Strokes Gained Off the Tee
Strokes gained off the tee is a golf statistic that measures how many strokes a player’s tee shots on par 4s and par 5s gain or lose against a benchmark, usually the PGA Tour scoring average from the same hole and distance.
What is strokes gained off the tee?
Strokes gained off the tee is one part of the larger strokes gained system, a way of scoring golf performance developed by Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, and laid out in his 2014 book Every Shot Counts. Rather than counting how many fairways a player hits, it puts a value on the result of each tee shot by comparing it to what an average tour player would do from the same spot.
The number works in both directions. A positive figure means a player drove the ball better than the benchmark on a given hole, round, or season. A negative figure means they lost ground to the field. Tour average is set at zero, so every player is measured against that line.
The PGA Tour added the stat in 2016, when it split its older “tee to green” category into three sharper measures: off the tee, approach, and around the green. That change let analysts say more than “this player is good at everything except putting.” It pinpointed driving as its own skill. The stat is sometimes called strokes gained driving, and the two terms mean the same thing.
Which shots it counts
Only tee shots on par-4s and par-5s count toward the stat. A standard course has around 14 such holes, so those 14 drives are what it measures.
Tee shots on par 3s are left out. Because a par 3 tee shot is aimed at the green rather than setting up a later approach, it falls under strokes gained approach instead. This split keeps driving performance separate from a player’s iron play into greens.
How strokes gained off the tee is calculated
Every position on a golf hole has an expected score attached to it, drawn from hundreds of thousands of shots recorded by the PGA Tour’s ShotLink system. From the tee on a 460-yard par 4, for example, the average tour player needs about 4.17 strokes to hole out.
The calculation compares the expected score before the tee shot with the expected score after it, then subtracts the one stroke the player used. Written out, the formula is: expected strokes at the start, minus expected strokes at the finish, minus one.
Take that 460-yard par 4. A player hits a 320-yard drive into the fairway, leaving 140 yards to the pin, a spot worth about 2.91 strokes for the average pro. The math is 4.17 minus 2.91 minus 1, which equals 0.26. That single drive gained just over a quarter of a stroke on the field. Repeat the calculation on every driving hole, add the results, and the total is a player’s strokes gained off the tee for the round.
Because the benchmark already accounts for where the ball finishes, the stat captures both how far a drive travels and whether it lands in the fairway, the rough, or a bunker. A long drive into trouble can still lose strokes, and a shorter drive in play can gain them.
What the number reveals about distance and accuracy
For years, golfers debated whether distance or accuracy off the tee matters more. Strokes gained data gave the argument hard numbers. In his analysis, Broadie found that distance accounts for roughly 60 to 65 percent of strokes gained driving, while accuracy makes up about 30 to 35 percent. An extra 20 yards of carry is worth close to 0.75 strokes per round for a tour pro.
The stat also shows that two players can reach the same result in two different ways. When Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa each won a 2021 PGA Tour event, both posted 0.57 strokes gained off the tee. Their methods looked nothing alike. McIlroy averaged 324 yards off the tee and found just 34 percent of fairways, while Morikawa averaged 285 yards and hit 84 percent. One bombed it, the other steered it, yet the stat rated their driving the same.
Strokes gained off the tee vs. related stats
Driving used to be measured with two simple numbers: driving distance and fairways hit, also called driving accuracy. Fairways hit just counts the percentage of fairways a player finds, with the tour average sitting around 59 percent. That figure ignores how far the ball traveled, how hard the hole played, and what the weather was doing.
The table below shows how the older measure compares with strokes gained off the tee.
| Feature | Fairways hit (driving accuracy) | Strokes gained off the tee |
| What it tracks | Percentage of fairways found | Strokes gained or lost vs. a benchmark |
| Accounts for distance? | No | Yes |
| Accounts for the lie (rough, sand)? | No | Yes |
| Accounts for hole difficulty? | No | Yes |
| Single-round meaning | Limited context | Direct comparison to the field |
Two related strokes gained terms are easy to mix up with this one. Strokes gained driving is simply another name for strokes gained off the tee. Strokes gained approach covers shots played into the green, including par 3 tee shots, so it sits next to the off-the-tee stat rather than overlapping with it.
What counts as a good number
Since tour average is zero, any positive figure means a player is driving better than the typical pro. The gaps are small, but they add up. A mark of 0.5 strokes per round works out to roughly two shots over a four-round tournament, a meaningful edge at the top level.
Tournament winners tend to sit well above the line. PGA Tour winners in 2021 averaged about 0.66 strokes gained off the tee, and Scottie Scheffler led the tour in 2023 at 1.021 strokes per round. For amateurs measuring against a tour benchmark, a negative number is normal and expected, since most recreational golfers give up several strokes a round to professionals off the tee. Apps such as Arccos and Shot Scope let everyday players track the stat by comparing their shots against golfers of similar handicaps.
Related Golf Terms
- Strokes gained — An advanced statistical method comparing a player’s performance to a baseline.
- Strokes gained around the green — How much a player gains or loses on short game shots compared to the field.
- Stroke index — A ranking of holes by difficulty used to allocate handicap strokes.
- Stroke play — The most common format where the total number of strokes for the round determines the winner.
- Strokes gained approach — How much a player gains or loses on approach shots compared to the field.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does strokes gained off the tee mean?
It measures how many strokes a player gains or loses with their tee shots on par 4s and par 5s, compared with a benchmark scoring average from the same positions.
Is strokes gained off the tee the same as strokes gained driving?
Yes. They are two names for the same statistic, both covering every tee shot on a par 4 or par 5.
Do par 3 tee shots count toward strokes gained off the tee?
No. Par 3 tee shots are counted under strokes gained approach, because they are played toward the green rather than to set up a separate approach shot.
What is a good strokes gained off the tee figure?
Anything above zero beats the tour average. PGA Tour winners often post around 0.5 to 1.0 per round, while the tour’s best drivers can average above 1.0 across a season.
Sources
- Broadie, Mark. Every Shot Counts. Gotham Books, 2014.
- PGA Tour. “Strokes Gained: Off the Tee.” pgatour.com. Accessed May 2026.
- Golf.com. “Why driving distance is so valuable in the modern game.” Accessed May 2026.
- Upgame Golf by Trackman. “How to use data to get the most out of your driving.” Accessed May 2026.
- Keiser University College of Golf. “The Strokes Gained Statistics Are Explained.” Accessed May 2026.
- The DIY Golfer. “What is Strokes Gained Off the Tee? Explained.” Accessed May 2026.
