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18 September 2026 · 9 min read

The TrackMan Combine test explained: 60 shots, a score from 0 to 100 and what it has to do with your handicap

Sixty shots, ten targets, one score. The TrackMan Combine is the test that measures your game in a little over half an hour. What is counted, how the points come about, why the comparison with the handicap works per distance and where to take it in Switzerland.

The TrackMan Combine test explained: 60 shots, a score from 0 to 100 and what it has to do with your handicap — post image

The TrackMan Combine test consists of 60 shots. You hit at ten targets, every shot earns 0 to 100 points, and at the end there is one score. TrackMan describes it as a standardised test to benchmark your skills and track your progress over time (TrackMan). In Switzerland a bay for it is easy to find: 83 of the 126 venues in the directory name TrackMan as their system.

What the TrackMan Combine test is

TrackMan built the test so that golfers can find their strengths and weaknesses and compare themselves with others. That is how the Combine brochure puts it, and it describes the structure (TrackMan Combine brochure). After the test you receive, for every yardage, a score, a percentile ranking against a selected peer group and the average distance from the pin, plus an aggregate score and the length and accuracy of your drives. The results are stored in your TrackMan account, so you can compare the next test with the first. According to the brochure, the database ranges from major champions to players with a handicap of 25. Today the test runs in TrackMan Performance Studio, the software in the simulator, where TrackMan still lists it as a standardised 60-shot test (TrackMan Performance Studio). Coaches and academies build their own tests in the Test Center of the same software.

The 60 shots: distances, order, time

You hit six balls at each of nine targets between 60 and 180 yards, plus six drives. The targets are set in yards. A yard is 0.9144 metres (NIST). The nine targets therefore lie between 55 and 165 metres. The brochure lists the targets in ascending order, from 60 yards to the driver. You choose the club yourself, for each distance the one that reaches it. TrackMan puts the whole test at around 35 minutes (brochure). Book an hour. That leaves time to warm up, and the last shots are not rushed.

TargetIn metresShots
60 yards55 m6
70 yards64 m6
80 yards73 m6
90 yards82 m6
100 yards91 m6
120 yards110 m6
140 yards128 m6
160 yards146 m6
180 yards165 m6
Driveras far as you hit it6

How a shot is scored

Each of the 60 shots earns 0 to 100 points. At the nine targets the distance from the pin counts: the closer the ball lies to the pin, the more points. The pin stands at the target distance. Whether that distance is measured at the landing point, the carry, or only after the roll, the brochure does not say; it prints only the average distance from the pin in yards for each yardage. Carry, at TrackMan, is the distance from where the ball is launched to the point where it comes back to the height it started from (TrackMan). For the driver it is clear: there the total distance and the sideways deviation count, listed in the brochure as Total and Side. The six shots at a target make the score for that distance, and the ten distances make the aggregate score; in the brochure's tables it is the average of the ten values. Because every shot counts, one miss pulls down the average for its distance. That is the point of the test: it measures your typical shot, not your best one.

Score and handicap: why the comparison is per distance

In the brochure TrackMan writes of a clear correlation between handicap and Combine score, and it prints two columns for comparison: the PGA Tour average and the average of players with a handicap of 18, both per yardage (brochure). The tour reaches an aggregate score of 81.7, handicap 18 reaches 46.7. Between the two, the gap is different at every distance:

DistancePGA Tour, from the pinPointsHandicap 18, from the pinPoints
60 yards5.3 yards729.7 yards44
100 yards6.4 yards8316.2 yards49
140 yards8.0 yards8521.3 yards49
180 yards10.6 yards8527.5 yards45
Driver291.2 yards, 11.8 sideways86228.7 yards, 26.8 sideways50
Aggregate score81.746.7

That is why the report compares per distance and not only with one number. For each yardage you get a score and a percentile against the peer group you selected. A player can be close to the tour at 60 yards and below handicap 18 at 180 yards. An aggregate score of 55 only says that on average they stand between the two columns. A table that assigns a handicap to every aggregate score is not something TrackMan prints in the brochure. It names two anchors, 81.7 and 46.7, and the highest scores of its time: 87 for men by Luke Donald, 89 for women by Sun Young Yoo, both recorded within two weeks of a tournament win. 100 points is a scale, not a goal.

Reading the report: the three numbers that count

After the test the report shows more numbers than you need. Three are worth your time.

