Scratch golfers

[Golfingdad]

Did you include yourself?

LOL ... whoops ... I mean twelve. Thanks for the correction!

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Seriously though ... I went through my brother's country club handicap list on the bulliten board a few weeks ago during a frost delay and I saw, I think, 3 guys who had caps under 2.  And, I believe that he's told me that they have something on the order of 300-400 members or so.  I think the list might have only been the men, but we're talking about something on the order of 1-ish% ???  And wikipedia say that there were 5,000,000 golfers who played 25 or more rounds in 2005 (yeah, not exactly up to date, but whatever) so ... maybe 5000 scratch golfers in the country????  I really have no idea.

P.S.  I don't think he was on the list, but Derek Ernst is a member there.

[iacas]

Secondly, how many scratch golfers are there in total? If they are 0.1% of 36 million golfers, then there should be roughly 36,000 of them. Is this also true? Seem like too many to be true?

Even if it's 0.1% that's just of golfers with handicaps. It's safe to assume that very very very very few of the golfers without handicaps are very good.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Secondly, how many scratch golfers are there in total? If they are 0.1% of 36 million golfers, then there should be roughly 36,000 of them. Is this also true? Seem like too many to be true?

Even if it's 0.1% that's just of golfers with handicaps. It's safe to assume that very very very very few of the golfers without handicaps are very good.

I think the number of people with a GHIN is 5 million and maybe other HC systems 1 million? Would this put the number at something like 6000 or so at or better than scratch?

That's a pretty small population!

[MULVn8tor]

I guess like a lot of people I feel as tho I could be one. But I'm around a 6 or 7 and that's with going to the range maybe 2 times a year and golfing 2 or 3 times a month. If I get more consistent on the greens I could be close In a way I don't want to be one. The game becomes more frustrating if your scratch. I

[BuckeyeNut]

Scratch golf is far from being competitive at most AM tourneys.

I got to scratch with a 77 scoring average.  Sheesh......I was just good enough to not be competitive. LOL

[Lihu]

Scratch golf is far from being competitive at most AM tourneys.

I got to scratch with a 77 scoring average.  Sheesh......I was just good enough to not be competitive. LOL

77 while the PGA tour pro scores are range from 68 to 74 is not bad.

[MacDutch]

I play at a club that has 1100 members. We have one + handicapper and one 0.7. and a handfull between 2.0 and 4. We had one +2 handicapper who started as playing-pro last year. Played the European tour for beginning pro's which is two levels below the European tour. Most of the pro tournaments he played, he did not make the cut.

[Spitfisher]

I play at a club that has 1100 members. We have one + handicapper and one 0.7. and a handfull between 2.0 and 4. We had one +2 handicapper who started as playing-pro last year. Played the European tour for beginning pro's which is two levels below the European tour. Most of the pro tournaments he played, he did not make the cut.

I play at aclub that has 200 members we proabably have 3-4 " + handicappers " and a dozen or so in the 1-3 handicap range, I guess its fair to say it varies

[Hammer 4]

I play at a club that has 1100 members. We have one + handicapper and one 0.7. and a handfull between 2.0 and 4.

We had one +2 handicapper who started as playing-pro last year. Played the European tour for beginning pro's which is two levels below the European tour. Most of the pro tournaments he played, he did not make the cut.

Just goes to show...just how good those guys are.

[CraiginKSA]

At my club we have about 400 members.  Mostly engineers, geologists, and doctors.  Everyone keeps handicaps and we have about 12 tournaments a year that about half participate in.  We have one scratch and one +1 (from the same family).  Also a 1.4 and the pro is a 2.  that's it!  Quite a few single digit guys, but only those 4 who are close to scratch or better out of 400.

[Lefty-Golfer]

I play at a club that has 1100 members. We have one + handicapper and one 0.7. and a handfull between 2.0 and 4.

We had one +2 handicapper who started as playing-pro last year. Played the European tour for beginning pro's which is two levels below the European tour. Most of the pro tournaments he played, he did not make the cut.

We have 269 golf members at my club (i just got the news letter) our club champ 5 of the last years goes from 0 - +2.5 - he is obviously very good....he can't compete towin local amature events in our area. there are just to many guys walking around with +3,4,5 and so forth.

of the 296 there are 3 or 4 guys at 1 or 0 a handful or two more 2,3,4 and then about 5 or 6 the flood starts.

