Tiger 5 mistakes: what they are and how many golfers actually make
The five avoidable mistakes Tiger Woods tracked, his 1.5-per-round benchmark, and how many golfers actually make — from real tracked rounds by handicap.
The Tiger 5 are also called Tiger's 5 rules, or the Tiger Five. The Tiger 5 mistakes are five avoidable errors: a bogey or worse on a par 5, a double bogey or worse on any hole, a 3-putt, a bogey or worse from inside 150 yards, and a blown easy up & down. Tiger Woods aimed to keep them under 6 per tournament — about 1.5 per round — and felt he could win when he did. This page defines each mistake precisely and shows how many golfers actually make, based on real tracked rounds.
What are the Tiger 5 mistakes?
- Bogey or worse on a par 5. Par 5s are the easiest holes to gain strokes on. Finishing one over par or worse is usually a wasted opportunity rather than bad luck.
- Double bogey or worse on any hole. Two or more over par on a single hole. One double erases two birdies — the single biggest score-killer for amateurs.
- 3-putt. Three or more putts on a green, regardless of starting distance. Even a 3-putt from 60 ft counts, because on Tour those are still rare.
- Bogey or worse from inside 150 yards (135 m). You hit the green-in-regulation approach shot from wedge range — inside 150 y / 135 m — and still walk off with bogey or worse.
- Blown easy up & down. A non-putt shot from inside 30 m of the pin that finishes more than 5 m away. In plain English: a chip or pitch from close range you didn't get up and down — a chunk, a skull, or a bladed wedge. An "easy" up & down is hard to define precisely from shot data, so this is an altered, measurable version of Tiger's original idea.
Where does the 1.5 per round come from?
Tiger Woods has said that if he kept his five mistakes under 6 per tournament — roughly 1.5 per round — he felt he had a real chance to win. That is the standard of the best player of all time, not a target for club golfers. It is background for the numbers below, not the focus.
How many Tiger 5 mistakes does the average golfer make?
| Handicap | Rounds (n) | Par 5 bogey+ | Double+ | 3-putt | Bogey ≤150y | Blown U&D | Total / round |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +5 – scratch | 183 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 4.7 |
| Scratch – 5 | 93 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 3.3 | 1.9 | 8.4 |
| 5 – 10 | 60 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 12.0 |
| 10 – 20 | 34 | 2.5 | 4.8 | 3.3 | 6.7 | 3.9 | 21.2 |
| 20+ | 17 | 2.8 | 8.4 | 4.0 | 5.8 | 5.0 | 25.9 |
Mistakes per round (18-hole equivalent) by player handicap band, from 387 real shot-by-shot tracked rounds on StrokesGain. Each player's handicap is their average strokes gained per round, so every player appears in exactly one band.
Deep dive into the numbers
Doubles are what separate good golfers from high handicaps. A scratch golfer gets just 0.5 double bogeys a round. A golfer playing off 20 or higher gets 8.6 — 17× more. Nothing else comes close: blown up-and-downs grow 6.6×, 3-putts 4.1×, par 5 bogeys 4.1× and bogeys from inside 150 yards 2.9×. All five get more common as handicap rises, but only doubles get worse several times faster than the rest. That one line is the difference between a 5 handicap and a 20 handicap, and the charts below make it visible.
Which mistake costs amateurs the most?
For single-digit players the biggest leak is bogey-or-worse with a wedge in hand — 1.8 per round even in the +5 to scratch band, and 3.3 at scratch to 5. From 5 handicap up, doubles take over: 2.3 per round at 5–10, 4.8 at 10–20 and 8.4 at 20+. 3-putts grow steadily from 0.8 to 4.0 per round across the bands.
How do you count a hole with two mistakes?
One hole can contain two mistakes — a double bogey that also included a 3-putt, for example. Counting every tag across 387 real rounds gives 9.1 mistakes per round, but counting only holes with at least one mistake gives 5.52. Both numbers are honest; they just answer different questions.
Tags per round tells you how much there is to fix. Unique holes tells you how many holes actually got away from you. StrokesGain shows the tags, because a hole with two mistakes is worse than a hole with one.
How do you track them?
Every mistake is derived automatically from the shots you already log — nothing extra to remember during the round. The app rolls up each completed hole, classifies the result, and shows your per-round totals broken down by category, with 9-hole rounds scaled to an 18-hole equivalent so they stay comparable.
What do good players score?
- Tiger Woods (his own benchmark): ~1.5 per round
- Wesley & George Bryan (tracked rounds): ~3 per round
- Grant Horvat (tracked rounds): ~5 per round
Why this matters more than your handicap
Handicap tells you the score. The Tiger 5 tells you why. Two players can shoot 82 in completely different ways — one because they 3-putted four times, another because they made two doubles and a blown up-and-down. The fixes are completely different, and the mistake breakdown shows which one is yours.
Where can you track your Tiger 5 mistakes for free?
StrokesGain counts all five Tiger 5 mistakes automatically from the shots you already log — no extra input during the round, and it's free with no subscription or hardware.
The DECADE Golf app logs the Tiger 5 mistakes for you as you log your shots, using a built-in Tiger 5 entry mode, but it is a paid app that needs a subscription.
Arccos tracks every shot for you with club sensors, but it has no Tiger 5 view — you would have to count the mistakes yourself from the round summary.
Golfshot tracks every shot and gives you a full round summary, but it has no Tiger 5 view either, so the mistake total is something you add up yourself.
Tiger 5 mistakes FAQ
What are Tiger Woods's 5 mistakes?
A bogey or worse on a par 5, a double bogey or worse on any hole, a 3-putt, a bogey or worse from inside 150 yards, and a blown easy up & down from inside 30 m. Tiger aimed to keep the total under 6 per tournament, about 1.5 per round.
How many Tiger 5 mistakes is good for an amateur?
Under 2 per round is Tour-winning territory. In real tracked data, plus-handicap to scratch players average about 4.7 per round, scratch to 5 about 8.4, 5–10 handicaps about 12, and 10–20 handicaps about 21. Anything above your band's average means the round was leaking strokes from several places at once.
Is a 3-putt always a Tiger 5 mistake?
Yes — every 3-putt or worse counts, regardless of starting distance. Even a 3-putt from 60 ft counts, because on Tour those are still rare.
How does StrokesGain detect the 5 mistakes automatically?
Every mistake is derived from the shots you already log. The app rolls up each completed hole, classifies the result (par 5 bogey, double bogey, 3-putt, wedge bogey, blown up-and-down) and shows a per-round total on the analysis page. 9-hole rounds are scaled to an 18-hole equivalent.
Where can I track my Tiger 5 mistakes?
StrokesGain counts all five Tiger 5 mistakes automatically from the shots you already log — no extra input during the round, and it's free with no subscription or hardware. The DECADE Golf app logs them for you as you log your shots but is a paid subscription, and Arccos and Golfshot track every shot without offering a Tiger 5 view, so with those you would have to count the mistakes yourself from the round summary.