What does the average golfer look like – Shot Scope

You may have an idea in your head of what the typical golfer looks like but we are not talking about physical appearance, instead, what does their golf game look like?

The average golfer handicap floats somewhere in the region of 15 and so the stats that we refer to in this article will be based on the Shot Scope 15hcp benchmark. 

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Before we get things underway, there are of course exceptions to these rules, some will hit it longer, and lose strokes elsewhere, but that’s the beauty of the game – everyone is different!

Just as we start our round from the tee box, so too will this article.

With driver in hand, the typical golfer hits their tee shot 236 yards – perhaps not as long as you might think? There is a lot of talk about hitting 300 yard bombs in golf but for the average player, around 240y is more realistic.

Once that ball leaves the tee, it has a 47% chance of finding the fairway, which is only 1% less than that of a scratch player! A common misconception is that lower players hit more fairways – they don’t!

What a lower player does do differently compared to our average golfer is hit it further, around 45y typically. Does longer = lower? In the modern game, yes.

What about approach shots?

We will break this down by some distance increments, to give an idea as to why more distance will help your scoring.

From 150y, for all lie types, the average player has a 1 in 4 chance of hitting the green. They will miss the green short a staggering 43% of the time – take more club!

Shot Scope shot saver: If you have a GPS device, try playing to the back of the green yardage.

When we move the average golfer closer by 50y, their chances of hitting the green increases to 40%, and the chances of missing short drops by 12%.

If you are a player who has a ‘preferred’ layup distance, we would strongly encourage you to scrap this idea and instead get the ball as close to the hole as possible, why? All the data supports the fact, the closer you are, the closer you will hit it. 

What does the average golfer look like around the greens?

From inside 50y, they will successfully get up and down 34% of the time – this is why hitting the green is so important!

If you want to give yourself a better chance of getting up and down, consider taking less loft. With an 8 iron in hand, the typical golfer is 13% more likely to convert their up and down attempt compared to with their SW.

This is because, with an 8 iron, they have an average proximity of 16ft. Whereas with SW it increases to 25ft, as we will discuss in the putting section, every foot counts on the greens.

Since we have mentioned the putter, it is worthwhile noting that it has the best chances of getting players up and down. With putter in hand, the typical golfer gets up and down 71% of the time!

Shot Scope shot saver: If you think you can use the Texas Wedge, you probably should.

On the green, what can the typical golfer expect?

They have a 60% likelihood of two putting on any given green and this is largely down to one thing – distance control.

For every putt hit, 55% of them will miss short, which is the most common miss amongst all amateur golfers with the exception of the scratch player.

A short putt is not only irritating, but it also gives you zero information on how the ball will roll at the hole which is why the average player has an 11% chance of three putting.

The perfect miss, if there is such a thing, is long and inside 3ft.

From inside 3ft, the average player has a 93% chance of holing their putt. Move them further away, between 3-6ft and this drops by 34% – lag putting is crucial!

One last important message – Par 3s are hard!

On a 100-150y Par 3, the average player misses the green 63% of the time! With what we know about short game and putting, if you can make a par, it is gaining you strokes!

Get insight like this into your game with Shot Scope. 

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