As I look back on another year of APBA Golf and keeping records for more than five years, I realize I’ve hit a “ceiling effect” in several statistical categories, where it’s become increasingly difficult to surpass past best performances. Even though I logged an additional 512 rounds of stroke play (including those I played with others) in 2025, I didn’t come close to beating or even matching my all-time best scores.
In fact, it wasn’t until December that I managed to come withing four strokes of the record for best score relative to par (11-under) set by Bryson DeChambeau (2020) in 2021 at The Stadium Course (TPC Sawgrass) and equaled by Justin Thomas (2022) in 2023 at Birthplace (St. Andrews). Viktor Hovland and Nick Taylor both finished rounds at Bluegrass (Valhalla) with just a 7-under par in my 2024 PGA Championship replay currently in progress.
The best round scores relative to par for the women in 2025 tied the previous ladies’ record of 6-under set in 2024 by Brooke Henderson (2022) at Metro D.C. (Congressional) and Lilia Vu (2023) at The Stadium Course. In January 2025, both Jan Stephenson (1983) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) shot 6-under at Magnolia (Augusta National) and Sandhills (Pinehurst No. 2), respectively.
Looking at the best rounds relative to par for all courses I’ve played, there were 15 rounds that made the list in 2025. However, most of these were played on courses that were new for me–which means that even an unimpressive score could be my “best” for that particular course. Bear Village (Muirfield Village) and Southport (Royal Birkdale) are two such examples, where Bob Goalby (1971) came in at 2-over (in a total of 5 rounds) and Chris Gotterup finished 1-over (2 rounds). The entire list appears below.
I managed five more holes-in-one in 2025–not counting one by Tiger Woods (2000) in Joe Barrett’s 2nd Annual North Pole Classic match-play tournament. Notably, four of these aces were by women golfers. That brings the total to 25 since the first one I recorded in August 2020. The entire list appears below.
More noteworthy performances from 2025 include:
- The longest drive of the year was 415 yards by Tiger Woods (2000) at APBA Resort with Moderate wind and Normal course conditions. This feat should probably come with an asterisk though, since it was achieved using the new “Modern” shot player mode. The previous record drive was 390 yards by both Marc Leishman (2022) and Hideki Matsuyama (2019), using the “Original” shot boards. Will Zalatoris (2024) also joined the “390 Club” in 2025 using the “Modern” shot setting at Bluegrass.
- Cameron Young (2016) is still the leader in Average Driving Distance among the men for all Par 4’s and 5’s at 317 yards (based on a single round). If we impose a 4-round minimum, Min Woo Lee (2023) leads the pack at 303.3 yards (4 rounds). The men’s average is 277.9 yards (1127 rounds). For the ladies Emily Pedersen (2023) retains her lead at 265.0 yards over three rounds. With a 4-round minimum, Lexi Thompson (2022) is at the top with 264.8 yards (4 rounds). The ladies’ average is 246.5 yards (690 rounds).
- A related stat is Average Driving Distance-2 based on two pre-selected holes per round. This is how the PGA calculates driving distance. Jhonattan Vegas (2016) holds onto the lead at 350 yards (with just one round). Using a 4-round minimum, Min Woo Lee (2023) also tops this list at 314.3 yards (4 rounds). The average for the men is 286.4 yards (747 rounds). For the women the leader is Kathy Whitworth (1967) at 288.0 yards (based on a single round). The average for the ladies is 251.0 yards (483 rounds). With a 4-round minimum, the LPGA leader is Xiyu Lin (2023) at 274.8 yards (4 rounds).
- The longest made putt of 2025 was 86 feet by Juli Inkster (1999) at Bluegrass on New Year’s Day, but that is only good for 5th place overall. Séamus Power (2022) still leads the list with a 132-footer at Birthplace in 2023. The ten longest putts in my record book are all on those two courses. This isn’t surprising for Birthplace, given it’s spacious greens. But with Bluegrass where the greens are much smaller, it’s probably more a function of the total number of rounds played there (251) as opposed to green size.
- Power (2022) continues to hold the record for Total Distance of Putts Made in a round (268 feet) set in 2023 at Birthplace. Lilia Vu (2024) had the longest Total Distance of Putts Made in 2025–an impressive 206 feet at Birthplace. That’s good enough for 3rd place overall.
- The fewest number of putts in a round for 2025 was 21. Beverly Hanson (1958) and Betty Jameson (1955) did this at Magnolia and Sandhills, respectively. They join Ayaka Furue (2023) as co-leaders for the women in this category. The best the men could manage in 2025 was 23 putts. Three PGA golfers–Brian Harman, Sungjae Im, and Jon Rahm (all 2024)–and two LPGA players–Hollis Stacy (1977) and Donna Caponi (1981)–achieved that feat. Tom Watson (1977) remains the all-time leader at 18 putts at Seaside in June 2024.
- Although not all rounds were necessarily played in 2025, here are the leaders in several other categories as of the end of the year based on a minimum of 4 total rounds. Allisen Corpuz (2024) leads in FW% at 92.2% (4 rounds) and Haeran Ryu (2024) has the best GIR% at 91.7% (4 rounds). These remarkable numbers are, no doubt, due to the fact that these rounds were played at Birthplace where the fairways and greens are enormous. There are eight players tied with a SS% of 100%, but Andrew Putnam tops the all-time list at 7 Sand Saves in 7 attempts.
These highlights are summarized in the table below.
Coming up: The worst of 2025. In APBA Golf, there is no “floor effect.” Trust me. Things can always get worse!