Asked On Reddit: What’s A Good Indicator Someone Is Good At Golf?

Are you a good golfer?

What does good really mean? We know the pros are good, there’s no debate there. Are they the only ones who get that label? Does a 10 handicap count? How about a 14 handicap who’s only been playing for a year? Or an 85-year-old who shoots his age?

The truth is, “good” in golf is relative and a little slippery to define. So we found a Reddit post where someone asked about the signs that someone is good at golf. Here are some of the top responses.

What Reddit Says: How to spot a good golfer

They don’t brag

Ask them if they’re good, and they’ll shrug it off: “I’m OK” or “I just like to play.” Odds are that’s the lowest handicapper in the group. The golfers who have a long way to go will tell you all about their last round and how if they had just made “that” putt.

Scoring on a bad day

Anyone can shoot their career best once. Good golfers are the ones who turn their “off days” into respectable rounds. They can’t find the center of the clubface, haven’t drained a putt all day, but they still find a way to keep it together.

Calm after birdies … and bogeys

You won’t see a fist pump just because their drive ended up in the fairway. Good players treat birdies like par and bad holes like speed bumps. They’ve done both a hundred times before and they know the adjustments they need to make to keep a good round going.

Scrambling is second nature

They miss fairways and greens like everyone else but they know how to recover. Watch how often they get up and down from trouble. They’ve practiced these shots and they can adjust accordingly, still pulling out a par or a bogey from a bad situation.

They make golf look boring

Have you ever played golf with someone who shot even par and you didn’t even realize it? You were busy bouncing in and out of the woods and replaying that one birdie you wouldn’t stop talking about. Meanwhile, they quietly posted 72 like it was just another walk in the park.

Short game is automatic

If someone chips everything inside five feet and rarely three-putts, they know what they’re doing. It’s not luck, it’s a repeatable, polished short game.

Even their misses are playable

You top a drive and lose distance. They toe one and still catch the fairway. Good golfers can miss the ball but keep it in play.

Golf bag giveaways

If they’re carrying old blades with fresh grips, a bath towel that’s seen better days or a PING Hoofer bag from 1998—watch out. They’ve been around.

Pre-shot routine never changes

Every shot follows the same rhythm. Step back, pick a target, make a practice swing, go. Doesn’t matter what happened on the last hole.

The sound

You know it when you hear it. That crisp, compressed “thwack” of a properly struck iron. It turns heads on the range.

My Take: How I spot a good golfer

While I agree with a lot of what Reddit users had to say, here’s a few I would add.

They understand how to score

It’s not just about hitting it far or straight. Good players manage their way around the course. They aim for the fat part of the green when it makes sense, play away from flags and think two shots ahead.

They compress the ball

You can see it in the flight and hear it in the strike. A compressed golf ball doesn’t just go far; it goes with purpose. These players aren’t scooping at impact, they’re trapping it.

They actually want to make putts

There’s a difference between lagging it close and trying to make it. Good golfers read putts to drop, not just to stop near the hole. You can see the intent in how they roll it.

They know when to take their medicine

They don’t try to thread a 3-iron through a window the size of a mailbox or hit a fairway wood out of the rough over a pond. If it’s not the time to go for it, they punch out, take their bogey, and move on.

They’re low-key picky about lies

They don’t make a scene about it but you’ll see them step back and assess a ball sitting down in the rough or resting on a tight patch of fairway. Good players have trained their eyes to evaluate lies because they know the lie dictates the shot.

Their recovery game is creative

Trouble doesn’t rattle them. They seem to enjoy the challenge. Great players see shots others don’t: low cuts, bump-and-runs, flighted wedges under limbs. They practice them and pull them off more often than not.

They know the rules

It’s not just etiquette. Good players know what to do when a ball is embedded, when relief is allowed and how to drop properly. They also use the rules to their advantage when the situation allows.

Final thoughts

There are a hundred ways to look “good” on the golf course and not all of them show up on the scorecard. From ball striking to mindset, good players usually don’t tell you they’re good. They show you.

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