Ever Wondered How Many (Amateur) Golfers Break 70?

How many golfers break 70? Indeed how many club golfers have even dared to dream of breaking 70? There are various scoring mileposts in a golfer’s journey, of which breaking 100 is the first. Those golfers who achieve that then often set breaking 90 as the next main goal. 

But to break 70? Who dares to dream of that? As the standard full-length golf course is usually a par 72, to go round in the 60s is to go round in at least 3 under par.

A course set up to test the best at a PGA Tour event and one that your club’s monthly medal or Stableford is played over is not a fair comparison, I grant you, but breaking 70 on the PGA Tour is itself quite a big deal. Last season, only 22 players averaged under 70 on the PGA Tour. The season before, it was 23, and the one before that only 14 players averaged in the 60s.

According to data collected by the United States Golf Association, only 0.92% of golfers break 70 consistently. But this percentage is based on those golfers who have handicaps. Most golfers do not have a handicap – for example, only an eighth of Americans who play golf do, so three million golfers. Worldwide, only 15 million golfers have handicaps. 

So when you see the figure bandied around that about one per cent of golfers break 70 on a semi-regular basis, this is what it refers to. That figure does not refer to all golfers.

How many golfers are able to go a few shots under par regularly, yet are not serious enough golfers to have a handicap? Precious few, I would suggest. Golfers able to go round in the 60s regularly will also be part of that eighth of the golfing population who have handicaps. 

So a figure for all golfers, which includes that chap who plays once or twice a year in a charity day, or the firm’s annual golf day, or on holiday, is going to be an eighth of 0.92%. So we are looking at a figure more like 0.115% of all golfers, or roughly one in every 870 players.