Ranking driving performance of professional golfers.

Refer to The Sport Journal (Winter 2007) study of a new method for ranking the total driving performance of golfers on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) tour, presented in Exercise 2.66 (p. 90). Recall that the method computes a driving performance index based on a golfer’s average driving distance (yards) and driving accuracy

(percent of drives that land in the fairway). Data for the top 40 PGA golfers (as ranked by the new method) are saved in the PGA file. (The first five and last five observations are listed in the next table.)

a. Write the equation of a straight-line model relating driving accuracy (y) to diving distance (x). 

b. Use simple linear regression to fit the model you found in part a to the data. Give the least squares prediction equation.

c. Interpret the estimated y-intercept of the line.

d. Interpret the estimated slope of the line.

e. A professional golfer, practicing a new swing to increase his average driving distance, is concerned that his driving accuracy will be lower. Which of the two estimates, y-intercept or slope, will help you determine whether the golfer’s concern is a valid one?
Explain.

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Driving Driving Driving Distance Accuracy Performance 12345 Rank Woods Player (yards) (%) Index 316.1 54.6 3.58 Perry 304.7 63.4 3.48 Gutschewski 310.5 57.9 3.27 Wetterich 311.7 56.6 3.18 Hearn 295.2 68.5 2.82 : 36 Senden 291 66 1.31 37 Mickelson 300 58.7 1.30 38 Watney 298.9 59.4 1.26 39 Trahan 295.8 61.8 1.23 40 Pappas 309.4 50.6 1.17