Return to Golf in England – Shot Scope’s biggest day ever!

30 March 2021

Monday 29th March 2021

The morning after… Yesterday (29th March 2021) was the day golf returned to England, with many golfers heading to the course for the first time this year. So with a slightly longer break than planned, how did golfers perform in their first round back?

Shot Scope have combined the data from all the users that teed it up yesterday in England, to paint a picture of the long anticipated return to golf, just 24 hours after the first ball was struck.

Yesterday in England, more than 446,000 shots were recorded by Shot Scope; a figure that represents the largest amount of tracked shots on a single day the country. This correlated to 4,788 rounds played (England), eclipsing the previous daily record in the country by over 2,500, while a Shot Scope watch was used to track performance at over 75% of courses.

Rather predictably, the majority of golfers in England were rusty, with the average score coming in at +21.71, compared to an average of +14.35 last year. This resulted in a score average +/- against handicap of +5.23.

Only 30% of users managed to successfully find the first fairway, down 18% on the average, and a staggering 39% appeared to have suffered from the dreaded first tee slice to the right.

It appears that driver was the club of the day from the first tee for many golfers on Monday (for those who played a Par 4 or Par 5), with an incredible 94% of players opting for the big stick.

Using the new strokes gained platform, Shot Scope determined that while the majority of users found trouble from the tee more often in comparison to last year, it was on the greens that they saw the biggest dip in performance. Golfers lost over 40% more shots due to poor putting performance against the Shot Scope average for 2020, with strokes gained putting stats against a scratch golfer dropping from an average of -3.52 to -5.08.

Promisingly, the statistics show that there is hope. The average score recorded on the back nine, for golfers that completed all 18 holes, dropped by 4.03 strokes, showing a marked improvement as they settled into the round.