What’s a Good Handicap in Golf
A good golf handicap is a better than average golf handicap. It’s however, relative to the individual. If you’re a male, there are different handicap statistics as compared to female golfers. But for most golfers in general, a single digit handicap index is a good golf handicap to strive for.
To achieve a single digit golf handicap, you need to score consistently below 80 in golf on par 70 to par 72 holes.
How to Calculate a Golf Handicap
The formula for calculating a golf handicap is (Score – Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating.
However, a general rule for handicap is to take your most 20 recent rounds of golf and get rid of the 5 best scores and the 5 worst scores. The 10 scores remaining get averaged and that becomes your average score.
Take the average score and subtract the par of your golf course to determine your approximate handicap.
For example if your average was 83 and your golf course par score is 72 then you’d average 11 strokes above par and this would be your handicap for your golf course.
The reason we listed the formula above is because it helps you calculate your true golf handicap index when playing different golf courses.
Each course is rated on difficulty so Jim and Bob might play two different courses and both score 90 but if Jim played the tougher golf course his 90 would be more impressive than Bob.
Handicap Formula for Golf = (Score – Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating
What’s the Average Golf Score?
Right now the USGA average golf handicap for males floats around 15 to 16. This would put the average golf score around an 87 to 88 on a par 72 golf course.
The average golf score is relative to the golf association just like handicap is. For example, the average golf score on the PGA Tour is in the low 70’s with the top golfers in the world achieving a PGA Tour scoring average of 68-69.9 for the season.
The average golf score of beginners is above 100. The average golf score for amateur women golfers is in the 90’s and in the high 80’s for males.
It really depends which category group you are looking to compare to but the overall average would be judged by the handicap system with the USGA and that states males at a 15 to 16 usually year to year.
What’s a good golf score
The first stage of achieving a good golf score is breaking 100. There are more golfers who score above 100 in golf than there are golfers who score under 100. So good scores in golf would be anything under 100.
The best good golf score to achieve is breaking 90 in golf. This is something about 50% of players achieve since the USGA states the average golf handicap at a 15.
To break into the top 10% of golfers, you’d need a really good golf score which means breaking 80 consistently. And the top 1% of golfers break 75.
So going off of those metrics, a good golf score would be in the 70’s but you can also consider a good golf score anything better than 87 since that is the average handicap scoring area for male golfers.
The Best Golf Score Ever
Currently the Guinness World Records shows that Rhein Gibson, who shot a 55 golf score, is the person with the best golf score ever. He did so at the River Oaks golf club in Edmond Oklahoma in the United States.
River oaks is a 6,700 yard golf course with par 71 and Gibson carded 2 eagles and 12 birdies in route to the best score ever of 55.
What Percentage of Golfers Break 100?
It’s estimated that only about 25% of golfers who ever play the sport achieve a score of 100 or better. But this also includes many golfers who play just one time.
Deleting out most of the golfers who only try it once, we can assume that golfers playing multiple rounds see about 55% break 100 at least once in their lifetime.
What Percentage of Golfers Break 90?
It’s estimated that roughly 30% of golfers who play consistently (more than once in their life) achieve a score of 90 or better. It may take several attempts and possibly years of trying but 30% is still a decent amount of golfers breaking 90.
Resource: Golf Practice Plan to Break 90
What Percentage of Golfers Break 80?
Breaking 80 in golf is even more challenging and many golfers spend their whole life attempting it. About 20-25% of golfers break 80 at least once.
Having a single digit handicap is even more rare as this means you can consistently break 80 time and time again. This statistic is even lower than the stat tracking who breaks 80 at least once.
What Percentage of Golfers are Scratch Golf?
Only 1.5% of golfers achieve a handicap index of par golf or under par golf. But as we stated in this article, just because you’re a scratch golfer doesn’t mean you’re on the same level as professional tour players. Check it out as we highlight the differences between a scratch golfer and pro golfer.
