RC Greenlight
Every number ends with a choice
State of the Game · The Junior Career
— Twelve months of shot data, and a closing round that told the truth

The
player.

You are not walking away from junior golf. You are walking out the top of it — every strokes-gained category better than it was, all four facets trending up, and the last round of the run your best of the week. This is what you built, and the one number that follows you to college.

Window
12 mo
Scoring Avg
71.42
Skill rating
96
Handicap
Plus
— The Thesis

You didn't age out of
junior golf. You
outgrew it.

A year ago the short game was the weak link and the putter was streaky. Today around-the-green proximity beats the tour T25 bar, the putter is the best facet you own, and approach proximity has come in more than two feet. Every strokes-gained category improved. There is exactly one unsolved band left — and it is a club decision, not a swing.

+17
ARG skill rating, off last Aug's floor
2' 2"
Approach proximity gained
4 / 4
Facets gaining strokes vs the last read
200–220
The one band still to own

“I've gotten really good at learning how to get around the golf course in a smart, strategic way — so I can compete even without my best stuff.”

The player · round notes, US Am Local Qualifier

That was the read a year ago, and it was right. Here is what changed: the skills caught up to the navigation. You don't only get around the course now — you have facets that beat tour benchmarks. College gets a player, not a survivor.

— The Read · Six Things The Career Data Says

Three finished skills.
Three levers you take to college.

Two of these weapons didn't exist twelve months ago. And not one of the three levers is a contact problem — they are all decisions and reps.
↑ Weapons — Built And Banked
01
The putter is now your best facet.
Skill rating 100 — a one-year high, and it never dropped below 93 all year. Twelve three-putts in 337 holes.
100
PUTT RATING
02
Around the green beats the tour bar.
7'5" average proximity against a tour T25 mark of 8'9", and strokes gained essentially level at −0.02.
7' 5"
ARG PROX
03
The approach game peaked at the end.
31'9" proximity vs a 31'5" tour T25 bar, and APP skill rating finished the year at its twelve-month high.
31' 9"
APP PROX
→ Levers — Where The Next Strokes Live
01
The 200–220 yard band.
16% of greens held, 42% of the misses right. The same fingerprint the June–July window showed. One band, one club decision.
16%
GREENS HIT
02
The lie tax around the green.
Inside 6 ft on 75% of chips from fairway — but 36% from rough and 35% from sand. The lie is choosing the score.
36%
ROUGH, IN 6 FT
03
Position into red numbers.
26% birdie conversion against a 30% tour bar. You've stopped losing strokes on the greens — the next step is stealing them.
26%
BIRDIE CONV
Bottom line Total skill rating 96, and every category gaining. College doesn't need a new game out of you — it needs the 200–220 club and the birdie putt.
— Twelve Months · The Arc Of The Last Year

Every facet ends the year
higher than it started it.

Skill rating by month, July last year to now. The short game is the story — but look at the last three columns of every row.
PUTT the anchor became the weapon96 → 100 · yr avg 96
ARG the transformation82 → 94 · yr avg 86
OTT the steady one90 → 93 · yr avg 92
APP finished at its high84 → 91 · yr avg 86
JASONDJFMAMJJnow
Skill rating · monthly · Jul last year → now▮ current▮ month below the year average
The transformation
Around the green sat at 76.5 last August — the weakest facet you had. It is 94 now, with the last four months all at or above the year average. That is a skill rebuilt inside twelve months, and it is the most valuable thing in this deck.
+17points off the floor
What held all year
Off the tee never left a nine-point band, and the putter never dropped below 93 in any month. Two skills you can plan around before you know what the day's swing looks like.
One honest watch item
Sand saves read 45% in the current window against 60% in the June–July sample, and the six-foot conversion from sand is 35% on 20 shots. Small sample — so it's a watch item, not a verdict. Bunker reps are cheap insurance.
— The Last Week · SFPGA Junior Cup · BallenIsles (East)

72, 71, 70. He got better
every single day.

The final event of the junior career, and the shape of it is the whole point: a stroke better each round, finishing T2, one back.
Round 1
72
E · in the mix
Round 2
71
−1 · one better
Round 3 · best of the week
70
−2 · 5 birdies
Final
213−3
T2 · one stroke back
Final leaderboard · top six
POSPLAYERR1R2R3TOTPAR
1Luke Penn716873212−4
T2The player727170213−3
T2Wes Hollis736872213−3
4Henry Lowe687274214−2
5Matt Sterling737173217+1
6Charles Sandoval737075218+2
Greenlight Score · entering the week → Round 3
PUTT97 → 104
+7
APP88 → 99
+11
OTT96 → 85
−11
ARG98 → 81
−17
Greenlight Score, benchmarked to his own entering figures — not tour average. A separate scale from the previous slide's skill rating.
1stroke, one hole.
A bogey at the par-5 12th was the margin: a par there signs for 212 and ties Penn for the title. The plan held for 54 holes — one tee shot was the difference between T2 and a playoff.
— Off The Tee · The Driver Earned Its Place

Fairways up five points.
Distance is the open account.

