Strokes Gained
Also known as: SG
Strokes gained measures the strokes a player gains or loses against a benchmark (tour average or a peer group). It covers tee shots, approach, around the green, and putting.
Strokes gained is a statistical framework for measuring golf performance. It compares a golfer's result on each shot to a benchmark. The benchmark is the expected number of strokes a scratch golfer (0 handicap) would need to finish the hole from the same position. Raw statistics like fairways hit or greens in regulation do not account for shot difficulty. Strokes gained instead measures each shot's actual contribution to the final score, relative to baseline expectation. Take a shot that turns a position expected to need 3.5 more strokes into one expected to need 2.0. That shot represents a gain of 1.5 strokes compared to expectation. A shot that lands in trouble gains negative strokes.
Mark Broadie developed strokes gained at Columbia Business School. It entered pro golf statistics in the early 2010s and quickly became the gold standard for performance analysis on tour. The framework is usually broken into four parts. The first two are Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (SG:OTT) and Strokes Gained: Approach (SG:App). The other two are Strokes Gained: Around the Green (SG:ATG) and Strokes Gained: Putting (SG:Putt). This split can isolate exactly which areas of the game a player gains or loses strokes in, relative to a baseline. For tour pros, the baseline is average tour performance. For everyday golfers, various handicap-adjusted baselines can be used.
For everyday golfers, strokes-gained thinking gives clear guidance on what to practice first. Say a golfer loses 2 strokes per round on putting and 0.5 strokes per round on driving. Logically, they should give more practice time to putting than driving, however much more fun driving practice feels. Strokes gained turns emotional practice choices ("I want to hit it further") into evidence-based ones ("my data says work on pitching").
Start tracking your shots by category (tee shots, approach shots, chips and pitches, putts) for 5–10 rounds and count how many shots you take from each area. The area with the most shots relative to par expectations is your largest opportunity for improvement. It is where practice time produces the most scoring improvement.
Use a shot-tracking app (Shot Scope, Arccos, or Game Golf) for a full season and review your strokes gained breakdown at season end. The areas where you lose the most strokes relative to your handicap baseline define your practice priorities for the following season. Golfers who follow data-driven practice prioritization reliably improve faster than those who practice by preference.
Example — Shot-tracking app
A player gains 2 strokes per round on approaches but loses 1.5 on the green. They learn to focus practice on putting, because that is where the scoring gap lies.
How it shows up on video
Strokes gained is a statistical concept measured through shot tracking data rather than observable in individual swing video. However, the areas where strokes are gained or lost can inform which swing elements should be prioritized in video analysis. A golfer who loses the most strokes around the green would benefit from having short game video analyzed most thoroughly, while one who loses primarily off the tee would prioritize full-swing video review.
Common mistakes
- Using strokes gained data from a single round — strokes gained results are highly variable round to round. Reliable patterns require at least 20–50 rounds of data before conclusions about areas of strength and weakness can be trusted.
- Treating strokes gained categories as independent. A poor driving result can increase the difficulty of approach shots. This makes it appear that approach is a weakness when the root problem is driving. Categories interact with each other, and causation should be interpreted carefully.
- Ignoring strokes gained and practicing what feels good — emotional satisfaction from driving practice does not correlate with improvement potential. Data-driven practice allocation reliably produces faster improvement than intuitive allocation.
- Applying tour-level baselines to recreational golf — the average tour player's strokes gained baseline is not appropriate for calculating recreational golfer strokes gained. Handicap-adjusted databases or apps that use appropriate baselines for each skill level are needed for meaningful recreational analysis.
In SwingVantage Motion Lab
Motion Lab does not calculate strokes gained, and it does not use shot-tracking data to choose which swing issue to show. Its main issue comes from your body reads, the weakest one in the clip. If your stats show the short game costs you most, film chips and putts first, picking pitch/chip or putt so each gets its own read.
Related terms
- Handicap IndexA Handicap Index is the World Handicap System (WHS) measure of a golfer's demonstrated playing ability on a neutral course. A lower index means a better player.
- DispersionDispersion is how spread out your shots are, plotted as a pattern. A tight dispersion means repeatable contact; a wide one signals inconsistency in face, path, or strike.
- PuttingPutting is rolling the ball along the ground toward the hole using a flat-faced club (putter). It accounts for roughly 40% of strokes in a typical round, making it the most impactful single skill in scoring.
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