Survey: Recreational golfers score an average of 93 strokes

If you enjoy playing golf for leisure rather than as a profession, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re likely an above-average player, even if you fall into the category of a “bogey player.” SmartScore, a provider of score management solutions utilized by over 370 golf courses in Korea, analyzed 5.02 million rounds of golf played between January and June of this year. The resulting average score was 92.6 strokes. Even if you were to achieve a bogey on all 18 holes of a par-72 course, your score would be 90, which is more than two strokes higher than the average score we studied. This implies that even with a bogey on every hole, you still outperform the average recreational golfer in Korea.

When broken down by age groups, individuals in their 60s exhibited the lowest average score at 87.7 strokes, followed by those in their 70s (88.9 strokes) and 50s (90.4 strokes). Those in their 40s held an average score of 93.9 strokes. This trend likely stems from the fact that most casual golfers tend to begin playing the sport in their 40s or later. Comparatively, individuals in their 20s and younger achieved a lower average score of 91.8 strokes. In comparison, those in their 30s scored an average of 97.2 strokes, and those in their 40s had scores reflecting the aspirations of teenagers aiming for professional play. On weekdays, golfers attained slightly better scores than their weekend counterparts, with weekday players averaging 91.7 strokes and weekend players averaging 92.4 strokes. In terms of gender differences, men recorded an average of 91.9 strokes, whereas women averaged 94.4 strokes.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com