It’s an interesting discussion, one that plenty of club golfers will have had at some point – what would the world’s best professional golfers play off? ‘Would’ is the key word, because in professional golf there is no handicap system; no shots are given, the best gross score wins.
Some professional players do keep a handicap at their home clubs; they’re not official, because of their professional status, but it allows them to retain a record and gives them a guide of how many shots they need to give should they ever have a match against an amateur, perhaps a game against a friend.
Tour professionals are often asked what their handicap was before they turned professional, and some are surprising. Not every golfer reaches +4 or better before turning professional. Many a player will make decision to turn professional long before getting to that level.
Of course, this doesn't mean they immediately become Tour professionals – there's a big difference between a professional and a Tour professional.
The best ever recorded handicap in Europe?That'd be Esther Henseleit at +7.1 😲 pic.twitter.com/Q5ybgSWWSlJune 6, 2019
Some players are happy to remain amateur players and witness their handicaps come tumbling down before giving up their amateur status. Germany's Esther Henseleit, for example, had the lowest recorded handicap in Europe, +7.1, before turning professional in 2019.
Based on this, we can safely assume that the likes of LPGA Tour stars Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko and 2023 AIG Women’s Open champion, Lilia Vu, would have had a handicap around the same number.
The handicaps belonging to the best female amateurs in the world also reveal a lot about the standard we’re talking about, and gives you an idea of what kind of handicap LPGA Tour professionals females might have.
For example, Lottie Woad (Farnham Golf Club), the number 15 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), is off +6.5, and Charlotte Heath (Huddersfield Golf Club), ranked number nine in the WAGR, is off +5.8.
