Golf Digest; What's a 6-handicap, really?

[Golferpaul]

Golf Digest just published an article with this statement;

 

"As a 6-handicap, you're in the top quarter of male golfers—top 3 percent for females—according to the United States Golf Association."

 

What's a 6-handicap, really? | Golf News and Tour Information | Golf Digest  by Max Adler.

 

In my experience over decades of playing golf, nowhere near a quarter of all male golfers have a six or less.  I would guess the number is more like 5%.

[SNIPERBBB]

3 hours ago, Golferpaul said:

Golf Digest just published an article with this statement;

 

"As a 6-handicap, you're in the top quarter of male golfers—top 3 percent for females—according to the United States Golf Association."

 

What's a 6-handicap, really? | Golf News and Tour Information | Golf Digest  by Max Adler.

 

In my experience over decades of playing golf, nowhere near a quarter of all male golfers have a six or less.  I would guess the number is more like 5%.

The article is correct. At least so far amongst players that have an active USGA Handicap.

 

You can see the stats here :https://www.usga.org/handicapping/us-stats-static.html

[SNIPERBBB]

Anyone that doesn't get this line from the article needs to leave this site immediately...

Quote

. So for those who want to know how they compare to others—other than by height—

 

[bobfoster]

31 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

The article is correct. At least so far amongst players that have an active USGA Handicap.

 

You can see the stats here :https://www.usga.org/handicapping/us-stats-static.html

Yes. Gotta understand the stats here. Numbers are real.

 

There are now over 26 million people in the US alone that play golf (about 66 million in the world).

 

Of the 26 million, slightly over 3 million bother to keep a formal GHIN handicap. Almost by definition, these are the most serious golfers. Very few weekenders and casual golfers would even think about entering every score. 

 

So of that 3 million or so, I think the average index is around 14 or something. So I can easily believe that a 6 cap would be in the top 25% in that sample set. 

 

But if you expand it to the entire golfing world, less than 5% will every break 80. 

[AzRoger]

That 25% number seems high to me, even if only including golfers with official handicaps. The clubs I've belonged to have never been close to that, my current club is well under 10% of golfers with a 6 or less handicap. Must be attracted to clubs that are mostly hackers.

Edited July 8, 2024 by AzRoger

[Augster]

In my club, which I think is probably typical, 21/110 have an index of 6.0 or less. 
 

If we are allowed to let the index go to 6.9, (still a “6” index), it goes to 24/110. (22%)
 

But that is index. The number of people that play off of “6” from the men’s tees, CR/slope of 68.4/118/70, you’ll still be a “6” or less up to a 7.7 index. 
 

So, in total, the number of people in my club that play off of 6 or less is 29/110. 26.4%. 
 

In conclusion, I can absolutely believe 25% of people that keep handicaps play off of “6” or less. 

[AzRoger]

On 7/7/2024 at 7:37 PM, Augster said:

 

But that is index. The number of people that play off of “6” from the men’s tees, CR/slope of 68.4/118/70, you’ll still be a “6” or less up to a 7.7 index. 
 

That's inflating the numbers if you look at it that way, at my club the majority of the men are older and retired and play from a tee where a 13 handicap index would play to a course handicap of 6. I wouldn't call them a '6 handicapper', the only way to compare is looking at the index.

Edited July 9, 2024 by AzRoger

[Golferpaul]

14 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

The article is correct. At least so far amongst players that have an active USGA Handicap.

 

You can see the stats here :https://www.usga.org/handicapping/us-stats-static.html

How do you get 25% out of this?  Under 5 is 10.54 %.  That's not even close to 25%.

 

 

[Golferpaul]

12 hours ago, AzRoger said:

That 25% number seems high to me, even if only including golfers with official handicaps. The clubs I've belonged to have never been close to that, my current club is well under 10% of golfers with a 6 or less handicap. Must be attracted to clubs that are mostly hackers.

That is my experience also and I've been a member of five clubs in four different cities.

[SNIPERBBB]

2 hours ago, Golferpaul said:

How do you get 25% out of this?  Under 5 is 10.54 %.  That's not even close to 25%.

 

 

Because the article said 6? 

[Pepperturbo]

IMO That Golf Digest author is hoping to feel good while blowing smoke after toking...  There are many people that play golf but don't have an index.  Interesting charts at the link.

