Handicap Distribution Chart

[Wedgie]

I stumbled across this chart of male handicap averages. It is 5 years old but I've got to think it is still fairly accurate. I'm curious if the members of this forum follow this chart, are lower in handicap, higher?

 

Maybe STUDque can figure out how to do a poll.

 

 

 

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[JTexGolfer]

Very interesting. I had not seen this before but it sounds believable. Where did it come from?

[Wedgie]

Very interesting. I had not seen this before but it sounds believable. Where did it come from?

Sorry, I should have mentioned the source. I found it on The Grint and it was published by the USGA in 2013.

 

 

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[perseveringgolfer]

is this the percentage of amateur golfers in the US or wider? single figs once you get to 7 does seem surprising but very interesting- thanks for sharing

[Wedgie]

is this the percentage of amateur golfers in the US or wider? single figs once you get to 7 does seem surprising but very interesting- thanks for sharing

It is just US. I found a more current chart on USGA.org but can't share a link from my iPad. Looks like it follows the chart above closely and tells me at 13 I'm not as good as I thought.

 

 

 

 

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[STUDque]

Maybe STUDque can figure out how to do a poll.

 

 

 

You have the power. It's been inside all along!

 

 

You can do polls for your posts from the desktop site. Unfortunately, they don't show up for app users so they've gotta switch over to vote. You can filter the members list on a bunch of categories but I'm not sure if handicap is one of them. I'd imagine that's unreliable data anyway.

 

 

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[Wedgie]

 

You have the power. It's been inside all along!

 

 

You can do polls for your posts from the desktop site. Unfortunately, they don't show up for app users so they've gotta switch over to vote. You can filter the members list on a bunch of categories but I'm not sure if handicap is one of them. I'd imagine that's unreliable data anyway.

 

 

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So I have the force after all! I knew it!

 

 

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[perseveringgolfer]

So I have the force after all! I knew it!

 

 

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these are not the polls you seek!

 

 

[revkev]

Very interesting data

 

My guess would be that our distribution will skew towards lower handicaps because all of us here are avid golfers.

 

A greater percentage of us take lessons, practice and have equipment that fits than an average segment of the golfing public.

 

 

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[tony@CIC]

Interestingly - I think at our club - at least the men's league  the bell curve is skewed a bit more to the right. 

 

Since many of us list our handicaps maybe there's a way MGS could extract that data and turn it into a graph. Seems to me that info would be more complete than a vote which would require participation. 

[ED13]

I believe the graph skews towards the better golfers on the left.  Personally, I don't have any friends who keep a handicap or even care.  The graph probably does not include the average golfer that plays for fun.  Most people keeping a handicap on the Grint I assume are more avid golfers or people who have aspirations to become much better and use it as a way to track their progress. This is not the average weekend golfer.

 

Interesting to see for sure but not comprehensive so should be taken with a grain of salt. 

[Berg Ryman]

So, just for fun, I went to the handicap page for my league and checked out all 18 of us who keep an official USGA handicap. The graph is actually pretty spot on for us. 3 guys sub 10, 12 guys 10-17, 3 guys 17+

[cksurfdude]

Here's another view of The Grint handicap data; also a few years old and appeared in an MGS blog....

 

[DaveP043]

Here are a couple of guesses on my part.  First, the USGA data should be expected to indicate lower handicaps than the overall golfing public, because lots of less-than-avid golfers don't keep a USGA handicap.  Those non-avid players would likely be higher handicappers if they did keep a handicap.  And I agree with revkev, folks who spend (waste?) time on websites like MGS are even more avid, and I'd expect that group to have a slightly lower distribution than the larger population of all USGA handicaps.