Strokes Gained Calculator
Enter where a shot started and where it finished. The calculator shows the expected strokes for both positions and the strokes gained of the swing between them, on the same handicap-adjusted Broadie baselines the Matrix app uses.
The method
Expected strokes come from Broadie (2011), Table 9: the number of strokes an average PGA Tour player needs to hole out from a given distance and lie, built from 8 million ShotLink shots. Strokes gained for one shot is E(start) − E(finish) − 1.
The handicap slider rescales the Tour table with amateur anchors: Shot Scope par-4 scoring averages set the tee and fairway multipliers, Arccos aggregates shape the rough penalty, and the Foy Golf Academy study sets the putting offset. These are documented approximations, not marketing numbers, and they are the same table the Matrix app ships with.
Questions
What baseline does this use?
Broadie (2011) Table 9, the published PGA Tour expected-strokes table, scaled to your handicap using amateur aggregates from Shot Scope, Arccos posts by Lou Stagner, and the Foy Golf Academy putting study. It is the same engine the Matrix app runs on real holes.
Why does the handicap slider change the numbers?
A scratch baseline is unfair to a 20 handicap and vice versa. Expected strokes stretch with handicap: a 15 handicap needs about 20% more strokes from the tee than a Tour player, and the rough or bunker penalty changes shape too.
What does a positive number mean?
Your shot beat the benchmark: you moved the ball closer to holing out than an average player of that handicap would with one stroke. Negative means the shot cost you fractions of a stroke against the benchmark.
Can strokes gained be positive on a bad decision?
Yes. SG measures execution, not strategy. Stuffing a flag you should never have aimed at still scores well. Deciding where to aim is a separate question, and it is the one the Matrix app is built around.
This math, on the actual hole.
Matrix runs the same engine on satellite views of real courses: your shot pattern on the fairway you play Saturday, strokes gained on a draggable aim line, and one specific practice priority. The first shot-map preview is free.