If you genuinely want to lower your golf scores, you have to stop guessing where you’re losing shots and start knowing. This is precisely what the Strokes Gained metric does. It’s a powerful tool that moves you from frustrating guesswork to focused, effective practice. This guide will break down what Strokes Gained is in simple terms and give you a step-by-step process for using it to improve your game, fast.
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What is Strokes Gained? A Simple Explanation
Forget the complex mathematical formulas for a moment. At its heart, Strokes Gained is just a way to measure the quality of every single shot you hit. It works by asking one simple question: “How did that shot compare to the performance of a benchmark player from the same situation?”
For the pros, the benchmark is the PGA Tour average. For amateurs, a growing number of apps use scratch or single-digit handicap golfers as the benchmark.
Let's use a clear example. Imagine you're standing 150 yards from the hole in the center of the fairway. Data tells us that, on average, a PGA Tour player takes 2.98 shots to get the ball in the hole from this spot. This is the baseline.
You hit your approach shot to 15 feet from the hole. From 15 feet, the Tour average to hole out is 1.83 strokes. To find the SG value of your shot, you subtract the "after" value (1.83) and the penalty of one stroke for hitting the shot (1) from the "before" value (2.98). Calculation: 2.98 - 1.83 - 1 = +0.15 You gained +0.15 strokes on the field with that shot. It was a slightly better-than-average approach.
Now, let's say a different scenario happens from the same 150-yard spot. You hit a poor shot into a greenside bunker. From that bunker, the Tour average to hole out is now 2.34 strokes. Calculation: 2.98 - 2.34 - 1 = -0.36 You lost -0.36 strokes on the field. That was a below-average shot that cost you about a third of a stroke.
Don't worry about doing this math yourself. The point is to understand the concept: every shot is given a positive or negative value. At the end of the round, you add up these values to see which parts of your game are helping you and which parts are holding you back.
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The beauty of Strokes Gained is that it doesn’t just give you one giant number. It breaks your game down into distinct, easy-to-understand categories so you can pinpoint your exact weaknesses. Modern analysis uses five primary buckets.
1. Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (SG: OTT) This measures the quality of your tee shots on all Par 4s and Par 5s. It doesn't just reward raw distance, it heavily penalizes shots that end up in the rough, in a bunker, or out of bounds. A 280-yard drive in the fairway will almost always gain more strokes than a 300-yard bomb into the trees because the next shot is so much easier.
2. Strokes Gained: Approach (SG: APP) This is the big one. For pros and amateurs alike, approach play is almost always the single biggest differentiator between skill levels. This category includes any shot that is not hit off the tee on a Par 4 or 5, is more than 50 yards from the green, and is not played from on or around the putting surface. Basically, it’s most of your iron and hybrid shots.
3. Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG: ARG) This measures all your short game shots taken from within 50 yards of the green, excluding shots from the putting surface itself. It covers chipping, pitching, and bunker shots. The goal here is to get the ball as close to the hole as possible to set up a stress-free putt.
4. Strokes Gained: Putting (SG: PUTT) This one is straightforward: it measures how many putts you take compared to the benchmark from a given distance. Sinking a 20-footer gains you a significant fraction of a stroke, while three-putting from the same distance loses you one. It tells the true story of your performance on the greens.
5. Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (SG: T2G) This isn't a separate skill but rather a summary. It's simply the sum of SG: OTT, SG: APP, and SG: ARG. It gives you a total picture of your long game and short game performance combined.
How to Get Your Own Strokes Gained Data
Ready to start diagnosing your game? You don’t need an advanced degree in statistics. There are basically two ways an amateur golfer can get started: the easy way and the slightly-more-work-but-still-very-effective way.
The Easy Way: Use a Shot-Tracking App
The simplest method by far is to use one of the many fantastic golf apps or devices that do all the work for you. Systems like Arccos, Shot Scope, or even features in some GPS watches now automatically track the location and result of every shot. After your round, they crunch the numbers and present you with a beautiful dashboard showing your Strokes Gained data for each category.
If you're serious about improvement and enjoy technology, this is the most efficient and accurate path. The initial setup requires a small investment of time or money, but the automated insights are incredibly valuable.
The DIY Way: The "Good / Bad / Even" System
Don't want to use an app? No problem. You can start getting 80% of the benefit with 20% of the effort by using a simple grading system on a scorecard. During your round, grade every shot in the main categories as positive (+), negative (-), or neutral (0). Before starting, define what each means to you and your game.
