Comparative Performance Analysis of Pga Tour and Ontario University Golfers
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Western University Scholarship@Western Digitized Theses Digitized Special Collections 2011 COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PGA TOUR AND ONTARIO UNIVERSITY GOLFERS Charles Richard Spear Fitzsimmons Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses Recommended Citation Fitzsimmons, Charles Richard Spear, "COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PGA TOUR AND ONTARIO UNIVERSITY GOLFERS" (2011). Digitized Theses. 3290. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3290 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Digitized Special Collections at Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digitized Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF PGA TOUR AND ONTARIO UNIVERSITY GOLFERS (Thesis format: Monograph) by Charles R. S. Fitzsimmons Graduate Program in Kinesiology A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario - London, Ontario, Canada © Charles R. S. Fitzsimmons 2011 1 THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners Dr. Albert V. Carrón Dr. Jim Weese Dr. Darwin M. Semotiuk Dr. Riley E. Hinson The thesis by Charles Richard Spear Fitzsimmons entitled: v Comparative Performance Analysis of PGA Tour and Ontario University Golfers is accepted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Date___________________________ ________________________________ Chair of the Thesis Examination Board a ABSTRACT The purposes of the study were to 1) build a model to predict scoring average for a total sample of professional (n = 82) and collegiate (n = 41) golfers using stepwise regression, 2) test the model on the samples independently using hierarchical regression, and 3); examine the significance in performance differences in the two subsamples. Both samples played two tournament rounds at the South Course of Angus Glen Golf Club; the professionals during the 2002 PGA tour Canadian Open and the collegians during the 2010 OUA championship. For the total sample, GIR percentage, putts per round, scrambling percentage and driving accuracy percentage predicted 92% of the variance in scoring average; for professionals and collegians the only the former three performance measures accounted for explained variance for scoring average (80% and 81% respectively). Professionals were significantly superior to the collegians in all four performance indices as well as scoring average. Key words: Golf, Performance analysis, Professionals, PGA Tour, Amateurs, Collegians, Scoring average r 111 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate my thesis in honour of my late father, Richard G. Fitzsimmons. Although he is no longer physically with us, his spirit lives on in our cherished memories of him. Without his never ending lessons in life, academics or sport, I could not have become the person I am now. Thanks Coeur de Lion. I would also like to dedicate my thesis to my mother, Heather, brother, James, grandmother, Jean and grandfather, George. You are the most important people in my life and without your love, support and everlasting confidence in me, I would not have achieved the success I have celebrated or overcome the obstacles that threatened those very achievements. From the bottom of my heart, Thank you. ' 'v IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Bert Carron for all of his patience and mentoring skill. Bert, I know I may not have been the perfect student and maybe even., pushed your patience from time to time but I have learned incredible amounts from you about academia and life. I hope that we can continue to work together for many years to come, so that one day I may be able to achieve the successes you have over an incredible career. I would like to thank my fellow pupils of Bert—Luc Martin and Kyle Paradis—for their kind words, encouragement and valuable lessons. You guys have guided me into graduate studies and taught me the ropes of being one of Bert’s students. For that, I could never say thank you enough times. I would also like to thank my friends—Mike, Charlie and Sebastian—and my girlfriend—Alyssa—for all the late night conversations we’ve had about my thesis to keep me sane and just for the good times we had to keep me relaxed and enjoying life. You all add something special to my life and it would not be the same without you, Thank you. I would also like to thank the PGA tour. Without access to their ShotLink data through their academic data program this study would not have been possible. Working with the PGA tour has been a dream and I hope this is the beginning of a long lasting and productive relationship. I would also like to thank the OUA and the golf coaches from The University of Western Ontario. To all who were involved in helping collect the amateur data, I cannot thank you enough, this study would not have been possible without your efforts. To Jim v and Mike, the Western coaches, thanks for all you have taught me about life and golf; your everlasting wisdom and zest for life mean that I continually look forward to my time on the golf team each season. ^ vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION................................................................ ii ABSTRACT............................................................ .................................................. iii DEDICATION.......... .......................... .................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES............................... ..................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES................. ................................. ix LIST OF APPENDICES....................................................................... ................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS................................................................... ........... xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION...:;.,-......... 1 Professional Golf Performance Analysis................................. 2 Amateur Golf Performance Analysis......................................... 16 Professional versus Amateur Golf Performance Analysis....... 19 Overview and Statement of the Problem............................. 22 CHAPTER 2 METHODS............... .......................................... ......................... 24 Participants and Procedure................................ ................... 24 Dependent and Independent Variables...................................... 25 Statistical Analyses....................................... ............................. 25 CHAPTER 3 RESULTS................................................................... 29 Total Sample.-....................................................................;....... 29 Professional Golfers................................................................... 32 Collegiate Golfers................. .......... ......................................... 35 Comparison of Professionals versus Collegians........:.....:....... 40 CHAPTER 4 DISCUSSION................................................. ........................... 44 Limitations and Future Studies.......................................... ........ 52 Conclusions........................... ....................................................... 57 REFERENCES................................... 59 APPENDICES.......... ................................................................................................... 62 CURRICULUM VITA................................................................................................ 70 Vll LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1 Summary of Golf Studies Explaining Performance.............. 11 TABLE 2 Variables Studied and Operational Definitions........................... 27- TABLE 3 Descriptive Statistics for Professionals and Amateurs Individually and Total Sample.................................................... 30 TABLE 4 Pearson Correlations of All Variables for the Total Sample....... 31 TABLE 5 Stepwise Regression for Scoring Average of the Total Sample............................................................................................ 33 .. ^ TABLE 6 Pearson Correlations of All Variables for Professional Golfers........................................ ................................................... 34 TABLE 7 Hierarchical Regression for Scoring Average of Professional Golfers........................ .................................................................. 36 TABLE 8 Pearson Correlations of All Variables for Collegiate Golfers... 38 TABLE 9 Hierarchical Regression for Scoring Average of Collegiate Golfers........................................................................................... 39 ■ .v TABLE 10 Moderated Hierarchical Regression for Main Effects and Interactions for Scoring Average................................................. 41 TABLE 11 MANOVA Results Comparing Professional and Collegian Golfers........................................................................................... 43 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 ShotLink Graphic........................................................................ 26 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX A Post-Round Performance Statistics.......................................;... 62 APPENDIX B Performance