[Hennybogan]

Regarding the database you talked about: Carry, release.

Let's say a tournament would be staged including all players on tour. Each player gets to hit full iron shots from the same spot on the fairway while attempting to do nothing but carry all his balls to the same spot. There is no wind.

What results would you expect to see regarding length & direction?

If they used PW's?
If they used 8-irons?
If they used 6-irons?
If they used 4-irons?

Example of the type of answers I am looking for:
- The winner would hit 90% of the PW's within 3 feet in length and 6 feet wide
- The average player would hit 70% of his 8 irons within a 20 feet diameter circle

etc

Or you may have some other way you can indicate how accurate the tour players are.

Metallion,

That's a really tough question. My job is to collect data on a particular player in order to make informed decisions for the shot at hand. I have tried to keep short term results of distance from the hole to help organize practice sessions. ie-- what's working and what's not.

As for as the contest, how many balls per player? The more shots, the greater the dispersion. I don't really need you to reply about the number of balls because I would just be guessing.

I will tell you that you might be surprised how poorly pros would do in this contest. The way it works on the course is that they make alot of putts inside 10 feet. They make mostly pars from everywhere else. So while it may cause more stress, shots outside 10 feet don't hurt them much. In order to shot good scores they really only need 6-8 legit chances including par fives.

Due to the nature of their swings, I would think most players would have oblong shaped dispersion patterns. Some swings produce staighter misses with more distance variance and vice versa.

I'm trying to think of a way to answer your by-club comparison. I keep getting images of great shots and awful ones. It looks like a big grid to me. There's not many TGMer's out there.

Sorry, I'm not happy with this post, but I've got to run. I'll think about it and revisit.