What Does the Average Weekend Golfer Shoot?

[Dave2512]

The thing is for your ESC to be legit your HC needs to be legit. The golfer that ignores the rules as their HC trends has no idea what that number really is. If the scores are artificially low or high it's not an accurate representation. Handicaps do change over time.

[JasonK88S]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

The thing is for your ESC to be legit your HC needs to be legit. The golfer that ignores the rules as their HC trends has no idea what that number really is. If the scores are artificially low or high it's not an accurate representation. Handicaps do change over time.

As for me, I couldn't stand playing a round and not knowing what my actual score "could have been". I like to know what I am capable of or else I will sit around and think to myself what I did wrong and what I should have done better. That's just me.

[tuffluck]

i don't get the whole "pick up at double or triple bogey" methodology either.  i know the HCP system works that way with a triple, but it seems as illegitimate on your score as disobeying a rule like grounding your club or improving your lie.  there are some ridiculous rules in golf...and some ridiculous ones left out IMO.  you shoot a 12, you should be putting a 12 on your card.  i do every time i play.

[meenman]

i don't get the whole "pick up at double or triple bogey" methodology either.  i know the HCP system works that way with a triple, but it seems as illegitimate on your score as disobeying a rule like grounding your club or improving your lie.  there are some ridiculous rules in golf...and some ridiculous ones left out IMO.  you shoot a 12, you should be putting a 12 on your card.  i do every time i play.

When you are in competition, i agree. I played with 2 friends yesterday who carded a double digit on a hole - because it was for bragging rights. My normal Saturday morning group, we play for nothing except for the enjoyment. I have no problem with anyone picking up after their *ESC* score has been hit since there is no need to slow down a packed golf course to see if they would have really ended up with a 10 or 15. This has hurt one of the guys, since he will give up after hitting 2 OOB, after he carded a 17 on a not so tough par 5 in a tournament. Also in the American handicap system, there is nothing that lets you pick up after a triple and an ESC double bogey only applies to single digit handicaps.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by tuffluck

i don't get the whole "pick up at double or triple bogey" methodology either.  i know the HCP system works that way with a triple, but it seems as illegitimate on your score as disobeying a rule like grounding your club or improving your lie.  there are some ridiculous rules in golf...and some ridiculous ones left out IMO.  you shoot a 12, you should be putting a 12 on your card.  i do every time i play.

That's fair ... but I hope you aren't one of the many on here that likes to complain about slow play?  You can't very well reconcile those two beliefs.

And as I understand it, the handicap system is max. double bogey for under 10 handicaps, max 7 on any hole for 10-20 and max 8 on any hole for 20 and up.  (Or something close to that)

If you are playing in front of me, I will applaud everytime (not out loud, that would just make me a dick) you decide to pick up at 8.  I would consider it a courtesy.

[tuffluck]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

That's fair ... but I hope you aren't one of the many on here that likes to complain about slow play?  You can't very well reconcile those two beliefs.

And as I understand it, the handicap system is max. double bogey for under 10 handicaps, max 7 on any hole for 10-20 and max 8 on any hole for 20 and up.  (Or something close to that)

If you are playing in front of me, I will applaud everytime (not out loud, that would just make me a dick) you decide to pick up at 8.  I would consider it a courtesy.

well, if you are terrible to begin with and a 12 is your average on every hole, for goodness sake please pick up.  but if you're at least average, you probably will only card 1 or 2 holes over the score of 8.  that's not going to slow down play much.

[cnsgolf13]

Hi, I'm 15 and I am taking golf lessons from my courses golf pro and I also play around 36-54 holes a week and I shoot in the 90s and my best ever was an 84 I would say I work pretty hard to achieve these scores and I follow all of the rules

[Strandly]

I wish scores were started in terms of +X instead of some number, like 95-105.  I play couple different courses nearby, one is a short course and the other is a regular 70 or 71.  Telling someone I'm a newbie weekend warrior and shot an 85 sounds a bit more impressive until I mention it was the par 65 short course.

[cnsgolf13]

I wish scores were started in terms of +X instead of some number, like 95-105.  I play couple different courses nearby, one is a short course and the other is a regular 70 or 71.  Telling someone I'm a newbie weekend warrior and shot an 85 sounds a bit more impressive until I mention it was the par 65 short course.

ok I understand what you're saying but I play par 71 and par 72 courses

[Strandly]

Oh I wasn't referring to your post, I just mean in general.  If someone tells me the average weekend golfer shoots a 98 that doesn't really tell me much of anything.  If they said the average weekend golfer is +25 then I have a much better idea of what's going on.

[cnsgolf13]

Oh my bad and yeah I get what you're saying

[pepsiplusconker]

Originally Posted by Strandly

I wish scores were started in terms of +X instead of some number, like 95-105.  I play couple different courses nearby, one is a short course and the other is a regular 70 or 71.  Telling someone I'm a newbie weekend warrior and shot an 85 sounds a bit more impressive until I mention it was the par 65 short course.

Just state it in terms of +x then, I do this alot any way.

When you get into the realms of +25 etc. it doesn't sound so great though

[Brakkus]

The average weekend golfer to me means I have friends who play a round once a week,don't ever try to find out why they make the mistakes they do. They put tees down in the fairway cheat on the rules use a putter from 50 yards out in the fairway and then have a beer afterwards. This scenario is TRUE by the way! Funny thing is having played along it was clear my more methodical and focused approach was embarrassing for them. All good guys and still my friends and I wasn't intense in anyway just committed to being better than a hacker. I would say a lot of guys fit this description and probably shoot between 100-120 depending on how much they know about rules and the like. However there are cases that don't follow this pattern,the most I have ever played is once a month. In the last year I have played 4 rounds and just scored 86 on a 6200 yard track. I practice nearly every day at home and I'm serious about my improvement. So maybe it should be what does the average weekend hacker score? Good golfers like people on this forum don't conform to the law of averages or fit into a demographic. They make there own destiny and work within whatever time and talent is available to them and become good despite the naysayers.

[flintcreek6412]

Originally Posted by pepsiplusconker

Just state it in terms of +x then, I do this alot any way.

When you get into the realms of +25 etc. it doesn't sound so great though

Actually this doesn't tell me much either.......why not really confuse the inexperienced and say what your differential was......

I shot a 74(+2) a few weeks ago.  Sounds good?  It was an easy, short goat ranch that was rated 65/113 thus my differential was 9.0

Conversely I shot a 77(+5) yesterday.  Not nearly as impressive?  It was on a course rated 71.4/135 for a differential of 4.7

It's like people asking me how long my drive is.....well it depends.   300yrd easy on a flat dry course.  225yrd on a wet hilly course hitting into the upslope.  Same swing different results.

[Jeremie Boop]

Technically, the average weekend golfer doesn't shoot a real score since they take free drops/mulligans/footwedge/fluff lie etc. If they were to play 100% by the rules who knows what the actual score would be.

[LettucePray27]

I at least try to play 9 holes once a week which is pretty difficult to fit into my schedule. But only get out to play 18 once or twice a month max. I average +5-8 for nine holes and +15-20 for 18... I like to think that I am very much an average golfer. I'm a short hitter, even by internet standards, but I really enjoy the short game, making it a point to practice chipping for 15 minutes or so at least three days a week.

[kw purp]

I'd say right around bogey would be the average. Some worse some better most right around bogey. So in that 85-95 range

[Jeremie Boop]

Originally Posted by kw purp

I'd say right around bogey would be the average. Some worse some better most right around bogey. So in that 85-95 range

That would put me below average, which I guess could be true, but I'm also one of the better players in my league and most people I end up playing with randomly.