whats a good handicap?

[mdl]

A possibile poll?

(d)

And for the bonus question - at what handicap does the average golf realize they aren't so good? a.) 24.0 to 16.0 b.) 15.9 to 10.0 c.) 9.9 to 6.0 d.) 5.9 to 3.0

(e) 3.0 to 0.0

;)

[max power]

I'm a 22. I struggle a lot but I would say I play with a bunch of what seem to be average players based on my experience. A few of them are definitely better than me, but I pretty consistently play better than most people I play with. I have a hard time breaking 90 because of mistakes and blow up holes. But, in general I usually strike the ball a lot better than the people I play with. I have a hard time believing that the true average handicap is 15. Maybe I just play with the wrong people.

15-17 sounds right for that subset of golfers that actually tracks/keeps a handicap. If all golfers are included it's got be somewhere in the 20's.

[Easy]

To me
Professionals are A+ golfers.
Scratch are grade A golfers.
1 - 5 are B+
5 - 10 are B
10 - 18 are C grade
any thing lower is below average.

So I'm below average.

[Chris223]

I fail to see what makes someone who shoots in the 90's a bad player. When I go out and play and see people dribbling the ball on the ground 40 yards down the fairway taking 5 shots to even get close to the green on a par 4, I don't like to consider myself bad because I got to the green with driver and 9 iron on a 400+ yard par 4 but my awful chip shot and 2 putt got me a 5. I know I'm not a great player or even that good, but I guess it's just the average person I see at the courses I play at I don't consider myself bad.

[brgolf]

I fail to see what makes someone who shoots in the 90's a bad player. When I go out and play and see people dribbling the ball on the ground 40 yards down the fairway taking 5 shots to even get close to the green on a par 4, I don't like to consider myself bad because I got to the green with driver and 9 iron on a 400+ yard par 4 but my awful chip shot and 2 putt got me a 5. I know I'm not a great player or even that good, but I guess it's just the average person I see at the courses I play at I don't consider myself bad.

Golf is a tough game and it depends how high you set the bar. Someone who shoots less than 100 is not bad by any standards but good really only starts below 90 imo.

[James_Black]

To me

professionals, aren't human. scratch are insanely good. 1-5 are amazingly good. 5-10 are really good. 10-18 are good anything over 18 isn't great. you can't compare pro's to us mortals.

[Easy]

Exactly. If I didn't grade the hierarchy I would of used your words.
Like others have said the average handicap for a regular golfer is a 16 or something. So if you're higher than that your below average. It doesn't mean you're a bad golfer just below the norm.
I don't think I'm a bad golfer but I know I'm not good. Yet...

[sean_miller]

I fail to see what makes someone who shoots in the 90's a bad player. When I go out and play and see people dribbling the ball on the ground 40 yards down the fairway taking 5 shots to even get close to the green on a par 4, I don't like to consider myself bad because I got to the green with driver and 9 iron on a 400+ yard par 4 but my awful chip shot and 2 putt got me a 5. I know I'm not a great player or even that good, but I guess it's just the average person I see at the courses I play at I don't consider myself bad.

So you're definitely not a 36.0 then. Given enough attempts I could put a good lick on a Roy Halladay pitch. Actual "good hitters" know what just happened. A fluke. But hey, whatever keeps us coming back and paying greens fees. That's the main thing.

[Slicer2tl]

I am sorry that this is my first post, however this particular thread is the reason why I signed up.

I am a 7.92 handicap, I play on courses that have a rating of 73- 76 on a regular basis, the vast majority of players that I play with believe this is true:

A scratch golfer is Good

A + golfer is Very Good

A 1-10 is moderate golfer (almost 90 percent require putting practice)

A 11-18 wont slow you down but are ok

A 19-26 is frustrating to play with

However, when I play public courses the majority of people that I play with play but a few times a year and are out there for the fun, these types of players don't understand the game and can not understand why there doing what there doing... I would group these players in the bracket of 25 +, and most of these golfers ask why I don't consider playing golf for a living, ( I always respond, I'm not nearly good enough)

I suppose I don't understand why a golfer who shoots a 80 is considered "good" in most peoples opinions... Anyone who can make 85 of there shots count and the other 15 are crap needs practice.

I participate in matches through the season, And time in and time out the "real" difference between myself and a scratch golfer is but a few shots, however in the game of golf those "few" shots really really matter.

I realize that many would like to be a 10 or less, however if you get there, you realize how bad you really are....

[max power]

Counterpoint-I made it to a 10 (sub 6 even!) and I did not suddenly realize how bad I really was.  Primarily I was pleased/encouraged with my improvement.  My desire to maintain and continue improving has not waned, and I am very aware that any and every reduction in handicap from my current level will be exponentially more difficult than the the last reduction was.

A golfer who shoots "80" is considered a good golfer because of the relative scarcity of actual sub-80 scores across the broad spectrum of golfers.  That's all there is to it.  You and your buddies have a skewed perspective on what constitutes a "good" golfer, that's fine.  I play with all kinds of golfers, including the occasional good/very good golfer, but most are atrocious.  Most will never see the south side of 90, let alone 80.  And I mean never as in practice and lessons-still won't happen.  80 is good golf.

