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Rory McIlroy improved tee-to-green in 2012, but his real spike in improvement came on the greens.

By Alex Turnbull, Shotlink

MORE: McIlroy named 2012 PGA TOUR Player of the Year | Congratulate him

In 2010, Rory McIlroy ranked 33rd on TOUR with a scoring average of 70.35. Since then, he's improved that by a shot-and-a-half, leading the TOUR in 2012 with an average of 68.87 in 2012.

How has he done it? ShotLink provides some answers.

He's 10 yards longer off the tee. In 2010, Rory McIlroy averaged 300 yards from the tee, ranking 12th on the PGA TOUR. That mark jumped to 310.1 yards in 2012. This season, McIlroy hit one out of every three drives over 320 yards. That ranked seventh on TOUR.

In his 12 stroke play starts in 2012 (where he made the cut), he led the field for driving distance three times and did not rank worse than 15th any week.

His iron play continues to improve. McIlroy's greens in regulation numbers have remained consistent over the past three years on the PGA TOUR. However, his proximity to the hole numbers have improved drastically this season. In 2010, he ranked T129th on TOUR for proximity to the hole, averaging 35 feet to the pin on all approach shots. In 2012, his ranking has improved up to a tie for fifth on TOUR for proximity to the hole.

Long iron improvement: In 2010, Rory ranked T-133rd on TOUR for approach shots from outside 200 yards, averaging 51 feet 5 inches. However, he's made a huge climb up the rankings from this distance averaging nearly 10 feet closer to the pin (42 feet 2 inches) ranking second on TOUR in 2012 from outside 200 yards.

Lastly, and most importantly, McIlroy is much better on the greens. McIlroy ranked 82nd on the greens for strokes gained – putting on the 2012 PGA TOUR. 2012 marked the first season in the last three years where McIlroy did not lose strokes to the field on the greens.

A missed green is a rare occurrence for Rickie Fowler in 2012.

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By Alex Turnbull, ShotLink

Rickie Fowler has vaulted up the FedExCup standings in the last five weeks on the PGA TOUR. Fowler
was 72nd in the standings before he won at the Wells Fargo Championship, and he's eighth after his runner-up at THE PLAYERS Championship.

Fowler is drastically improved tee-to-green this season. In 2011, Fowler ranked 157th for driving accuracy and T-120th for greens in regulation. This season, he’s currently 36th and 17th respectively:

Fowler has the second best active streak on TOUR for consecutive rounds at par or better. Fowler now has 12
consecutive rounds at par or better dating back to the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans:

Inside Dufner's spring surge

Jason Dufner has now won twice in his last three start after going winless in his first 163 starts on TOUR.

Dufner over took the No. 1 spot in the FedExCup standings from Hunter Mahan who, who had held the top spot for the previous seven weeks. This marks the first time in Dufner's FedExCup career where he’s ranked inside the top five of the standings.

Most number of times at the top in 2012: Jason Dufner has started in 11 stroke play events in his 2012
PGA TOUR campaign. Since missing the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii (his first start this year),
Dufner has held at least a share of the led on nine separate occasions prior the final round (most leads /
co-leads in the first three rounds by any player this season).

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When Brendan Steele's shots misfired at the Valero Texas Open, the rookie found a way to salvage par.

TPC San Antonio was only in its second year as a PGA TOUR venue in 2011, and players were still finding their way around the massive track. With plenty of yardage and large, multi-tiered greens, the field made plenty of bogeys, averaging about 14 per player.

So how did Brendan Steele win? He made only eight bogeys, giving him six shots on the field in that category alone. He finished at 8 under, beating Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell by stroke.

A large portion of his consistent scoring can be attributed to his performance around the
greens. Green missed 30 greens in regulation, but successfully salvaged par or better 22 times.

Steele secured the win when he sank a 7-footer for par on the 72nd hole. He was 17-for-17 on putts inside 10 feet in the final round.

How Steele ranked vs. the field in the 2011 Valero Texas Open:

TPC San Antonio has quickly developed a reputation as the toughest par-72 course on the PGA TOUR, excluding majors. In general, the field is missing the fairway half the time (51.65 percent), and they barely hit the green half the time (56.32 percent).

Toughest courses on TOUR in 2011 (non-majors):

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Brandt Snedeker made 132 feet of putts in the final round at Harbour Town last year. That is just over seven feet per hole.

