Golf term
Lie (Golf)
A lie is the surface and condition a golf ball is resting on before a shot — fairway, rough, sand, and so on — and, together with distance, it sets a shot's expected strokes.
The same distance to the hole plays very differently depending on lie. A ball in the fairway, the first cut of rough, a fairway bunker, or deep rough each carries a different expected strokes value from an identical yardage, because each surface changes how predictably the next shot can be struck.
Lie is distinct from dispersion: dispersion describes how a golfer's shots spread from a given lie, while the lie itself sets which baseline that spread is measured against. A poor lie doesn't just look harder — it genuinely raises the expected-strokes number the next shot starts from.
Because lie has such a direct effect on strokes gained, any system scoring shots needs a reliable way to know what lie a ball is actually in. A shot logged against the wrong lie is scored against the wrong baseline. See measured vs. estimated for how that distinction gets disclosed.
Related terms & guides
Glossary
Expected Strokes
Expected strokes is the average number of strokes a benchmark golfer needs to finish a hole from a specific distance and lie, and it is the number strokes gained subtracts before and after every shot.
Glossary
Shot Dispersion
Dispersion is how far a golfer's shots with a given club typically spread from their intended target, in both distance and direction.
Glossary
Measured vs. Estimated
Measured vs. estimated is a disclosure standard for strokes-gained data: a number is labeled Measured only when verified course geometry, a user-set pin, a supported lie, and a real GPS position are all present together, and it reads Estimated otherwise.
Glossary
Baseline (Expected Strokes)
A baseline is the average number of strokes a benchmark golfer needs to hole out from a given distance and lie — the reference every strokes gained calculation is measured against.
Guide
How to Track Your Golf Stats