 

This is from the USGA and I don't believe the numbers.  Each of my last two clubs had 500+ members, "single digit" were less than 2% at each, and aligned pvt clubs in SOCA had even less.  I know that from Interclub match play against other pvt clubs.  Most clubs didn't have low single or "+" digits, so those most of us were playing people in the 10–16 index range.  That number is even lower at each of the three memberships I currently hold at upscale clubs.

https://bit.ly/3RVuUdG

 

Edited July 8, 2024 by Pepperturbo

[iacas]

If ~13% of people with handicaps are 6 or below, then I could see a 6 as being in the top 25% of all golfers.

[nsxguy]

FWIW, the last stats I could find for my old club, circa 2007.

 

Of 33 members

 

< 7.0 index 12     36%

< 6               7      21%

[SNIPERBBB]

35 minutes ago, Pepperturbo said:

IMO That Golf Digest author is hoping to feel good while blowing smoke after toking...  There are many people that play golf but don't have an index.  Interesting charts at the link.

 

This is from the USGA and I don't believe the numbers.  Each of my last two clubs had 500+ members, "single digit" were less than 2% at each, and aligned pvt clubs in SOCA had even less.  That percentage is even lower at each of the three memberships I currently hold at upscale clubs.

https://bit.ly/3RVuUdG

 

Some clubs might just enforce the handicapping rules better than others. I'd imagine private clubs do this way  better than public.

[Pepperturbo]

9 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Some clubs might just enforce the handicapping rules better than others. I'd imagine private clubs do this way  better than public.

Agree...

 

All the clubs we played against had established handicap committees.  Each day's match play was organized based on handicap.  At both my clubs, each member who played any day was required to switch cards with a tee group player, sign cards like the pros, then deliver the cosigned card to the Proshop where the Pro evaluated each day's cards.

 

Typically, if someone is a handicap chair he's pretty anal about his duties and education.

[GaHack1]

At our club, 31% of our players have 6.9 or less indexes.  One thing about the USGA stats is that a handicap can be active, meaning it's been paid for, but no recent scores are posted.

 

Our current President is a 6.8 but has posted 3 scores in the last 10 years. 

[Golferpaul]

1 hour ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Because the article said 6? 

Going from 5% to 6% will not get an increase from 10.54% to 25%.  Maybe half of that.

[jholz]

If all handicaps were legit, I think the statistic holds true. 

 

Yet, with the way folks track their handicaps...

 

...we might as well ask how many angels can fit on the head of a pin. 

[bm11]

I don't have the exact numbers, but anecdotally my club has quite a few good players in the mix. At least 3 with a handicap better than +2 that I know of, and quite a few better than 6. We have 400 or so members but a good portion of those are women.

[GoGoErky]

1 hour ago, Golferpaul said:

Going from 5% to 6% will not get an increase from 10.54% to 25%.  Maybe half of that.

It’s 30% for 9 and under per the table posted. Its pretty easy to get 25% that are 6 and under from that 

[joeconn]

I just looked up my club on GHIN. 16 golfers with indexes 6.0 or lower out of about 250 members. I think one reason for that is our course rating and slope are low, 68.1/120 from the back tees, 66.1/118 from the back/middle combo, 65.1/113 from the middle tees, 63.2/108 from the middle/front combo, and 62.2/104 from the front tees. That's for men, par 70 course. I usually play the back/middle combo, which means if I shoot even par it goes into GHIN as 3.9 (if I understand the system correctly). I usually shoot in the mid-upper 70s and I'm currently carrying about a 10 handicap.

[DoughBack18]

If they have the stats to back up the 25% number than I’m not gonna argue that. But whats been brought up above that is a huge point is the amount of players that don’t keep a valid handicap. 
 

The course I’m a “member” at has close to 1000 members but the course lost its rating so you can’t post scores from there or use it as a home course for your handicap. I have my handicap through our local golf association, but almost nobody else out there does. So you’ve got 800-900 golfers that aren’t considered golfers by their metrics. And I can guarantee that most of them are 20+ handicaps if we’re being honest about it. 
 

So won’t argue their stats in the least, just saying from my experience that its not a full assessment of all golfers. (Not their fault, its all but impossible to effectively rate people that don’t record their scores)

[svlido]

On 7/7/2024 at 1:48 PM, Golferpaul said:

Golf Digest just published an article with this statement;

 

"As a 6-handicap, you're in the top quarter of male golfers—top 3 percent for females—according to the United States Golf Association."

