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Earlier I provided some comparison of stats from the lpga and pga tours.
However, at that stage, only about 3 lpga events had been played.

So, I've decided to just compare them again, because there have been many more events played since then.


Driving Distance
PGA
1 Bubba Watson 320.2
2 J.B. Holmes 311.8
3 Robert Garrigus 310.6
4 Brett Wetterich 309.3
5 Tag Ridings 309.1
LPGA
1 Karin Sjodin 288.4
2 Brittany Lincicome 283.8
3 Michelle Wie 280.8
4 Natalie Tucker 279.7
5 Jee Young Lee 278.3



Driving Accuracy
PGA
1 Fred Funk 79.2
2 Joe Durant 75.9
3 Jim Furyk 75.5
4 Ian Poulter 74.7
5 Larry Mize 73.8
LPGA
1 Nancy Harvey 89.3
2 Kelly Lagedrost 88.6
3 Marilyn Lovander 85.7
4 Ji Yeon Lee 85.1
5 Tina Barrett 83.5



Greens In Regulation
PGA
1 Phil Mickelson 72.0
2 Mark Wilson 71.6
3 Tiger Woods 71.2
4 Vijay Singh 70.6
4 Charles Warren 70.6
LPGA
1 Michelle Wie 83.3
1 Natalie Gulbis 78.0
2 Lorena Ochoa 76.4
3 Karin Sjodin 76.2
4 Paula Creamer 75.8



Putts Per GIR
PGA
1 Phil Mickelson 1.706
2 Brian Gay 1.708
3 Nathan Green** 1.709
4 Tommy Armour III 1.71
5 David Toms 1.711
LPGA
1 Seon Hwa Lee 1.69
2 Eva Dahllof 1.70
3 Ji Yeon Lee 1.71
4 Annika Sorenstam 1.73
T5 Lorena Ochoa 1.74



Scoring Averages
PGA
1 Jim Furyk 69.4
1 Phil Mickelson 69.40
3 Tiger Woods 69.62
4 Vijay Singh 69.70
5 Retief Goosen 69.79
LPGA
1 Michelle Wie 69.00
2 Lorena Ochoa 69.14
3 Juli Inkster 69.76
4 Karrie Webb 69.81
5 Cristie Kerr 69.97

Thank you for the stats. Very interesting.

But I don't think the degree of difficulty of the layouts on the lpga compare with those on the pga to the extend of enabling someone to draw any meaningful conclussions from such a comparison.

Interesting facts that come from these figures.

1. The longest hitters are not in the accuracy figures.

2. Phil heads GIR and Putts per GIR, but not the Stroke averages.

3. Michelle Wie hits 83.3% GIR but is not in top 5 of Putts per GIR.

Actually Phil does head stroke averages. Phil and Jim Furyk are the joint leaders with a stroke average of 69.4


For lpga stats, Michelle Wie is not listed because she is not a member. I was easily able to get her stroke average, her driving distance, and her Greens in Regulation stats.
I was unable to find out her putts per green in regulation. I'm just assuming that she isn't in the top 5 there, although I don't have her stats to prove it.

2 events.
In her first event, she hit 83.3% greens in regulation.
In her second event, she hit 83.3% greens in regulation.

Given that lpga courses are so short for her, I think she has a good chance of keeping that stat really high.

On driving distance, she is actually disadvataged, as regards the stats.
At the Kraft Nabisco, her average driving was 268.1 yards. That took her average way down, because everyone was driving shorter there. Wie was 2nd in driving average there, and 13 yards longer than Sorenstam, who was the 7th longest driver.

The biggest disparity, from the standpoint of its importance, between the PGA vs LPGA stats is driving accuracy. I don't know if the top 5 is a fair sampling, but I found it interesting that the top 5 men are all noted players with some recent success, from top 5 Furyk down to Mize who still occassionally gets in the mix. The top 5 ladies in this category are virtual nobodies. I don't know what the significance is, though.

Rodney
You compare something when is like for like.
Do you think that we are comparing like for like here?
Nice to know the stats but to me they can not be compared. Chalk and cheese.

