What Percentage of Golfers Shoot Under 100?

What percentage of golfers shoot under 100? is the third most asked golf question on Ask.Com. Their answer: Only 5 percent of them will ever break 100, and of that 5 percent only 2 percent of them will ever break 80.

In fact, according to the National Golf Foundation, the average golf score remains where it has been for decades: 100. This, in spite of all the innovations in club and ball design and instruction. The USGA says that the average golf handicap for men is 16.1, and is 29.2 for women.

The National Golf Foundation breaks down scores this way:

Average score Percent of adult golfers
Under 80       5%
80-89       21%
90-99       29%
100-109       24%
110-119       10%
120+           11%
Total 100%

So, according to the NGF, 55% of golfers surveyed report breaking 100.

There are flaws in all these numbers, however. The first is that they assume golfers are playing by the rules. I have yet to see the round where a golfer took stroke-and-distance on a lost or out-of-bounds ball. Gimmies on the green are legion. Whiffs are declared “practice swings.” Mulligans on the first tee are expected as a matter of courtesy. Given this, I am certain that the average score is well above 100, and that handicaps are much higher than reported.

The handicap reporting also has issues because only better and/or more dedicated players tend to bother to pay for, and record their handicaps. Bad players don’t keep handicaps, so the “handicap” for the general population is much higher than reported.

In addition, the USGA’s handicap system is completely broken. There’s supposed to be a handicap committee on every course, along with the opportunity for “peer review.” Members are supposed to have “a reasonable and regular opportunity to play together” and access to scoring records must be available “for inspection by others, including, but not limited to, fellow club members.” I don’t know who would do the peer review on my handicap, since I often play alone, and even if playing with others almost never play with the same group twice. Even among regular groups, I’m certain that they are not going online to look up the scores others post to be sure it’s all on the up-and-up.

So what percentage actually break 100? I’m sure it’s higher than the Ask.Com figure of 5%, but its probably lower than the 55% reported by the National Golf Foundation. The best thing to say is that if you are legitimately shooting in the 90s, you are better than most. If you’re shooting in the 80s, you’re an excellent player. Those who shoot in the 70s are an anomaly.