Interesting stat on #14 at Pebble

[Matthew Rose]

They put up an interesting stat on the broadcast today, which was that the 14th green at Pebble has the lowest percentage on the PGA Tour of putts made between 5-10 feet in length. It was only about 34%. That seemed like an amazing stat to me.

On that particular green, a PGA Tour pro has a putt between 5 ft and 10 ft, and he misses two times out of three.

The 12th hole (at Pebble) was ranked #2 at about 36%.

Obviously there is slope involved, but it isn't like tour pros never putt on sloped greens. Faldo thought maybe the poa annua was the biggest reason.

FWIW, the next two holes on the list were the 2nd and 15th on Kapalua Plantation.

[V. Kmetz]

In addition, I thought it was interesting in that it was the 3rd (4th?) most difficult hole on the course to par.

As Oosterhuis rightfully noted, "how rare is that; that a Par 5 will rank so high on that measure?"

cheers

vk

[Tom_Doak]

They put up an interesting stat on the broadcast today, which was that the 14th green at Pebble has the lowest percentage on the PGA Tour of putts made between 5-10 feet in length. It was only about 34%. That seemed like an amazing stat to me.

On that particular green, a PGA Tour pro has a putt between 5 ft and 10 ft, and he misses two times out of three.

The 12th hole (at Pebble) was ranked #2 at about 36%.

Obviously there is slope involved, but it isn't like tour pros never putt on sloped greens. Faldo thought maybe the poa annua was the biggest reason.

FWIW, the next two holes on the list were the 2nd and 15th on Kapalua Plantation.

I would think a stat like that is more about the greens being bumpy than any other factor.  That little plateau on the 14th at Pebble takes an absolute beating from golfers because they have to put four days' worth of hole locations in an area not much bigger than your living room.

[Nigel Islam]

Plus where they put the pin is actually relatively flat too. The hole itself is very hard for the tour pros due to the very small target. Rarely is it birdied, and often when the green is missed it brings 7s & 8s into play too.

[Philippe Binette]

Every time those guys faced a 6 footer for par on a par 5... their blood pressure goes up. they really feel they've lost a stroke.

I'd be curious to see the year-long percentage for par putt from 5 to 10 feet on par 5's... probably worse than on par 3's and 4's

[David_Tepper]

In addition, I thought it was interesting in that it was the 3rd (4th?) most difficult hole on the course to par.

As Oosterhuis rightfully noted, "how rare is that; that a Par 5 will rank so high on that measure?"

While the green on #14 may not be too hard to reach in two shots, it is very hard to get a 2nd shot to stay on the green. It would be interesting to know the stat for how many pros with less than 250 yards in try to reach the green in two. My guess is a lot of them lay back on their 2nd shot to get the right distance with a wedge for their 3rd shot.

The left side of the green is protected by a fronting bunker. Any shot from 200 yards or more carrying the bunker will likely not stay on that small portion of the green. The front portion of the right of the green is sloped upwards so that a ball running on to the front of the green will likely roll back off. Getting up & down being left of the green is very tough as your ball will be well below the surface of the green. Getting up & down from behind the green is not much easier.  

[JLahrman]

I played it one time, last week. Missed the green right, hit a pitch up the ridge to three feet, made the putt.

It's the other 17 greens that were the problem.

[Patrick_Mucci]

I think Tom's right, that plateau is very small and combined with heavy traffic and less than ideal weather at this time of year makes putting more difficult.