Odds of Making a Hole in One, By Handicap

Luis Rivero

3 minutes

The dream of every golfer is watching a ball go in the hole after hitting it from the tee. Many seasoned players play their entire life without achieving this feat, while some not-so-great players claim to have it done more than once. It’s obvious that some degree of luck is involved, but just how much? Today, we analyze the odds of making a hole in one by handicap. DISCLAIMER: They’re low. Veeeery low.

Check out the graphic to find your handicap and see your odds of making a hole in one!

As we can see, skill does play a big part. Scratch players are three times more likely to achieve this feat than a player with a handicap of 18 or more. And if we compare the odds of the two lowest handicap brackets (<0 and 0-5) vs the rest of the brackets we can see how much more likely a skilled player is to make a hole in one.

However, the odds are astronomically low no matter how good you are. On average, you’d need to play ~6,500 par 3’s (or ~1625 rounds assuming 4 Par 3's per round) to have a hole in one (from a statistical standpoint)… which on the flip side, is great news for us since we now have a target of how many golf rounds we have to play to get one ;-)

Just think of all the birdies, pars, triple bogeys, cart girls, beers, and golfing shenanigans  that awaits you before finally making a hole in one!

I wanted to close out this article a little different because I’m curious to find out how many of you have actually made a hole in one. So drop a line in the comments below mentioning when and how you made your hole in one!

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Enjoy your golf!