Dispersion

The pattern of where shots land relative to the intended target, typically visualized as an ellipse or scatter plot. Dispersion has two components: lateral (left/right) and depth (short/long).

Dispersion is a more honest measure of skill than a single shot. A player whose drives average 250 yards with a 40-yard-wide dispersion is meaningfully better than one with the same average and an 80-yard dispersion, because they hit more fairways and have fewer recovery shots.

Simulator software (GSPro, FSX, TGC 2019) tracks dispersion over a session, which is one of the most useful features for targeted practice. You can see whether the practice that "felt good" actually produced tighter ellipses.