A year ago the two-way miss was the headline. Now the miss is nearly symmetrical and the fairway count is up — what's left is yards.
Tee shot dispersion · last-20 window
11%
Miss left
73%
Fairway hit
14%
Miss right
Fairways, then → now
68% → 73%
Strokes gained OTT
−1.13 → −1.07
Yards covered by tee shots
59.7%
The open account
280yds avg · tour T25 307
Twenty-seven yards is the gap, and it is the reason the 200–220 band exists on your card at all. Every yard you add moves an approach out of your weakest window and into your best one. Speed work is the highest-leverage physical investment you have.
Driving distance vs the tour bar91% of it
▮ 280 yds · his average┃ 307 · tour T25
314
Longest of the final round
27
Yards to the tour bar
73%
Fairways, career high
Distance is a training outcome, not a talent ceiling
What the final round showed
Off the tee graded 85 against a 96 entering figure at the Junior Cup — 64% fairways, and the tee shot at the 12th was the one stroke that cost the playoff. It is the one facet that still asks for attention, and it asks in yards and commitment, not mechanics: his best drive of that round went 314.
— The Approach Ladder · The One Number That Follows You

The ladder is clean to 200.
Then one rung is missing.

Greens held by distance, all lies. Every band behaves the way distance says it should — except one, and 220+ grades twice as well as it does.
Greens hit going for the green · % · by distance to the pin · tracking-app bands (pre-ladder)
100
50–75
88
75–100
80
100–120
78
120–140
71
140–160
66
160–180
59
180–200
16
200–220
33
220+
Scoring range · inside 140, 78%+ held
Solid · 140–180
Thinning · 180–200
The missing rung · 200–220
Where the 200–220 shots finish
16%HIT GREEN
5% long
16% short
21%
42% →
Left / right / long / short of the green
Why it's a decision, not a swing
220+ holds 33% of greens — twice the rate of 200–220. If this were a distance or contact problem, the longer band would be worse. It isn't. 200–220 is the range where the club choice is genuinely in doubt and the swing goes after it: that's where 42% leaks right.
Two windows, one fingerprint
The June–July tournament sample read 18% greens, 41% right in this band. The full career window reads 16% and 42%. Independent samples, same number — which is exactly why this is the one thing worth naming, and exactly why it will move the moment you commit a club to it.
— Around The Green · The Skill You Rebuilt

Closer to the hole than the
tour bar. The lie is the tax.

This was the weakest facet you owned last August. It is now a genuine weapon — with one clean split left in it.
From Fairway
75%
finish inside 6 ft
Shots75
House gatemet
Finished. Three in four inside the gate.
From Rough
36%
finish inside 6 ft
Shots14
Gap to fairway−39 pts
Get it on, take the putt. Don't chase the flag.
From Sand
35%
finish inside 6 ft
Shots20
Sand save45%
Cheapest reps you can buy this fall.
The proof it's real
7' 5"vs tour T25 8'9"
Average proximity from around the green, and strokes gained at −0.02 — level. You are leaving college-bound with a short game that already measures better than the tour benchmark it's held against.
The miss rule
Bias every green miss to the long side and the open side — the lie you leave yourself is worth more than the yards you save. Short-sided into rough is the one miss the data says costs you: 36% inside 6 ft instead of 75%.
— Putting · From Streaky To Your Best Facet

You stopped giving strokes away.
Next: start taking them.

Skill rating 100 — the highest of any facet you own, and the steadiest month to month. The remaining gap isn't the stroke. It's makes.
The scorecard of the putter · 337 holes with a putt
One-putt holes117 / 337
35%
Two-putt holes208 / 337
62%
Three-putt holes · the discipline12 / 337
3.6%
Putts per putting hole1.69
Aggressive speed on every band and still only twelve three-putts — he takes his looks without ever giving one back.
569 putts across the window · 117 + 208 + 12 reconciles to the total exactly
100
PUTT skill rating
A year ago this was the facet you called streaky. It never fell below 93 in any month since, and it finishes the junior career at its twelve-month high. The stroke is not a question any more.
The lever · total distance holed
63' 11"vs tour T25 78'9"
▮ the player · ┃ tour T25 bar
Fifteen feet of holed putts separates you from the tour benchmark. That is not a stroke problem on a facet grading 100 — it's green-reading and start-line volume. More looks holed, same stroke.
The lever · birdie conversion
26%vs 30% tour bar
Birdies made per green hit in regulation. You reach 70% of greens — the position is there. Closing four points here is roughly a birdie every second round, which at college level is the difference between counting and travelling.
At the Junior Cup, PUTT graded 104 vs a 97 entering figure — the reset is already showing
— The Closing Round · What He Did Under It

Three times in trouble. Three times
he came out at par or better.

