What Is a Good Golf Handicap? Handicap Percentiles Explained

A good golf handicap is anything below the average Handicap Index, which the USGA puts at 14.0 for men and 28.8 for women. Get under 5.0 and you’re in the top 10% of male golfers in the US. Scratch or better is the top 2%.

That’s for golfers who keep an index at all. Most casual players don’t, and they’d likely pull the averages higher. If you have a Handicap Index, the figures below show where it ranks and what golfers at your level actually shoot.

Golf handicap percentiles: where US golfers rank

These figures are from the USGA’s end-of-2025 data, as reported by National Club Golfer and GOLF.com. That data covers 3.68 million golfers with an index.

Handicap Index	Share of US men	Share of US women
Scratch or plus (0 and below)	2.01%	0.85%
0.0–4.9	8.23%	1.50%
5.0–19.9	just over 68%	not published
of which 10.0–14.9	26.48%	not published
25.0–29.9	not published	about 19%
30.0 and higher	not published	nearly 45%
Average index	14.0	28.8

The 10.0–14.9 band is the biggest for men, and the average sits inside it. A 14 is about as typical as a male golfer gets. For women the middle is much higher: nearly half carry an index of 30 or more, and a 25 is better than most.

The published bands don’t give every cut. Here’s what we can work out from them:

Top 2%: scratch or better (men).
Top 10%: under 5.0 (2.01% + 8.23%).
Average: 14.0 for men, 28.8 for women.
Roughly the bottom 22% of men: an index of 20.0 or higher. That’s what’s left after the 2%, 8% and 68% bands above.

We haven’t found a published figure for the 5.0–9.9 band on its own, so we’re not putting a number on “single digits.”

What each handicap shoots

Handicap	Where it ranks (US men)	Typical score	Greens in regulation	Putts per round	Strokes gained vs PGA Tour
Scratch (0)	top 2%	74–76	62%	30.5	-3.2
5	top 10%	79–81	46%	31.5	-6.2
10	better than average	84–87	35%	32.5	-9.2
15	just worse than average	90–92	23%	33.5	-12.2
20	bottom ~22%	95–98	16%	34.5	-15.2
25	bottom ~22%	100–103	9%	35.5	-18.4
30	bottom ~22%	105–108	n/a	n/a	-21.5

Scores come from our average score by handicap table, putts from our putting average benchmarks, and strokes gained from the Broadie-based benchmarks for every handicap. Greens in regulation come from Shot Scope’s published amateur data. That data stops at 25, so the 30-handicap cells stay blank.

Look at the typical score column. Every handicap shoots a few strokes above par plus its number. Your index comes from your best 8 of your last 20 rounds, so it shows what you shoot on a good day, not an average one. A 10 who shoots 86 played to their level.

The full stat profile by handicap

Scoring

Typical score: see the table. Each five-handicap step adds about five strokes.
Doubles or worse per round: 0.7 for scratch, 3.0 for a 10, 4.5 for a 15 and 6.0 for a 20, per our blow-up holes breakdown. Between scratch and 20, that line alone accounts for about 9 strokes a round.

Off the tee

Fairways hit: Shot Scope has a 5 handicap at 51%, a 10 at 50% and a 15 at 47%. From 5 to 15, that’s less than half a fairway a round.
Driving distance: about 250 yards for a scratch golfer, 215 for a 15, and 220 for the average male amateur, from the USGA and Arccos data in how much driving distance matters for amateurs.

Approach

Greens in regulation: 62% at scratch, falling to 9% at 25. The biggest drop is from 10 to 15: twelve points, or about two greens a round.
Strokes gained approach: the largest loss at every level, from -1.5 at scratch to -10.5 at 30.

Around the green

Scrambling: 50–55% at scratch, 40–48% at 5, 32–40% at 10, 25–32% at 15 and 15–25% at 20 and above, per our scrambling benchmarks.

Putting

Putts per round: 30.5 at scratch, adding a putt every five handicap strokes up to 35.5 at 25.
Three-putts per round: 0.8 at scratch, 1.2 at 5, 1.8 at 10, 2.5 at 15 and 3.2 at 20, per our three-putt benchmarks.

Penalties

We’re leaving this blank. We haven’t found a per-handicap penalty average with a methodology we can check, and we’d rather not guess. Penalties still show up above. A ball in the water counts against strokes gained off the tee, and penalties turn a lot of bogeys into doubles.

Strokes gained by handicap, by category

Handicap	Off the tee	Approach	Around the green	Putting	Total
Scratch (0)	-0.8	-1.5	-0.5	-0.4	-3.2
5	-1.4	-3.0	-1.0	-0.8	-6.2
10	-2.0	-4.5	-1.5	-1.2	-9.2
15	-2.7	-6.0	-2.0	-1.5	-12.2
20	-3.4	-7.5	-2.5	-1.8	-15.2
25	-4.2	-9.0	-3.0	-2.2	-18.4
30	-5.0	-10.5	-3.5	-2.5	-21.5

These are per round against a PGA Tour baseline, from Mark Broadie’s research. Between scratch and 30, approach accounts for 9 of the 18.3 strokes. Putting accounts for 2.1. To check what a single shot is worth from a given distance and lie, use the strokes gained calculator.

So what counts as good?

For a man, an index under 14.0 beats the average golfer who keeps one. Under 5.0 puts you in the top 10% nationally, and near the top of most club fields. Scratch is a different world: 2% of men and under 1% of women. For women, anything under 28.8 is better than average.

Our take: the trend matters more than the percentile. A 16 who was a 22 two seasons ago is doing better than a 9 who hasn’t moved in five years.

For a closer look at specific levels, see what a 10 handicap shoots, what a 15 handicap shoots and the statistical profile of a single-digit handicapper. If you don’t have an index yet, start with how to calculate your golf handicap.

How your numbers compare to your handicap

Your index puts you in a row of these tables. It doesn’t show which columns are dragging you down. Two 15 handicaps can both average 91, one hitting 6 greens and three-putting three times, the other hitting 3 greens and getting up and down half the time.

Log 3 rounds and golfity shows your numbers against your handicap.