Dispersion
Your REAL accuracy is a pattern, not your best shot.
In plain English
Hit 20 balls at one target and you get an oval of results — that oval is your dispersion. Golf is played with the whole oval, not the one in the middle.
Going deeper
Every club has a width (side-to-side) and depth (carry variance). Aiming = placing your OVAL so none of it touches disaster, not aiming its center at the pin.
The advanced view
Dispersion is the honest input for every strategy decision: pin-hunting only makes sense when your oval fits between the trouble. ShotIQ's per-club ±spread turns 'course management' from vibes into geometry.
Why it matters for scoring
It's the difference between playing YOUR game and playing a fantasy — and the core input to the Caddie's advice.
How it shows up in your ball flight
Not one flight — the honest spread of all of them.
How it shows up in launch monitor data
±side spread and carry variance per club in My Bag; the ellipse the Shot Caddie draws on the map IS this number.
Typical values: 7-iron ±7–12y side for mid-handicaps.
Symptoms
- Short-siding constantly
- Blaming single bad swings for double bogeys
- Aiming at every pin
Common causes
- Judging yourself by your best strike
- Never measuring the pattern
How to improve it
- Learn each scoring club's real ±spread from My Bag
- Aim so the WHOLE ellipse misses trouble
- Tighten the pattern with face control work — dispersion is mostly face
Drills that train this
Related concepts
- ↪️ Shot ShapeOwning ONE reliable curve beats chasing straight.
- 🗺 Course StrategyScoring is a math problem your data already solved.
- 🌀 Face to PathThe single number that explains why your ball curves.
- ⏱ TempoThe rhythm that keeps every other number repeatable.
Ask the ShotIQ coach
Questions this concept answers about your data, one tap away in the app:
- “What is my dispersion?”
- “How should dispersion change my aim?”