Strokes gained for amateurs: which number really saves you strokes

Strokes gained is the statistic television talks about and nobody on an amateur course computes. Computing it is not necessary either: amateur data say so clearly where strokes go that the conclusion sits in one table.

The numbers by handicap

Shot Scope publishes benchmark values across six handicap levels from its own database (Shot Scope, PDF):

Handicap	0	5	10	15	20	25
Average score to par	+0.83	+6.33	+10.88	+17.38	+21.69	+28.97
Fairways in regulation	50 %	48 %	49 %	48 %	46 %	46 %
Greens in regulation	61 %	44 %	36 %	24 %	17 %	10 %
Up and Down	47 %	41 %	31 %	21 %	20 %	18 %
Putts per round	29.4	30.2	31.2	33.1	33.1	33.8
Penalty shots per round	0.56	0.91	1.62	2.45	3.03	4.67

Read the second and third rows side by side. On fairways there are four percentage points between a scratch player and a 25 handicapper. On greens there are 51.

What that says about practice

Fairway percentage is almost no distinguishing mark. A 25 handicapper hits nearly as many fairways as a scratch player, precisely because they hit it shorter and therefore land in the target area more often. Anyone trying to improve their round by straightening the driver on a range is working on the number with the smallest leverage.

The leverage is in approaches and in penalty shots. From scratch to 25 the number of penalty shots rises from 0.56 to 4.67 a round, that is four strokes. That is a quarter of the difference in average score, and leaving them out costs nothing.

How strokes gained works at all

The basis is a table of expected strokes: how many shots does a player need on average to hole out from a given distance and lie. The value of a shot is then the expected number before it minus the expected number after it, minus one for the shot played (Shot Scope).

A positive value means the shot was better than the comparison group's average, a negative one that it was worse. Because most comparison groups are tour players, amateurs see almost only negative numbers, and that is not a verdict but the reference point.

Why the old numbers say too little

In traditional statistics a missed fairway is always the same, whether the ball is a metre off or in the water. A green in regulation counts the same whether the ball is two metres or twenty from the flag. And putts per round depend on the approach before them.

That is the whole reason strokes gained was invented: it weighs every shot by what it changed about the position. Two putts from eighteen metres is better putting than two putts from three, and only one of the two statistics sees it.

The two numbers an amateur should keep

First, penalty shots per round, because they are the most expensive and the most easily avoided. Second, the number of approaches that finish on or beside the green, with no claim to regulation. Both go on the scorecard with two ticks per hole.

Everything else an app can take over, but those two need none. After five rounds you know whether your penalties come off the tee or off the approach, and with that you know which club to pick up in a bay.

What a bay can contribute

A bay supplies the carry numbers that better approaches are made of. Anyone who knows their 7 iron carries 138 metres on average rather than 150 plays the right iron to 140 and hits the green. How to build that table in an hour is in Club distances.

Dispersion is measurable too. A launch monitor shows the lateral miss of every shot, and ten shots make a dispersion circle. Anyone who knows their circle picks targets on the course that do not send the ball into water, and fewer penalty shots come out of exactly that.

The order of improvement

By this table, in this order: cut penalty shots, improve approaches, then the short game, then putting, and last the fairway percentage. That is almost exactly the opposite of how most amateurs practise.

The first point is the cheapest, because it needs only a decision: take the club that keeps the ball in play. A hybrid off the tee on a tight hole costs twenty metres and saves more than a stroke on average.

What the short-game numbers say

The up-and-down rate, that is the share of missed greens still played with a chip and a putt, falls from 47 per cent at scratch to 18 at handicap 25 (Shot Scope). After greens in regulation that is the second largest difference in the whole table.

It works twice over: a higher handicap misses more greens and rescues the misses less often. That is why the short game is the second priority after penalty shots, and why an hour on the practice green is worth more than an hour on the range.

What to aim for realistically

The table also gives the average score to par: handicap 15 averages 17.38 over par, handicap 20 averages 21.69 (Shot Scope). On a par 72 that is around 89 and 94 strokes, and in both cases the average sits above the handicap.

That is normal and no sign of poor form: the index comes from the best eight of twenty rounds, so from potential rather than average. How that calculation runs is in Working out your Handicap Index yourself.

How to put your dispersion into numbers

Ten shots with a 7 iron in a bay, and you read not the distance but the lateral miss. Note the largest deviation left and right; the sum is the width you have to reckon with on the course.

Then choose targets so that this width fits the fairway, rather than so that the perfect shot fits. That is the whole mechanism by which penalty shots disappear, and it costs one hour: 80 of the 110 indoor venues in the directory publish an hourly price between CHF 25 and 99 (directory).

If you do want it exactly

Then you need a system that records every shot with its position, so a watch or sensors in the grips. Without position data strokes gained cannot be computed, because the starting point of each shot is missing. What devices exist is in Golf watch, laser or app.

And anyone who wants club data on top goes to a bay: what the numbers there mean is in Understanding launch monitor numbers, and TrackMan explains the definitions in its own guide (TrackMan). A venue is on the map.

Frequently asked questions

What is strokes gained, simply put?

The value of a shot measured against a table of expected strokes: expected strokes before the shot minus expected strokes after it, minus one for the shot played. Positive means better than the comparison group, negative worse.

Which statistic should I keep as an amateur?

Two: penalty shots per round and the number of approaches that finish on or beside the green. Both take two ticks per hole on the scorecard. After five rounds you know where your strokes go.

Why does a better fairway percentage help so little?

Because it barely separates handicaps: 50 per cent at scratch against 46 at handicap 25. Greens in regulation, by contrast, run 61 against 10 per cent, and penalty shots 0.56 against 4.67 a round.

Can I calculate strokes gained myself?

Only with position data for every shot, so with a watch or grip sensors. Without the starting point of each shot the basis of the calculation is missing. In practice the two hand-counted numbers and a distance table from a bay are enough.

In what order should I practise?

Cut penalty shots, improve approaches, short game, putting, and last the fairway percentage. That is almost the opposite of usual range practice, but it follows directly from the benchmark numbers by handicap.

Sources

• Shot Scope: Traditional Statistics v Strokes Gained (PDF) (Benchmarkwerte nach Handicap und die Formel)
• TrackMan: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding TrackMan
• Swiss Golf Simulators: eigene Einträge (Stundenpreise Bays, Stand September 2026)