Golf Handicap Tutorial: The Handicap System
Lesson 1: Golf Handicap
The golf handicap system is a way for golfers of different
ability to compete fairly against one another. For example,
imagine a
scratch golfer
competing against a beginner. The scratch golfer will win every
time - not much fun for the beginner.
What Is a Golf Handicap?
A golf handicap is a number that reflects a golfer's playing ability.
The higher the number, the lower the golfer's ability.
Many people think that a golf handicap describes a
player's average golf score, expressed in terms of average strokes over par.
Not true.
A golf handicap describes a player's score when the player has a
better-than-average round. You can think of it as the average
number of strokes over par on a good day.
A golfer will play to his handicap in only one out of
four rounds.
How the Golf Handicap System Works
With a handicapping system, players are allowed to deduct strokes
from their scores, based on their
course handicap.
A weaker player is allowed to
deduct more strokes on certain holes than a stronger player.
At the end of the round, two players of differing
abilities compute their "net score" - their gross scores
minus the strokes they were allowed to deduct.
The golfer with the lowest net score wins.
Two Types of Golf Handicap
There are actually two types of golf handicap.
- Handicap Index. The
handicap index
is a general
measure of the player's skill. It is computed based
on his/her recent history of rounds.
- Course Handicap. A
course handicap
is a measure
of the player's potential on a particular course. It is
an adjustment to the handicap index, based on the
difficulty of the particular course.
When golfers talk about their golf handicap, it is usually
clear from the context whether they are talking about a
handicap index or a course handicap. When they talk about their
general playing ability, they are talking about a handicap index.
When they talk about the number of strokes they can take
on a particular course, they are talking about a course
handicap.
How to Find Your Golf Handicap
When it comes to computing your golf handicap, there is
good news and bad news.
First, the bad news. You can't calculate your course
handicap until you know your handicap index.
And calculating your handicap index is
pretty complicated, requiring many tedious computations.
In the following
lessons, we describe
how to calculate a handicap index and
how to calculate a course handicap.
So if you want to compute your golf handicap by hand, you
can do it.
Now, the good news. Handicap calculators take the drudgery out
of computing your golf handicap. No need to do it all by hand.
Here are three good options.
- Online handicap index calculator.
Finding your handicap index is the most complicated computation,
but it is easy with the free
online handicap index calculator
found on this site.
- Online course handicap calculator.
Use the free
online course handicap calculator
to compute your handicap for a particular course.
- Handicap calculator for windows. Since you don't have to go online
to use it, the easiest option is Golf Medley's
Handicap Calculator for Windows. You can download it to your computer
for free, and it computes both your handicap index and
your course handicap.
Once you know your golf handicap, you can play a fair,
competitive game with any other golfer on any course
in the world!