[Harmonious]

We have 269 golf members at my club (i just got the news letter) our club champ 5 of the last years goes from 0 - +2.5 - he is obviously very good....he can't compete towin local amature events in our area. there are just to many guys walking around with +3,4,5 and so forth.

of the 296 there are 3 or 4 guys at 1 or 0 a handful or two more 2,3,4 and then about 5 or 6 the flood starts.

Are you a member of Whisper Rock?  Where is this place with all the +3, 4 & 5's handicaps walking around, and a guy with a +2.5 can't compete in local amateur events?

[Maddog10]

I belong to a small club that has one pro who plays between +2.5 and +3. He's incredible. Then we have another guy who is right around scratch, possibly fluctuating on the plus side occasionally. He has a somewhat unorthodox game, but is very good. Then there's myself and two other guys that play between a 1 and 3, basically none that I know of in the 3-5 range except for when the 1-3 range guys go on a cold spell, and then the numbers really start to increase in the 6-8 range. In total, I'd say we have probably 5 guys that play to a 5 handicap or below.

[Big C]

My club of 400+ golfers currently has 5 guys with a 1.0 or better index - only two of those are "+" handicaps, one of whom is the club pro. Whatever the actual percentages, scratch golf is pretty rarified air.

[Harmonious]

We have 269 golf members at my club (i just got the news letter) our club champ 5 of the last years goes from 0 - +2.5 - he is obviously very good....he can't compete towin local amature events in our area. there are just to many guys walking around with +3,4,5 and so forth.

Because I found your statement about the glut of + cappers so amazing, I did some checking of state Mid-Am Championships last year. I figured the Mid-Ams better reflected club players rather than the college golfers that enter the State Ams. I used Florida and Arizona because they would seem to have a lot of good amateurs. And PA is your home state, right?

Florida Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +0.3, +3.1, +1.0, 1.6, +1.6.

Arizona Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +3.2, +4.8, 0.5, +3.5, +2.6.

Pennsylvania Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +1.9, +4.2, +2.0, 0.7, +0.9.

So while there are some really good players out there, your club champ would seem to be able to hold his own in any amateur competition.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lefty-Golfer

We have 269 golf members at my club (i just got the news letter) our club champ 5 of the last years goes from 0 - +2.5 - he is obviously very good....he can't compete towin local amature events in our area. there are just to many guys walking around with +3,4,5 and so forth.

of the 296 there are 3 or 4 guys at 1 or 0 a handful or two more 2,3,4 and then about 5 or 6 the flood starts.

Are you a member of Whisper Rock?  Where is this place with all the +3, 4 & 5's handicaps walking around, and a guy with a +2.5 can't compete in local amateur events?

Seems like a +2.5 should be borderline pro.

[MS256]

Because I found your statement about the glut of + cappers so amazing, I did some checking of state Mid-Am Championships last year. I figured the Mid-Ams better reflected club players rather than the college golfers that enter the State Ams. I used Florida and Arizona because they would seem to have a lot of good amateurs. And PA is your home state, right?

Florida Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +0.3, +3.1, +1.0, 1.6, +1.6.

Arizona Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +3.2, +4.8, 0.5, +3.5, +2.6.

Pennsylvania Mid-Am Championship, GHIN Handicaps for the top five: +1.9, +4.2, +2.0, 0.7, +0.9.

So while there are some really good players out there, your club champ would seem to be able to hold his own in any amateur competition.

He might or might not be able to "compete" (whatever that means). If his handicap is based mostly (or entirely) from his home course and the other guys have handicaps compiled from multiple courses in tournaments they could easily be better than he is.

Then again maybe they are not better than he is at all but it just seemed that way because the high finishers had a good day (as high finishers always do). Maybe next tournament it will be his turn to light it up and the other guys will think they couldn't compete with him.

[Golfingdad]

Seems like a +2.5 should be borderline pro.

He might or might not be able to "compete" (whatever that means). If his handicap is based mostly (or entirely) from his home course and the other guys have handicaps compiled from multiple courses in tournaments they could easily be better than he is.

Then again maybe they are not better than he is at all but it just seemed that way because the high finishers had a good day (as high finishers always do). Maybe next tournament it will be his turn to light it up and the other guys will think they couldn't compete with him.

Yeah, if it's a guy that just plays the same course with the same group 3 to 5 times a week to acheive a +25, probably not.  But if a guy can play anywhere and keep a +2.5, that certainly seems** like a guy that would/could fit in just fine on a mini tour.

**  The translation of "seems" in my case is "I'm talking out of my ass."  I have no idea, just guessing. ;)