Originally Posted by Slicer2tl

I am sorry that this is my first post, however this particular thread is the reason why I signed up.

I am a 7.92 handicap, I play on courses that have a rating of 73- 76 on a regular basis, the vast majority of players that I play with believe this is true:

A scratch golfer is Good

A + golfer is Very Good

A 1-10 is moderate golfer (almost 90 percent require putting practice)

A 11-18 wont slow you down but are ok

A 19-26 is frustrating to play with

However, when I play public courses the majority of people that I play with play but a few times a year and are out there for the fun, these types of players don't understand the game and can not understand why there doing what there doing... I would group these players in the bracket of 25 +, and most of these golfers ask why I don't consider playing golf for a living, ( I always respond, I'm not nearly good enough)

I suppose I don't understand why a golfer who shoots a 80 is considered "good" in most peoples opinions... Anyone who can make 85 of there shots count and the other 15 are crap needs practice.

I participate in matches through the season, And time in and time out the "real" difference between myself and a scratch golfer is but a few shots, however in the game of golf those "few" shots really really matter.

I realize that many would like to be a 10 or less, however if you get there, you realize how bad you really are....

[Dad-2-3]

The lower my index goes the more I realize how bad I really am. I think the lower my index goes the higher my standards for "good golf" get.

[skates]

Hey guys, Just read through this and when I first started playing I was like o man if I could just get down to a single handicap, I will consider myself a good golfer and therefor people around me will consider me a good golfer. Well during this journey I can say I am currently a single digit handicap and can honestly say I am not a good golfer what so ever. Its like the saying the more you learn, you realize how little you know. Handicap is just a number mostly used for bragging rights, the lower you get the more you realize that you need to work even harder to become good.

[allin]

my opinion:
me= hacker
if you shoot in the low 90's=pretty good
mid-low 80's= good
70's= very good
scratch= great.

[quote name="SubPar" url="/forum/thread/20708/whats-a-good-handicap#post_254301"]Reportedly 90% of golfers can't break 100 on a regular basis (playing by the rules), so if anyone reaches an honest single digit handicap they must be pretty darn good in the big picture. That probably takes into account millions of people play a few times a year and seldom, if ever, practice.

I have played with many golfers who lose balls, hit OB and drop another ball incorrectly, swing and miss, give themselves 4 ft. putts and so on, and then think they shot an 85 because their egos won't let them be honest about it. I played with a guy once who thought he "played pretty good". I kept track and he lost more than 15 balls. The first time I played with him he said he had shot a 50 on the front 9. I had counted every penalty he was due and every missed putt and he actually had something over a 70 on the front nine.

As for a "good handicap", the best measure is how good do you need to be to enjoy the game. To me that number is around 10-11. When I got down to a 10 or so, I had some control over my swing and occasionally shot in the low 80s, or maybe now and then a 78 or 79.


SubPar[/quote] USGA surveyed golfers a few years ago by actually having staff go to courses, even checked swing speed etc, so they could include golfers who don't keep handicaps, the majority. For regular or avid golfers the average handicap is between 15 and 16. So using that as average for experienced avid golfers I would say 6 or below is a good golfer. It is difficult to get to 6 or less if you don't do almost everything at least decently. Several posters pointed out that it is sort of relative to what level you play at. It always amuses me when I am practicing and newer golfers tell me how good I am. But from their perspective I guess they are right, if you struggle to break 100 then someone like myself in the 82-87 range seems prettty good. But at my level there are a number of things I still do poorly, My sand play is poor and I lack distance with the driver. I am pretty straight and except for the sand play have an above average short game. If I could add twenty yards to my drives without losing accuracy and improve my sand play I would have a shot at single digits. But even then I would probably have few birdies. A six would either have to be very consistent or throw in some birdies.

[Mustered]

Hahaha you think 20 handicap is a good player, more like someone who enjoys a walk

[Hairy Feet]

25% of male golfers break 90.

The average score by male golfers is 97.

6% of male golfers break 80.

So what makes a good golfer?

The goal of most golfers is to break 80, and ideally have a single digit handicap. But when a golfer gets to x handicap he wants to be lower, then lower again. Then there is the difference between what we each consider a good score. Ask someone who plays off 20 what they consider to be a good score and they will want to break 90, and a 10 handicapper wants to break 80. Having a "good day out" to all of us means beating our own handicaps.

A good handicap is one that makes an individual competitive with his fellow golfers, irrespective of whether its scratch or 28.

[Lofty Lefty]

All I will say is that I am sick of being a 12-13 handicap. Some of my mates are around the 5-7 range. I want to get down at least to that level to give them some stiff competition.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by Slicer2tl

A scratch golfer is Good

A + golfer is Very Good

A 1-10 is moderate golfer (almost 90 percent require putting practice)

A 11-18 wont slow you down but are ok

A 19-26 is frustrating to play with

Quite possibly the most offensive and arrogant post ever on this site.

[Kobey]

Originally Posted by Shorty

Quite possibly the most offensive and arrogant post ever on this site.

Please explain Shorty, I don't see anything offensive or arrogant about that post.

Edit- Never mind, I must have missed that entire post, didn't seem so bad taken out of context in your quote