A Look at Average Ranges for Golfing Handicaps

George Mabry spent 4 years as an associate director at Barings in Charlotte, North Carolina. He left his position there in 2017 and enrolled in a master of business administration program at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, where he graduated in 2019. In addition to his work in private equity, George Mabry is an avid golfer with a handicap of 1.

The majority of male golfers who regularly submit score-card data play with an average handicap of 14.2, while female golfers typically have a handicap of 27.5, although data varies. The United States Professional Golfers Association (US PGA) places the official average handicap at 15.

Few golfers maintain handicaps in the 0 to 1 range. Less than 50,000 male golfers and fewer than 1,000 female golfers have achieved this skill level. By comparison, the number of male and female golfers with the average handicap is around 185,000 and 36,000, respectively. Golfers at this level are often regarded as "scratch golfers," though true scratch golfers must also be able to average tee shots of 250 yards as a man and 210 yards as a woman.

The handicap system allows for a +1 handicap, which enables golfers to add a stroke to their final tally when competing against lower rated players. More golfers play in the plus handicap range than with a handicap of zero, although this can be attributed to the fact that specific data does not exist for golfers playing with a +1, +2, or +3 handicap, and upwards. 

Hedge Funds See an Increase in Institutional Investor Interest

George Mabry is a New York investment professional who holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina's (UNC) Kenan-Flagler Business School and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Furman University in South Carolina. George Mabry has an extensive background in areas such as alternative asset management and hedge fund management.

A recent article in Business Insider reported a return to hedge funds by major institutional investors.The revival of interest was revealed in a Bloomberg survey on current or planned allocation strategies. Hedge funds took first place among the half- dozen categories of alternative investments. Running second in terms of investor interest was private debt, while venture capital appeared poised to reap the fewest gains from changing institutional preferences.

Those surveyed included pension funds and family offices with assets under management exceeding $500 billion. A majority of respondents were interested in long-short equity hedging strategies, while long-short credit funds generated the least interest.