Do Professional Golfers Have Handicaps And What's The Lowest Amateur Handicap Ever?

The handicap system is absolutely fundamental to the amateur game. It allows players of any sex, age and abillity to compete against one another on a level playing field. The World Handicap System uses an average calculation method to provide an accurate representation of an amateur golfer’s current aptitude and performance level.

The theory everything is predicated on is that a player with a 36 handicap should have an equal chance to win a Stableford competition as a player with a handicap of scratch. Without the handicap system in amateur golf, the vast majority of participants would have no way to compete in a fair and equitable way and the game would be far less appealing. That said, some low-handicap golfers do feel strongly that the WHS gives them less chance of winning competitions. 

But Do Professionals Have Handicaps?

In professional golf, there is no handicap system. Professionals compete against one another flat and no shots are given. The best gross score wins either after 72 or 54-holes of stroke play, or on individual holes in match play.

Some pro golfers keep a handicap for interest or at their home club to give an idea of how many shots they should give amateur friends in fun matches, but those handicaps are not considered official. They're just an interesting guide and something for us mere mortals to be gobsmacked by. 

Players like Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer have kept handicaps at Whisper Rock in Arizona, where they regularly play, and the European duo have been as low as between +6 and +7 there.

How Low Have Some Amateur Handicaps Been?

The players on the PGA Tour are the best of the best. They are a couple of competitive levels above the elite amateurs, who can have seriously low handicaps. For example, Gordon Sargent, who was the world's number-one amateur ahead of the Ryder Cup, plays off 5.5. Conor Graham, the second-youngest player to represent Team GB&I at 17, is off 5.3.

At the 2023 Amateur Championship, four players had handicaps of +7 or better, led by South African Christiaan Maas, who was off +8.

In the female game, Ladies European Tour player Esther Henseleit had the lowest recorded handicap in Europe before turning professional in 2019. The German's number was a remarkable +7.1

So, what did some stars of the pro game play off before they gave up their amateur status? Well, Tiger Woods was off a remarkable +8 when he turned pro. Sergio Garcia was a couple of shots worse off at +5.8, Phil Mickelson and Shaun Micheel were reportedly at +6, Jim Furyk and Ben Curtis purportedly played off +7 when they left the unpaid ranks and Jack Nicklaus was off +3. Rory McIlroy was another one in the +6 club when he turned pro, too. Unbelievably, Ian Poulter turned professional with a handicap of 4. 

What Handicap Would PGA Tour Players Be?

A couple of years ago, the Golf Stat Pro Lou Stagner crunched the numbers on the PGA Tour from 2016 to 2020 and worked out what Handicap Index players would be relative to Course Rating and Slope Rating on the course’s scorecard from that period - see below.

It showed the average Handicap Index for PGA Tour players in that time was +5.4.

The best index achieved during the period was +8.4 by Rickie Fowler and the best average index for the four years was +6.5 – Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka.

Those figures are impressive but are even more so when you consider that those calculations didn’t take into consideration the tournament set-up – faster greens, longer rough, difficult pin positions. If those were factored in the handicaps of PGA Tour players could be at least a shot or two lower. As the PGA Tour often stresses, “these guys are good.”