 

What's a 6-handicap, really? | Golf News and Tour Information | Golf Digest  by Max Adler.

 

In my experience over decades of playing golf, nowhere near a quarter of all male golfers have a six or less.  I would guess the number is more like 5%.

 

It's really hard to just make a blanket statement when it comes to handicap.  My home course is long, so it is rated pretty hard, almost 75.0.  If you're a long hitter that averages 80, your best 10 will probably make you a lower handicap.  If you're a short hitter that averages 80 you'll probably shoot a lot of rounds right around 80 because it's just a long course.

 

If those two players play 20 different courses to calculate their handicap they will probably be about the same.  If they play 20 rounds on my home course the longer hitter will probably be a lower handicap than the shorter one.

 

I guess what I'm saying is sometimes a 6 isn't a 6. 

[nsxguy]

10 hours ago, Pepperturbo said:

IMO That Golf Digest author is hoping to feel good while blowing smoke after toking...  There are many people that play golf but don't have an index.  Interesting charts at the link.

 

This is from the USGA and I don't believe the numbers.  Each of my last two clubs had 500+ members, "single digit" were less than 2% at each, and aligned pvt clubs in SOCA had even less.  I know that from Interclub match play against other pvt clubs.  Most clubs didn't have low single or "+" digits, so those most of us were playing people in the 10–16 index range.  That number is even lower at each of the three memberships I currently hold at upscale clubs.

https://bit.ly/3RVuUdG

 

 

You sure you're not toking ?

 

2) The writer was only talking about golfers with indexes - so those who don't are a  problem why ?  

 

and

 

a) Less than TEN golfers out of a club of 500+ were single digits ?  

 

Or did only 40 members at each club even keep a handicap ? 

[naval2006]

In my country every golfer has a hdc (unless you’re a beginner who usually spends a year average until they receive a hdc) and we play tournaments every week. The majority of people post their scores and hdcs are fairly representative of a golfers level. 
 

At my course around 10/12% of golfers are single digit, and 5/6% are 6 hdc or lower. Every time you play 18 holes there’s a competition involved and your score is processed within that context so percentages are accurate. 

[Newby]

1 hour ago, naval2006 said:

Every time you play 18 holes there’s a competition involved and your score is processed within that context so percentages are accurate. 

Does no one ever just go and play 'for fun' or to get some exercise/fresh air without playing in a competition? Are there competitions every day for women and men?

[limegreengent]

If  being a 6 handicap index places you in the top 10% of golfers then you are automatically in the top 25%/ 50 % 75% of golfers.

BUT the statement is inaccurate if it is construed as meaning 25 % of golfers have a handicap index of 6 or better.!

 

 

[nsxguy]

Funny how a puff piece in a golf magazine can get so many people riled up. 

 

IMO, the first paragraph isn't meant to be taken seriously/literally.

 

It's a general point to compare golfers to some other sports activities, and tell you, as a 6, you're actually pretty good. 👍

 

And it's also pretty much the only sport where one actually has a single specific number to compare against all other participants.

 

I mean seriously, "beer pong" ? Camping ? Work ? C'mon now 

[Pnwpingi210]

1 hour ago, Newby said:

Does no one ever just go and play 'for fun' or to get some exercise/fresh air without playing in a competition? Are there competitions every day for women and men?

Yes. About 23 million of the 26 million golfers in the US do not carry an active handicap.  They are playing as you suggest.  Those 23 million golfers are not include in statistic for the golf digest article

[DaveLeeNC]

3 hours ago, naval2006 said:

At my course around 10/12% of golfers are single digit, and 5/6% are 6 hdc or lower. Every time you play 18 holes there’s a competition involved and your score is processed within that context so percentages are accurate. 

 

2 hours ago, Newby said:

Does no one ever just go and play 'for fun' or to get some exercise/fresh air without playing in a competition? Are there competitions every day for women and men?

 

28 minutes ago, Pnwpingi210 said:

Yes. About 23 million of the 26 million golfers in the US do not carry an active handicap.  They are playing as you suggest.  Those 23 million golfers are not include in statistic for the golf digest article

 

The question by @Newby was in the context quoted above and had nothing to do with play in the US.  dave