Golf term
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.
Most golf apps quietly blend whatever data they have — GPS estimates, modeled distances, generic averages — into one confident-looking number, with no way for a golfer to tell which parts are real. A measured-vs-estimated standard makes that distinction explicit instead of hiding it: every strokes-gained figure discloses whether it earned the stricter label or not.
PinFlag's Measured label requires all four conditions to hold at once — verified course geometry, a pin the golfer set that round, a lie the system actually supports, and a genuine GPS fix — rather than any single one of them alone. If even one condition is missing, the number reads Estimated; it never quietly upgrades itself.
The distinction matters most exactly where it would be easiest to fake. A hand-placed ball position, for example, always reads Estimated, never Measured, no matter how good the rest of the data is, because a person choosing a spot on a map is not the same as GPS confirming where the ball actually is.
Related terms & guides
Glossary
Verified Course
A verified course is one whose geometry — greens, tees, fairways, hazards, and boundaries — has been confirmed accurate by a professional survey or a physical, on-the-ground walk, rather than left as unverified map data.
Glossary
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.
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
Choosing Golf Stats Software for Coaches