Edoardo Molinari, pro golf’s data whisperer, speaks on using analytics to improve

You may know Edoardo Molinari because of his 2005 U.S. Amateur victory at Merion Golf Club, or for being part of the winning European Team at the 2010 Ryder Cup, or for his three DP World Tour victories.

You may know him as a 2023 Ryder Cup vice captain for Europe, or even as Francesco Molinari’s brother.

But did you also know that he graduated from the Polytechnic University of Turin with a degree in engineering and that he was recently announced by Arccos Golf as its new chief data strategist and lead TOUR ambassador?

As the founder of StatisticGolf in 2020, which has recently morphed into the Arccos Pro Insights platform, Molinari has solidified himself as one of the top data analysts for TOUR players over the past several years. What started as a simple Excel sheet in earlier years has transformed into a legitimate business service for his peers.

Molinari works with more than 30 pros globally, including Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland and Nelly Korda. The Italian still competes professionally on the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR, including at this week’s Barracuda Championship in the Reno-Tahoe region.

These days, rather than tracking stats by hand, or relying on ShotLink and Excel spreadsheets, Molinari entrusts the Arccos data-tracking system and analytics platform, which he’s now helping to improve.

Arccos is a golf app that uses sensors in the butt end of each golf grip to automatically track every shot, providing insights for improvement. Molinari uses Arccos sensors in his clubs whether he’s playing a practice round or competing in professional events.

“At the end of each round, I just make a few little adjustments to make sure that the data is correct, and then on my phone, I can have a look at, overall, my gain, my driving stats, my dispersion of the tee,” Molinari said this week. “Same thing with shots into the greens; it will break down my strokes gained into different distances; short game it's by lie, so how good I am from the bunkers, from the rough around the greens, how far do I hit it? And then putting, same thing by distance.

“So basically, anytime I play or practice, I use it. I collect data about my game and then that helps me a lot, focusing on the areas that I need to focus when I'm practicing, and at the same time preparing better for the next few events. I've been obviously into stats and analytics for a long, long time of my career, and I feel like with Arccos, I'm bringing it to a new level. They've been helping me a lot. I've been helping them develop their app, making it better and better and more useful for what I need. And it's been a great partnership so far.”

Molinari said his data-driven approach has helped him most with strategy – more specifically, it has opened his eyes to use his driver more often off the tee.

“Strategy is a big thing,” Molinari said. “I think off the tee especially, I'm a good driver of the ball, and once I started looking at the numbers a bit more in-depth, I realized I could hit driver a lot more often than I used to. So I would say, these days, I hit driver a lot more than other players simply because, A) I'm more accurate than average and, B) I'm a little bit shorter than average. Especially on shorter holes, I try and push it up a bit more, as much as I can, and I feel like I've been gaining shots in that area for sure.”

On that note, Molinari recently switched into Titleist’s new GT3 8-degree driver, which he said provides more consistent spin rates and roughly 5 to 6 more yards of distance compared to his previous driver.

On the lower end of his setup, Molinari uses four wedges (PW, 52, 56 and 60 degrees) – a decision that was solidified by the proof he found in the data.

“Looking at the numbers, I realized that I could gain a lot more with the wedges … if I didn't have a 3-iron,” Molinari said. “So I basically have a bit of a bigger gap between my 4-iron and the hybrid. But the thing is, once you're that far away from the green, all you're trying to do is just trying to hit the green. So I don't need a perfect number there, but I'm happier to have some more options around the greens, and especially from shots in the 75- to 125-yard range.”

Not everything is pure numbers, though. Sometimes, good old-fashioned advice from his peers can help, too.

Last year at the Barracuda Championship, Molinari picked up an L.A.B. Golf Mezz.1 Max broomstick putter, thanks to a suggestion from fellow pro and 14-time PGA TOUR winner Adam Scott.

“I really like the putter, especially technology with the shaft going to the COG (center of gravity) of the club,” Molinari said. “I feel like it's very stable throughout the stroke. It's a very heavy head and it allows me to putt definitely better than I was putting before.

“Last year, just before this event, I was going through a spell where I was putting very poorly. And I came here, and the L.A.B. rep was on the putting green. I had just spoken the week before with Adam Scott, and Adam obviously has been using an L.A.B. putter for quite some time. And he said, you know, if you're (struggling) with your putting, just try it, and I think it could help you.

“So I came here. You know, expectations were very low. I tried the putter. It felt very good immediately. I put it in the bag … after the first two days, and I putted it well on the weekend, and then it's been in the bag ever since. I feel like it's much more stable and much more reliable than any other putter I've ever used.”