PGA to debut strokes gained stats

August 23, 2014

In 2011, the PGA TOUR began to present player putting efficiency in a more accurate, meaningful way by introducing Strokes Gained: Putting as the newest primary statistical category.

On Monday, the TOUR will officially take its next step with the introduction of Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Strokes Gained: Total that will now provide a statistical look at each player’s round.

Developed initially by Professor Mark Broadie of Columbia University and further analyzed in collaboration with a team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology led by Professor Stephen Graves, the Strokes Gained statistics measure a player’s performance relative to his fellow competitors in a tournament and offers a more accurate portrayal of his overall performance.

The statistics are derived from the data generated by ShotLink, which is powered by PGA TOUR technology partner CDW and provides a wealth of data in all areas of the game and from all distances.

The Strokes Gained concept initially started on the green. Until 2011, the primary overarching putting statistic was Putts Per Round, which simply measures the average number of putts a player takes over 18 holes and can be skewed by chipping close to the hole after missing a green.

Strokes Gained: Putting, however, takes into account putting proficiency from various distances and computes the difference between a player’s performance on every green — the number of strokes needed to hole out — against the performance of the other players for each round. This ultimately shows how many strokes are gained or lost due to putting for a particular round, for a tournament and over the course of a year.

Strokes Gained: Total is a simple and intuitive quantitative measure of the quality of a player’s performance in relation to the field.  Simply defined, Strokes Gained Versus the Field refers to how many strokes you gain or lose to the field based on performance. “Gaining” strokes on the field means you are outperforming the field.  “Losing” strokes means an individual’s performance is worse than the field.

Strokes Gained: Total can also be used as a simple way to make player comparisons and effectively highlight the various attributes of a player’s game that most contributed to their final score.

Edited by Anand Datla from a report published by PGA Tour

Follow SportASmile