|
This page describes the Golf Predictor statistics analyser and prediction engine as well as the company behind it.
About the System
Golf Predictor uses the latest available statistics to try and predict the outcome of future professional golf tournaments on the US and European PGA tours. There are two main parts to Golf Predictor:
- The statistics analyser
- The prediction engine
The statistics analyser number crunches all the main statistics for each golfer on the tournament entry list. The prediction engine then
uses an algorithm on this information to try and predict the performance of each golfer.
The statistics analyser is based on hard facts and calculates the recent, season and historical performance for each golfer in the
tournament. It also calculates the season stroke average across both the US and European PGA tours for each competing player, using a
slightly enhanced formula to the one used for the US PGA tour. The historical scoring average for the course and the tournament (not
necessarily the same thing) are also calculated for the field.
The prediction engine involves the subjective application of these statistics to generate player rankings for the next tournament.
The ranking for each golfer is normalised to a percentage chance of winning the tournament. Unfortunately, golfers are not machines,
but the prediction engine will tell you who is most likely to perform in the next event. The prediction screens also allow you to see who
performs best over the season in every round
of a tournament or see who has shot the best average first round on the course/in the tournament
in the past. You can also directly compare the statistics for up to 3 competing golfers. These features can help you make informed decisions when
gambling or choosing fantasy golfers.
The screenshots below illustrate some of the numeric and visual data available for a golfer/tournament. The first screenshot shows the predicted top ten for the 2008 Masters:
All the above columns are sortable for the entire field. You can also view various tournament statistics graphically by selecting one of the charting options shown above.
For example, clicking on the 'Last 5 Events' chart will show the golfers with the best current form (best average finishing position in their last 5 events) in the world. This chart for the 2008 Masters is shown below:
Clicking on a golfer in the prediction list (first screenshot above) will show a page similar to that shown below. This image shows a subset of the statistics available for Padraig Harrington ahead of the 2008 Masters:
Clicking on the "(Chart)" link beside "Season Ave Pos" or "Season Results" will display the chart shown below. This is a visual representation of Harrington's season form to date.
Hovering on a data point will show details for that week, as shown for week 14 above.
There is also a wealth of data available for each tournament. Clicking on any tournament in the 'Tournaments' view will bring up a screen similar to below:
This shows the statistics for the 2008 Shell Houston Open. Clicking on the chart link for the field performance will show the pie chart as displayed below:
Hovering on a pie slice will show more details, as shown for 'Missed Cut' above. Clicking on any of the the chart links in the 'Average Scores' section of the tournament statistics page will show a chart similar to below:
This chart shows the distribution of scores for the entire tournament ('Overall Chart'). Hovering on a bar will show more details, as
shown for '70-74' range above. We have also integrated Google Maps into Golf Predictor. This allows you to view the location of a course (single point on map), the location of all tournaments
on the US PGA Tour or the European PGA tour in a given year (multiple points on the map) or the location of all the tournaments played by any golfer in any year since 2003 (multiple points). Check out our blog for more information on new features and other Golf Predictor related items.
About the Company
Golf Predictor has been developed by Rapidcoast Services, a small company based in the West of Ireland. The site is the brainchild of the chief technical officer, a self confessed golf nut! Fortunately, his software development skills far outstrip his golfing ability and so Golf Predictor was born!
| 