The world's No. 1 player has made some significant improvements on the greens and and ShotLink stats could give other pros nightmares.
In 2024, Scottie Scheffler put together one of the most dominant statistical seasons the PGA Tour had seen in decades. He led the Tour in Strokes Gained: Total and Tee-to-Green, and he was remarkably consistent across the board. If there was a hole in his game, it was putting, but even that had improved over his disappointing performance on the greens in 2023. He won six times, led the money list, and topped the FedEx Cup standings. It was the kind of season that felt like a ceiling.
Then Scheffler got better.
The 2025 Masters and British Open winner was not in the field this week at the PGA Tour’s final event of the regular season, the Wyndham Championship, so his regular-season stats are completed, and for Scheffler’s competition, the outlook is not good. Based on the numbers, his 2025 season wasn’t just a continuation — it was an elevation.
Scottie Scheffler's putter elevated his game
Scheffler took the one area of his game – putting – where he was an average player and made himself significantly better. At the same time, he remained the best ballstriker in the world.
Like most modern golfers, Scheffler's game is built around a combination of power off the tee and precision with his irons, and as you can see in the chart below, his most significant edge over most PGA Tour players comes from his driver and his irons. Scheffler's short game is underappreciated and solid, but what made him better in 2025 is shown in the blue portion of the chart — putting.
In 2024, less than four percent of Scheffler's Strokes Gained: Total (2.496) came from putting, but in 2025, when it went up to 2.64, the putting portion leaped to almost 14 percent. Yes, his overall performance off the tee went down fractionally, but he actually went from No. 2 to No. 1 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. Scheffler's performance around the greens also dipped very slightly, but he remains in the top 25 on the PGA Tour. This season, Scheffler went from No. 77 to No. 20 in Strokes Gained: Putting. It almost seems unfair for a player who leads the Tour in driving and iron play to become a top-20 putter, but that's precisely what Scheffler did in 2025.
Scheffler improved on short- to mid-length putts
The logical follow-up question is: If Scheffler improved so much on the greens, was he making more long putts, more short putts or just more putts overall?
Digging into the PGA Tour's ShotLink system reveals that Scheffler made fewer long putts — he went from making almost 30 percent of his putts from 15 to 20 feet in 2024 to about 17 percent in 2025 — but he improved on short to mid-range putts, and that boosted his Strokes Gained: Putting overall.
The table above shows that Scheffler made a higher percentage of putts overall from 10 feet and in, including a higher percentage from 10 feet, 9 feet, 6 feet, and overall from 4 to 8 feet. No one makes a lot of 30-footers, and the pros hole just about everything from 3 feet and closer, but the ability to make more putts from between 4 and 8 feet means you are making more par-saving putts and more birdie putts after great approach shots.
Scottie Scheffler finished the PGA Tour's regular season ranked No. 4 in Proximity to the Hole and No. 1 in Greens in Regulation, which means he creates a lot of birdie chances. If he maintains this level of putting while remaining one of the game's most elite ball strikers, he is going to be very hard to beat in 2026 and beyond.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler putting improvement 2025 vs 2024 PGA Tour
Category: General Sports
