What is a scratch golfer?

A scratch golfer holds a Handicap Index of 0.0 and is expected to play to the course rating, which is usually a stroke or two either side of par depending on the tee. On the benchmark model a scratch golfer shoots about 72 on a par 72 and gives up roughly 1 stroke a round to the tour average of 71.

Scratch, defined

Under the World Handicap System a scratch golfer is a player with a Handicap Index of 0.0, whose expected score on any course is that course’s rating from the tee they play. Because the rating rarely equals par, scratch does not mean shooting par: on a championship tee rated 74.2 a scratch golfer is expected to shoot 74, and on a forward tee rated 68.4, 68.

What scratch plays off, by tee

Typical tee values. The course handicap of a 0.0 index is the rating minus par, rounded.

What scratch plays off, by tee
Tee	Slope	Rating	Course handicap at 0.0
Championship	138	74.2	2
Back	132	72.4	0
Middle	125	70.6	-1
Forward	118	68.4	-4

Scratch against the tour

Zero on the strokes gained scale is the tour average, and scratch is not zero. The benchmark model puts scratch about 1 stroke a round behind a tour field, split 0.65 in the long game, 0.20 in the short game and 0.15 putting. A 10 handicap gives up 11 strokes on the same model, 7.2 of them in the long game.

The practical picture: from 150 yards in the fairway the tour average needs 2.945 strokes to hole out, and a scratch golfer needs about 2.991 on the model. The difference per shot is small; it is the same small difference on fourteen long shots, seven short ones and thirty putts that makes the round.

Plus handicaps

A plus handicap is better than scratch and gives strokes back to the course: a +2.0 index becomes a course handicap of about -4 on a middle tee rated 70.6 with a slope of 125, meaning two strokes are added to the score before it is compared. Tour players sit several strokes into plus territory.

In PinFlag

PinFlag ships a Scratch benchmark lens: switch to it and every shot you log is repriced against a scratch level table instead of the tour table, so a scratch or near scratch golfer reads gains and losses on their own scale. On the course, tournament mode logs every shot in full and holds the live number until you finish, and proximity by band and club shows where a scratch game loses its half strokes.

Frequently asked questions

Does a scratch golfer shoot par?

A scratch golfer is expected to shoot the course rating, not par. On a tee rated above par that is over par; on a tee rated below par, under it. Par is a property of the holes; the rating is a property of the course’s difficulty.

What percentage of golfers are scratch?

A small fraction: handicap bodies report that only a low single digit percentage of golfers with an index hold one at 0.0 or better, and the median male index sits in the mid teens.

How far is a scratch golfer from a tour player?

About 1 stroke a round on the benchmark model, most of it in the long game. Tour players hold plus handicaps of several strokes, so the gap from scratch to the tour average is larger than the gap from a 5 to scratch.

How far does a scratch golfer hit a driver?

The distance model used on this site ties club head speed to handicap and puts a scratch golfer’s driver carry in the mid 250s, with the tour average at 275; the spread around the number matters more than the number, which is why the app measures both.

Which golf app does this on the course?

PinFlag, on iPhone. It prices any target on the hole you are playing before you swing, with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map, draws your real shots on the hole with Shot Cloud, logs a shot in two taps with nothing to buy, and breaks every round down shot by shot. Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store.

Sources

Every figure on this page is computed from the published baselines, the same ones PinFlag prices your shots with. The scope of the figures: The scratch definition is the World Handicap System’s; the gap to the tour comes from the site’s benchmark model, which scales the published tour tables by a fixed split of the extra strokes.

Get PinFlag for iPhone

PinFlag shows you this number on the course, for the shot in front of you, before you swing: any target priced with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map, your real shots drawn on the hole, and two taps to log. Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store.

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