How is the "ball striking" statistic measured on the PGA tour?

Answer 1

not sure if there is such a thing or statistic called ball striking. it's more of something commentators/journalists speak or write about when a player is either doing it well or poorly.
as far as statistics go, greens hit in regulation plus driving accuracy are probably the 2 most important related to ball striking in general.
also, ball striking could be measured by counting the number of times the club strikes the ball, while in play, on a given hole, with the exception being a whiff or miss - which is still counted as a stroke. all of which add up to be your score in stroke play format.

Answer 2

"Ball Striking"

Definition: Most simply put, "ball striking" is just a reference to the full swing. A golfer who is said to be a great ballstriker is one who excels at the full swing.
A little more in-depth, ball striking refers to a golfer's ability to put the clubface on the ball at impact in the desired manner, time after time, and with great command. When you hear that this or that golfer is a great ballstriker, there is also the implication that the golfer can make the ball do what he or she wants - that the golfer possesses a great ability to work the ball (producing the desired amount of fade or draw, for example). Which goes back to the above: put the clubface on the ball at impact in the desired manner, time after time, and with great command.

Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino are often offered up as examples of the greatest ballstrikers because they were highly gifted at the full swing shots - they had extraordinary consistency in their swings, and were able, with great precision, to make the ball go where they wanted it to go.

Ball striking is also a statistical category tracked by professional golf tours that is a measure of a golfer's combined abilities in driving and hitting greens.

To produce its Ball Striking rankings, the PGA Tour combines a player's ranking in Total Driving and Greens in Regulation. For example, Player A ranks 17th in Total Driving and first in GIR. Add those two numbers together for a value of 18. If that's the lowest such value, then Player A is No. 1 in Ball Striking.