If Bill Gates played golf: rated 80, best at course IQ

Bill Gates as a golfer: scouting report

Bill Gates would treat a golf course like a puzzle that has an optimal solution, and he would find it. Course IQ is the very top of his card and one of the best marks in the whole game. As a student at Harvard he co wrote a published mathematics paper on a sorting problem known as pancake flipping, and soon after he left school to co found Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. A mind that sharp can work out every angle and every break on a tournament course.

His nerve is right behind his course IQ, and he has spent decades making big decisions with the whole business world watching. He is also a serious contract bridge player, a game that rewards patience, memory and calm decision making over many hands. That temperament carries directly to golf. Putting is the best of his shotmaking skills, and his short game is close behind, so he scores well once he gets near the green. He is famous for his reading lists and for taking whole weeks away to read and think, and he would prepare for a major the same way, studying every hole long before he arrived.

Driving is the clear weakness. His game is not designed to overpower long courses, and The Long Course Championship, where distance off the tee matters on every hole, is his toughest test. His ideal course is The Links Open, where strategy, a sharp short game and composure in the wind can beat raw power. He has also played charity tennis matches alongside Roger Federer, so he knows how to compete on a big stage next to a champion. Draft him in the middle rounds as a course management expert, and pair him with a long hitter to cover the power weeks.

Plays like A brilliant course strategist who solves every hole like a puzzle

Put Bill Gates in your lineup

5 rolls, a team of five, four majors. Can you win the Grand Slam? Free, no account.