1. Steph Curry
NBA · Golden State Warriors · Handicap +1
Steph Curry watching a tee shot at the top of his follow-through

The best celebrity golfer alive, and it isn’t particularly close. Curry won the 2023 American Century Championship by holing out for eagle on the final hole — a walk-off in a field full of scratch players. Then he went and founded the UNDERRATED Golf Tour to get more kids inside the ropes. A plus-one who gives back strokes and gives back, period.

2. Tom Holland
Actor · Spider-Man · Handicap 2.5
Tom Holland mid-swing with a driver

Spider-Man plays off 2.5, and he’ll tell you exactly why: sobriety. Early nights instead of a drink at the turn, and the index dropped. He tees it up in the BMW PGA pro-am at Wentworth with his brothers — a family fourball with a European Tour gallery watching.

3. Jake Owen
Country Artist · Handicap 3
Jake Owen at the top of his backswing with a driver

The one who nearly went the other way. Owen was headed to Florida State to play college golf until a wakeboarding accident wrecked his shoulder — the guitar came after. The game never left: he took a sponsor exemption into a professional event in 2018. Nashville got a singer; golf lost a player.

4. Justin Timberlake
Musician & Actor · Handicap 5
Justin Timberlake smiling on the course in a blue rope hat

Timberlake doesn’t just play golf — he’s hosted his own tour event and has owned a golf course. He posts a 5, but writers who’ve played with him swear the real number is lower. Sandbagging in reverse: the rarest move in golf.

5. Tom Brady
NFL · 7× Super Bowl Champion · Handicap 8
Tom Brady following through on an iron shot

Plays Pebble, plays The Match, and owns maybe the most famous single shot in celebrity golf: the 2020 hole-out from the fairway, minutes after splitting his pants on live television. Seven rings, one pair of ruined trousers, and the shot everyone remembers.

6. Matthew McConaughey
Actor · Handicap 8.6
Matthew McConaughey grinning in a visor with a tee in his teeth

Played in high school and never put the clubs down. A sub-10 index for a man whose entire brand is taking it easy — which might be the most on-brand thing about him. Alright, alright, all right around the greens.

7. Charles Barkley
NBA Hall of Famer · TNT · Handicap ~10
Charles Barkley reacting to a shot on the course

He owned the most famous hitch in golf — the mid-downswing stutter that launched a thousand replays. Then came the full rebuild with instructor Stan Utley, and the number tumbled from the mid-20s to around 10. The greatest comeback story on this list, and he’d be the first to tell you.

8. Victor Cruz
NFL · Super Bowl XLVI Champion · Our Guess: 12
Victor Cruz shaking hands with his caddie at the 2023 Ryder Cup All-Star Match

No public index, so that number is ours, not his. What’s not a guess: he teed it up at Marco Simone in the 2023 Ryder Cup All-Star Match — more pressure than most of us will ever play under.

9. Koe Wetzel
Country Rock Artist · Our Guess: 15
Koe Wetzel lining up a putt among tall pines

Another one we’re guessing at — he doesn’t post a number anywhere. Files firmly under plays-for-the-fun-of-it, which, honestly, is most of us. The list needed one guy who plays like the rest of the group chat.

10. LeBron James
NBA · All-Time Leading Scorer · Handicap 20–25 (his estimate)
LeBron James laughing on the tee box under a blue sky

The newest convert on the list. LeBron picked the game up in July 2025 and got hooked instantly — posting range sessions in pouring rain. The 20–25 is his own estimate, and if his other career is any guide, it won’t stay there long. Curry’s welcome message said it for everybody: we’ve been waiting for you.

From a walk-off eagle at Tahoe to range sessions in the rain — the game gets everybody eventually.

Handicaps are the numbers these players have posted publicly or shared in interviews. Where no index exists anywhere, we’ve labeled the number as our guess — take those with a grain of tee sand.