How Does a Golf Handicap Work?: A Beginner’s Guide

The World Handicap System adopted in 2020 allows golfers to post scores from anywhere.

A golfer is asked: 'What's your handicap?' The reply: "Playing golf."

It's an old joke but it really is a loaded question.

When you're playing golf with people you've never played with before, the question about a handicap is a common one. And because only roughly 15 percent of all golfers have legitimate handicaps, the answers, whether the golfer is trying to be truthful or not, are often wrong, plain and simple.

Most golfers who don't have a handicap just guess their average score and subtract 72 from it. That's not a handicap. And even those who have a real handicap index, because of the way handicaps are self-reported, can fudge their way to being a sandbagger (but that's a different discussion).

Fortunately, in many tournament settings, there are certain safeguards to look out for proper handicaps. For example, if you regularly compete in official events, your handicap will land you in a certain flight. Your tournament scores carry far more weight in the World Handicap System that was adopted in 2020. Shoot a few low scores or win a couple of times, and you're likely to get bumped up to a more skilled flight.

In an ideal world, of course, everybody reports their actual scores and makes the proper adjustments and there's little need to intercede. But to get a better understanding of what a handicap should be and how the system works, let's take a look:

How to get a golf handicap

You can either sign up for one at your home course or register for a GHIN (Golf Handicapping & Information Network) handicap with your local golf association connected with the United States Golf Association. You will pay a yearly fee for this service.

In the old days, you used to turn in your scorecards to your pro, who would then help get your handicap index. There was more review back then, making it more difficult to fudge the numbers. Nowadays with the Internet and computers, golfers usually just enter their own scores into the GHIN system. Like golf itself, integrity is a big part of the process.

It's certainly not necessary to know the handicapping formula, but a basic understanding of it will help in your informal matches with other players, especially against those who really don't have handicaps and are just guessing based on what they think their average score is.

How to calculate a golf handicap

Individual handicaps are determined by a complex formula. When you are posting your hole-by-hole scores in the USGA's GHIN app or on the computer, net double bogey is the maximum allowed on each hole. You can establish a handicap by entering as few as five scores, but only the lowest score would be used to determine your handicap. Once you get to 20 total scores posted, the average of the 8 lowest scores of your last 20 rounds are used to determine your handicap.

What is course rating?

In order for handicaps to travel, courses have been rated to determine which ones are harder or easier. We all know that not all courses were created equal. Basically a course rating is the reflection of what a scratch golfer would shoot on that course. If it's a particularly difficult track, the course rating could be 75 or 76, playing two or three strokes over par for scratch players. Chambers Bay, which hosted the 2015 U.S. Open, rates 76.6 from the back tees with a slope rating of 140.

What is slope rating?

Slope, by the way, didn't really come around until 1979 when Dean Knuth (he was a Navy commander then) invented the formula to predict what bogey golfers would shoot on a course on a particular set of tees. Regarded as the world's foremost authority on course ratings and handicaps, Knuth was the USGA's Senior Director of Handicapping, GHIN and Green Section Administration from 1981-97.

"By comparing the bogey rating to the scratch rating, I was able to develop the Slope Rating for each course - a way to predict how fast scores go up as the golfer's handicaps go up," Knuth wrote on his Website, popeofslope.com.

Course and slope ratings aren't just used to determine handicaps; they are also used to adjust a person's handicap when bouncing from course to course. Without getting too complicated, when a course is harder than average, a player will get more strokes than his or her handicap when competing at that course. If the course is easier, he or she will receive fewer strokes.

A brief look back at golf handicaps

Handicaps in golf are almost as old as the game itself, though they certainly weren't administered the way they are today. In the mid-1800s in Scotland, it was simply a matter of matching the lesser player against the more accomplished player. The terms "third-one" or "half-one" came about, meaning that the lesser player would get a stroke every three or two holes, respectively. The assigning of these "odds" often came at the discretion of individuals competing or a committee. Courses weren't rated yet, so this method didn't travel well from course to course.

By the late 1800s, golfers started getting handicaps for tournaments. One method involved computing the average of the best three scores of the year and subtracting par from that average. Critics argued that such a method clearly favored the better players, and that was certainly true. Today a variation of that method still exists because handicaps really aren't your average; they are a measurement of your potential. And, as we all know too well, rarely do we play to our potential. That's why shooting your handicap "number" should be celebrated. If your expectation is to shoot your handicap every round, you better find another sport. It's impossible to live up to round after round. Golf ... the ultimate pursuit of a perfection we'll never reach.

