The Loop

How many swings would it take Tiger Woods to earn your yearly salary? This fun tool let's you figure it out

August 16, 2018

From weekly $1 million-plus prizes to the $10 million bonus on the line for the upcoming FedEx Cup, it's a well-known fact that PGA Tour stars are paid handsomely. But it might still surprise you to learn just how much they earn per shot. And just how many shots — or really, how few shots — they need to hit to earn your yearly salary.

Noob.norm's David McSweeney is back with his latest project combining golf and numbers. Previously, McSweeney figured out how much Tiger Woods has earned per shot in his career vs. other PGA Tour starts, and broken down how much Woods has earned in each state. Now he's taken the data from the former and created a fun tool that allows you to figure out how quickly these great golfers earn your wage. Well, fun, and kind of depressing unless you're a CEO making bank.

Here's how the tool looks:

180816-tiger-wage-tool.png

Using Tiger Woods (who has averaged earning $1,282 per shot in on-course PGA Tour earnings in his career) as an example, it would take the 14-time major champ just 36.3 shots to make as much money as someone earning the mean income per capita ($46,550) in 2016. In other words, about nine holes. Nine stinking holes. Yeah, we probably all should have spent more time practicing as kids. . .