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precision stats

• Duckman1972 3 Posts

  Thu, May 9 2019 8:58 AM

  What does "precision" relate to in clubs, specifically regarding putters. I have one that is 3.5 but can upgrade to one that is 4.5 and equal in all other categories. Question is whether it matters that much and is worth it. 

• DoctorLarry 4,311 Posts

  Thu, May 9 2019 12:00 PM

  Duckman1972:

  What does "precision" relate to in clubs, specifically regarding putters. I have one that is 3.5 but can upgrade to one that is 4.5 and equal in all other categories. Question is whether it matters that much and is worth it. 

  As I understand it. "Precision" refers to the liklihood that the ball will go where you hit it.  The game has a built-in variance as to where (distance and drift) the ball will go each time for a dinged shot.  With low precision, the variability is larger and with high precision it is lower.

  It is different than "Forgiveness" which is a measure of how much a mis-ding will cost you.  Low forgiveness will cost you more in direction and distance than a high forgiveness.

  Obviously, high precision and forgiveness are nice to have - but you pay for it!

  See also this thread for more.

• alosso 21,072 Posts

  Thu, May 9 2019 12:18 PM

  Precision is how well you hit the target on a perfect shot, especially on short distance. In principle, a higher number is better, but there's no guarantee.

  Also, putting is about precision, but it's two-fold: you and the device. For a high-precision putter, you have to play it with high precision.

  I'd advise to use (free) rental to check if you gain enough.

• ItsTooSweet 149 Posts

  Thu, May 9 2019 1:20 PM

  Accuracy is how close you got to the target you were aiming at.

  Precision is how consistent your shots are: For example, you take 10 shots all aimed at the same place, how close are those shots bundled together. The smaller the spray footprint the more precise you are. Note: You can be precise but not accurate. Your gun shots are all bundled together (shooting precisely)  but you have the gun aimed in the wrong direction (not accurate).

  The club has a sweet spot, the ding line. The further you are from the ding line the less accurate you are going to be to the target. Extra forgiveness diminishes the effects of missing the ding line.

  With respect to putting: if you are a ding putter, you want high precision and high forgiveness. If you are an off ding putter, you want high precision and lower forgiveness. Precision is always a good thing. There is a thread about precision tests with different club and putters.

• DoctorLarry 4,311 Posts

  Thu, May 9 2019 9:39 PM

  ItsTooSweet:

  Accuracy is how close you got to the target you were aiming at.

  Precision is how consistent your shots are: For example, you take 10 shots all aimed at the same place, how close are those shots bundled together. The smaller the spray footprint the more precise you are. Note: You can be precise but not accurate. Your gun shots are all bundled together (shooting precisely)  but you have the gun aimed in the wrong direction (not accurate).

  I agree about the basic difference in precision and accuracy, but the question is about the club attribute "Precision" not including the player's ability.  In your "example", you have to replace it with "10 dinged shots" with all other parameters the same (power, spin, club, shot type, etc) or "10 identical shots", in which the spread of results displays the club's contribution.

  Anyway, our descriptions provide the info the OP needs about what it means.  Now he has to test it out!

• Duckman1972 3 Posts

  Fri, May 10 2019 2:45 AM

  Thank you all for your help! 

• K7JBQ 1,468 Posts

  Fri, May 10 2019 6:22 PM

  Just a note on renting putters: It's a fool's errand. With any other club, a rental period will give good feedback. With putters, it takes at least a month to "break it in." Almost any putter you try during a rental period will give you worst results than your regular putter, unless your current putter is absolute garbage. Most of us who use the Sabertooth putter, for example, hated it for quite some time, until we learned it and loved it.

• DoctorLarry 4,311 Posts

  Fri, May 10 2019 7:33 PM

  K7JBQ:

  Just a note on renting putters: It's a fool's errand. With any other club, a rental period will give good feedback. With putters, it takes at least a month to "break it in." Almost any putter you try during a rental period will give you worst results than your regular putter, unless your current putter is absolute garbage. Most of us who use the Sabertooth putter, for example, hated it for quite some time, until we learned it and loved it.

  I have mostly just bitten the bullet and bought clubs that offered what I was looking for.  I do plan well in advance, however, by studying each type of club using ScottHope's Pro Shop Equipment Tables and identifying the ones I want well before I reach the level required.  When I level up, I already know if I am going to rent/buy anything offered.  The rental is just to get the discounted price.

• Tony08888 641 Posts

  Mon, Jul 8 2019 8:31 AM

  Correct me if I'm wrong. This is how the precision/forgiveness has been interpreted by me from my "limited" experience playing with different clubs. 

  It seems like clubs with a better precision rating reflect the distance accuracy. In other words, if my math is correct on an approach shot it should land pretty darn close to the pin distance regardless if I misding or ding the shot. I may misding and be 10' from the pin left or right but will be at pin height.

  Clubs with better forgiveness ratings will keep the ball left to right closer to the pin on an approach shot.

  In other words, it seems precision has to do with distance control while forgiveness has to do with left/right control.

  Is this correct?

• Theclaretandblue 2 Posts

  Wed, Jan 13 2021 8:03 AM

  Hope so as I have both on my apparel choices