Disc Golf Pro Tour - Driving or Putting?

Correlation
What is more correlated with success on the Disc Golf Pro Tour, Driving or Putting?
Authors
Affiliation

Gavin Cassidy

St. Lawrence University

Ivan Ramler

St. Lawrence University

Published

June 13, 2024

Module

Introduction

Disc Golf is a rapidly growing sport with a full fledged professional circuit and tournaments all over the world. The Disc Golf Pro Tour (DGPT) allows top level players to compete week after week across the United States, Canada, and Europe. With top level tournaments offering over $100,000 of prize money at many tournaments, players need a vast skill set to compete at the highest level. Similarly to ball golf, the two main types of shots in disc golf are driving and putting. Driving happens from the teeing area and putting happens on the ‘green’ where players try to throw their disc into the basket.

The data set for this activity was taken from DGPT and Major tournament statistics found on the Professional Disc Golf Association’s official statistics website, StatMando. Each row contains a player who has played at least 40% of rounds during the DGPT season and has finished the tournament above the cash line at least once. Each row has the name of the player along with a collection of statistics covering a variety of different skills including driving, putting, and performance.

The learning objectives associated with this module are:

  • Being able to use correlation coefficients to compare the connection between quantitative variables.

  • Reading a correlation table

  • Students are expected to have been introduced to the concept of correlation.

  • The no tech version can be completed without any additional technology.

  • The tech version will require students to produce graphics and correlation matrices using statistical software.

Data

This data set has 97 rows with each rows containing the (approximately) first half of the 2024 season statistics for a player. These rows have 25 columns with season statistics.

Up to date statistics can be obtained using the code available from the SCORE Data Repository

Variable Descriptions
Variable Description
player player name
birdie_avg the average number of birdies from an 18 hole round
bogey_avg the average number of bogeys from an 18 hole round
PKD the percentage of shots a player has ‘parked’ (within 10 ft of the basket)
C1R the percent of shots throw within ‘Circle 1’(0-33ft) in regulation
C2R the percent of shots throw within ‘Circle 2’(33-66ft) in regulation
FWY the percent fairways hit with drives
SCR the percent of successful ‘scrambles’ the player achieves
OB/18 the average total out of bounds shots for 18 holes
C1X the percent of putts made from C1 excluding tap in putts(0-10ft)
C2P the percent of putts made from C2 (33-66ft)
tot_SG:TG the total ‘Strokes Gained’ on the rest of the field from the tee to the green
tot_SG:P the total ‘Strokes Gained’ on the rest of the field putting
events total events played for the 2024 DGPT season
rounds total rounds played for the 2024 DGPT season
wins wins from the 2024 DGPT season
podiums total podium placements from the 2024 DGPT season
top_10s total top 10 placements from the 2024 DGPT season
top_20s total top 20 placements from the 2024 DGPT season
avg_place average event placement from the 2024 DGPT season
top_10% percent of events where the player placed in the top 10
top_20% percent of events where the player placed in the top 20
total_earnings the players total earnings from the 2024 DGPT season
total_strokes the total number of shots the player has taken during the DGPT season

Parked(PKD): When a player throws their disc within 10 feet of the basket with a tee shot on par 3s or an approach shot on par 4s and 5s. A score of eagle or better also counts as a shot being parked.

Circle 1 in Regulation(C1R): When a player’s disc comes to rest within 10m(33ft) of the basket in the expected amount of shots. This is their tee shot on a par 3, 2nd shot on a par 4, and third shot on a par 5. C1 is defined by a 10m circle around the basket.

Circle 2 in Regulation(C2R): This has the same definition as Circle 1 in Regulation, but Circle 2 extends to within 20m(66ft) of the basket.

Fairways Hit(FWY): This is the percent of holes where the player lands on the fairway with their drive. This includes being inside Circle 1 or 2 on a drive.

Scramble(SCR): A scramble is when a player scores par or better on a hole after missing the fairway or being out-of-bounds. Scramble percentage is the percentage of holes where a player scored par or better after an errant drive.

Circle 1X putting(C1X): The putting percentage of the player from within Circle 1 (10m/66ft), excluding tap in putts within 10ft of the basket.

Circle 2 putting(C2P): The putting percentage of the player from Circle 2 (10m-20m/33ft-66ft).

Strokes Gained Tee to Green(SG:TG): This is the number of strokes by which the player has exceeded the average throwing performance of the field on drives and approaches.

Strokes Gained Putting(SG:P): This is the number of strokes by which the player has exceeded the average putting performance of the field in circle 1 and 2.

Data Source

The data is obtained from the PDGA’s official statistics provider StatMando.

Materials

DGPT24.csv - data set containing statistics from the 2024 DGPT season found on the SCORE Network Data Repository

DGPT24_questions.docx - questions about correlation between total earnings and putting and driving

DGPT24_questions_tech.docx - questions about correlation where students use the data to build their own solutions

Solutions for questions:

DGPT24_questions_ans.docx

DGPT24_questions_tech_ans.docx

Students should find that there is a stronger correlation between driving and performance statistics than putting and performance statistics.