Over the past few weeks, we’ve heard – particularly from certain announcers or commentators – about how great Jordan Spieth is from 15-25 feet. And the statistic is true: Jordan has ranked very highly (often #1, currently #2) in that stat on the PGA Tour. It’s right here if you want to have a look: http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02328.2015.html .

But… we rank 15-25 feet as an SV① skill. We say that there is almost no separation to be had in this area. Yet… Jordan Spieth has had a pretty great year, that’s undeniable. And he’s been one of the leaders in the 15-25′ category all year too, so… maybe we missed something? Maybe there’s something to this?

Let’s take a look.

Let’s first look at the statistic itself. Jordan has made 49 of 183 attempts. That’s a 26.78% conversion rate. #50 on the list is Harris English with a “paltry” 17.80%. He’s made 42 of 236. Kyle Reifers is T100 and has made 38 of 236 (16.70%). 10% sounds like a lot, doesn’t it?

Heck, if #100 Reifers converted his 236 attempts at Jordan’s rate, he’d make an extra 25 putts (236*0.2678 = 63). If #5 English converted at Jordan’s rate, he’d make an extra 21 putts. That sounds like a lot! But… consider this. Harris English has played 85 rounds, and Kyle Reifers 86. That means each would gain only about 1/4 of a stroke per round – or one stroke per tournament (or half a stroke when they miss the cut) – if they putted as well as Jordan Spieth putted. That doesn’t sound like very much.

When looking at statistics, it’s important to do some basic analysis. This is the type of analysis that the commentators seem to be hoping you don’t do. They’re hoping you don’t expose how silly their stats are. They just want to sound smart, when even a little bit of research begins to punch holes in the theory.

We’ve plotted the ranking of players ranked 1-30 in the “15-25′ Putting” category against their ranking in two other categories. First, their scoring average:

Hmmm. How about their position on the money list:

No good? Okay, surely the guys who putt well from 15-25 feet are at least some of the best putters on the PGA Tour, right? Let’s take a look at their Strokes Gained Putting:

Hmmmm.

Here is all of the data.

Is this all there is to it? No. Rankings are not the absolute best way of measuring ability. After all, there was about a 10-percentage-point drop-off from #2 to #50, but only about 1% from #50 to #100. Also, though we’ve included the R² values here, the inclusion of only the top 30 in the 15-25′ putting rank skews this slightly. Even still, the data is telling.

It just takes a tiny bit more than a quick glance to notice one guy who is having a great year being at the top. Jordan is a good player only a little bit because of his 15-25′ putting… and a lot more because of his other skills.