What is the Statistical distribution of golf handicaps?

[jfrain2004]

ie, what percentages of golfers would play off 20 - 30, 10 - 20 or 0 -10
I believe that there is a low percentage of golfers between 12 to 18 handicaps as I see golf as being a game where you can hit the ball or you can't or if you prefer, a game where you either expect to hit it or you don't. Any one agree? From my own experience I spent my first 2 yrs at 20+ and less than 6mths to get to 12 from once I had mastered the correct swing mechanics. Like swimming, you can't kind of swim, you either can stay afloat because you know you can't sink or you just splash about because you believe you will sink

[Sherpat]

That's an interesting observation. Here, you can check for yourself to see if your perception stacks up against the what the US Golf Association says is the spread in America, anyway:

http://www.usga.org/playing/handicap..._handicap.html

:)

[jfrain2004]

Hmmmmmm, I couldn't be further off the mark, according to this the 12 - 20 range is the most populous, 8) My club must be the exception because I can only think of a handful of 12 - 20 handicappers.
Another unexpected statistic is that 1 in every 5 golfers plays off single digits .. ie 20.44% of golfers

00.55%0.68%
10.57%1.25%
20.85%2.10%
31.15%3.25%
41.56%4.81%
4.68%
52.02%6.83%
62.56%9.39%
73.17%12.56%
83.68%16.24%
94.20%20.44%
15.63%
104.66%25.10%
115.02%30.12%
125.41%35.53%
135.58%41.11%
145.67%46.78%
26.34%
155.54%52.32%
165.36%57.69%
175.02%62.71%
184.64%67.35%
194.23%71.57%
24.79%
203.88%75.45%
213.46%78.91%
223.12%82.03%
232.78%84.81%
242.44%87.25%
15.68%
252.11%89.36%
261.81%91.17%
271.54%92.71%
281.30%94.01%
291.10%95.12%
7.86%

[Sherpat]

Still, your point did have a certain logic to it: people learning a new skill suck at first, then reach a point where they suddenly get better, with little middle ground transition.

I guess it's possible that different people reach their tipping point (the point where they go from Bad to Good in one quick rush) at different times. Some may get their epiphany fairly quickly, when they're a double bogey player. Others may take longer. So in the end, the statistics even out. Bell curves do have a habit of repeating for all sorts of things

[Big_M]

These statistics might be slightly skewed in that more better players actually go through the trouble of getting a USGA card.

[Fourputt]

These statistics might be slightly skewed in that more better players actually go through the trouble of getting a USGA card.

Yes. Keep in mind that those stats apply to players who actually maintain a handicap. There are more who do not carry a handicap than there are that do, and those that do not tend to be less skilled players. The stats posted above show that about 40% of golfers who maintain a USGA handicap are in that 12-20 range, and 20% are in the 9-0 range. I can assure you that the percentage of single digit players is far less than 20% when weighed against ALL players, handicapped or not. It's just not possible to gather accurate statistics for players who don't post scores where they can be collected and collated.

[kafka01]

In Germany all golfers have to have a Hcp to be allowed to play. Our Hcp systems starts at 54 for beginners. I attached a screenshot of the Hcp distribution of the golfers (men and women all age groups).

I found it quite intresting that the US distribution has a lot more players in the lower Hcp categories than in Germany. But as some other posters pointed out before, thats probably cuz a lot of beginners in the US wont have a Hcp which brings the average up and further compared to the US or UK Golf is still a "niche" market and not as broad established.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

In Germany all golfers have to have a Hcp to be allowed to play. Our Hcp systems starts at 54 for beginners. I attached a screenshot of the Hcp distribution of the golfers (men and women all age groups).

I looked at your chart & found it incomprehensible since "Ich spreche Deutche nicht" but I accept your conclusions - they sound reasonable & logical.

[SubPar]

Exact stats are impossible to come by because not everyone keeps a handicap; probably way less than half do. Many who do maintain an index lie a lot, give themselves 3' putts, don't count OB or lost balls, use the foot wedge a great deal, carry more then 14 clubs or do not post all their scores.

There are the well known sandbaggers, who only post high scores to give them an advantage in tournaments, (ever notice how many 12-14 handicappers shoot 78 on tournament day?), but I am sure most golfers lie toward the positive side because their egos won't let them accept that they shoot 105. I played with a guy last week who is going around telling everone he played really well. He's pretty sure he shot "around 50" on the front side. I kept count of his score as best I could and counted him at leaset 68 on the front. I gave up on the back side. The multiple lost balls, four putts and foot wedges were just too much to keep track of.

I've heard it said, and believe it to be true... if you can shoot under 100 regularly, keeping score by the book, you are in the top 10% of all golfers in the world.

SubPar

[SirMilton]

I seriously doubt that 1/3 of the full golf members in my primary country club have USGA handicaps; my best guess would be about 10% at most. This is because I know that less than 1/3 of the "full golf" members have a handicap at my primary club and all you have to do to earn and keep a club handicap is turn in a card for 4 complete rounds, or simply record your own 18 hole score and date in the club's score book. After that your handicap changes only if you turn in a new score.

I have put together numerous Corporate, four-person scramble tournaments and they all generally have some A, B, C, D ranking of players based upon claimed handicaps. There are always a few sandbaggers (low-handicappers who are liars and cheats) but most people tend to underestimate their true handicaps and still, its tough to get one A or B player on each team.

A 15 handicapper, after you take away their friendly game mulligans, lie improvements and "do-overs", is usually closer to a 25 handicapper. Those who rarely play on munis wouldn't understand the need to allow those sort of things, but I have played munis where in the center of the fairway the ground can be totally bare, grass taller than U.S, Open rough, gravel, sand or worse; I would take the "rough" the pros encounter over most muni faiways.

[AnalogAG]

the first column shows the handicap range!
the second column shows the count of male players!
the third column shows the count of female players!
the fourth column shows the total in the specific handicap range!

The graph just shows the distribution mentioned in the table!

[Big_M]

I looked at your chart & found it incomprehensible since "Ich spreche Deutche nicht" but I accept your conclusions - they sound reasonable & logical.

Uhm... you don't really need to speak German to understand. The numbers are still the same and you can figure out which is mens and which is womens, and even average v. total. Did you even try to figure it out?

[Q.Q.Quillume]

Uhm... you don't really need to speak German to understand. The numbers are still the same and you can figure out which is mens and which is womens, and even average v. total. Did you even try to figure it out?

I sincerely apologize to you for my being too stupid to figure out what "Stammvorabe", "Anz.", "gesamt." and "Sonstige" mean.

Why in the heck would I ask a question if I knew the answer? Thanks to AnalogAZ for answering the question and no thanks to Big _M for the less than helpful response.

[Big_M]

I sincerely apologize to you for my being too stupid to figure out what "Stammvorabe", "Anz.", "gesamt." and "Sonstige" mean.

sorry... it just seemed as if you may have only glanced at it

And... I would have answered what was what, but while I was posting I saw it was answered by AnalogAG