Golf by the numbers
Golfers lie. Tape doesn't.
Every clubhouse claim, checked against millions of tracked rounds and the USGA's own records. Every number sourced and linked. What's normal for a golfer like you is almost certainly not what you've been told.
How far amateurs really hit it
The average drive is 224, not 250. Real distances for every handicap, from 25 million Arccos rounds.
94What most golfers actually shoot
The real average score, who breaks 100, 90, and 80, and the viral "2% break 80" stat nobody can source.
4.7%Breaking 80 by the numbers
How often a 10-handicap really breaks 80, and why doubles matter three times more than birdies.
14.0What's a good handicap, really?
The USGA's full distribution. Where your index ranks among 3.68 million American golfers.
1 in 5How often you should beat your handicap
The USGA odds table behind sandbagging detection. Your Saturday opponent should read it.
41%Pros miss more putts than you think
Tour players make 41% from 10 feet. Make rates by distance for pros and every handicap.
9 vs 3.6The stat that predicts your score
Greens per round: 70s-shooters vs 90s-shooters. Fairways barely matter. Greens are everything.
3 in 40 yrsDo golfers actually get better?
The average handicap moved 3 strokes in four decades. What actually predicts improvement.
How these pages work
Every number here comes from measured data: Arccos and Shot Scope shot-tracking (millions of real rounds), the USGA's handicap records, National Golf Foundation surveys, and PGA Tour ShotLink. Each page names and links its sources at the bottom. If a stat can't be traced to real measurement, it doesn't get published, and when sources disagree, the page says so.
One caveat applies to everything: golfers who track their games or keep an official index are the serious minority, so the true averages across all golfers are almost certainly worse than the numbers here.
Chasing one of these numbers yourself? The milestone guides cover the how. These pages cover the what.
Your tape don't lie either.
Every page here ends the same way because the data does: golfers who measure, improve. SwipeScore tracks every round from your iPhone or Apple Watch in seconds.
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