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What do you consider a low/mid/high handicap?

BigMac

BigMac

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I've never seen a clear-cut, commonly accepted definition of low, mid or high handicap golfers - so how do you classify/consider them?

IMHO:
<10 ---> Low handicap
10-20 ---> Mid handicap
21+ ---> High handicap

That's probably overly simplified, as I know there's a big difference between a scratch and a 9, a 10 and a 20, or a 21 and a 36 - but it's just how I've always thought of it in my mind.
 
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That seems close enough to how I think of it if there's only 3.

I tend to think about them more like:
<5 low
6-12 low-mid
13-20 mid
21-30 higher
30+ high/beginner
 
Both of those seem right to me.

I don’t play with low cappers very often but I’ve played with low teen players and there’s a variance in how they shoot those scores. The one thing that seems consistent is how well they control or manage the misses and mistakes.

The few low handicap players I‘ve played with were on a completely different level. Not only did they manage the misses, most did so with more distance and a very balanced skill set. Fun to watch the game played at that level.
 
I wonder what classifies them as low, mid, high myself. Most articles I read tends to show low cappers below 10 and high cappers usually 20+. Not sure I agree with that. Maybe it could be 0-10 low, 11-20 mid, and 21+ high - still doesn't fit in my mind.
 
low 0-4
mid 5-12
high 13 and above
 
DG_1234 said:
low 0-4
mid 5-12
high 13 and above
Click to expand...
The problem with that is at a 14-15, I play A LOT better golf than the beginners and even a lot of people who just don't practice it play often.

Sure, I also play a lot worse than a 0-4, but I can get around a difficult course without needing to buy more balls at the turn.....
 
OldandStiff said:
That seems close enough to how I think of it if there's only 3.

I tend to think about them more like:
<5 low
6-12 low-mid
13-20 mid
21-30 higher
30+ high/beginner
Click to expand...
I can't come up with something better than this.
 
I align with. The OP,
Low, Mid, 10-20
High, 21+

Golfweek identifies the average male golfer at 16.1 appears to align with that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I guess I don't really classify these brackets but I tend to draw expectation lines at 2 / 10 / 18 / 25 / 35.
Blurry lines I guess, but the 2s and below are truly 'better than LOW' in my opinion.
Golfers between 2 and 10 are 'LOW' fading toward 'LOW/MID' at the upper end.
Most of the avid golfers I see out there would be between 10 and 25 if carrying a legit cap. To me they are the real 'MIDS'. Again there are LOW/MIDS and HIGH/MIDS the further you get from the real MID sweet spot which is 15-20 IME.
'HIGH' starts at 25. Massive consistency differences seem to exist between golfers just over the 25 threshold vs those struggling to be 35s.
-
 
Low 0-5
Mid 6-11
High 12-20
Super class 20-36
 
Just my opinion for the amature ranks. .

Low cappers are single digit, or better golfers.

10-18 bogey golfers are mid cappers. I'm in this group some where.

19 and higher are high cappers.

I'd also like to think that better golfers can play to their handicap on any course they play. Not a handicap they generated just playing on their own home course.
 
I don't know, in the last two years I've been down to a 17, and blown up as high as 20. I feel I'm up there a ways to be considered a mid, but with a cap hovering around bogie golf most of the time I'm not sure I'd be a high either . :confused2:
 
OldandStiff said:
That seems close enough to how I think of it if there's only 3.

I tend to think about them more like:
<5 low
6-12 low-mid
13-20 mid
21-30 higher
30+ high/beginner
Click to expand...
I'm usually around a 6-9 hcp, my buddy who's a 2 is substantially better than me. There is no way I would be in the same grouping as him. I agree with this.
 
From the perspective of a 14, I agree with the OP. I don’t roll in circles with good enough players for any more granular distinction.
 
Interesting. I don't really have a formal numeric threshold. I think of handicap as a method of tracking individual progress and trends and a generally useful tool for events/competitions. Categorizing is not so easy for me. In my own golfing experience I think most of us who take on golf as a passion have relatively similar skill sets but on any given day different levels of inconsistency that drive scoring. In many cases the very good players shooting lower scores don't have better skills as much as they simply play very consistently. And then there are those with epic skill levels and consistency.
 
I would say low is pretty much below 8 or so. Frequently based on watching a few shots get hit it is hard to tell the difference between a 2 and an 8 it is consistency and short game that makes the difference. Mid I would say 8-18 and high is 19+.
 
The more I think about it, the less I think numbers.

Low:. Can shoot in the 70's without it being a huge deal.

Mid: can play a hard course without losing double digit balls and shooting over 100.

High:. Not one of the above two.

😉
 
WLG1952 said:
Just my opinion for the amature ranks. .

Low cappers are single digit, or better golfers.

10-18 bogey golfers are mid cappers. I'm in this group some where.

19 and higher are high cappers.

I'd also like to think that better golfers can play to their handicap on any course they play. Not a handicap they generated just playing on their own home course.
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this.

 
The problem with 3 "levels" is that they ignore really large differences between players that are scratch and below scratch. I would separate it like this:

Elite Am/Mid-Am: Players who have made/can make match-play at USGA Events
Tournament Am: Below scratch players who regularly shoot below the course rating in actual tournament competition outside their own club
Scratch Golfer: Someone who is usually scratch or slightly below scratch (these players usually bleed over into the "Tournament Am" level
Low Capper: 1 to 7 handicap
Mid Capper: 8 to 17 handicap
High Handicapper: 18+

The reasons I make these distinctions is that it's just not accurate to call a 1-handicapper at your club a "low handicapper" and also call Stewart Hagestad or Corby Segal or Stephen Hale or Garrett Rank a "low handicapper." These are guys who, if they played a 1 index at your club would virtually never lose to them in a match. Like 1 times out of 100 type of dominance.

But really, if we want to create "levels," they should be more about who could potentially beat who in a match a reasonable amount of times. A 9 can certainly beat a 6. That's a level. But in my example above, a 7 is almost never going to beat a 1, so the categories are just too broad, unless you create about a dozen or so that are separated about about 4 strokes each.

At least that's how I look at it. :)
 
OldandStiff said:
That seems close enough to how I think of it if there's only 3.

I tend to think about them more like:
<5 low
6-12 low-mid
13-20 mid
21-30 higher
30+ high/beginner
Click to expand...
Agree with this, I have been playing about 2 years now and am around 21 per GRINT (signing up for an official GHIN this weekend). I would consider myself a high handicap on the verge of breaking into a mid handicap. My buddies are around 13-15 having played a lot longer and I would definitely consider them mid handicap.
 
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