These PGA Tour players made the biggest strokes-gained improvements, declines

There is no shortage of metrics on the PGA Tour.

Some of the most useful are the strokes-gained statistics. Whether it’s off the tee, approaching the green, around the green or putting, these strokes-gained numbers quantify where players stack up against their peers in the most important facets of the game.

Using these metrics, we can also see how much better – or worse – a particular player got in each of those four areas. Who made the greatest driving gain? Who improved the most on approach? Who suffered the biggest setback with putter?

All of those questions can easily be answered.

And so, with that said, who were the PGA Tour’s biggest strokes-gained gainers – and losers – from last season to this season?

Some notable findings:

• Maverick McNealy improved the most across the board, using a 165-place gain in his off-the-tee ranking to rise 227 total spots, one spot clear of Davis Thompson, who improved 226 places despite backing up 12 spots to No. 38 off the tee. McNealy’s off-the-tee ranking gain was the single greatest improvement, and it more than offset his slight drop in putting, as he went from the Tour’s top-ranked putter to No. 29. McNealy became an equipment free agent this year, and had a TaylorMade Qi10 driver in the bag, along with TaylorMade P7CB irons that he switched to this fall, when he won the RSM Classic for his first Tour win. He still uses an Odyssey putter.

• Akshay Bhatia’s putting, up 150 spots, was the second biggest gain this season, followed by Keith Mitchell’s approach play, which was up 148 places. Bhatia switched to a broomstick putter in September 2023. Mitchell began the year working with Georgia assistant coach Mookie DeMoss on improving his course management, especially off the tee to take pressure off his approach shots; it worked.

• Cameron Champ’s 128-spot improvement in putting, to No. 37, was tied with Sam Stevens for second best on Tour, though it might’ve been the most impressive rise as Champ had never finished a season ranked better than 123rd with the flatstick.

• On the flip side, Justin Rose and Rickie Fowler not only plummeted 307 and 295 total spots, respectively, but they were also two of only three players to have top-5 declines in multiple strokes-gained categories, both doing so on approach and around the greens. Max Homa dropped 123 places off the tee, tops on Tour, and 100 in putting, tied for fifth. Fowler talked in June about his biggest issue being with the flatstick, saying, “I feel like a lot of it can go back to not putting well. … Putting well helps free up other things. You’re not seeing putts go in and it kind of adds some extra stress to having to hit greens or hit it closer, chip it close, that circle gets quite a bit bigger once you see some go in.” Fowler has since switched to a LAB putter, though looking at his stats, putting was his smallest drop, at only 18 spots to No. 66. He lost most of his ground with his approach play (down 117 places) and around the greens (down 100 spots).

Here is a further dive into the numbers:

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