How do you effectively benchmark yourself against other amateur golfers?
You could compare your stats against how many greens in regulation the average golfer hits or how far the average player drives the golf ball – but this only gives us a snapshot of one part of the game.
We all want to achieve a centred strike more often and improve our chipping around the greens, but sometimes amateur golfers can be a little hard on themselves when it comes to evaluating ‘success’ on the course.
In the video and article below, Golf Monthly’s Dan Parker breaks down the data by handicap index and shares useful benchmarking points that you can use to assess how you are performing on the course in 2026…
What Qualifies As A Good Round Of Golf For Your Handicap?
When walking off the course, we think we know when we’ve had a good or a bad round. But are you actually being too hard on yourself?
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Are your expectations in fact too high? Well, these benchmarks, courtesy of data from Shot Scope, might just change your perspective.
25-Handicappers
Let’s start with the 25-handicap golfer.
The average score for a 25-handicapper is 29-over-par – meaning on a par 72 course you are outperforming the benchmark if you shoot 100 or better.
As a high handicapper, you’re going to drop shots. You’re going to have some bad holes.
But did you know that if you make fewer than eight double bogeys a round, you’re gaining on your competitive set? It’s a statistic that just goes to show that blowup holes are okay.
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You’re also better than the average 25-handicap if you average less than seven on par-5s and get up and down from inside 25 yards more than 35% of the time.
20-Handicappers
Hitting your approach to inside 65ft is a great sign for 20-handicappers
(Image credit: Tom Lewis)
Moving on to a 20-handicap, the average score is around 23-over-par.
You are better than average if you hit one of every two fairways, two-putt on every green in regulation you find and hit your approach shots closer than 65 feet from 100 yards.
Again, when you break it down and look at the numbers, this feels achievable.
15-Handicappers
For 15-handicaps, they are gaining on the average by driving the ball further in total than 237 yards or by hitting their ball to closer than 17 feet from 50 yards.
That’s something we can all practice and improve. In fact, even hitting the green from this distance 50% of the time would be better than the average 15-handicap.
The average score for a 15-handicapper is 18-over-par, so bogey golf is good golf!
10-Handicappers
Getting up and down from the bunker more than 20% of the time means you are outperforming a 10-handicapper
(Image credit: Tom Lewis)
The average score for a 10-handicapper is 12.96, so let’s call it 13-over-par.
A 10-handicap gets up and down from the bunker only 20% of the time on average.
So, if you play four bunker shots and save par once, you’re performing better than average versus 10-handicappers.
Likewise, if you make six bogeys or less during the round, that’s a gain, too.
5-Handicappers
If you play off a handicap of five, you need to shoot seven-over-par or better for your round to be considered better than average.
A five-handicap only hits 41% of greens in regulation on average.
So, if you hit eight greens a round, that is progress. Also, if you manage anything less than 30 putts per round, that’s also an above-average performance on the greens.
Scratch Golfers
Hitting more fairways than you miss is the gold standard for amateurs
(Image credit: Tom Lewis)
Finally, we have scratch golfers who may not have their ball as much on a string as you might think.
For example, if you hit more fairways than you miss, that’s an improvement on the average scratch golfer.
Also, if you have an average proximity to the hole on approach of less than 25ft, you are outperforming some of the best amateurs in the game.
The average score for a scratch golfer, perhaps surprisingly, is two-over-par. It just shows that a couple of shots over your handicap can, and should, be considered good in most weeks.