“I think it has never been easier to get to scratch,” said PGA Professional and regular co-host of the Your Golf by NCG podcast, Jack Backhouse.
A scratch golfer is a player that has a handicap index of 0.0 or lower. With this they are expected to shoot level par on a golf course of standard difficulty.
In reality, only a small percentage of amateur golfers ever reach scratch, making it a benchmark for elite amateur ability.
At least it has been for a number of generations of golfers. But is this still the same now?
Does being a scratch golfer still hold the same value it once had? Or has the rapid advances in golf equipment, technology, and an overhaul of the handicap system taken its toll on the prestige of being a scratch golfer?
Speaking on the latest episode of the Your Golf by NCG podcast, Backhouse was confident that it was the latter.
“When I think back to a scratch golfer when I was 14, they were really serious players because they were doing it in competition rounds only,” he added.
“You only ever went down point one for every shot under your handicap. So it was a much more of a grind to get to scratch than I believe it is now.
“Not that it isn’t any less of an achievement now, but I know people who have a good six weeks of golf and can get the handicap way down. Then that six weeks of golf ends, and they’re sort of still a low handicapper on paper, but aren’t in reality.
“The old system sort of, you couldn’t really do that.”
As well as the evolution of the handicap system, Backhouse pointed out how the advancement in golf equipment has made the game easier.
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Comparing the clubs elite amateur golfers have at their disposal in this day and age compared to that of times prior, he believes the difference is stark.
“I attribute most of it to equipment,” he claimed. “If you think about what Stephen East was playing with in the 90s; tiny headed driver and blades, and crappy balls.
“The courses are near enough the same, aren’t they? There aren’t many courses around here that are necessarily 1000s of yards longer.
“If I went to go play old Woodley off the back tees with some clubs from the early 90s, like, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance I’m shooting par.
“But those players were really skilled and could do it. I’d be a 10 handicapper (back then), probably.”
Podcast host Tom Irwin believes the professionalisation of junior sport and golf’s growing mainstream appeal for younger golfers, has helped to widen the talent pool.
Add that to the rise of launch monitors, and the improvement of their accessibility, club golfers are able to improve at much quicker pace.
“There’s lots of factors aren’t there (for it being easier to be a scratch golfer)?,” Irwin said. “So the equipment’s definitely a thing. The softer system is definitely a thing in terms of how handicaps are calculated.
“And I think access to things like track man and all the rest of it is kind of helping socially. And there are more and more young people playing.
“Junior Golf used to be the preserve of, in your honeyed words, weirdos. Nowadays, it’s not. We’ve got more athletic kids playing.
“I think there are better athletic people playing the sport.
“I think there are definitely more and more scratch golfers out there and it feels like it’s never been easier.”
Listen to the Your Golf Podcast by NCG
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NOW HAVE YOUR SAY
Do you think it is easier to be a scratch golfer now than it was previously? Has the general standard of golf, at a club level, improved? Does the development in technology and golf equipment make it easier for players to improve? Leave a comment or a post on X!
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