· Golf Metrics
What is Strokes Gained? The Golf Metric That Changed Everything
Strokes gained is a revolutionary golf metric created by Mark Broadie that measures shot quality relative to a benchmark, revealing exactly where you gain or lose strokes.
Strokes gained is the most important advancement in golf statistics since the invention of the handicap system. Created by Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, this metric fundamentally changed how we analyze golf performance.
How Strokes Gained Works
Traditional golf stats like fairways hit, greens in regulation, and putts per round tell you what happened, but not how well you performed. A 30-foot putt that stops one inch short counts the same as a 3-foot putt that lips out. Strokes gained fixes this problem by measuring the quality of every shot relative to a benchmark.
The core concept is simple: every position on a golf course has an expected number of strokes to hole out. A shot from 150 yards in the fairway requires, on average, 2.8 strokes to complete the hole. If you hit your approach to 10 feet (where the average is 1.6 putts), you gained 0.2 strokes on that single shot.
Here is the formula:
Strokes Gained = Expected Strokes (before shot) - Actual Strokes Taken - Expected Strokes (after shot)
The Data Behind the Metric
Broadie had access to ShotLink data from the PGA Tour, which tracks every shot hit in competition. This massive dataset, with millions of shots from thousands of rounds, provided the benchmarks needed to calculate strokes gained for any situation.
For amateur golfers, golfity uses benchmarks adjusted for different skill levels, so you can measure your performance against players of similar ability, not just touring professionals.
Why Strokes Gained Matters for Your Game
The real power of strokes gained is identifying where you actually need to improve. Most golfers assume they need more putting practice, but Mark Broadie’s research showed that approach shots account for nearly 50% of the scoring difference between professionals and amateurs.
Consider this example: You play a par-4 and hit your drive 240 yards into the rough. From there, you hit your approach to 25 feet and two-putt for par. Traditional stats show a fairway missed, green in regulation, and two putts. But strokes gained reveals:
- Drive: -0.3 strokes (short and offline costs you)
- Approach: +0.4 strokes (hitting from rough to 25 feet beats expectations)
- First putt: +0.1 strokes (lag putting to tap-in range)
- Second putt: 0.0 strokes (expected make)
Your approach shot was the hero, not the drive. Without strokes gained, you might never know.
The Four Categories of Strokes Gained
The PGA Tour breaks strokes gained into four categories:
- Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee - Measures driving performance including distance and accuracy
- Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green - Covers all approach shots into greens
- Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green - Includes chips, pitches, and bunker shots
- Strokes Gained: Putting - Measures putting performance from all distances
These categories help pinpoint specific areas of strength and weakness. You can track all four in golfity using our strokes gained calculator.
Getting Started with Strokes Gained
Ready to understand your game at a deeper level? Start tracking your rounds shot-by-shot in golfity. The app calculates your strokes gained automatically, showing you exactly where you are gaining and losing strokes compared to your target benchmark.
Visit our strokes gained explanation page for more details on the math behind the metric, or try our free calculator to see how individual shots are measured.
