What is Strokes Gained? A Complete Guide for Golfers
Strokes gained is a statistical method that measures every aspect of your golf game against a benchmark, then tells you exactly how many strokes each area is costing or saving you. Developed by Columbia professor Mark Broadie and adopted by the PGA Tour, it replaces guesswork with a ranked list of priorities.
Dave Levine
Founder of Dialed. A golfer who got tired of spreadsheets and built the tool he wanted.
The Simple Explanation
Imagine two golfers both hit their approach shot to 20 feet. Traditional stats would record an identical result - both hit the green in regulation. But one was 180 yards out and the other was 120 yards out. Strokes gained captures the difference: the 180-yard approach to 20 feet gained more strokes than the 120-yard approach to the same distance, because the expected outcome from 180 yards is worse.
The core idea
Every shot has an expected outcome based on where you are. If you do better than expected, you gained strokes. If you do worse, you lost strokes. Add them up and you know exactly where your game stands.
How Strokes Gained Differs from Traditional Stats
Traditional golf statistics - greens in regulation, fairways hit, putts per round - count events without measuring their impact. A golfer hitting 60% of fairways sounds solid, but those stats don't tell you whether the misses were by 2 yards or 40 yards. Two golfers with identical GIR percentages can have wildly different scoring because the quality of their approach shots varies.
Traditional stats
- Count events (hit/miss)
- Treat all misses equally
- No connection to scoring
- Hard to prioritize practice
Strokes gained
- Measures quality relative to benchmark
- Quantifies the cost of each miss
- Directly tied to scoring impact
- Ranks your priorities automatically
The Five Performance Areas
When strokes gained is applied to launch monitor data (the approach Dialed uses), your practice performance breaks down into five measurable areas:
Direction
Face angle and club path. Where the ball starts and how it curves. For the average amateur, this is typically the largest source of lost strokes.
Low Point
Attack angle and low point control. How consistently you strike the ball at the right point in your swing arc.
Contact
Smash factor and strike quality. How efficiently you transfer energy from the club to the ball.
Speed
Club speed and ball speed. Your raw distance potential. Important, but only impactful when direction and contact are under control.
Launch
Launch angle, spin rate, and landing angle. How the ball flies through the air - the combination that determines carry distance and stopping power.
How to Read a Strokes Gained Breakdown
Broadie's research analyzed over 100 million shots from PGA Tour ShotLink data to establish benchmarks. When you see a strokes gained breakdown, here is what the numbers mean:
- Positive (+) - you are outperforming your benchmark in this area. This is a strength.
- Zero (0) - you are performing right at your benchmark. Average for your level.
- Negative (-) - you are losing strokes here. The more negative, the bigger the opportunity for improvement.
The areas are ranked by magnitude. The area with the largest negative number is where you have the most room to improve your score - and where your practice time will have the highest return.
How to Use Strokes Gained to Guide Practice
The PGA Tour has used strokes gained to guide player development since 2011. The same principle applies to amateurs: find your worst area, drill down to the specific club and metric, and focus there.
For example, if your strokes gained breakdown shows Direction as your worst area and your 7-iron has the largest negative face-to-path value, you have a specific, measurable thing to work on. After your next session, you can see whether that number improved. This is how TrackMan data analysis becomes a feedback loop instead of a collection of disconnected numbers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented strokes gained?
Mark Broadie, a professor at Columbia Business School, developed the strokes gained methodology. His research, published in the book "Every Shot Counts" (2014), used decades of ShotLink data to quantify how each shot contributes to a golfer's score relative to a benchmark.
Do I need a launch monitor for strokes gained?
For on-course strokes gained (putting, short game, approach, off the tee), you need shot tracking via GPS sensors or manual input. For practice strokes gained - the kind Dialed calculates - you need a launch monitor like TrackMan that captures ball flight and club delivery data.
What's a good strokes gained number?
Zero means you are performing at the level of your benchmark (typically your handicap peer group). Positive numbers mean you are gaining strokes (performing better than the benchmark). Negative numbers mean you are losing strokes. For context, a PGA Tour player gains roughly +1.5 to +2.0 strokes per round in their best category.
How is strokes gained different from handicap?
Handicap is a single number that summarizes your overall scoring. Strokes gained breaks your game into specific areas and shows exactly where you are strong and where you are losing shots. Two 15-handicap golfers might have completely different strokes gained profiles - one might lose strokes putting while the other loses them on approach shots.
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