgeFit® Scoring Range Analysis helps us get there, and one of the key questions we ask is the loft of your current 9-iron and pitching wedge.
Please understand I have been collecting this type of data from wedge-fitting profiles for over 20 years, and now have seen over 60,000 of these. What’s interesting is to watch the evolution of the answers to those two questions. Twenty years ago, for example, the 9-iron and PW lofts would typically be around 42-43 degrees and 46-47 degrees, respectively. By 2010, those lofts had migrated downward to 40-41 degrees for the 9-iron and 44-45 for the “P-club”. (I began to call it that, because it’s just not a true “wedge” at that low of a loft.)
But how far are the irons makers going to take that lunacy? I see WedgeFit profiles now with “P-clubs” as low as 42-43 degrees and 9-irons five degrees less than that – 37-38 degrees. The big companies are getting there by incorporating mid-iron technologies – i.e. fast faces, multi-material, ultra-low CG, etc. – into the clubs where precision distance control is imperative.
Fans, you just cannot get precision distance control with those technologies.
But the real problem is that golfers aren’t being told this is what’s happening, so they are still wanting to buy “gap wedges” of 50-52 degrees, and that is leaving a huge distance gap in prime scoring range for most golfers.
So, to get to the title of this post, “Do Irons Really Need To Go Longer?” let’s explore the truth for most golfers.
Your new set of irons features these technologies and the jacked-up lofts that go with them, so now your “P-club” flies 125-130 instead of the 115-120 it used to go (or whatever your personal numbers are). But your 50- to 52-degree gap wedge still goes 95-100, so you just lost a club in prime scoring range. How is that going to help your scores?
Please understand I’m not trying to talk anyone out of a new set of irons, but I strongly urge you to understand the lofts and lengths of those new irons and make sure the fitter or store lets you hit the 9-iron and “P-club” on the launch monitor, as well as the 7-iron demo. That way you can see what impact those irons are going to have on your prime scoring range gapping.
But here’s something that also needs to get your close attention. In many of the new big-brand line-ups, the companies also offer their “tour” or “pro” model . . . and they are usually at least two degrees weaker and ¼ to 3/8 inch shorter than the “game improvement” models you are considering.
But really, how much sense does that make? The tour player, who’s bigger and stronger than you, plays irons that are shorter and easier to control than the model they are selling you. Hmm.
It’s kind of like drivers actually. On Iron Byron, the 46” driver goes further than the 45, so that’s what the stores are full of. But tour bags are full of drivers shorter than that 46-inch “standard”. So, if the tour player only hits 55-60% of his fairways with a 45” driver, how many are you going to hit with a 46?
I’m just sayin…
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Ardbegget
Oct 17, 2019 at 8:12 am
My game has improved greatly since I made GIR a main focus. It forced me to learn more about course management. After that it was avoiding 3-putts.
Michael
Oct 16, 2019 at 3:10 pm
Am with Bond here. Stats for various handicaps would be nice. You must have them ? I’m struggling to stay below 10. With 32% greens hit and 21% scrambling. Not sure on putting from less than 10 feet. I guess I’m screwed – right ?
justin case
Oct 16, 2019 at 2:46 pm
LOL. nice article Sir.
your math and charting is at a +6 hdcp range.
your math termnology/verbiage is at full-on hack 30+
You meant the 3 numbers needed to AVERAGE 70.
DB
Oct 16, 2019 at 1:57 pm
The charts were really great. Thanks.
I would like to see even more charts comparing pros to amateurs in various stats – putting, scrambling, GIR, etc. That would be helpful for amateurs to examine where they are way behind.
Bond
Oct 16, 2019 at 12:35 pm
As a 6 handicap, should “par” for me is 10 greens in regulation, 50% up and down, 50% makes 4-10 feet, and 2 errors a round?
Mark
Oct 16, 2019 at 12:28 pm
You mean they need to average to 70%, not add up to 70%.
Mr. Mathman
Oct 16, 2019 at 12:25 pm
I think you mean the average of the three statics need to be 70%
Thunder Bear
Oct 16, 2019 at 11:00 am
This article was terrific. Finally real insight into what matters.
Richard Cooney
Oct 16, 2019 at 10:49 am
Brilliant analysis