If you've been anywhere near a Las Vegas golf course this year, there's a good chance you ran into Daniel Negreanu.
The 52-year-old is back in his golf groove, and he's been playing a lot in 2026. He likened it to poker, calling them both "an endless chase of perfection that you will never achieve."
Negreanu has also been pumping out some golf content, and he has popped up on a few channels in the growing universe of Golf YouTube.
It's a natural marriage. Golfers play poker, and poker players go golfing. Both involve gambling, and you can find a lot of each in high volume in Las Vegas. There's a rich tradition of pro poker players who spend their mornings on the golf course before eating up the tourists at night.
So, the question on everyone's mind. Is Negreanu any good?
What is Daniel Negreanu's handicap?
The eight-time WSOP bracelet winner picked up the game after he was an established poker player, mostly through gambling opportunities against other players.
According to USGA records, Negreanu maintains a handicap of 8.8, which is a good, above-average amateur golf handicap. It suggests sound course management and a decent short game, with plenty to improve on in both categories.
Handicaps are calculated using recent reported scores, which are weighed against the difficulty of the course. They are used by players all over the world to level the playing field between golfers of differing skill.
Negreanu, like many amateurs, has had periods of his life when he golfed with a lot more frequency. He was a very dedicated golfer in 2014, with several tweets that track a handicap starting above 19 to around 10 by the end of the 2014 WSOP.
For one reason or another, Negreanu golfed a lot less until recently, when he started posting about it again. He began with an 18 handicap in May of 2025 before driving it down to near 8 by the end of last year. It drifted back to around 11 in March of 2026 before he ground it down to where it now sits at 8.8.
Is Negreanu good at golf?
The list of Negreanu's 10 most recent scores all come from his home course: SouthShore Country Club. SouthShore is a private course located in the Lake Las Vegas portion of the Valley, and its Jack Nicklaus design is considered one of the area's best.
Negreanu's last 10 handicap score submissions
- 80
- 84
- 88
- 89
- 80
- 88
- 85
- 89
- 86
- 84
SouthShore is a difficult course. The white tees, which appear to be the distance of choice for Negreanu, carry a course rating of 70.8 and a slope of 142.
The course rating is what you might expect a scratch golfer (zero handicap) to average for a score on that course. SouthShore's course rating of 70.8 indicates that it is marginally easier than par for a very good player.
The slope, however, says the course is more challenging for a golfer like Negreanu. The score of 142 is much higher than you would normally find, with the average course clocking in at around 112. A high score means that the course gets harder as a player's skill level decreases, with difficult greens and tough hazards that can balloon scores quickly.
"I like having benchmarks that matter," he said on X in July. "I go shoot 80 somewhere else and it almost doesn’t even count for me. I like to try and break 80 at home."
What's next?
The jump from 18 to 8.8 is impressive, but the climb to zero gets very difficult once you are in the single digits. It may not be a realistic goal, and, frankly, the volume of practice required to get there might take away from his earning power as a poker player.
Negreanu earned $1.6 million in profit at this year's WSOP while playing golf a lot more than usual. It's also very hot this time of year, which might limit playing multiple times per day. He seems to have the right summer balance.
More than anything, we can expect to see more golf content. Negreanu has already popped up on popular channels like The Scratch Golf Show and Walk on Wagers, and you can find personal golf challenges on his own vlog series.
Regardless, it appears that Negreanu will be playing a lot more golf as the poker schedule thins out in the fall and winter. Winter weather is perfect for golf in Vegas, so there's a good chance to play every single day. If he keeps at it, expect Negreanu to return for next year's WSOP with an all-time low handicap.
