I, like so many other golfers, came back to the sport during the 2020 COVID-fueled golf boom and up to that point I had always been a casual golfer not knowing why I should establish my Handicap IndexⓇ.
During the height of social distancing, I was glad to have my golf community and a safe environment to meet, playing multiple days per week with some very competitive friends. Safe to say there were always a few rounds of drinks on the line!
During one of our many post-round gatherings our group's more seasoned golfer, sick of calculating and giving pops by hand (more on that later), urged the rest of us to “go get a real handicap” sending us the link to Become A Member on NCGA’s website.
Mostly incentivized by the burning holes in our pocket books from financing said bar tab while also wanting validated bragging rights, we all happily obliged, joining NCGA eClub Fresno. Side note if you’re wondering, here's exactly how to get a golf Handicap Index.
My limited knowledge of handicapping and how handicaps are calculated led me down a rabbit hole where I ultimately discovered my guesstimated handicap was actually super unfair to those I was playing with.
Needless to say, I had a few burning questions. I did not understand our pre-round “magic” calculations and how those dots ended up on my scorecard. Almost five years later, I am thankful to be employed by NCGA, who happens to be the governing body that administers and upholds the World Handicap System™ in Northern California.
Luckily, I’ve since had my questions answered and misguidances corrected along the way thanks to our renowned Governance Department led by our Chief Governance Officer, Jim Cowan.
Here are those question explained in depth, showing my work along the way:
- What is a Handicap Index?
- What is a Course Handicap?
- How do I calculate my Course Handicap?
- What is a Playing Handicap?
- How do I apply the adjusted strokes? How to pop a scorecard.
- Using the GHIN App for Match Play
What is a Handicap Index?
Under the World Handicap System, a Handicap Index is a measure of a player's demonstrated ability and it is based on your better scores – the lowest 8 of your most recent 20 and is expressed as a number with one decimal point (e.g. 16.4).
This number is used to calculate how many strokes you would need to adjust your score to achieve par, allowing you to compete with others of different abilities.
Usually golfers assume that a score of 102 would be 30 over par on a par 72 golf course so they would say that their Handicap is 30. But this is not true because your Handicap Index is calculated using a Score Differential.
What I got wrong: Not using my real Handicap Index that was calculated with a Score Differential based off of my lowest rounds of golf (8 out of 20 scores).
I had guessed I was around a 20-25 handicap golfer because that’s around how many strokes over par I typically scored. But this is a common misconception; using such a rudimentary calculation did not account for the more difficult (or easier) courses I was often playing.
We’ll get into the calculation soon, but the chart below roughly explains average Handicap Indexes based on average scores by taking into account this calculation. On an average par 72 course, I typically scored 92-97 so I should have reported being a sub-20 handicap.
I also did not account for the fact that your Handicap Index is calculated using your best rounds, I had assumed to use my worst! A player typically plays to their handicap only about 20% of the time and can expect to score about 2-4 strokes higher in most rounds.
What is a Score Differential?
The lowest of 8 out of the most recent 20 Score Differentials are used to calculate a player’s Handicap Index. A Score Differential is a numerical value that measures how well a player performed on a specific course compared to its difficulty, taking into account the Course Rating and Slope Rating.
It’s essentially a measure of the quality of the score on that course. A higher score on a difficult course may be a better performance than a lower score on an easier one, and it is the Score Differential calculation that allows this to be captured.
Please note, not covered here is the PCC adjustment to allow for difficult Course conditions, Weather conditions, and/or Course set-up. Please read Rule 5.6 Playing Conditions Calculation for more information.
What is a Course Handicap?
A Course Handicap is the number of strokes needed to play to the par of the tees being played. Unlike your personal Handicap Index, your Course Handicap is a whole number. It basically adjusts your personal Handicap Index to the course and tees you are playing.
“At the core of the handicap calculation is your score demonstrating how well you played your round relative to the course's difficulty as determined by its Course Rating™ and Slope Rating™ and any conditions that might have made the course harder or easier to play on the day (Playing Conditions aka PCC).”
In other words, the World Handicap System works to level the playing field no matter where you play.
What I got wrong: Not taking the Course Rating & Slope Rating into consideration.
A Slope Rating is the number which indicates the relative playing difficulty of a course for bogey golfers, compared to scratch golfers.
It is the combination of the Course Rating and the Bogey Rating that allows us to calculate the Slope Rating of a set of tees.
Slope values typically range from 100 (easier) to 155 (extremely difficult), with 113 being a standard relative playing difficulty (which is used in the calculation of your Course Handicap).
Take for instance the below (very real) posted scores with associated Slope Ratings. The Slope Rating of 130 at Spyglass Hill Golf Course from the Red tees is more difficult than at Monterey Pines Golf Course with a Slope Rating of 104 from the Green tees, so of course I scored better at Monterey Pines over Spyglass Hill or Poppy Hills golf courses.