Okay, here's the top 30 for lpga and pga in Driving Accuracy:

PGA
1 Fred Funk 79.2
2 Joe Durant 75.9
3 Jim Furyk 75.5
4 Ian Poulter 74.7
5 Larry Mize 73.8
5 Scott Verplank 73.8
7 Paul Goydos 73.3
8 Bart Bryant 72.7
9 Heath Slocum 72.4
10 Olin Browne 72.3
11 Brian Davis 71.1
12 Mark Brooks 70
13 Justin Leonard 69.9
14 Kirk Triplett 69.6
14 Duffy Waldorf 69.6
16 David Toms 69.4
17 Kevin Na 69.1
18 Corey Pavin 68.9
19 Billy Mayfair 68.4
20 Tim Clark 68.2
21 Padraig Harrington 67.6
21 Jeff Maggert 67.6
21 Daisuke Maruyama** 67.6
24 Luke Donald 67.4
25 Mark Wilson 67.3
26 Richard Johnson 67.2
27 Robert Allenby 67.1
28 Robert Gamez 66.8
28 Brian Gay 66.8
28 Jerry Smith** 66.8



LPGA
1 Nancy Harvey 89.3
2 Kelly Lagedrost 88.6
3 Marilyn Lovander 85.7
4 Ji Yeon Lee 85.1
5 Tina Barrett 83.5
6 Nadina Light 81.7
T7 Clarissa Childs 81.6
T7 Tina Fischer 81.6
9 Erica Blasberg 81
10 Joanne Morley 80.7
11 Leta Lindley 80.6
12 Eva Dahllof 80.5
13 Virada Nirapathpongporn 80.2
14 Maggie Will 79.4
15 Meena Lee 79.1
T16 Marcy Hart 78.9
T16 Morgan Pressel 78.9
T18 Sherri Steinhauer 78.6
T18 Heather Daly-Donofrio 78.6
T18 Jackie Gallagher-Smith 78.6
21 Mi Hyun Kim 78
22 Patricia Baxter-Johnson 77.8
23 Patricia Meunier-Lebouc 77.7
24 Julieta Granada 77.6
T25 Seon Hwa Lee 77.1
T25 Lee Ann Walker-Cooper 77.1
T25 Lorie Kane 77.1
28 Yu Ping Lin 77
T29 Jimin Kang 76.5
T29 Seo-Yeon Jeon 76.5

I don't think they are like for like.
However, one statement that has been made over and over is that the pga courses are much more difficult, yet their stats are still better than the ladies.
But I think that is starting to really change, because the ladies stats are pulling ahead of the mens. Maybe it is time, to make lpga courses more difficult because maybe some of the stats are too good.

Driving on lpga last season was around 270 for the very top players.
Only 8 players were over 260 yards in 2005.
So far, for 2006, 38 lpga players are averaging over 260 yards.

Through the Top 30 , my theory holds true. Driving accuracy is evidently much more important on the PGA than the LPGA. Half on the PGA's list are quite successful, while a handful at best on the LPGA's list have had much success.

I think the 2006 lpga distance stats are a little misleading. They haven't played that many events, and the Vegas tournament was played on an incredibly fast course. They were hitting the ball 340 yards, on that burnt out parking lot (a great track, but a little dry). I think the year-to-date numbers will drop as the season progresses.

As for making the courses tougher for the ladies... I think they are in a place where they are starting to get a following. Having them play on courses where only 3 players break par during the event will not help sell tickets. If they start eating these course up, then make the change. They need to sell tickets, add events, and build a better following.

The theory does hold through.

I wonder if it can be examined as to exactly why that is the case.
My theory is that many of these accurate drivers are really really short.

How do the top 5 accurate drivers measure for distance:
138 Nancy Scranton 244.4 yards.
40 Kelly Lagedrost 259.6
130 Marilyn Lovander 247.6
159 Ji Yeon Lee 236.0
153 Tina Barrett 240.8

The only one with half respectable distance is Kelly Lagedrost, and she has only played 3 events, so maybe they were courses where it was easier to have longer drives.

So basically with these really accurate ladies, perhaps they are so accurate because they hit the ball so softly. And when they hit it that softly, it just isn't good enough, not even for the lpga tour.

By the way, an interesting thing is that Lorena Ochoa has a driving accuracy of 70.9%, which puts her in 78th place in lpga accuracy.
However that would put her in 12th on the pga tour as regards accuracy.

I guess we'll have to wait another while, to know whether the driving stats come down. You certainly have a point as regards that Las Vegas course.

Also a good point on the not making courses too difficult because that wouldn't be so much fun to watch. It has been fun watching the birdie fests that have been going on at some lpga tournaments.

I do think the US Open will play pretty tough again though. They won't want to many people, if any, breaking par there.

keep in mind the LPGA play there tourney's on very wide and easy golf courses
the best LPGA player in history couldnt make the cut at one of the easiest PGA courses ... what does that tell you

The accuracy stats are more impressive for the LPGA for 2 reasons, IMO. As someone else posted, the layouts they play have more generous fairways and are simply easier. Also, they don't hit it nearly as far on average as the guys so the sheer geometry of it comes into play.... the farther you hit it the more likely you are to stray from the fairway, depending upon the angle. The "easier layout" factor could also account for there being far fewer successful accurate drivers on the LPGA... their rough probably isn't usually very "rough" and landing in it isn't that big of a deal even when they have more than a wedge left.