First Round Scoring Averages Revisited

MikkelGolf.com Newsletter

Last year, we looked at scoring averages by round at the junior- and collegiate levels. In the very first post on this topic, we looked at the 2023 Srixon Tour (the Norwegian Junior Tour).

The opening rounds had the highest scoring average in six out of eight tournaments that year.

We witnessed the same scoring pattern in AJGA tournaments, but did not find it during NCAA Regionals.

Let’s revisit the original post form last year and take a look at what we can find from this year’s Srixon Tour:

This table includes all scores posted on the tour this year. The Srixon Tour is made up of four divisions: Boys Under 19, Girls Under 19, Boys Under 15, and Girls Under 15. The Drøbak and Sandefjord events hosted just the under 15 classes.

The Norwegian Junior Championships were played at Haga. The tournament was the only one of the season with a cut (after 36 holes), and the only one played over four rounds.

The overall scoring average for the entire tour was highest in the first round, as suspected. We can see how the overall average improves with each round. However, just four events on the tour had the highest average score during the first round.

DISTRIBUTION OF SCORES:

• Round 1:

  • High score: 115

  • Low score: 61

  • Mean score: 80.7

  • Mode score: 80

• Round 2:

  • High score: 118

  • Low score: 65

  • Mean score: 80.1

  • Mode score: 77

• Round 3:

  • High score: 119

  • Low score: 66

  • Mean score: 78.3

  • Mode score: 74

• Round 4:

  • High score: 89

  • Low score: 67

  • Mean score: 77.8

  • Mode score: 76

There was only a single round 4 played this year, so let’s look past the last chart for a bit…

When we look at the first three charts (rounds one through three), we see the distribution of scores narrows progressively, indicating increased consistency in player performance over time. Statistically, we see a decrease in both variance and standard deviation, meaning scores in later rounds are closer to the average. This trend suggests that players adapt to course conditions or settle into their game, resulting in a tighter range of scores by round 3 - lowering the average field scores.

As a coach, I still think there’s a potential to pick up strokes on the field in the early rounds by being prepared correctly. My theory is that the lower the level of golf, the more this is true! I wrote shared some thoughts about this in the post from last year.

I scraped all the data from the Srixon Tour, so expect some more posts on junior golf in the next few weeks!

SRIXON TOUR FUN FACTS

• 230 unique players played at least one event on the Srixon Tour this year.

• Just over 193 thousand shots were hit and signed for by these 230 players.

• The most amount of rounds played on the tour this year was 24. 22 players played all 24 available rounds in their division.

• The most common first name for a Srixon player is a tie between Benjamin and Sander (four each).

  • Benjamin:

    • Killingstad, Benjamin

    • Møreland, Benjamin

    • Sordal Pettersen, Benjamin

    • Wolnik-Thoresen, Benjamin

  • Sander:

    • Lysberg, Sander

    • Magnussen, Sander

    • Steen, Sander

    • Vallestad, Sander

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Have a great week!

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