State Of The Game Podcast 33: Avery, DMD's & More

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We at State of the Game don't want to overextend ourselves with the new wraparound schedule, so after a not so short holiday hiatus we are back with episode 33.

Rod Morri, Mike Clayton and yours truly talk to Golf World contributing writer Brett Avery about the new Golf World 100 Best Modern Players ranking. I think when you hear Brett and also see the package in Golf World, you'll come away realizing how incredible Tiger has been over the last fifteen years. To see someone quantify it puts things in perspective.

We also cover the upcoming decision on distance measuring devices, and feed off of Brandel Chamblee's recent articles on the best and worst developments in the game.

As always, you can listen below, download the MP3 or listen/subscribe via iTunes.

Time Lapse Video: 140,000 Used Golf Balls Turned Into Logo

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A time lapse video of the Waste Management floating signage in TPC Scottsdale's 18th hole lake designed by the Maker Twins. It's a lot of work for a floating logo but hey, some of us are watching, so it worked.

 

Post by Maker Twins.

 

Let The Bickering Begin: Golf World's 100 Best Modern Players

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While our friends in Europe are predictably oozing with their usual xenophobia complaints, Golf World (USA) has put together a fascinating list of the 100 Best Modern Players on the PGA Tour (USA) since 1980.

The PGA Tour. Right? Are we clear so that the bickering over not doing a world 100 can be saved for elsewhere for now?

Now that we have that clear, check out Brett Avery's list built on performance metrics, with little subjectivity, some help for majors, but overall, a big reward for week-to-week excellence.

To qualify for the ranking, golfers needed three or more official PGA Tour victories since the start of the 1980 season, or two wins and at least one major championship victory.

Avery considered 1,945 individual seasons, more than 47,000 starts and 110,000 rounds and calculated the strength of each player’s performance against all other eligible players in a given season. The 1,945 individual seasons were assigned a point value, which were then averaged to determine a player’s final score.
 
The seasons were considered with performance metrics and versus-peers metrics. Some serious number crunching essentially!

The top ten since 1980:

    1.    Tiger Woods                                                           23.047
    2.    Greg Norman                                                         13.893
    3.    Phil Mickelson                                                         11.329
    4.    Jack Nicklaus                                                          11.281
    5.    Vijay Singh                                                             10.952
    6.    Ernie Els                                                                 10.702
    7.    Tom Watson                                                            10.318
    8.    David Duval                                                              9.733
    9.    Rory McIlroy                                                             9.728
    10.    Nick Faldo                                                               9.651

Let the bickering begin...