−0.67
Average to par · recovery holes
On the three holes of the last round where he had to play a recovery shot, he gained on the field — two birdies and a par. That is the trait that makes a game plan work: the mistake never got to compound.
H3 · −1
Par 5 · recovery to birdie
Drive into a recovery spot, punched back out, rolled in 12 ft.
H7 · E
Par 5 · recovery to par
Drive into trouble, saved out cleanly, two-putt par. No drama.
H17 · −1
Par 5 · bunker to birdie
Drive bunkered, recovered, 5-iron on, 14-footer holed.
The last three shots of a junior career
Greenlight Score · 0–200 per shot
189
H4 · 7-iron, 158 yds
To a foot. Tap-in birdie.
189
H14 · 9-iron, 170 yds
309-yard drive, then 2 ft.
163
H18 · the last putt
11 ft for par, holed, to seal T2.
He finished his junior career by holing an eleven-footer under pressure on the last green. Not a lucky finish — the same composure the data has recorded for two straight windows, showing up when the card was worth the most.

Five birdies, ten pars, three bogeys, no doubles — his cleanest card of the week, on the day it counted most.

SFPGA Junior Cup · Round 3 · 70 (−2) · BallenIsles East
— The Last Card · Round 3, Hole By Hole

He beat the field on thirteen
holes out of eighteen.

The final scorecard of the junior career, against the tournament leader and against the field average. Positive means he won the hole.
HOLE123456789101112131415161718
SCORE444244544436335344
PAR445343544435444354
vs LEADEREE+1+1E−1EEEEE−2+2+1−2+1+1E
vs FIELD+1.5 → −1.5
▮ gained on the field▮ lost to the field▮ the two swing holesBar height = strokes gained on the field average · above the line = better than the field
6–3
He won more holes than the champion. Six holes better than Penn, three worse, nine halved — and finished a stroke behind. That's how close it was.
13
Holes he beat the field average on, against four lost and one level — a net +5.9 on the field across eighteen holes.
2
Holes carried the whole margin — the 12th and the 15th. Everywhere else on the card he matched or beat the man who won.
— The Navigation Plan · Into Oglethorpe

Four things to carry in.
None of them is a new swing.

The Stormy Petrels are a top-fifteen Division III program with two national titles — and a team tracked in the same data language you already speak.
01Own one club at 200–220.
The band holds 16% of greens while 220+ holds 33% — so it isn't distance, it's the club you're undecided about. Pick the one you commit to, rehearse it, and let the leak close. It's the single biggest scoring lever on this card.
Closes a two-window, 42%-right pattern
02Keep buying yards.
280 against a 307 tour bar, with fairways already up to 73%. You don't need to trade accuracy for it — you've proved that. Every added yard pulls approaches down out of the weak band into the range where you hold 78% of greens.
Speed work is the physical priority
03Miss long side, miss open side.
Inside 6 ft on 75% of chips from fairway, 36% from rough, 35% from sand. The lie chooses the score, so choose the lie: never short-sided, always toward the open side. And put real reps into the bunker — that's your cheapest available stroke this fall.
Costs nothing but aim
04Start stealing with the putter.
A facet grading 100 that converts 26% of its birdie looks against a 30% bar. The stroke is finished; the volume of makes isn't. Green-reading and start-line reps turn 70% greens in regulation into red numbers — and red numbers are what count in a college lineup.
Four points here is a birdie every second round
The bar Your scoring average is 71.42 and every facet is trending up. You arrive able to compete for a spot on day one — the plan is to keep the arc you're already on.
RC Greenlight
State of the Game · The player · The Junior Career
— The one thing to carry to Georgia

On to the next level.

Total skill rating 96. Scoring average 71.42. A short game and a putter that measure better than the tour bars they're held against, a driver finding more fairways than it ever has, and one band on the card left to own. Junior golf got your worst years. College gets the player you built.

The last putt of your junior career was an eleven-footer, under pressure, to sign for your best round of the week. Keep that as the standard.

Data: tracking-app player profile, last-20-round window & twelve-month trend · SFPGA Junior Cup shot-by-shot · the skill rating and the Greenlight Score are separate scales, labelled per slide