Learn more about how NCGA Course Raters measure a golf course to get these values.
How do I calculate my Course Handicap?
Here’s where it gets complicated, you need to take into consideration the difficulty of the course you are playing determined by the Par and Course Rating and the set of tees (distance) you played your round from. This is known as the Course Handicap.
Bless our friend calculating this all by hand every round, but essentially he would take our (then unofficial estimated handicap) and multiply it by the course’s Slope Rating divided by 113 (average slope) and then round it to the nearest whole number. Then he would subtract par for the course from the Course Rating. Although, I’m sure he was using this handy online USGA Course Handicap Calculator 😎.
So (with my unofficial handicap guesstimate being a 20 handicap) the calculation for par 71 Poppy Hills Golf Course from the Orange tees with a Course Rating of 70.8 and a 127 Slope Rating my calculation was as follows:
My (unofficial) Course Handicap calculation:
(20 handicap index x 127 Slope Rating /113 average Slope Rating)= 22.47 = 22
71 par - 70.8 Course Rating=0.2 rounded to the nearest whole number = 0
22+0= 22
What I got wrong: Not using my correct Handicap Index while calculating my Course Handicap.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was unintentionally sandbagging my friends by estimating my Handicap Index around 20 (back injury be damned, at the time of publishing I’m a 16.4 handicap).
So my real calculated Course Handicap at Poppy Hills should have been: (16.4 x 127/113) = 18.43
71 par - 70.8 Course Rating=0.2 rounded to the nearest whole number = 0
18+0= 18!
What is a Playing Handicap?
If you are playing in a format that has a handicap allowance applied, you will also have a Playing Handicap which is a number used for that particular game. For example, a 85% handicap allowance when playing in a four-ball stroke play competition.
My friends and I didn't play with a handicap allowance, but it's worth noting that when playing a recreational round, all you need to know is your Course Handicap, which is the number used to adjust hole scores for net double bogey.
Playing Handicap = Course Handicap x Handicap allowance + Difference in Par
Here's a simple trick from USGA to help remember how these values differ:
Course Handicap = You against the course.
Playing Handicap = You against the other players.
How do I apply the adjusted strokes? How to pop a scorecard.
Again, bless our golf-committed friend, he would then apply the allotted strokes (or ‘pop’ the scorecard) by hand, by adding the dots on different holes that represent the number of strokes (aka ‘pops’) we each got per hole.
Each hole on the scorecard has a number assigned to it based on the difficulty of the hole as well as adjustments for where the strokes should fall based on WHS recommendations. The handicap number for each hole is known as the stroke index. For each hole with a number less than or equal to (≤) your Course Handicap, you would subtract a stroke from your gross score for that hole.
What I got wrong: Not popping the scorecard correctly based on my correctly calculated Course Handicap.
If your course handicap is 14, you get 14 pops (dots on the scorecard), 1 for each of the 14 lowest stroke index holes. If your course handicap is 20, you get 1 pop for all 18 holes, then your last 2 pops get added as one more each for the 2 hardest holes.
So when using my incorrect Handicap Index of 20, I would have gotten 23 pops on the scorecard playing from the Orange tees at Poppy Hills Golf Course, when in reality I should have only gotten 18 'pops' with my real 16.4 Handicap Index.
Using the GHIN app for Match Play
Using the GHIN app saves us so much time and effort when setting up friendly competitions by doing the Course Handicap calculations and stroke allocations (scorecard pops) automatically with the ability to Save Golfer from the Golfer Lookup tool.
So for instance, if I were playing my 2.9 handicap NCGA colleague, Bryan, in match play at Poppy Hills Golf Course, we would have to apply the scoring differential for 18-holes as shown below, he would have to “give” me 12 strokes, with me playing the Orange tees and him the Black tees. Now I can actually compete fairly with him during our post-work golf outings.
Do you use the GHIN app already and want to learn more? Check out Bryan’s article on How to use the GHIN App Golf Handicap Calculator to Play with Friends to learn how to use the app for your weekly matchups!
Tl;dr? If you don’t want to do these calculations by hand, sign up for USGA’s GHIN app free trial and get your estimated handicap range. Your math-adverse golfing buddies will thank you!
And to my golf buddies, you’ll be relieved to know that I passed our Governance Department’s Handicap Review with flying colors with no high or low flags in my scoring history, (hence, no more sandbagging!) so bring on the bets, drinks and Member-Guest invites!
HANDICAP 101
Have more Handicap questions?
Get answers to all your questions about golf handicaps with Handicap 101: how to calculate, establish, and utilize your Handicap Index® for fair competition and why every golfer needs one.