How good is the average golfer at a private course?

[Troll_Inc]

I took up golfing when I was 30, and have spent an increasing amount of time to get down to a 18 hcp.

Ultimately I want to join a country club for several reasons, but I'd like to not do it and be one of the suckiest.

The men's club I belong to at a decent public course is mostly made of older hacks, I'd say my hcp places me about at 60-70% of those that do some of the competitions.

I've watched some of the play at the upscale private course right near me and was somewhat surprised to find that it doesn't look like everyone is <10 hcp.

What's the average hcp out there at private courses? How many are worse than say a 15 hcp?

Guessing and bullshitting is encouraged...

[black knight]

lol, I'd guess the avg is >20.

Good golfers usually don't have good-enough paying jobs (because those usually don't afford enough time to practice), so they can't afford to play there. So, you're left mostly with people who don't have enough time to practice (and prolly NEVER practice) with enough money to afford to play there...so they're high handicappers.

[tuq]

I don't think the distribution is much different than a random selection of regular golfers who aren't members anywhere. But if you're really curious you can go to any club and look at the handicaps of their members, as they're always publicly on display to keep people honest.

[HDPM]

A few clubs will have more than their share of good golfers I think. These are usually excellent courses. The members at Oakmont and Pine Valley play pretty good on average I think. The members at places like Isleworth play OK. Most places have a lot of hacks though. Only one club I have heard of - Champions - requires a handicap below 15 to join. I think the key of you decide to join a club is to find one with a membership and course you like. IOW, don't worry, there will be other 18's and if you find the right club for you it won't really matter that you are an 18 and some other guy is a 7.

[supermangina]

NFG research says only 22% of male golfers can break 90 inconsistently, and 7% for women

[golfnutt]

I would say the average handicap at my course is around 22 or so. But it could be because it is primarily a "Jewish" club. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[JTrout]

This is from a post I made a couple months ago in the Hdcp Index thread:

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I just printed out our handicap list at the club.
128 men. Stronger than average golfers.

Handicap
+0.1 or better =4 golfers
0 to 3.0 = 8 golfers
3.1 to 6.0 = 19 golfers
6.1 to 9.0 = 23 golfers
9.1 to 12.0 = 18 golfers


That's 72 of the 128 at 12 or less!
Keep in mind that number does not include golfers that don't use the handicap system, most of which would be higher than 12.


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A couple of factors come into play causing our club to be lower than average, I think:

1) there is a "noon" game every day that anyone can get in.
This is the best game in town, and attracts competitive golfers.

2) it is a difficult course, compared to the other courses in town.
This has tended to attract golfers that like a challenge, and discouraged "weekend" golfers that just want to shoot a good number.

[stinkypete]

[ QUOTE ]
NFG research says only 22% of male golfers can break 90 inconsistently, and 7% for women

[/ QUOTE ]

22%? there's no way 22% of male golfers have EVER broken 90.

[bonds]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
NFG research says only 22% of male golfers can break 90 inconsistently, and 7% for women

[/ QUOTE ]

22%? there's no way 22% of male golfers have EVER broken 90.

[/ QUOTE ]

Take two things into account - people were probably able to self-select as to whether they were "golfers", which throws out a huge number of hacks either out of honesty or out of embarrassment, also consider the casual interpretation of the rules applied by many golfers. Given those things, I have no problem believing that 22% of male golfers can claim to have broken 90.

On the subject at hand, my home club has a preponderance of decent but not great players. Almost no scratch or better players, but a ton of guys who are in the 6-14 range. Our regular Saturday group is all in that range, with couple of higher numbers - an 18, a 22 and a 24. They fit in fine. Both our weekend game and most club events are handicapped and/or flighted, so everyone has a chance to play similar-ish competition. There are quite a few members who I don't play with regularly, many of whom have higher handicaps.

I'd guess our average is 16 or so, but that may be affected by being a pure golf club - no pool or other social stuff.

[matt85]

my course c.900 members average handicap got to be higher than 15.