Here’s a sample framework you can adapt:
Off-the-Tee:
Good (+): Your ball is in the fairway and you have a good angle for your next shot.
Bad (-): Penalty stroke, in a hazard, recovery required, blocked by trees, or in a fairway bunker.
Even (0): In the light rough but with a clean lie and clear shot to the green. Playable, but not perfect.
Approach:
Good (+): On the green and inside 20 feet of the hole.
Bad (-): Missed the green entirely, forcing a chip or bunker shot.
Even (0): On the green, but more than 20 feet away. A safe result.
Around the Green:
Good (+): You got "up and down" (chipped/pitched on and made the putt). Grade the chip/pitch itself: was it inside 5 feet? That's a strong plus.
Bad (-): You took 3 or more shots to get in the hole from next to the green (a "flubbed" chip counts here).
Even (0): Chipped/pitched on the green and two-putted. Standard stuff.
Putting:
Good (+): You made the first putt.
Bad (-): You three-putted (or worse).
Even (0): You two-putted.
After your round, count the number of pluses and minuses in each category. This won't give you a precise decimal value like an app, but it will give you a powerful look at which part of your game is causing the most damage.
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This is where everything comes together. Whether you used an app or the DIY method, you are now armed with objective data about your performance. The goal is not to fix everything at once. The goal is to find the one area that is losing you the most strokes relative to the others.
This is a paradigm shift for most golfers. We often feel like our putting is terrible because the sting of a three-putt is so recent and painful. But the data might tell a different story.
Here’s a common example: A player finishes a round and is furious about their putting. They look at their stats:
SG: Off-the-Tee: +0.5
SG: Around the Green: -1.0
SG: Putting: -2.5
SG: Approach: -5.5
While the putting wasn’t great (-2.5 strokes), the approach play was a disaster (-5.5 strokes). The player feels like a bad putter, but the reason they’re putting badly is that their iron shots are consistently leaving them 50-foot putts or forcing difficult scrambling situations. The putting isn't the problem, it's a symptom. The root cause - and the biggest leak in their scoring boat - is their approach game.
Your job is to look at your data with an unemotional eye and ask: "Objectively, which one of these numbers is the worst?" That answer tells you exactly what to practice.
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Once you’ve identified your biggest weakness, you can stop wasting time on the range and start practicing with a purpose.
If your weakness is SG: Approach: Don't just hit balls aimlessly. Look deeper. Are you losing strokes from a specific yardage? Most stat apps will show you this. If it’s from 125-150 yards, then your practice should consist almost entirely of hitting shots with the clubs that cover those distances. Set up a target on the range that represents the size of a green and track how many balls you land and keep on that surface.
If your weakness is SG: Off-the-Tee: The top reason for losing strokes off the tee is penalties and recovery shots. Your mission is clear: prioritize hitting fairways. For your next few practice sessions and rounds, make it your number one goal. This might mean leaving the driver in the bag more often and hitting a 3-wood or hybrid. Your practice should focus on developing a reliable "fairway finder" shot you can trust under pressure.
If your weakness is SG: Around the Green or Putting: These are often linked. If you lose strokes around the green, set up practice games that focus on getting your chips inside a 6-foot circle. If it’s putting, focus on the area causing the most damage. Are you three-putting a lot? Spend your time on lag putting from 30-40 feet instead of just banging 3-footers. Is your make-rate from 4-8 feet low? Build drills specifically to improve that range.
By using Strokes Gained data, your practice transforms from a vague hope into a strategic mission designed to solve your single biggest problem.
Final Thoughts
Strokes Gained takes the emotion and guesswork out of golf improvement. By evaluating every shot against an objective baseline, it acts as a diagnostic tool that shines a bright light on the fastest path to lower scores, shifting your focus from what feels bad to what the numbers prove is holding you back.
Turning these insights into on-course results is the next step. Once you know a specific area like approach play is costing you, imagine having an expert guide you on those tricky shots in real-time. That's where we developed Caddie AI. It can help you devise a smarter strategy for a difficult Par 4, recommend the right club when you're caught between two options, or even analyze a photo of your ball in a tough lie to suggest the best way to play it - all designed to help you execute better and plug the leaks that Strokes Gained uncovers.
Spencer has been playing golf since he was a kid and has spent a lifetime chasing improvement. With over a decade of experience building successful tech products, he combined his love for golf and startups to create Caddie AI - the world's best AI golf app. Giving everyone an expert level coach in your pocket, available 24/7. Caddie's mission is simple: make world-class golf advice accessible to everyone, anytime.
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