Why are my strokes gained numbers negative?

Because the Tour lens compares every shot with a tour field, and nearly every amateur shot loses a little to that average: on the benchmark model a 15 handicap sits about 16 strokes a round behind it. That is the scale working. Switch to a handicap lens and the same round reads near zero, with the gains and losses in the places that separate you from your own level.

About this topic

The TOUR baseline, the Scratch and handicap level tables, and why the same round reads differently on each. The whole topic, Benchmarks and lenses, answers 8 questions in full.

The figures behind the answer

Broadie’s published split applied to the 16 strokes a 15 handicap sits over the tour average of 71, labeled Modeled.

Where a 15 handicap loses strokes

Computed from the published baselines, the same ones the app prices your shots with. Strokes gained by handicap.

More on this topic

• What benchmark lenses does PinFlag have?
• How is a handicap level lens built?
• What is a good strokes gained number for a 15 handicap?
• Does a lens change my recorded shots?
• Is a benchmark lens the same as a handicap?
• Can I compare two rounds on different lenses?
• Where do the benchmark tables come from?

PinFlag, in plain facts

• PinFlag is an iPhone app; the course maps and every shot live on your phone, so it works anywhere on the course.
• PinFlag is launching on the App Store; the download page takes an email and tells you the day it is live.
• Every number is strokes gained on Mark Broadie’s published PGA TOUR baselines, priced on the same published baselines in the app and on this site.
• PinFlag prices the target you choose, with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map; the decision stays yours, with the arithmetic done.
• Every number is labeled Measured (your own data) or Estimated (a benchmark standing in), and the two are never blended.
• Pins you set during a round are yours, and every round exports as CSV or JSON on request.