Inside the Numbers: Luke Donald's 2011 season

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Luke Donald's iron play improved significantly in 2011, and his wedge game was one of the TOUR's best.

Luke Donald was named the 2011 PGA TOUR Player of the Year. ShotLink expert Alex Turnbull analyzed the statistics produced by Donald during his award-winning season.

OVERALL

In 2009, Donald ranked 13th on TOUR for scoring with a very respectable scoring average of 70.01. However, he's managed to improve on his 2009 average by over 1 shot per round with a TOUR leading average of 68.86 in 2011.

OFF THE TEE
In 2011, Donald averaged 284.1 yards from the tee ranking T-147th on TOUR for driving distance. This year he ranked 57th on TOUR for driving accuracy (64 percent) compared to his 120th ranking on TOUR in 2010 (62 percent).

Longer Off the Tee: Donald's club head speed of 111.6 mph in 2011 is a +2.7 mph improvement over his 2009 average of 108.9 mph. Nearly 50 percent of his drives landed between 280 and 300 yards in 2011 (1 in every 2 tee shots). This is a large improvement over his previous two seasons on TOUR. In 2010, 1 in every 4 of his drives (25 percent) landed in the 280 to 300 yard range.

Avoiding One Side of the Course: 2011 is the first time in the last 3 years where Donald began to avoid one side of the course from the tee. This year he ranked 14th on TOUR for right rough tendency (11.4 percent). This is an improvement over his prior two seasons (2010 -- 16.1 percent rank of 141st; 2009 -- 14.2 percent rank of 96th).

Average Drive: In 2009, Donald ranked 173rd on TOUR for driving distance averaging 275. 7 yards from the tee. In 2010, he ranked 177th averaging 277 yards from the tee. Luke Donald picked up 8.4 yards from the tee with his driver in 2011 compared to his 2009 average drive of 275.7 yards.

APPROACHING THE GREEN

Greens in Regulation and Proximity to Hole Improvements: In 2010 and 2009, Donald didn't rank better than T-152nd on TOUR for greens in regulation. In 2011, he ranked 41st for greens hit with a 67.3 percent success rate. Not only has Donald's iron play (GIR) improved in each of the last 3 years but his proximity to the hole has improved as well (T39th in 2009 to 9th in 2011).

Dominant Wedge Game in 2011: Donald was one of the best with a wedge in his hands on the 2011 PGA TOUR. In terms of proximity to the hole, he ranked second on TOUR for approach shots inside 125 yards averaging 15 feet, 4 inches to the pin. From this distance he went onto make birdie or better a TOUR leading 33.5 percent of the time (made birdie on 1 in every 3 approach shots inside 125 yards).

AROUND THE GREENS

Donald has been one of the most consistent performers on the PGA TOUR from around the greens over the past three seasons. He has not ranked worse than 20th for scrambling or worse than 5th for sand saves in each of the last three years on TOUR.

Clutch from Around the Greens: Since 2009, Luke Donald has had 240 successful sand saves on 378 total greenside bunker shots on TOUR (63 percent success rate). He led the TOUR for sand saves in both 2009 and 2010 and was the fifth best on TOUR out of the sand in 2011. In each of the last two seasons, Donald has ranked T-2nd on TOUR for proximity to the hole from the sand, averaging 7 feet in 2010 and 7-1/2 feet in 2011. Since 2009, Donald has missed 1,325 greens in regulation and successfully salvaged par or better 847 times (63.9 percent success rate). Donald's scrambling from the greenside rough has improved in each of the past three years on TOUR moving up from 50th in 2009 (59 percent) to second in 2011 (66 percent).

Avoiding Bogeys in 2011: No one had a lower bogey average on TOUR in 2011 than Donald. In 67 total rounds, Donald averaged a TOUR best 2.01 bogeys per round.

ON THE GREENS

Donald has been the best putter on the PGA TOUR in each of the last three years, ranking first for strokes gained -- putting.

Best Putter on TOUR: In 2011, Donald out performed the field by +.844 strokes per round with the putter. This worked out to over 3 strokes per four-round event better than the field on the greens (+3.376 strokes gained -- putting in a four-round event). Luke was 1 of just 5 players on TOUR with a perfect putting record inside 3 feet in 2011. Donald went a perfect 529 for 529 when putting inside 3 feet this season.

Impressive from Short Distances: Over the past three years, Donald has missed just 45 putts from inside 5 feet going an impressive 2,213 for 2,258 when putting inside 5 feet (98 percent success rate). On average, he misses a putt from inside 5 feet on 1 in every 50 attempts.

Avoiding 3-putts: In 2011, Donald played 1,206 holes on the PGA TOUR and had 15 total 3-putts (fewest on TOUR). This worked out to one 3-putt every 80 holes played for Donald. In comparison, the average PGA TOUR player 3-putted once every 32 holes played in 2011. Since 2009, Donald has played 3,798 holes with just 61 total 3-putts. He continues to improve on his 3-putt avoidance in each year since 2009. Starting on the 8th hole in the 3rd round of the RBC Canadian, Donald went a TOUR record 483 holes without recording a 3-putt. This is the longest streak recorded in a single season since 2003.

SCORING ANALYSIS

Since 2009, Donald has improved his scoring average by 1.15 strokes. In 2009, he ranked 13th on TOUR averaging a respectable 70.01. In 2010, he improved his average down to 69.85 ranking 7th on TOUR for scoring average. In 2011, he made over a one-stroke improvement averaging 68.86 ranking 1st on TOUR for scoring average. In 2011, Donald improved his birdie average by .7 birdies per round over his 2010 average of 3.54 birdies per round. This works out to an improvement of nearly 3 more birdies (2.8) per 4-round event over his 2010 average.

Donald was consistently solid on par 3s, 4s and 5s in 2011 ranking inside the top 7 in each category. On the par 5s Luke ranked 7th on TOUR for scoring average (4.55) and 4th for birdie or better percentage (53 percent) despite making just 3 total eagles for the season. Luke ranked 138th on TOUR when going for the green in 2011 (44 percent). That being said, he relied on his wedge game to get it done on the par 5s. In 2011, Donald played 203 total par 5s, converting birdie more than half of the time (51 percent - 104 birdies on 203 par 5s played).

In the Final Round: In Donald's 16 final rounds played in 2011 he had 15 under par rounds, 1 even par round, and no over par rounds. He is the only player on TOUR officially ranked without an over par final round in 2011.