I found a study + some data this week that every single golfer needs to think about.

It's simple to understand and you can put it into practice TOMORROW.

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​Here's what's in this newsletter:

• 35 out of 40 golfers chipped better this way.
• The arm-lock hybrid grip. (I'd never heard of this)
• 4 stats from 870,000 rounds of on-course data that might change how you think about your game
• VR golf is about to get very real

SPONSORED CONTENT The Wrist-X: You can't fix what you can't feel. Get feedback on your backswing and transition. An adjustable click tells you the exact moment your wrist breaks down. ​ ​ Real-time feedback you can actually feel. GET ONE

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Can this data convince you to stop using your wedge?

I found an interesting study this week that might help you rethink your short game.

Researchers at Simon Fraser University ran a study with 40 golfers. Handicaps from scratch to 36. They had each golfers chip balls using three different methods:

1. Their usual wedge
2. A hybrid with a normal grip
3. A hybrid with an arm-lock grip

All from the first or second cut around the green. All with their own clubs.

So what happened? 35 out of 40 golfers chipped better with the hybrid.

THE DEEP DIVE:

It's kind of obvious but... The wedge required higher swing speeds for every distance. More speed means more room for error. More variability.

The hybrid simplifies the motion. Lower loft, less wrist action, more like a long putt stroke.

The researchers measured R² values (basically how consistent your speed-to-distance relationship is) and they were tighter with the hybrid across almost every player they tested.

A wedge chip from 30 feet might need 15 mph of swing speed. A hybrid from the same distance might only need 8 mph. The concept is that with less speed, less can go wrong.

The arm-lock hybrid is the wild one.

I'd never heard of this before reading this study. But from 10 feet, the hybrid with an arm-lock grip produced the smallest average leaves and the most consistent shot patterns of any method they tested.

The grip is exactly what it sounds like. Lead hand low, grip braced along the lead forearm, trail hand placed higher to lock the club onto the forearm. Basically a long putter grip on a hybrid.

For high handicaps from 10 feet: 4.0 feet average leave with a wedge. 2.1 feet with the arm-lock hybrid. That's cutting your miss in half.

None of these golfers had ever used the arm-lock grip for chipping before. They were shown the grip on the spot. Zero practice reps. Years of wedge chipping experience vs. literally their first time trying this... and they were still more accurate from close range.

The standard deviation from 10 feet for high handicaps was 1.3 feet with the arm-lock hybrid vs. 2.2 feet with the wedge. Almost half the variability. On their first try.

The simple version

From distance (20-40 feet): The hybrid with a normal grip wins. For both low and high handicaps. Less swing speed required, tighter dispersion, smaller average leaves.

From close range (10 feet): The arm-lock hybrid was most consistent method tested, smallest misses, and it worked even for golfers who'd never tried it.

The worse your handicap, the bigger the benefit. From 40 feet, low handicaps gained 1.7 feet with a hybrid. High handicaps gained 3.7 feet.

THE SUMMARY:

• Hybrids outperformed wedges from every distance in a 40-golfer study
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• The advantage was biggest for 15+ handicaps (3.7 feet closer from 40 ft)
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• Arm-lock hybrid grip was the most consistent method from 10 feet
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• Less swing speed required = less room for error

Study: "Chipping Performance Comparison using a Wedge, a Hybrid, and the Arm-Lock Grip" by Chelsea Hoyle, Todd Nelson, Matheus Quon, Serena Skinner, Pawel Kudzia, and Joaquín Hoffer. Simon Fraser University. Presented at the 11th World Scientific Congress of Golf, Loughborough University, 2024.

​ 🙌 Well Played: This Week’s Top Finds: ​ 📲 VR golf is incredible. I have a VR club and Meta headset and couldn't be a bigger fan. NOW... This looks like the future. As the hardware gets smaller and easier to wear this is going to be unbelievable cool. ❤️ I thought this was super interesting to see the tournament wide average. Low HR. Pretty good recovery. ​ ↔ Do you feel your left hand or right hand while putting. Tiger says his does this... ​ ​ 🏋 LKD has done some important investigative journalism for us.

4 Stats from 870,000 Rounds of Golf

​Shot Scope just released their 2026 Annual Golf Performance Report. 74 million shots tracked across 870,000 rounds.
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Here are a few stats that I thought were interesting.

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Lower scores come from fewer mistakes, not more birdies.

Birdies barely change across handicap groups. A 25 handicap makes double bogey or worse on 43.2% of holes. A scratch player? 25%.

Driver dispersion across handicaps isn't crazy.

I thought the off the tee dispersion would skew way to the right... but it's pretty equal.

You can see that the 0 handicap has gained some consistency with their dispersion but not a ton more than a 15 handicap.

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Maybe you should practice out of some fairway bunkers.

Every skill level's GIR percentage was way way worse from fairway bunkers than the fairway and even the rough.

This one kind of surprises me. I'm going to guess it's because no one really practices fairway bunker shots and don't really his that many during rounds.

40% of all wedge shots from 100 yards miss short.

Every handicap level. Even scratch players.

Your most likely to miss a wedge shot short.

The putter is the highest-percentage club around the green.

Up-and-down rates by club: putter was 67% for scratch, 53% for 25 handicaps. Higher than every wedge at every level.

And this lines up with the chipping study we covered above. Less loft, less speed, get it closer to the whole more often.

Whether it's a putter or a hybrid, simpler is better around the green.

​You can go download the report from ShotScope here. ​

Did you start using our new FREE practice plan for your practice last week?

If you missed it watch the video and download it here!

Have a great week this week!
​
-Cordie

✍️ Written by Cordie Walker​​
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