Strokes Gained Putting
Strokes gained putting is a golf statistic that measures how well a player putts compared to a benchmark, usually the PGA Tour average, by comparing the number of putts taken from a given distance to the number an average player would need from that same spot.
What is strokes gained putting?
A two-foot putt and a 40-foot putt both count as one stroke on the scorecard, yet anyone who has stood over them knows they are not the same task. Strokes gained putting exists to capture that difference. It looks at the distance of each putt, works out how many putts a benchmark golfer would typically need from there, and compares that figure to how many putts the player actually took.
The benchmark comes from a huge pool of recorded putts. On the PGA Tour, the average golfer two-putts from 33 feet, so holing out in one putt from that range is worth a full stroke gained on the field. Two-putt from there, and the result is zero, since that matches the average. Three-putt and the player loses a stroke. Most individual putts land somewhere in between, producing small fractions of a stroke gained or lost.
Because every putt is judged against what is normal from that exact distance, the number reflects putting skill on its own. It strips out how the player reached the green and how easy or hard the rest of the round was. A golfer who hears a commentator say a player “gained 2.2 strokes putting” is hearing that the player putted 2.2 strokes better than the field that day, nothing more and nothing less.
How strokes gained putting is calculated
The formula is short: expected putts minus actual putts. The expected figure is the average number of putts a benchmark golfer needs to hole out from the starting distance, and the actual figure is what the player took.
Mark Broadie, the Columbia Business School professor who built the method, gives a clean example. From 33 feet, the Tour average is 2.0 putts. A one-putt from there gains a stroke (2.0 minus 1.0), a two-putt gains nothing (2.0 minus 2.0), and a three-putt loses one (2.0 minus 3.0). Shorter putts produce smaller swings because the benchmark sits closer to a single putt. From 10 feet, where Tour players hole out about 40% of the time, the average is roughly 1.61 putts. Sink it, and the player gains 0.61; take two, and the player loses 0.39.
Those expected figures rest on benchmarks built from enormous datasets. The table below shows typical Tour averages by distance, drawn from Broadie’s research.
| Putt distance | Tour average putts | Make rate |
|---|---|---|
| 2 ft | 1.01 | 99% |
| 3 ft | 1.04 | 96% |
| 5 ft | 1.23 | 77% |
| 8 ft | 1.50 | 50% |
| 10 ft | 1.61 | 40% |
| 20 ft | 1.87 | 15% |
| 30 ft | 1.98 | 7% |
| 50 ft | 2.14 | 3% |
To grade a full round, every putt gets this treatment, and the results are added together. Some putts come out positive, some negative, and the total says whether the player putted above or below the benchmark overall. The PGA Tour also publishes a version adjusted for course difficulty, since fast, severe greens like those at Pebble Beach are harder to putt than gentler surfaces, and a fair comparison has to account for that.
One detail trips people up: only putts struck on the putting surface count. A ball rolled with a putter from the fringe does not register as a putt under this statistic, so it sits outside the strokes gained putting calculation.
Strokes gained putting vs putts per round
For decades, putts per round was the standard way to judge a golfer on the greens. It simply totals the putts taken across 18 holes. Tour players average around 29; many amateurs sit somewhere between 32 and 40. But that total says nothing about where each putt started, and that single omission is the whole problem.
Consider a golfer who hits approach shots close all day and leaves short putts. Their putts-per-round total looks excellent, but that owes more to sharp iron play than to the putter. Another golfer might rack up a high total simply because they reach greens far from the hole and face long first putts. Broadie pointed to Angel Cabrera’s round at the 2010 Deutsche Bank Championship, where 26 putts looked sharp against the 29 average, yet his strokes gained putting came out at minus 2.8. Two holes where he chipped in skipped the putter entirely, and his first putts were unusually short, which flattered the raw count.
The table below lays out the difference.
| Putts per round | Strokes gained putting | |
|---|---|---|
| What it counts | Total putts over 18 holes | Each putt vs. the average from that distance |
| Accounts for distance | No | Yes |
| Affected by approach play | Yes, heavily | No, isolates putting |
| Adjusts for green difficulty | No | Yes (Tour version) |
| Best used for | A quick rough gauge | Judging true putting skill |
Strokes gained putting answers the question, putts per round cannot: judged against the distances faced, did the player actually putt well?
What counts as a good strokes gained putting number
Any positive number means the player putted better than the benchmark, and any negative number means worse. On the PGA Tour, the season leaders in a single strokes gained category tend to land between roughly +1.0 and +2.0 per round. Maverick McNealy led the Tour in strokes gained putting across the 2023 season at about +0.956 strokes per round, which over a full year added up to more than 46 strokes gained on the field.
Context matters more than the raw figure, though. A Tour pro and a mid-handicap amateur are not measured against the same benchmark, so an amateur tracking the stat through an app usually compares against players of similar ability rather than the Tour. Against a scratch-golfer baseline, a recreational player sitting near zero is putting solidly. Analysts at Break X Golf note that the real separation among good putters tends to come from the six-to-12-foot range, where holing a few extra putts adds up over a round.
Where strokes gained putting came from
The statistic is the work of Mark Broadie, a quantitative-finance professor at Columbia Business School who spent years studying golf data through a program he called Golfmetrics. When the PGA Tour opened its ShotLink database, which records the position of every shot, Broadie applied his benchmarks to millions of real shots and refined the method.
The Tour adopted strokes gained putting as an official statistic in May 2011, its first foray into this kind of analytics. Categories for the rest of the game followed in the years that came after, first off the tee and on approach shots, then around the green. Broadie laid out the full method in his 2014 book Every Shot Counts. His research also reshaped a long-held belief: putting accounts for only about 15% of the edge the best players hold, while the long game explains roughly two-thirds of the scoring difference between golfers. The old line “drive for show, putt for dough” turned out to be only part of the story.
Related Golf Terms
- Strokes gained around the green — How much a player gains or loses on short game shots compared to the field.
- Strokes gained — An advanced statistical method comparing a player’s performance to a baseline.
- Strokes gained approach — How much a player gains or loses on approach shots compared to the field.
- Strokes gained off the tee — How much a player gains or loses with their tee shots compared to the field.
- Stroke play — The most common format where the total number of strokes for the round determines the winner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does strokes gained putting only work for professionals?
No. The PGA Tour calculates it automatically through ShotLink, but amateurs can track it through apps such as Arccos or Shot Scope, which compare a player’s putts against golfers of similar skill rather than Tour pros.
Is a negative strokes gained putting number bad?
It means the player putted below the chosen benchmark for that round, which is normal for most golfers measured against Tour pros. Compared against a same-handicap benchmark, the figure becomes a more realistic gauge of putting.
What is the difference between strokes gained putting and total strokes gained?
Strokes gained putting covers only putts on the green. Total strokes gained combines every category into one number, so it reflects driving, approach play, the short game, and putting together rather than the greens alone.
Do putts from the fringe count?
No. Only strokes played from the putting surface count toward strokes gained putting. A putt from the fringe falls under the around-the-green category instead.
Sources
- Broadie, Mark. “Assessing Golfer Performance on the PGA TOUR.” Columbia University, 2011. Accessed May 2026.
- PGA Tour. “Strokes Gained: Putting.” pgatour.com. 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.
- The DIY Golfer. “What is Strokes Gained Putting? Explained.” thediygolfer.com. Accessed May 2026.
- Break X Golf. “Strokes Gained Explained.” breakxgolf.com. Accessed May 2026.
