Tour News
PGA Tour rolls out new Strokes gained: Tee-to-green statistic
Today, the PGA Tour is officially rolling out a new statistical metric: strokes gained: tee-to-green. In addition, the Tour will tally a combined “strokes gained: total”, which is an aggregate of the strokes gained-putting figure and strokes gained: tee-to-green.
As Steve Evans, the Tour’s head of Information Systems and overseer of the ShotLink system told Luke Kerr-Dineen of Golf Digest, “This is the next step of our evolution…we’re trying to create new performance metrics that are more telling than some of the current statistics.”
A report from PGATour.com indicates Mark Broadie of Columbia University (the man behind strokes gained-putting) initially developed the stat. A group from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was led by professor Steven Graves, further refined the metric.
Strokes gained: tee-to-green lumps together all non-putts and sets that number relative to a field average the same way that strokes gained-putting does with putts.
The Tour has unofficially been tabulating strokes gained: tee-to-green for part of the 2013-2014 season.
As John Paul Newport of The Wall Street Journal, wrote back in March:
“If you’re looking for one simple number to explain John Senden’s victory last week at the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship, try 2.17. That was the Australian journeyman’s “strokes gained-tee to green” statistic for the week. It beat by more than two strokes his season-average strokes gained-tee to green stat of 0.04 of a stroke per round.”
How does strokes gained: tee-to-green give a better indication of quality play than, say, greens in regulation? Luke Kerr-Dineen highlighted a pitfall of that metric:
“If Adam Scott, for example, only plays in the toughest events — events where it’s harder to hit greens in regulation — his greens-hit percentage will likely be lower than someone who only plays in events where it’s easier to hit greens. That essentially masks the fact that Adam Scott is the superior ball-striker of the two.”
In other words, as our Rich Hunt would surely agree, the best data is that which is relative.
When a golfer wins a tournament, we expect him to have fared well in strokes gained: tee-to-green. For example, Rory McIlroy was 2.8 strokes better than the field, tee-to-green, in his WGC-Bridgestone Invitational victory.
However, the figure offers some truly interesting insights that go beyond pointing out the obvious fact that the guy who won the tournament played better than the rest of the field.
As the Tour relates,
“In the opening round of the The Players Championship this year, Roberto Castro shot a 63, which was nine shots better than the field average of 72.01 that day.
Of those nine shots, Castro was eight shots better than the field from tee to green. He hit 13 of 14 fairways, and 15 of 18 greens, and averaged a field-leading 21-feet, 6 inches to the pin on all approach shots. He hit seven approach shots inside 15 feet and averaged nearly 12 feet closer to the pin than the field average of 34 feet.
Castro’s performance from tee to green that day allowed him to become the first player in the ShotLink era (starting in 2004) to shoot 65 or better at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course without making a putt from outside 10 feet.
To illustrate the value of the strokes gained: total figure, the Tour provides the following example:
“Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were paired together in the final round of the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Mickelson went on to shoot a final-round 64 while Woods finished 11 shots higher with a 3-over 75.
The largest difference between their rounds came on the greens. Mickelson outperformed the field by 4.6 strokes on the greens while Tiger lost 4.4 strokes. For the round, Mickelson was 9 strokes better than Woods on the greens. Meanwhile, from tee to green, Mickelson outperformed the field by +3.1 strokes while Tiger was at +1.1, a two-stroke difference between the two players.
Combine Mickelson’s nine-stroke advantage in putting with his two-stroke advantage from tee to green, and his 11-shot difference equals the difference between his score and Tiger’s score.”
Of course, all of the strokes gained metrics are evolving and none are without issues. As Steve Evans told John Paul Newport, there are a few issues related to strokes gained: tee-to-green Broadie and company are working to sort out. On such issue is short-sided shots from around the green. Obviously, a short-sided pitch or chip is more difficult than one where a player has a wealth of green to work with. Thus, that information needs to be factored in when evaluating the average proximity to the hole on a shot from inside 15 feet.
It may seem elementary, but the metric substantiates things about winning golf we already suspected to be true. As Newport wrote earlier this year based on the data from Senden’s win, “To win, a player can’t seriously misfire in any aspect of his game for the week, but there’s almost always one particular area where he shoots lights out.”
While the above doesn’t have quite the same ring to it as “drive for show, putt for dough,” it’s more indicative of what it really takes to win on the PGA Tour and is likely the tip of the data iceberg we’ll be privy to thanks to strokes gained: tee-to-green.
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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TheCityGame
Aug 26, 2014 at 12:04 pm
It will certainly be interesting to see what factors lead to winning any one particular tournament, but I want to see over the course of the year, what is better correlated with scoring/winning/cash.
Might finally put the “drive for show, putt for dough” guys out to pasture.
Pingback: PGA Tour rolls out new Strokes gained: Tee-to-green statistic | Spacetimeandi.com
Jason
Aug 25, 2014 at 3:30 pm
I read Broadie’s book “Every Shot Counts”. I thought it was a very interesting book. I’ve began to think of my rounds using the strokes gained thought process–even though I don’t really have the tour average numbers to go by. However, I can make an estimated guess on each shot, for my own ability, to determine where I gained and lost shots during a round. It’s really eye opening to think of my rounds like this. For example, I used to count fairways, greens, putts, etc. However, at the end of the day, none of this information really means anything. For example, if I missed every fairway during a round, did it hurt my score? I could have hit really nice, long tee shots that ended up 1ft in the rough and didn’t have much effect on my approach. Does 36 putts mean I putted well or poor? I could have hit every approach shot to 60 feet and made nice 2 putts–which would mean that my putting was pretty damn good and that I need to focus on either my approach shots or perhaps driving.
I can’t wait to see these stats appear on the PGA broadcast. Especially since they are so much more meaningful than the traditional stats.