Putting stats, explained

A make percentage on its own says almost nothing, because it depends on where you putted from. These are the putting stats that account for distance, what each one measures, and how Lagr works them out from the putts you log.

Why distance changes everything

Holing half your putts is excellent from 15 feet and a problem from 4. A putting stat that ignores where each putt started rewards whoever practiced the short ones. Every stat below is measured by distance, so it compares like with like.

Make % by distance

Lagr sorts every putt you log into five distance bands — 0–3 ft, 3–6 ft, 6–10 ft, 10–20 ft, and 20 ft and beyond — and shows your make percentage in each, beside what a baseline player makes from the same distance. The gap between the two is the useful part: it points at the band where putts start getting away from you.

Every putt you log counts toward it, including putts from the free Super Simple Logger.

Strokes gained putting Premium

Strokes gained compares the putts you actually took with the putts a baseline player is expected to take from the same starting distance. Say the baseline expects 1.8 putts from where you started: take two and you lose 0.2 strokes; hole it and you gain 0.8.

The yardstick is the level you pick in Settings — Beginner, Club or Pro. Your level changes what strokes gained is measured against; it never changes your Lagr Strength Index.

Strokes gained needs every putt from start to finish, so it comes from following one ball to the hole in Course Green, a Lagr Premium mode.

Putts to hole out Premium

Follow a single ball from its first putt until it drops, and the count is your putts to hole out. Lagr shows your average and your one-putt rate. Because each putt starts where the last one finished, this is the stat closest to what putting costs you on the course.

Three-putt avoidance Premium

From 25 feet and out, how often you get down in two putts or better. Long putts are where three-putts come from, so this is the rate that moves when your distance control improves. Turn the card over and Lagr shows, distance by distance, how often your first putt finishes inside a gimme.

Putts to hole out and the measured three-putt rate both come from following balls to the hole in Course Green.

The Lagr Strength Index

The stats above describe what happened. The Lagr Strength Index answers a single question: are your long putts getting better? It is the distance where getting down in two and taking three are equally likely, measured from putts of 25 feet and up. Inside it, two putts win; beyond it, three putts do. As your lag putting improves, the number moves out.

The Strength Index is free, and so is the challenge that sets it. Read the lag putting guide for how it works.