How Often Should Golfers Play To Their Handicap?

Most, if not all, golfers set out on a round of golf to beat their handicap - but how often do we actually achieve the feat?

We're led to believe that getting 36 points is a once-a-month thing or perhaps only three or four times a year, but that doesn't really account for competition and social play.

The tendency is that most golfers will score much better in social play as opposed to competitions simply due to the pressure, so shooting your handicap most weeks in the roll up probably isn't an exact representation of your game.

With a scorecard in hand and no gimmes, competition play is a completely different beast to a friendly knock with your pals.

Back in 2018, before the new World Handicap System came into effect, we put out a tweet asking golfers how often they expect to play to their handicap, and the results were interesting...

From the replies we got, with people giving us competition/handicap data, we saw a slight pattern...

• Around 50% of competition rounds were above the buffer zone
• Around 25% of competition rounds were in the buffer zone
• Around 25% of competition rounds were below handicap

However, with the new World Handicap System being launched in January 2020, it now means more golfers can obtain and maintain a Handicap Index. Also, golfers can transport their Handicap Index globally and compete or play a casual round with players from other regions on a fair basis.

It will also indicate the score a golfer is reasonably capable of achieving the next time they go out to play. This, therefore, gives a fairer reflection of what standard they are playing at during that present moment.

This might mean then that the statistics above are a bit harsh. Perhaps now, thanks to the capabilities of the handicap increasing and reducing in larger bursts, playing to your handicap is a more regular occurrence.