Ross Jacobson · coaching record

Playing & Lesson Ledger

Every lesson in order — what was diagnosed, what we worked on — against scoring average, strokes gained (tee, approach) and greens. 49 lessons, Dec 2020 → Jan 2026, with the swing videos. 186 rounds, Jul 2021 → Aug 2026: strokes gained vs. tour baseline from 2023; 2021–22 from my stats sheet. Green marks on the chart are swings from when I was playing well.

Season by season

Seasons are short here — New England
2021–22 from the stats sheet: no strokes gained

2026: iron play is the drop. Irons lost 2.8 strokes a round — 2 more than in 2025, and nearly all of the fall in total strokes gained — with lack of compression back as the problem. Fairways and driving barely moved.

Every lesson, against the scorecard

10 rounds
Scoring average, rolling average faint dots = individual rounds swipe the chart sideways for older seasons lesson — hover for the diagnosis, click to open it here swing video, playing well — click to watch

Year by year

From the lessons and the tracked rounds
putting left out
202677.6 · 14 rounds · worst
Working
  • The January pattern — “path is money, attack angle’s money.”
  • Fairways steady (57.8%) and driving distance back to 260 y.
Struggling
  • By 2026 it has all eroded — nothing comes off solid. Compression and distance control gone; start line, low point, strike on the face and speed all off.
  • Iron play shows it: −2.8 a round, the whole of the drop. GIR down to 53.2% (9.6 greens).
  • Compression was the 2020–21 problem, fixed by 2022 (65.7%) — now back. The winter work hasn’t carried to the course.
202575.3 · 36 rounds · the slide starts
Working
  • The numbers still held — irons at −0.9 a round, the best of any season.
  • Strike moved off the heel in August; by November the best pivot he’d seen.
Struggling
  • The decay starts here, before the stats show it: compression takes conscious thought, getting through the ball without getting stuck, strikes drifting into the heel.
  • Off the tee — worst season, −2.5 a round; 6–7 mph of driver speed gone.
  • Fat shots and burnout by July, after 15–20 hours a week of practice.
202474.5 · 43 rounds · best
Working
  • Best season in the data. The July–October rebuild produced 73.8 over 21 rounds, approach −1.9.
  • GIR 73.5%, the highest of any season.
Struggling
  • Spring: the winter changes didn’t hold — two-way miss, heel strikes, 1–1.5 clubs of distance gone.
  • Withdrew from the US Am qualifier in July.
  • Lateral slide and fat long irons in the fall.
202375.2 · 65 rounds · peak
Working
  • My best ball-striking season — irons on point. Through the ball cleanly every time without thinking; strike and compression consistently good.
  • Greens up from 8.3 to 12.0 a round; iron SG −2.8 before July, −1.6 after. An August stretch of 8 rounds at 70.7 with 15.4 greens.
Struggling
  • The driver was where it went off — launch too low, ball too far back.
  • The miss was the hook and pull hook, as it always has been. Before the qualifier the path flipped to −5 and attack angle to −7.
202276.5 · 13 rounds
Working
  • Compression jumped to 65.7% of shots (approach 42% → 65%).
  • TrackMan combine: irons and wedges playing at scratch to +1.
Struggling
  • Greens — 46.6%, 8.4 a round; a short season off a knee injury.
  • Driver — spin ballooning, low ball speed, strikes low and toward the toe.
2020–2176.3 · 15 rounds (2021)
Working
  • Clubface and grip changes took hold — by June 2021 he called the pivot and release “in a really good place”.
  • Summer 2021: 76.3 average, 55% greens, a 70 at Cape Club in September.
Struggling
  • Compression — 45.8% of shots, approach only 42%.
  • Attack angle far too steep (irons −7 to −10); low pull hooks off the toe.
  • Swapping feels too often to let any of them stick.