We try to explain “Strokes Gained” in case you’re confused like many people.

Strokes Gained measures a golfer’s performance by comparing their golf shots to the rest of the field. It was developed by Columbia University professor Mark Broadie and was first introduced to the golfing world in 2011 in Broadie’s book, Every Shot Counts. Strokes Gained has made a huge impact on golf and is tracked on the PGA Tour with other stats like driving stats, up and down stats from off the green, strokes saved from bunkers, and putting stats.

Lets see if AI can explain it!

Strokes gained is a statistical measure used in golf to compare a player’s performance on a particular hole, round, or tournament to the performance of other players. The concept of strokes gained is based on the idea that every shot a player takes on the course can be assigned a certain expected value based on how well other players have performed on that shot in the past.

To calculate a player’s strokes gained on a given hole or round, the player’s total number of strokes is compared to the expected number of strokes that a typical player would take to complete the same hole or round. If a player takes fewer strokes than the expected number, they have gained strokes on the field; if they take more strokes than expected, they have lost strokes to the field.

By tracking strokes gained over multiple rounds and tournaments, players and coaches can identify areas of their game that need improvement and focus their training accordingly. For example, if a player consistently loses strokes on their putting, they can work on improving their putting skills to become more competitive on the course.
Give an example using driving performance

Sure, here’s an example of how strokes gained can be used to evaluate driving performance in golf:

Let’s say that on a particular hole, the average number of strokes for all players to reach the green is 4.2. Player A takes 4 strokes to reach the green, while Player B takes 5 strokes to reach the green. Using strokes gained, we can calculate the difference between each player’s actual performance and the expected performance of a typical player.

Player A’s strokes gained for the hole would be: Expected number of strokes (4.2) – Actual number of strokes (4) = 0.2 strokes gained.

Player B’s strokes gained for the hole would be: Expected number of strokes (4.2) – Actual number of strokes (5) = -0.8 strokes lost.

This means that Player A gained 0.2 strokes on the field compared to the average player, while Player B lost 0.8 strokes to the field. By tracking their strokes gained on driving performance over multiple rounds and tournaments, both players can identify areas where they need to improve their driving skills in order to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Explain strokes gained putting

Strokes gained putting is a statistical measure in golf that compares a player’s putting performance to the performance of other players. It calculates the difference between the number of putts a player takes to complete a round or tournament and the number of putts that a typical player would take on the same greens.

To calculate strokes gained putting, the distance of each putt taken by a player is used to determine the expected number of strokes it should take a typical player to hole out from that distance. Then, the actual number of strokes taken by the player is compared to the expected number of strokes for each putt. If a player takes fewer strokes than the expected number of strokes, they gain strokes on the field; if they take more strokes than expected, they lose strokes to the field.

For example, let’s say that a player takes 28 putts to complete a round, and the expected number of putts for a typical player on the same greens is 32. Based on this, the player’s strokes gained putting for the round would be:

Strokes Gained Putting = Expected Putts – Actual Putts
Strokes Gained Putting = 32 – 28
Strokes Gained Putting = 4

This means that the player gained 4 strokes on the field compared to the average player by putting well. By tracking their strokes gained putting over multiple rounds and tournaments, players can identify areas where they need to improve their putting skills in order to gain an advantage over their competitors.