What is strokes gained?

Strokes gained measures one shot against the average from that exact spot. Hit it better than the average and you gain a fraction of a stroke. Hit it worse and you lose one. Add every shot in a round and you know precisely where the round was won and lost, which is something no scorecard has ever told anyone.

The formula

One line, and everything else on this page follows from it.

strokes gained = expected strokes before - expected strokes after - strokes taken

Expected strokes is the average number of shots it takes to hole out from a lie and a distance. Mark Broadie built those tables from tour data and published them in 2011; the numbers used here are that published baseline, and every row is on the expected strokes table. A holed shot has zero left. A penalty makes the shot cost two.

Run one now

Nothing to install and no account. Change the lie and the distance and watch the number move.

Lie before the shot

Distance to the hole (yards)

Where it finished

Distance left (feet)

Penalty stroke on this shot

Strokes gained, approach

+0.07

Expected strokes before2.945

Expected strokes after1.878

Strokes this shot cost1

A whole hole

A 420 yard par 4, made in four. A par feels like nothing happened. The shot by shot numbers say otherwise.

Strokes gained shot by shot on a 420 yard par 4
Shot	From	To	Before	After	Gained
Tee shot	Tee, 420 yards	Fairway, 155 left	4.020	2.963	+0.058
Approach	Fairway, 155 yards	Green, 18 feet	2.963	1.840	+0.122
First putt	Green, 18 feet	Green, 2 feet	1.840	1.009	-0.169
Second putt	Green, 2 feet	In the hole	1.009	0.000	+0.009

The approach was the shot of the hole, worth 0.122. The first putt gave most of it back at -0.169, because leaving 2 feet from 18 is slightly worse than average, not better. A par that felt flat was really a good approach and a loose putt.

Check it yourself. The four shots add to +0.020. Expected strokes from that tee is 4.02 and the hole took 4, so 4.02 less 4 is 0.020. They match, and they always will: the shot by shot numbers must sum to what the hole was expected to cost minus what it did cost. That is the arithmetic closing on itself, and it is the reason the method can be trusted.

The four categories

The four strokes gained categories
Category	What counts	A real number
Off the tee	Every tee shot on a par 4 or par 5.	A drive on a 420 yard hole starts at 4.02 expected strokes.
Approach	Any shot over 100 yards that is not a tee shot.	From the fairway at 155 yards the average is 2.963.
Short game	Everything inside 100 yards that is not on the green.	From the rough at 30 yards the average is 2.685.
Putting	Every stroke on the putting surface.	From 18 feet the average is 1.840 putts.

Tee to green is the first three added together. Total is all four. Each category has its own page with worked shots, the reference table for that part of the game and the handicap benchmark.

What amateurs give up

Zero is the tour average, so almost every amateur is negative against it. The useful question is not the total but where it sits.

Strokes lost to the tour average by handicap
Handicap	Strokes a round	Long game	Short game	Putting
Scratch	1	0.7	0.2	0.2
5	6	3.9	1.2	0.9
10	11	7.2	2.2	1.7
15	16	10.4	3.2	2.4
20	21	13.7	4.2	3.2
25	26	16.9	5.2	3.9

The long game carries roughly two thirds of the gap at every level, across 14 shots a round. Putting carries about a seventh, spread over 30 strokes, which is why practising it moves a handicap so slowly. The full benchmark table breaks it down per shot.

Why the old stats mislead

Fairways hit treats a 300 yard drive into light rough the same as a 180 yard duff that finds short grass. Putts per round rewards missing greens, because chipping close leaves shorter putts. Both count outcomes without asking what the shot was worth. Strokes gained asks only that, and it is why professional golf switched. What each old stat leaves out works that through with the arithmetic in view.

Frequently asked questions

What is strokes gained in simple terms?

It is the difference between the shot you hit and the shot an average player hits from the same spot. Beat the average and you gain a fraction of a stroke; miss it and you lose one. Add up every shot and you know where your round was won or lost.

How is strokes gained calculated?

Expected strokes from where the ball started, minus expected strokes from where it finished, minus one for the shot you took. A penalty makes the shot cost two instead of one.

Who invented strokes gained?

Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, built the framework and published it in 2011. The PGA Tour adopted it, and the expected strokes tables on this page come from that work.

What is a good strokes gained number?

Zero is the tour average by definition, so any positive number means you beat a tour field from those spots. For an amateur the useful comparison is your own handicap: a 15 handicap gives up around 16 strokes a round to the tour average, and most of it is the long game.

Can strokes gained work without a launch monitor or sensors?

Yes. All the arithmetic needs is the lie and distance before each shot and where the ball finished. The calculator on this page runs on exactly that.

Why is my strokes gained negative?

Because the baseline is a tour professional. Almost every amateur is negative against it, and that is the point: the number tells you which part of your game is furthest from that standard, not whether you are a good golfer.

By The PinFlag Team.

Before the swing

Everything above prices a shot you have already hit. PinFlag prices the one in front of you: pick a target and see what it is worth before you swing, on the hole you are playing.

Get the app What that means