  • The weakest distance. The score per yardage shows where you lose points. That is your practice task for the next few weeks, not the aggregate score. The brochure names exactly that as the purpose: find the weaknesses and aim the practice there.
  • The distance from the pin. The average per yardage in yards is a number you take to the course. Someone who is 16 yards off on average at 100 yards plays a pin behind the bunker differently from someone at 6. Among the benefits the brochure names are finding the best lay-up distance and seeing the gaps in your set. How you close those gaps is in Golf club distances.
  • The driver, twice. Total and Side, that is length and dispersion. The brochure puts the two side by side: handicap 18 at 228.7 yards and 26.8 yards sideways, the tour at 291.2 and 11.8. The tour hits 62.5 yards further and spreads less than half as wide.

Behind every shot are the measurements that explain the report: ball speed, launch angle, spin. The brochure mentions that club fitters use exactly this data from the test. What the numbers mean is in Understanding launch-monitor numbers.

Where to take the test in Switzerland

The Combine is part of TrackMan Performance Studio, the software that runs in a TrackMan bay (TrackMan). 83 of the 126 venues in the directory name TrackMan as their system; the TrackMan page lists them by canton. 80 of the 110 indoor venues publish an hourly rate: between CHF 25 and 99 per bay, a median of CHF 50 (golfsimulators.ch, 18 September 2026). The price is per bay, and for the test you need it to yourself. Say when booking that you want to take the Combine, and log in at the unit with your TrackMan account. The report is then stored in your account, and next time you put the two side by side.

The federation plays on these machines too. Swiss Golf, together with TrackMan Switzerland, runs the Swiss Golf Indoor Championship on all simulators of the TrackMan brand in Switzerland, private and public (Swiss Golf). The fourth edition ran from 10 December 2025 to 31 March 2026: two rounds of stroke play over 18 holes, one on Crans-sur-Sierre and one on Holzhäusern, an entry fee of CHF 20, open to everyone with a Swiss Golf Card, with no handicap limit and no handicap adjustment (2025/26 regulations). Players start it in the tournament section of the same software the Combine runs in.

What the score is not: a WHS index

A Combine score is the result of a test: distance from the pin in a bay, without wind, without a slope, off a mat. A handicap index under the World Handicap System comes from registered rounds played under the rules, and from nothing else. How it is calculated is in The golf handicap explained. No value that a simulator's software shows as a handicap goes into your index. Even Swiss Golf's Indoor Championship is played gross, without handicap adjustment (regulations). Why a score in the simulator and a score on the course are two different things is in Why you are five strokes better in the simulator.

What the score is good for is the comparison with yourself. TrackMan calls the test a way to track progress over time (TrackMan). Take it once now, write down your weakest distance, practise there, and take it again after a few weeks. The second score shows whether the practice worked, in the same bay, under the same conditions. What such a winter looks like is in Winter golf training plan and in the guide Indoor golf training.

The next step is an hour in a TrackMan bay. Find a venue near you on the TrackMan page or in the list of all venues, book an hour, set up your TrackMan account beforehand and bring every club. After 60 shots you know which distance you are practising this winter.

Frequently asked questions

How long does the TrackMan Combine test take?

In its brochure TrackMan puts the 60 shots at around 35 minutes. Book a full hour, so there is time to warm up. An hour costs between CHF 25 and 99 per bay at 80 of the 110 indoor venues in Switzerland, a median of CHF 50.

Which Combine score corresponds to which handicap?

In its brochure TrackMan names two anchors: 81.7 points as the PGA Tour average and 46.7 as the average of players with a handicap of 18. A table that assigns a handicap to every score is not something TrackMan publishes there. The report compares you with a peer group per distance, and that is the more precise answer.

Does a Combine score or a simulator handicap count towards my WHS handicap?

No. A handicap index under the World Handicap System comes only from registered rounds played under the rules. Even the Swiss Golf Indoor Championship on TrackMan simulators is played gross, without handicap adjustment.

What is a good Combine score?

The comparison makes it: the PGA Tour averages 81.7, a player off 18 averages 46.7. More important than the total is the score per distance, because it shows which target yardage costs you points, and that is where you practise.

How often should I take the Combine test?

Twice a winter is enough: once in November as a baseline and once in March to see what the evenings did. In between you practise the distance with the lowest part score. Testing every week mostly measures how you feel that day.

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