Golf metrics

Most golfers spend their putting practice inside six feet because those misses hurt the most. The strokes gained math says the money is somewhere else entirely, and it is not close.

Two golfers hit the same number of greens and take the same number of putts, yet one shoots seven strokes better. The gap usually lives in a stat almost nobody tracks: how far away the first putt was.

Expected strokes describes where your ball is. Strokes gained describes what you did with it. Confusing the two leads to bad conclusions about your own game, and bad decisions on the course.

Golfshot has spent fifteen years perfecting the number you see before the shot. golfity works on the number you get after it. Both live on your phone, both are free to start, and they answer completely different questions about your round.

Missing the fairway costs you about a fifth of a stroke from wedge range and more than double that from 200 yards. Here is what the rough vs fairway approach gap actually looks like in strokes gained, and why chasing driving accuracy usually costs more than it saves.

Four holes a round, and they swing your total by two to three strokes. Here is what strokes gained data shows about how par 3 performance affects your score, why the damage concentrates in a handful of holes, and how many rounds you need before the number means anything.