Gap Calculator
Enter a typical round. See where your strokes go, which gap is biggest, and one thing to practice this week. It runs in your browser, so nothing you type is saved or sent.
Your gap bar
- Time
- Reps
- You have it when
How this works
This is the same scoring-gap model the Data Action Golf app uses, rewritten in JavaScript so it runs on this page. It turns eleven numbers you already know after a round into an estimate of strokes lost in five categories. It is a coaching estimate from round totals, not strokes gained from shot-by-shot data.
What each gap counts
| Gap | How it is counted | Versus the app |
|---|---|---|
| Penalties | One stroke per penalty stroke. | Same. |
| Three-putts | One stroke per three-putt hole. | Same. The app also reads how far the first putt was; this page does not ask, so it always gives the general lag-putting read. |
| Approach shots | Half a stroke for each green missed beyond the tour pace of about 12 of 18. | The app costs long approaches at half a stroke each. This page cannot see your club or yardage, so it uses greens in regulation instead. |
| Tee shots | Four tenths of a stroke for each fairway missed beyond the tour pace of about six in ten. | The app costs tee misses to one side at four tenths each. This page cannot see direction, so it counts all misses past the tour pace. |
| Short game | Half a stroke for each missed up-and-down beyond the tour save rate of about three in five. | The app costs every missed save at half a stroke. This page gives you the tour save rate for free, the way it does for fairways and greens. |
Assumptions, plainly
- 18 holes. The tour comparisons are for a full round. For nine holes, double your numbers first.
- Tour pace is free. Tour pros miss about four fairways in ten and about one green in three, so missing at that rate is not a gap. Only the misses beyond it count. Penalties and three-putts are counted in full, as in the app.
- Overlap is possible. A green you missed can show up under Approach shots, and the chip you did not save can show up under Short game. They are different shots, so both can count.
- Your biggest gap is the category with the most strokes lost. A tie goes in the app’s order: penalties, three-putts, approach shots, tee shots, short game, with penalties getting a tiny edge.
- Target score is the number you enter. If you leave it blank and enter a handicap, it is par 72 plus your handicap, rounded. A real course handicap also depends on the course’s slope and rating, so treat it as a guide.
- Total putts are used to check your three-putts and to compare you with the tour average. They are not a gap of their own, because the app counts three-putts, not total putts.
- The practice suggestion is the highest-priority drill, by weight, from the app’s 30-drill library for that gap, using the same pairing of gap to drill the app uses.
- Rounding. Strokes show at half-stroke resolution, like the app. Treat every figure as an honest estimate, not a measurement.
- Privacy. The math runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent, and this page makes no outside requests.
Where the tour numbers come from
The benchmarks are PGA TOUR season averages for 2025 from pgatour.com, the same figures the app uses: 59% of fairways hit, 65% of greens in regulation, 58% of up-and-downs made, and 29.0 putts per 18 holes. The tour is the honest yardstick, and it is kinder than most golfers expect.