Stats: The way to do it

When James Silvestro’s handicap plateaued around the ten mark, it would have been very easy for him to sit back and accept that he had become as good a player as he would ever be. Instead, he set about finding a solution to his problems.

He now plays off six and, best of all, has found a way to package and sell the concept that helped him burst through the wall in his game and become the kind of player he’d always dreamed of being.

That concept is Playing Par Golf and not only is James the founder of this revolutionary concept, he is also its first customer.

“I’ve played golf since I was a boy,” explains James. “The problem I had was that my short game has always been really, really good, which admittedly isn’t the worst problem to have. The difficulty was that, on one hand, I was getting called a bandit by guys that I’d beat in competitions because I could always find a way to get the ball close to the hole, whilst, on the other hand, I just couldn’t find a way to get my handicap down. It was incredibly frustrating.”

In his search for answers, James began to take a closer look at his game, poring over it with almost forensic detail to identify the root cause of his struggles.

“I examined the scores of hundreds of professional golfers and, very quickly, a pattern started to emerge.”

Out of all that research came his ‘Eureka!’ moment. He discovered a direct link between the frequency of double, triple or even quadruple-bogeys you make and your ability to shoot consistently low scores. It’s what he calls your ‘Double-Bogey Ratio’, or ‘DBR’ for short.

“I examined the scores of hundreds of professional golfers and, very quickly, a pattern started to emerge,” he says. “It became clear that, no matter how good a player you are, the key to success doesn’t necessarily lie in being able to make lots of birdies but, instead, being able to limit the number of double-bogeys you make.

“Take the Masters, for example. Jack Nicklaus has had more success than any other golfer at Augusta National, with six victories. As it turns out, he also has the best DBR. Tiger Woods is the next most prolific winner, with four wins, and, sure enough, he also has the next best DBR.

“To my mind, DBR is the single most important statistic in golf. Greens In Regulation and Fairways Hit do exactly what they say on the tin, telling you how how many greens and fairways you’ve hit relative to the ’allowed’ number of shots. DBR, by comparison, tells you how big an impact your worst holes are having on your scores. The lower your DBR, the better your scores. It’s fool-proof. The key to becoming a better golfer lies in your ability to reduce your DBR.”

“It’s eye-opening stuff. You think you know your own game. Chances are you don’t.”

Having made that discovery, James set about trying to develop a piece of software that would allow golfers such as him to keep track of their performances on a shot-by-shot, club-by-club basis.

The finished product is Playing Par Golf, two years in the making and, in James’ own words ’one of the biggest breakthroughs in golf for years.’

“It identifies the shots that are causing you to make doubles or higher, enabling you to focus your efforts on improving the shot that is the difference between a good hole and a bad one,” he explains.

“You wouldn’t believe how many people I have played with who mis-diagnose their own weaknesses. One guy told me that his driving had been letting him down, that it was the part of his game that required the most urgent and focused attention. However, when we sat down and used Playing Par Golf to go through his most recent few rounds, it quickly emerged that putting was his biggest problem. It’s eye-opening stuff. You think you know your own game. Chances are you don’t. That’s where Playing Par Golf comes into its own.”

“Playing Par Golf is designed to work with facts and absolutely nothing subjective.”

It’s incredibly straightforward to use. Just log-on to the website – www.playingpargolf.com – where you will be prompted to enter not just what you scored on each hole but what club you hit, too. When you’re done, the computer takes over and, in the blink of an eye, delivers a statistical, analytical breakdown of your game.

Continue to fill it in on a round by round basis and, in no time at all, you will see clear patterns begin to emerge and you will be able to see at a glance where you need to put in some more practice.

“Playing Par Golf is designed to work with facts and absolutely nothing subjective,” adds James. “This, in turn, allows you to maximise your practice time and, not just improve your game, but track your improvement, too. Put simply, Playing Par Golf eliminates the places for flaws in your game to hide. If there’s room for improvement, it will find it.”

Whilst it is still very much in its infancy, the concept has already made many people sit up and take notice, including Alan Tait, the director of golf at the one of the two clubs James is a member of, Marriott Dalmahoy.

“I’ve been a professional golfer for almost 25 years and, in all that time, I have to be honest and say that I’ve never really been one for paying too much attention to statistics,” he explains. “However, what James has devised is really interesting and a great way of identifying your strengths and weaknesses. I think it will particularly help amateur golfers to pick up on the parts of the game where they could do with putting in a bit more practice and will also help improve their course management skills.”

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For more information, check out the website, www.playingpargolf.com. A year‘s subscription to the site costs just £49.99. However, for a limited period, bunkered readers can take advantage of a 30-day FREE trial and a special rate of just £29.99 for your first year. Visit the website for full details and ’Ts & Cs’.

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CASE STUDIES

NAME: Cameron McDiarmid

AGE: 28

CLUB: The Glen

“I’ve been using Playing Par Golf since March and, in that time, my handicap has come down from 16 to eight. I was a bit jaded about golf and was starting to lose interest because I was working hard at my game with my coach but wasn’t seeing any improvements. I had been using another stats app, which said my putting was the problem, so that was the focus of most of my practice. However, when I started using James’ programme, it soon became clear that the part of my game which most needed my attention was my approach shots. Since then, and in the space of just a few months, I’ve halved my handicap. Playing Par Golf is a great innovation. It picks out your strengths and weaknesses and encourages you to become more effective in your course management. It has helped me enormously.”

NAME: Norman Huguet

AGE: 32

CLUB: Monktonhall

“I’m the head pro at Monktonhall, where James is also a member, and I have to say I’m really impressed with his idea, so much so, in fact, that I have used it with seven or eight of the golfers I teach. What I like most about it is the fact that it makes it very easy to decipher the areas in your game where you need to improve. Often, I find people come to me for advice believing that there’s something wrong with a part of their game that is, in actual fact, totally fine. Playing Par Golf helps me to show them where the real issues lie. It really opens people’s eyes to their flaws and helps them to focus on the areas where they need to practice more, whilst also improving their course management in a subtle but effective way.“

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor