This is part 3 of our “What are we really measuring?” Series. To view the other parts, click here for part 1 and here for part 2.
Greens Hit in Regulation (GIRs) is defined as: “Percentage of time a player was able to hit the green in regulation”.
The GIR statistic only looks at the number of times you successfully putted for birdie, it doesn’t take into account the quality of the shot; an approach shot hit to 55ft from the hole is worth as much as an approach shot hit to 1 foot.
A green hit in regulation is when a player has a putt for birdie from the green. Golfers have for a long time used this statistic as an indicator of your approach shot skill level. Similar to the Driving Accuracy percentage above, the GIR statistic only looks at the number of times you successfully putted for birdie. A shot hit to 55ft from the hole is worth as much as a shot hit to 1 foot. GIRs are related to the driving accuracy statistic as well: if you hit a really bad tee shot and have to chip out sideways, then you can’t successfully hit the green in regulation. The bad tee shot is robbing you of the chance to demonstrate your approach shot capabilities, and this is negatively effecting your GIR number despite the tee shot not having anything to do with the approach shot quality.
The greens hit statistic also doesn’t take into account the distance from which the shot was hit from.
Furthermore, GIRs also don’t take into account the distance from which the shot was hit from. A shot hit to 10 feet from 200 yards is a better performance than a shot hit to 10 feet from 100 yards.