By Alex Turnbull, ShotLink

Snedeker's 2011 brilliance on the greens

- Defending RBC Heritage champion Brandt Snedeker started the final round in 2011 six shots behind leader Luke Donald. Snedeker caught fire with the putter, draining eight putts from over eight feet converting nine birdies (second-most final-round birdies since 1983 at The Heritage).

- Snedeker made a field-leading total of 132 feet of putts in the final round (64 more feet of putts
than the field average and 14 more feet than the next best player).

- Since 2003, when ShotLink began tracking this data, only four other players have made 8 putts
from over eight feet in a round at Harbour Town Golf Links (only one other time in the final round).

- For the week, Snedeker converted an impressive 10 of 19 putts when putting from 10
to 20 feet (53 percent).

At just under 7,000 yards, Harbour Town places a premium on iron play over power:

In the past few years, no course has had more hole-outs than Harbour Town Golf Links. In each of the last two years, Harbour Town has yielded more than 100 hole-outs in tournament play:

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This is what the players see on the daunting 18th tee at Redstone. See that bunker in the upper right? Over one-quarter of the tee shots end up there.

The PGA TOUR is back at Redstone this week for the Shell Houston Open

Two things you need to know about the Tournament Course at Redstone: As usual, the par 5s must be birdied. Why? Because the last two holes -- both par 4s -- measure a combined 978 yards.

Ouch.

First, the good news. Redstone has some long par 5s -- the shortest is 557 yards -- but the big hitters can get home in two. Phil Mickelson, last year's winner of the Shell Houston Open, went for the green 15 times in 16 tries last year. He ended up 14 under on the par 5s, picking up a staggering nine shots on the field.

Mickelson holed out a field-leading three times during the week. It was the fifth time Mickelson had accomplished that in the ShotLink era.

Mickelson's stats en route to victory in 2011:

One more thing to watch: the fairway bunker on the 18th coming down the stretch on Sunday. With water going all the way down the left side, many players will bail out into the bunker ... but someone with a one-shot lead might not have that option. That fairway bunker catches more tee shots than any other fairway bunker on TOUR:

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Martin Laird won at Bay Hill in 2011 because he dominated the par-5s.

According to course superintendent Matt Beaver, the rough is expected to top out at 3-1/2 inches this week, with the thick turf remaining the course’s biggest weapon.

"You hit the ball in the rough, and it makes it pretty tough," Beaver said.

But that fact shouldn't deter the big hitters this week in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. In year's past, the big hitters have thrived: the recent winner's list includes Martin Laird, Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Kenny Perry and Phil Mickelson. Not exactly a bunch of Corey Pavins.

How do the big hitters do so well at Bay Hill? Real simple. They tend to eat up Bay Hill's four par-5s, and with scoring at a premium (8 under won last year), birdies on par-5s are even more valuable.

No one was better on the par-5s last year than Laird, who led the field with 18 birdies on the way to victory last year. He made 10 birdies (plus an eagle) on the par-5s, and won by a single shot.

Laird's 12 under par on the par-5s was nine shots better than the field average of 3 under, and he was the only player (besides Bubba Watson) to go for every par-5 in two.

Here's how Laird won last year at Bay Hill: 

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Expect to see a sea of red on the scoreboard this week at the Wyndham Championship.

Sedgefield Country Club, home of the Wyndham Championship, is the last event before the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Players will be out to collect as many points as possible for Playoffs positioning, and to do that on this par-70 they’re going to have to collect bushels of birdies, as these 2010 ShotLink stats from Alex Turnbull reveal:

Courses with the most birdies

Courses with the easiest greens to hit

Courses with the easiest greens to hit inside 125 yards

Courses with the shortest proximity to the hole

Courses with the most eagles

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Fans at The Greenbrier Classic were treated to low scores on a picturesque layout.

The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier proved to be a dynamic setting last year with bushels of birdies and a 59 from champion Stuart Appleby – the fifth such magic number in TOUR history.

For this year’s event the course has undergone a restoration. Bentgrass has been added to the greens, some 200 yards have been added to the scorecard and fairways have been tightened. How will that affect scoring? We’ll find out soon enough, but in the meantime here’s some stats from the 2010 Greenbrier, compliments of Alex Turnbull at ShotLink.

Courses with the most birdies

Courses with the easiest greens to hit

Courses with the shortest proximity to the hole

Courses with the shortest rough proximity

Courses with the lowest putting percentage 5 to 15 feet