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Mike Bailey is a former Golf Advisor senior staff writer based in Houston. Focusing primarily on golf in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America with an occasional trip to Europe and beyond, he contributes course reviews, travel stories and features as well as the occasional equipment review. An award-winning writer and past president of Texas Golf Writers Association, he has more than 25 years in the golf industry. He has also been on staff at PGA Magazine, The Golfweek Group and AvidGolfer Magazine. Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeBaileyGA and Instagram at @MikeStefanBailey.
Jason Scott Deegan has reviewed and photographed more than 1,100 courses and written about golf destinations in 25 countries for some of the industry's biggest publications. His work has been honored by the Golf Writer's Association of America and the Michigan Press Association. Follow him on Instagram at @jasondeegangolfpass and Twitter at @WorldGolfer.
12 Comments

Is my Handicap 4.8 is good

Is my 4.8 handicap is good

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At our club we have an issue with members not entering scores in to the GHIN system.
Which scores need to be entered?
> Tournament Play
> Men's Association Group Play
> Friendly Golf Group
> Random Individual Play ( If played according to the rules of golf )
> Practice Rounds

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My current handicap is 28. Is there a rule about entering a maximum score on a given hole as one totals his or her score for the round?

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Question, I was told you take lowest 10 scores out of your last 20 and then multiply by 113. OK, I understand that part but I was also told you take your lowest 2 tournament scores but I don't understand how that works to get your handicap. Right now my GHINS is 9.3R and my two tournament scores are 74 70.3/128 and 76 69.0/125. Could you explain the tournament scores and how they are figured in?

Is this even legal?? Our home course has three holes where you tee off over water. One of the ladies in the league "was tired of losing balls in the water" so she had her handicap reconfigured with her teeing off from the gold tees (the drop zone). She now hits from there, but incurs no penalty strokes. She is hitting one from the gold tees (not age eligible for our club) and I am hitting one from the red tees and over the water. It just doesn't feel right, regardless of how many balls she has lost. Shouldn't she be taking a penalty stroke of some kind for this???

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I am troubled that my handicap is the same from 5 different sets of tees. Our championship course is 1,500 yards longer than our senior course, yet, my handicap is the same. How is that possible?

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they should NOT be the same; each set of tees SHOULD have their own different slopes

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I've been told you never score more than a double bogey if your handicap is 18 or less and I've also been told you never score more than a 7 no matter what the par.  This of course is for recording you score for handicapping, not for tournament score.  Are either of these correct?

What you are referring to, according to the USGA, is equitable stroke control, which sets a maximum number that a player can post on any hole depending on the player's course handicap. Mind you, it's the course handicap, not personal handicap index, which means depending on the difficulty or ease of the golf course you're playing, your handicap is adjusted slightly up or down for the course. So if you're a 9 handicap, for example, playing a tough course, your course handicap could be an 11 or 12.  Anyway, with that said,there's a chart that outlines the maximum number of strokes you can take on ahole depending on your course handicap. Players with a 9 or less can only take a maximum of double bogey. Handicaps 10-19 max out at 7 on any hole; 20-29, the max is 8; 30-39 the max is 9; and 40 or greater, it's 10.

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How is the handicap calculated when players are using different tees? Two players both with 4.8 index and playing a new course, would not even. or would they?

Here you go, from an article I did a while back on that very topic:Basically, here's the formula: Take the player's handicap and multiply it by the course's slope rating for those tees, then divide it by 113 (USGA determined average slope), then add the course's rating for those tees. That gives you the score that the player is expected to shoot if he plays to his handicap. (In case you're interested, the USGA determines slope rating by taking the bogey rating (which could be 90 or so) minus course rating multiplied by 5.381 for men and 4.24 for women.)For example, if a 10-handicap plays from the white tees where the rating/slope is 68.3/121, the formula says the expected score should be almost exactly 79 (10 X 121 = 1,210, 1,210/113 = 10.7, 10.7 + 68.3 = 79). If you take a 7-handicap who plays from the blue tees where the rating/slope is 71.3/129, guess what? Yep, the answer is 79.29.Most of the time, there's no need to adjust for tees since that's already done in the handicapping process.

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How Does a Golf Handicap Work?: A Beginner’s Guide