AlignIQGOLF / PERFORMANCE

Strokes Gained category 01

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee

Off the Tee measures the value created or lost by the opening tee shot on a par 4 or par 5. It prices both distance and the position left for the next shot.

Category boundary

The category starts with the first shot from the tee on a par 4 or par 5. A par-3 tee shot belongs to Approach, because it is played directly toward the green.

What counts

  • The first tee shot on every par 4 and par 5.
  • Penalty strokes charged to the tee shot that caused them.
  • The lie and distance remaining after the shot, including a re-tee or recovery position.

What to log

  • Starting hole distance from the tee, in yards.
  • Ending lie and distance to the hole, in yards unless the ball is on the green.
  • Any penalty stroke caused by the shot.

A worked shot

370-yard par 4: tee to 150 yards in the fairway
Expected before
3.940
Expected after
2.945
Stroke used
1
SG vs Tour
-0.01

The numbers above are calculated at render time from AlignIQ’s production SG engine. They are not copied into this page, so the example cannot drift away from the calculation used in the app.

How to interpret it

A positive number means the shot improved the position by more than the Tour reference would expect after using one stroke. A negative number means it created less value. One drive is evidence about one drive, not a verdict on the player.

A common mistake

Fairways hit does not tell the whole story here. A ball can miss the fairway and still gain value through distance and a playable angle; a fairway can still lose value if too much distance remains.

Where the benchmark comes from

The primary comparison uses Mark Broadie’s published PGA Tour expected-strokes tables and putting model. AlignIQ interpolates between published distances within the same lie, never across lies. A holed ball has an ending value of zero. When a required source value is unavailable, the engine returns no SG number.