Strokes Gained
Strokes gained is a golf statistic that measures how well a player performs on each shot compared to a benchmark average, expressed as a positive or negative number of strokes.
What is strokes gained?
Strokes gained answers a question that older golf stats never could: was that shot actually good? A drive that splits the fairway and a drive that trickles into light rough both show up the same way under traditional measures, yet one clearly leaves the player better off. Strokes gained puts a number on that difference by comparing every shot to what an average golfer, at a chosen skill level, would typically do from the same spot.
The benchmark is what makes it work. Using a large database of shots, golf statisticians know roughly how many strokes it takes to hole out from any position on the course, whether that is 150 yards out in the fairway, 30 feet from the pin, or three feet from the cup. A shot that improves the player’s position more than the average earns a positive value. A shot that leaves the player worse off than average gets a negative one.
Because every shot receives its own value, the numbers add up across a round and across categories. A golfer can see that they gained half a stroke off the tee but lost a full stroke on the greens, which points directly at what to practice. On the PGA Tour, the benchmark is the average tour player, so most amateurs measured against that standard will see mostly negative figures. Compared against a more realistic benchmark, such as a scratch or a 15-handicap golfer, the same player might land in positive territory.
How strokes gained is calculated
Every shot starts and ends somewhere, and each of those positions has an expected score attached to it. The calculation simply measures the change. The formula golf analysts use is:
Strokes gained = (average strokes to hole out from the starting position) − (average strokes to hole out from the finishing position) − 1
The “minus one” accounts for the shot the player just hit. Avidgolfer Magazine explains the deduction as the stroke taken to move from the start position to the finish position.
A worked example makes it concrete. Picture an approach from the fairway where the average score to finish the hole is 2.8 strokes. The golfer hits it to 10 feet. From there, the average player holes out in about 1.6 strokes, so the math runs 2.8 − 1.6 − 1 = 0.2, and the shot gained roughly two-tenths of a stroke on the field. The same arithmetic applies to a drive, a chip, or a putt.
The benchmark a golfer is measured against changes the result entirely. MyGolfSpy uses the comparison of a 250-yard drive on a 450-yard par 4: for a tour pro who normally hits it farther, that drive can carry a small negative value, while for an 18-handicap player whose average drive is shorter, the same shot is a clear positive. Performance tracking apps let amateurs benchmark against scratch, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 handicap levels rather than only the tour average.
The four strokes gained categories
The PGA Tour publishes strokes gained for four distinct parts of the game, and the four add up to a player’s total. Each one isolates a skill so a golfer can see exactly where strokes come and go.
| Category | What it measures |
|---|---|
| Off the tee | All tee shots on par 4s and par 5s |
| Approach the green | Approach shots, including par-3 tee shots, that are not around the green or putts |
| Around the green | Any shot within 30 yards of the edge of the green that is not on the putting surface |
| Putting | Every stroke played on the green |
Two combined figures often appear in broadcasts as well. Tee-to-green adds off the tee, approach, and around the green into a single number for everything except putting. Total strokes gained sums all four categories and reflects overall performance against the field. According to research Mark Broadie ran on the PGA Tour’s shot database, approach play alone accounts for roughly 40 percent of the scoring advantage held by the top 40 players on tour, which is why approach is often called the strongest predictor of elite golf.
Strokes gained vs traditional golf stats
Most golfers arrive at strokes gained because they have heard it praised as better than the older numbers, and the contrast is the clearest way to understand its value. Traditional stats record what happened; strokes gained records how much it mattered.
| Traditional stat | What it misses | What strokes gained adds |
|---|---|---|
| Fairways hit | Treats a one-yard miss and an out-of-bounds the same | Weighs how costly the miss actually was |
| Greens in regulation | Ignores whether the approach finished 3 feet or 40 feet away | Values proximity, not just hitting the green |
| Putts per round | Counts a 40-foot make the same as a tap-in | Credits the difficulty of the putt holed |
National Club Golfer uses putting to show the gap: holing a 30-foot putt is a far better performance than a six-inch tap-in, yet a scorecard logs both as a single putt. Strokes gained captures that difference because it compares the putt to how often the field holes out from that exact distance. On tour, the distance at which a golfer has a 50/50 chance of making a putt sits at about seven feet, ten inches.
A brief history of strokes gained
The concept came from Mark Broadie, a quantitative finance professor at Columbia Business School, who began collecting detailed amateur shot data in the early 2000s and fed it into a program he called Golfmetrics. Around the same time, the PGA Tour’s ShotLink system, launched in 2003, was recording the location of every shot hit at tour events.
Broadie put that data to a new use, and the PGA Tour officially adopted its first strokes gained measure, strokes gained putting, in May 2011. Broadie laid out the full method for the public in his 2014 book Every Shot Counts. The Tour added strokes gained tee-to-green in 2014, then in late May 2016 broke that figure into the three separate categories golfers know today: off the tee, approach the green, and around the green. The statistic has since been back-dated through the Tour’s records to 2004 and now appears regularly in tournament coverage.
Related Golf Terms
- Stroke index — A ranking of holes by difficulty used to allocate handicap strokes
- Stroke — Any forward movement of the club made with the intention of hitting the ball.
- Stimpmeter — A device used to measure the speed of a putting green.
- Stroke play — The most common format where the total number of strokes for the round determines the winner.
- Stinger — A low, penetrating tee shot designed to maximize distance and control in wind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is strokes gained always positive or negative?
Yes. A positive number means the golfer performed better than the benchmark on that shot or in that category, and a negative number means they performed worse. A value of zero would mean exactly average.
What is a good strokes gained number?
It depends entirely on the benchmark. Against the PGA Tour average, any positive total is strong, since it means beating the field. Against an amateur benchmark such as a 15-handicap, a recreational player can post positive numbers in their better categories.
Can amateurs use strokes gained?
Yes. Shot-tracking apps and devices calculate strokes gained from rounds an amateur logs and let them compare against handicap-based benchmarks rather than only tour pros, which gives a more realistic picture of strengths and weaknesses.
What is strokes gained tee-to-green?
It combines off the tee, approach the green, and around the green into one figure covering every shot except putts. It is a quick measure of a player’s long game and ball-striking.
Who invented strokes gained?
Mark Broadie, a Columbia Business School professor, developed and popularized the method, working with PGA Tour ShotLink data. He detailed it in his 2014 book Every Shot Counts.
Sources
- Columbia Business School. “The Golf Guru.” Accessed May 2026.
- golf.com. “The Man With Two Brains: Strokes gained guru Mark Broadie.” Accessed May 2026.
- Golf Digest. “Do the PGA Tour’s ‘Strokes Gained’ statistics have a sample-size problem?” Accessed May 2026.
- CBS Sports. “There’s a lot to learn from golf’s ‘strokes gained’ stats.” Accessed May 2026.
- The Golf News Net. “PGA Tour unveils expanded strokes gained statistics.” Accessed May 2026.
- PGA Tour. “Strokes Gained Stats Categories.” Accessed May 2026.
- MyGolfSpy. “Explaining Strokes Gained.” Accessed May 2026.
- National Club Golfer. “Strokes Gained explained.” Accessed May 2026.
