Trackman Talks: Turning data into smarter practice
In this episode of Trackman Talks, Niklas Bergdahl hosts Tom Boys, the Head Analyst at Upgame and a respected performance analyst for professional golfers such as Tommy Fleetwood and Jason Day.
The ambition is to assist golfers in utilizing data effectively for enhanced planning, preparation, and ultimately improving their game.
Watch the full episode
Trackman Talks: Turning data into smarter practice with Tom Boys
A week in the life of a golf performance analyst
The game's best players turn raw numbers into smarter, sharper and more effective practice and decisions. The goal is for players and their teams to understand their game better to make informed decisions regarding practice, tournament preparation, and on-course strategy.
As Head Analyst at Upgame, Tom Boys is deeply involved in the data fetching and analysis for professionals and provides crucial support to Tour players. His typical week involves:
Preparation reports: Players receive a weekly report detailing how holes are playing, their historical performance, and shots they're likely to face. This dictates their practice leading up to a tournament.
In-tournament monitoring: During a tournament, Tom might monitor ShotLink data for players playing in the afternoon, feeding back relevant information before they tee off. Major patterns that emerge during the week are also shared with the team.
Post-tournament analysis: At the end of the week, players receive another report detailing their performance relative to themselves, the top 10, and the winner, providing a good perspective on their game.
While some players like to handle a lot of data directly, others prefer it filtered through their caddie or coach. But the common theme is that this data is consistently used throughout the team environment to guide the golfer’s actions.
The improvement cycle
Developing a smarter, more effective golf game is made possible through a dynamic cycle that transforms raw data into actionable insights.
Collect quality data
Gather comprehensive performance information, such as Trackman data for club and ball metrics (like club path, launch angle, and spin rates) and Upgame for precise on-course statistics.
The overall goal is to collect data that can be put into a "Big Magic melting pot" from which to draw actionable insights.
Create an improvement plan
Once quality data is collected, the next step is to turn it into a clear, actionable plan.
Traditional stats can be misleading, as they blend separate skills together (e.g., sand save percentage combines two distinct skills – bunker play and putting). Instead, ask, “What question are you actually trying to answer?”
The answer serves as a guide towards the precise data needed to answer it, allowing players to avoid misleading stats and draw applicable insights from their data. When paired with consistent habits and systems, these insights form the foundation of effective improvement plans.
Prepare and train
Practice strategically and follow the improvement plan. Players can leverage tools like the Trackman Performance Center to design game-like sessions and better focus on the specific area they’re working on. It is important to focus on building consistent habits and systems (e.g., daily technical stations, task-oriented tests) rather than just aiming for numerical goals.
Monitor and stay on track
Continuously track progress and ensure habits and systems are maintained and sustained over time. This crucial step involves analyzing practice scores and on-course data to confirm training translates to performance, and if not, to understand why and adjust.
The Player Success Formula
How do you decide which areas are crucial to improve to ensure overall success?
The Player Success Formula helps golfers and coaches tailor improvement strategies based on individual strengths rather than generic models.
Individualized approach: All top Tour players succeed with a different formula – some excel off the tee, others in approach or putting – proving there are no “unicorn” numbers to strive for and no one-size-fits-all approach.
Analyzing best rounds: By studying a player’s top 75–90% of rounds over 1–2 years, coaches can identify what works when the player is performing at their peak.
Identifying “Needle Movers”: The Needle Movers are key stats that spike during great rounds (e.g., driving gains). These highlight what truly drives success.
Preserving strengths: The formula avoids weakening strengths to fix weaknesses, instead building on “super strengths” to create world-class performance.
Diagnosing costly patterns: Reviewing the worst 25% of rounds reveals specific areas that consistently cause performance drops.
This approach leads to precise, data-driven improvement plans rooted in the unique attributes that make up each player’s game.
Many more insights to gain
With extensive experience, Niklas and Tom bring the improvement cycle and Player Success Formula to life, addressing vital topics such as shot pattern recognition, strategic planning, and tournament readiness.
For all the critical insights, the full recording of their talk is available to watch above.
Want to dive deeper?
Explore past editions of Trackman Talks with other esteemed guests, like The true impact factors with Hugh Marr, or Attack Angle and Swing Plane in short game with Joseph Mayo.
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