Derived Evidence
Do you remember our discussion of putting in which we said that it not true that it is half of the game and that the euphemism of it's being everything was truer than most would expect? Let's see what we can derive about the total average number of full strokes per round. We have already examined the data for average scores per round and the data for total putts per round. While not strictly correct, subtracting total average putts per round from total average strokes per round should give us a fair approximation of the total average full strokes per round.
Note how tightly each category tracks 42 full strokes per round. If you compare this graph to the Unadjusted Vardon graph, I would suggest that the symmetry of the last few years tracks Tiger Woods, not technology or anything else. Who amongst you will challenge the statement that Tiger Woods has already proven that he is the greatest golfer to ever play the game? Or that the outliers of 2000 and 2001 reflect his incredible length and precision. If you examine his personal data for yourself, you will see this reflected primarily in his performance on the par fives. For everybody else, this confirms the relentless average greens in regulation data, the remarkable consistency of the number of traps per round, and what Wally Uihlein has told us. If you believe modern golf clubs are going to lower your score, you are almost certainly destined to be disappointed. All of the hard data points in the direction of my original contention, "THERE IS NO DEMONSTRABLE EVIDENCE THAT MODERN GOLF CLUB DESIGN AND/OR TECHNOLOGY HAS LOWERED THE SCORE OF A SINGLE PLAYER."