Strokes Gained Calculator

How to Use the Strokes Gained Calculator

This calculator handles any shot — drives, approaches, chips, and putts. If you only want to measure your putting across a full round, use our dedicated strokes gained putting calculator instead.

Step 1: Enter Your Starting Position

Select where your ball was before the shot and enter the distance to the hole in yards.

• Tee: Use this for tee shots on any hole
• Fairway: Ball is on short grass in the fairway
• Rough: Ball is in longer grass off the fairway
• Sand: Ball is in a bunker (fairway or greenside)
• Green: Ball is on the putting surface

Step 2: Enter Your Ending Position

Select where your ball ended up after the shot and enter the new distance to the hole. If you holed the shot, select "Hole" as the lie type.

Step 3: Interpret Your Results

The calculator compares your shot to what a PGA Tour player would average from the same starting position:

• Positive strokes gained (+0.5): Your shot was better than tour average
• Negative strokes gained (-0.3): Your shot was worse than tour average
• Zero strokes gained (0.0): Your shot matched tour average exactly

Example Calculations

Example 1: Solid Drive

On a 400-yard par 4:

• Starting: Tee, 400 yards
• Ending: Fairway, 120 yards
• Result: +0.4 strokes gained

Your 280-yard drive to the fairway was 0.4 strokes better than the PGA Tour average from that tee.

Example 2: Missed Green

Approach shot from 150 yards:

• Starting: Fairway, 150 yards
• Ending: Rough, 25 yards
• Result: -0.35 strokes gained

Missing the green from this distance cost you about a third of a stroke compared to tour average.

Example 3: Great Chip

Chip from rough near the green:

• Starting: Rough, 15 yards
• Ending: Green, 3 feet
• Result: +0.6 strokes gained

Getting it close from the rough gained you over half a stroke on this one shot.

Understanding the Benchmarks

This calculator uses PGA Tour ShotLink data compiled by Mark Broadie to determine expected strokes from any position. The benchmark represents how many strokes, on average, it takes a tour player to hole out from that spot.

For example, from 150 yards in the fairway, a tour player averages about 2.98 strokes to finish the hole. If you hit to 10 feet (expected 1.61 putts to finish), your approach gained: 2.98 - 1.61 - 1 = +0.37 strokes.