Strokes gained around the green

Strokes gained around the green measures every shot from off the putting surface inside the short-game zone against the tour average from that lie and distance: expected strokes before, minus expected putts from where the ball finished, minus one. PinFlag counts around the green from 30 yards and in, measured from the hole; the PGA TOUR measures it from the edge of the green, and Broadie’s short game runs to 100 yards.

strokes gained = expected strokes before - expected strokes after - 1

The short game is where the lie matters most per yard. From 25 yards the tour average needs 2.450 strokes from the fairway, 2.638 from the rough and 2.603 from the sand, so the same distance is three different shots before the club is drawn. A chip from the fairway to 4 feet is worth +0.303; to 12 feet, -0.239; a rough chip to 25 feet, -0.294. A bunker shot to 8 feet is worth +0.088, because it beat a harder average.

Up-and-down percentage hides all of that. It counts the chip to 4 feet and the chip to 12 feet the same when both putts drop, and it counts a great bunker shot to 8 feet as a failure when the putt lips out. Strokes gained credits the chip for the putt it left, and credits the putt separately, so the short game and the putter each get their own number instead of sharing one.

Around the green carries about a fifth of an amateur’s gap to a tour field on Broadie’s published split, across roughly seven shots a round. It is smaller than the long game and larger than putting, and it is the category where one lie, greenside sand, produces the widest spread of outcomes per shot.

Four short-game shots from 25 yards

Same distance, three lies, four finishes.

The bunker shot to 8 feet outscores the fairway chip to 12 feet. It started from a harder average and beat it by more.

Expected strokes inside 100 yards

The tour average from the fairway, the rough and the sand at short-game distances. The published tables begin at 20 yards.

Every row is the published baseline, and the full expected strokes table carries every lie and distance.

What amateurs give up short

The short-game share of the gap to a tour field, by handicap, spread over about seven shots a round.

The model behind the table is printed on the benchmarks page, and the strokes gained calculator runs any shot you like against it.

Around the green in PinFlag

Inside 30 yards, PinFlag prices the leave you are planning against the lie you are in, read from the course map, and you log the shot by placing where it finished on the green in feet. Every chip, pitch and bunker shot carries its own strokes gained, so the short game and the putt that follows are scored separately.

Insights shows short-game proximity by lie, up-and-downs and sand saves that require an actual hole-out, two-chips under Score Killers, and a heat map of where your short-game shots finish around the hole, so the lie that costs you is named rather than folded into an up-and-down percentage.

The other categories

• What strokes gained is: the formula, a whole hole worked through, and the calculator.
• Strokes gained off the tee: Strokes gained off the tee prices every par-4 and par-5 tee shot against tour: the formula, worked drives, and what a fairway is worth.
• Strokes gained approach: Strokes gained approach prices every shot into the green against the tour average: worked approaches, proximity in strokes and the 150 yard table.
• Strokes gained putting: Strokes gained putting prices every putt against tour: expected putts by distance, worked putts, what a three-putt costs, and why putt counts mislead.
• The strokes gained formula: seven shots worked, the penalty rule and the identity check.
• Strokes gained tee to green: the three long categories added up, by handicap.
• How to improve strokes gained: each fix priced per shot.
• Predictive strokes gained: the same number, priced before the swing.