Those of you who are regular watchers of the PGA Tour will be familiar with the 'Strokes Gained' statistic. Strokes gained is a relatively new way of measuring a players performance but what is it and what's wrong with measuring statistics in the traditional way of greens in regulation and number of putts etc? Are we looking to deep into statistics and going away from a more traditional feel related approach to playing better golf at the highest level?
First of all it's important to understand what strokes gained is and how it is measured. In comparison to regular statistics, strokes gained looks to measure performance against the field and not against oneself. To calculate strokes gained, ShotLink, a data collection system, records the location of every shot hit by every player in a tournament. This data is then used to determine the average number of strokes it takes to hole out from a specific location on the course. The differences between a player's performance and the field average are aggregated over the course of a round or a season to calculate the strokes gained statistic.
Strokes gained is broken down into different categories, including off the tee, approach shots, around the green, and putting. Each category measures a specific aspect of a player's game. For example:
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee: This metric compares a player's driving performance to the average performance of all players in the field. It takes into account factors such as distance and accuracy. A positive value indicates the player gains strokes off the tee compared to the average, while a negative value means the player loses strokes.
Strokes Gained: Approach the Green: This metric evaluates a player's performance on shots hit from outside the fairway or tee box to the green. It measures the player's proximity to the hole relative to the field average. A positive value indicates the player is hitting better approach shots than the average, while a negative value means the player is losing strokes in this aspect.
Strokes Gained: Around the Green: This metric assesses a player's short game performance, including chipping and pitching. It measures the player's ability to get the ball close to the hole from off the green. Again, a positive value indicates gaining strokes relative to the average, while a negative value means losing strokes.
Strokes Gained: Putting: This metric focuses solely on a player's putting performance. It compares the player's number of putts taken to the average number of putts taken by all players from a similar distance. A positive value indicates the player is gaining strokes on the greens, while a negative value suggests the player is losing strokes.
So why is this important? Well no two games of golf are the same, varying courses, conditions and other factors mean that statistics can sometimes only be measured effectively when compared to the field average as opposed to on an individual basis. Think of the difference between a cold Open Championship course and the course of a typical PGA tour event, both offer massively different challenges and you wouldn't expect a players statistics to remain the same across all categories. One course, for example might have smaller greens and therefore the G.I.R might be lower than for the season. This doesn't necessarily mean a worse ball striking performance, just that the course set up has changed the benchmark for what good statistics look like in this category. This is where comparing a players stats to the field is more beneficial that to their average. Strokes gained takes the guess work out of the analysis of a players performance based upon their statistics by comparing them against their main competition across the most fundamental markers for performance.
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