Introduction to Strokes Gained Golf Stats

Strokes gained golf stats have become the gold standard for measuring and analysing golfers’ on course performances.

Traditional golf stats like fairways hit, greens in regulation and total putts per round, have proofed to be ineffective in highlighting where players are losing or gaining shots during their rounds of golf.

Therefore, strokes gained stats have emerged as the more accurate and trusted method of tracking golfers performances and is now used by the PGA Tour, DP World Tour as well as LIV Golf.

Strokes Gained Golf Stats vs Traditional Golf Stats

Let's look at an example of two golfers to illustrate the point of why traditional golf stats have proofed to be inaccurate and misleading. It’s a pretty extreme example, but it highlights the point I’m trying to make.

Golfer 1:

Hits 18 greens in regulation in a round of golf, each time to a distance of 30 feet. This golfer makes 3 of those 30 footers, two putts the rest and ends with 33 putts for the round.

Golfer 2:

Hits 0 greens in regulation in a round of golf and then chips the ball to 1 foot on each hole. This golfer missed 5 of these putts and one putted the rest. This golfer ends up with 23 putts for the round.

Just looking at the Total putts per round stat, you might think that Golfer 2 had a much better day on the greens than Golfer 1.

It was 33 putts vs 23 putts after all.

However, if we look at the strokes gained putting stats for these rounds, we see that Golfer 1 had a SG of +3 and Golfer 2 a SG of -5 for the round.

Golfer 1's 33 putts was a far superior putting performance than Golfer 2's 23 putts.

How are strokes gained golf stats calculated?

Strokes gained golf stats can be defined as a golfer's performance vs. a benchmark. When you have enough data about a specific skill level of golfer, you can allocate a "par" for each shot (lie and distance) they face during a round.

For example, on the PGA Tour we know that the average amount of shots a Tour player takes to hole out from

• 1 foot is 1 shot,

• 8ft is 1.5 shots,

• 30 feet is 2 shots

• and from 165 yards in the fairway it's 3 shots.

To then calculate the strokes gained stats for any given shot is a simple formula:

Starting par

Minus resulting par

Minus 1 (shot played)

Equals the strokes gained/lost for that shot

For example, let's take an 8 foot putt by a PGA Tour player.

If the player holes the putt the calculation would be:

1.5 (starting par)

Minus 0 (resulting par since putt was holed)

Minus 1 (shot played)

Equals +0.5.

For this shot this player had a Strokes Gained of +0.5

If the player had missed the putt and had 1 foot remaining, which has a par of 1, the calculation would look like this:

1.5 (starting par)

Minus 1 (resulting par since putt was missed with 1 foot remaining)

Minus 1 (shot played)

Equals -0.5.

For this shot this player had a Strokes Gained of -0.5

For a shot played from 165 yards in the fairway to 8 feet on the green, the calculation would be as follows:

3 (starting par)

Minus 1.5 (resulting par, 8ft on green)

Minus 1 (shot played)

Equals +0.5.

For this shot this player had a Strokes Gained of +0.5

To then calculate the strokes gained number for a group of shots, like Approach shots or more specifically, Putting from 10 - 15 feet for instance, you can add all the shots (+'s and -'s) in that group together and get to a total for the round.

Strokes gained golf stats can help golfers better understand their games so they can improve their games.

Strokes gained golf stats is a must for any golfer looking to get better at their game. It is simply the most accurate way of understanding how you perform vs a benchmark. This information will show you what areas you need to improve if you want to lower your scores and improve your golf game.

The Everest Golf App has multiple different benchmarks available to measure your game against.