ShotLink (PGA Tour)

ShotLink is the PGA Tour's proprietary shot-tracking system that captures the precise location, distance, and trajectory of every shot hit during Tour events. Launched in 2003, the system combines laser range-finding technology, camera systems, and an army of trained volunteers to create a dataset that fundamentally changed how golf is analyzed, broadcast, wagered on, and played.

Before ShotLink, golf statistics were rudimentary. The Tour tracked basic categories — fairways hit, greens in regulation, putts per round — but had no way to measure where approach shots landed, how far drives carried, or how players performed from specific distances and lies. ShotLink filled that void with shot-level precision, creating an entirely new universe of statistical categories and enabling analyses that were previously impossible.

The most significant analytical breakthrough enabled by ShotLink data was the creation of Strokes Gained, a statistical framework developed by Professor Mark Broadie of Columbia Business School. Strokes Gained measures how much better or worse a player performs compared to the Tour average on every shot, from every location on the course. This single metric revolutionized how players, coaches, and broadcasters evaluate performance — it showed definitively, for example, that the long game matters far more than putting for explaining scoring differences among Tour pros, overturning decades of conventional wisdom.

ShotLink data has also transformed golf broadcasting and the golf betting market. When a commentator says a player is hitting from 156 yards with an 85% Tour average of hitting the green from that distance, that data comes from ShotLink. When a sportsbook sets live odds during a round, ShotLink data is part of the model. The system proved that even a sport as traditional as golf — with its 500-year history — can be reimagined through precision measurement and data analysis.