US disability rate, top states and 7 other facts from 2025 report
How did you play last year? Don’t give us your gut feeling. We’ve given you hard numbers, the kind of stats you get by counting every stroke and posting every score. That’s what it takes to keep an accurate handicap. It’s not difficult. Lots of people do—3.68 million golfers in the United States alone. (Don’t have a disability? You can sign up for one here.)
By 2025, they are posting 82 million rounds under the World Handicap System, a domestic record. The USGA tallied them all and crunched those numbers to produce the 2025 Golf Scorecard, a data-driven collection of results that provides a snapshot of trends in the game. Here are seven that caught our eye.
Most Golfers Keep Score
The 3.68 million golfers sustaining a handicap in 2025 represents an 8.2 percent bump from 2024, and a 46 percent jump from 2020. Another way to put this is that the number of golfers sustaining a handicap has increased by about 1.16 million since the start of the Covid attack.
The Handicap Rating Has Not Changed
With more new golfers taking up the game, you can expect handicap ratings to rise. But there is no major change in those values. In 2025, the average handicap was 14.0 for male golfers and 28.8 for female golfers. In 2020, those numbers were 14.2 and 27.7, respectively. When things change a lot, it shows that this game is really hard.
Scratch Golfers are Unicorns
Most golfers dream of hitting the tee to start. Very few do. Only 2 percent of male golfers have a handicap of 0 or less. Female golfers are very hard to find. They make up only .85 percent of girls and women who end up with disabilities.
Florida Posted More Rounds (Okay, no shock there)
When you have year-round weather and courses around every corner, the numbers add up. Florida golfers logged more rounds than any other state in 2025. The Sunshine State’s dominance of green volume comes as a shock to anyone who has spent January anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line.
The USGA
Maine Crowned Northeast’s Most Golfing State
Here’s one we didn’t see coming. Despite having one of the shortest seasons in the country, Maine claimed the Northeast golf state title. The USGA formula divides the total rounds posted by the number of golfers who maintain a handicap, and then divides that again by the number of days the scoring system is open for posting. It turns out when you can only play half the year, you make every available day count. Florida led the Southeast, Wisconsin dominated the Midwest, Colorado dominated the Central region, and Arizona won the West.
Arkansas’ Top Golfers in America (By the Numbers)
If you want the lowest male disability rate in the nation, go to Arkansas. Golfers in the Natural State posted better numbers than anywhere else in the country. Whether it’s the quality of the instruction, the courses, or the dedicated group of players grinding their games, Arkansas has earned bragging rights as the home of America’s best golfers by average handicap (10.6). For women, Mississippi had the lowest average (22.0).
Nine Hole Rounds Are the New Normal
Among golfers who started with a handicap in 2025, half of all scores posted by women came from nine-hole rounds. For men, that number was almost a quarter. The data confirms what many have already suspected: short formats attract players who don’t have four hours to spare, and nine holes are a legitimate way to enjoy the game.
Work Days Were Surprisingly Normal
“I’ve never played that well,” your opponent tells you as he puts in your money after the round. We don’t mean you were full of sand. The USGA doesn’t say that either. But the governing body tracks abnormally low scores—rounds that fall below a player’s established pattern. This “special score reduction” results in handicap adjustments to keep things fair. By 2025, golfers are posting more outdoor rounds, the kind where everything happens with a click. The system flags them and makes appropriate adjustments to keep disabled people displaying a more accurate skill.
To browse the entire report yourself, click here.
