Determinants of Performance on the PGA Tour

Professional golf is an area that is particularly attractive to study because it models a perfectly competitive economy where payoffs are directly related to individual productivity (Scully 2002). Since one‟s earnings on the PGA Tour are based on individual performance, different skill factors and other variables such as tour experience and the number of events entered can be compared to determine which variables explain a tour player‟s performance. This question is interesting and relevant as tour players devote countless hours to practice focusing on different aspects of their golf game. For instance, time devoted to increasing driving length is time that a player will not be able to use to improve his accuracy with irons. Consequently, there is a high opportunity cost to practice. A player must choose the aspects of the game in which to specialize. This paper seeks to determine which skill factors offer the highest payoffs for golfers on the PGA Tour.