I'm currently back home after 4 weeks away in Australia and New Zealand. Its very nice to get unpacked and enjoy some time at home while we can as the season gets busy soon! So far 2020 has been a bit strange after 3 events were cancelled due to the Corona Virus. I had always planned to visit New Zealand and then fly to China but those plans changed and I decided to spend an extra week in New Zealand instead of flying all the way home to Florida. Playing in the men's New Zealand open was an amazing experience last week. I got the chance to try something as a female golfer that very few get to do and I enjoyed putting myself in an uncomfortable situation for the week. Usually playing in a men's event as a women you might expect there to be plenty of outspoken people saying that I shouldn't be playing, or that I'm taking a spot from someone else. However I found that I didn't have to deal with any of that. New Zealand as a country is very forward thinking and open to change and it made the week very special.
Many supporters of the event are passionate about growing women's golf in New Zealand and thats certainly something I want to help in anyway I can! Next year I plan to return to the event and help get some younger girls out on the course to watch and encourage them to be interested in the game. You can see my stories from New Zealand on Instagram to see what else I got up to while we were there!
On the LPGA tour we don't have detailed statistics like they do on the PGA tour. To be honest we have zero information on how we perform in different areas of the game. How we compare to our peers is another area where we are left to guess. Some players keep their own statistics but I would like one day to see the tour have consistent statistics that allows players to see in more detail how they are performing, and how they compare to other players each week. The TV coverage and media want and need this kind of information and I believe it would make the LPGA better. It would help the media provide more interesting coverage of the LPGA tour so its certainly a problem that eventually needs to be solved.
This season Daniel spoke to Santiago (Gaby Lopez boyfriend) at the first event of the year and he had programed a statistic program called "Around the Ball" that provides every stats you could want as a pro and that has the potential to be used on tour. It allows you to compare yourself to other players each week even now at an early stage. Currently there are 15 players adding their statistics to the system which is helping create a baseline for the LPGA tour. Players caddies enter the information, send off the sheet to Santiago and a summary is sent after each event. Have a look at my statistics review from the last 4 events. Click HERE. My hope is that more of us on the LPGA tour start to use this program to a point where the LPGA can take a closer look at how it could potentially be adopted for the whole field.
