Golf rules and numbers, explained

How handicaps work, with calculators that show their math.

• Guide

  What Is a Golf Handicap? Explained Simply

  A golf handicap is a head start: it gives a less experienced golfer extra strokes so they can play a fair game against anyone. Roughly, it's how many strokes over par you can shoot on a good day on a course of average difficulty. It comes from your best recent rounds, and lower is better: a 5 is a strong player, and many newer golfers are in the 20s or 30s.

• Calculator

  Golf handicap calculator

  Enter your adjusted gross score, Course Rating and Slope Rating for each round. The calculator works out each Score Differential and your estimated Handicap Index the way the World Handicap System does.

• Calculator

  Course handicap calculator

  Your Course Handicap is the number of strokes you get on a particular set of tees. Enter your Handicap Index, the tees' Course Rating, Slope Rating and par, and pick your format to also get your Playing Handicap.

• Explainer

  How golf handicaps work

  Your Handicap Index measures your ability on a course of standard difficulty. Your Course Handicap turns it into strokes for the tees you're playing, and your Playing Handicap adjusts that for the format.

• Explainer

  What is a Score Differential?

  A Score Differential is one round's score measured against how hard the course was, scaled to a course of standard difficulty. Your Handicap Index is the average of your lowest ones.

• Explainer

  Net double bogey: the most a hole can count

  For your handicap, no hole counts more than a net double bogey, which is par + 2 + any handicap strokes you get on that hole. Before you have a Handicap Index, the most a hole counts is par + 5.

What to do when something happens on the course, rule by rule.

• Guide

  Golf rules for your first rounds

  Carry no more than 14 clubs and play the ball as it lies. Most of the rest comes down to four situations, each with a set answer. A lost or out-of-bounds ball costs one stroke and a replay. A ball in a penalty area or an unplayable ball costs one stroke and a drop. Cart paths and other course conditions get a free drop.

• Rule

  Out of Bounds and Lost Ball Rules in Golf

  A ball is out of bounds only when all of it is past the boundary, and it's lost if you don't find it within 3 minutes of starting to look. Either way, add one penalty stroke and play again from where you hit the last shot. Lose your tee shot and you're hitting your third shot, from the tee. Many courses also let you drop near where it was lost for two penalty strokes.

• Rule

  Provisional Ball Rule in Golf: When and How

  If your ball might be lost outside a penalty area or might be out of bounds, you can hit a provisional ball to save going back. Say "provisional" before you hit it. If you find the first ball in bounds within 3 minutes, play it and pick up the provisional. If not, the provisional is your ball, with one penalty stroke added.

• Rule

  Golf Penalty Areas: Red and Yellow Stakes Explained

  Penalty areas are water and other areas marked with red or yellow stakes or lines. You can play the ball as it lies for no penalty, or take relief for one stroke. For yellow, play again from where you last hit or drop back on a line from the hole through where the ball crossed the edge. Red adds a third option, a drop within two club-lengths of where it crossed.

• Rule

  Unplayable Ball Rule in Golf: Your 3 Options

  You can call your ball unplayable anywhere except in a penalty area, and you're the only one who decides. It costs one penalty stroke. Then either play again from where you last hit, drop back on a line from the hole through the ball, or drop within two club-lengths of the ball, no nearer the hole. In a bunker, the last two drops must stay in the bunker, unless you take two strokes to drop back outside it.

• Rule

  How to Drop a Golf Ball: Knee Height and Relief Areas

  Hold the ball at knee height and let it fall straight down, without throwing or spinning it. It must land in the relief area and stay there. If it rolls out, drop again; if it rolls out a second time, place it where it first hit the ground on the second drop. A club-length is your longest club other than the putter.

Golf words, etiquette and the kinds of courses, for anyone new to the game.

• Explainer

  Golf Terms for Beginners: Birdie to Bogey, Explained

  Par is the score an expert golfer is expected to make on a hole. One under par is a birdie, two under an eagle, three under an albatross. One over is a bogey, two over a double bogey. Your gross score is the strokes you took; your net score is that minus your handicap strokes.

• Guide

  Golf Etiquette for Beginners: The Unwritten Rules

  Golf etiquette comes down to three things the Rules of Golf actually ask of you: keep up the pace, look out for the people around you, and leave the course as you found it. In practice that means being ready when it's your turn, staying still and quiet while others swing, shouting "fore" if your ball heads toward someone, and fixing your divots, ball marks and bunker footprints.

• Explainer

  Types of Golf Courses: Par-3 to Private Clubs

  Golf courses differ in three ways: size (from par-3 and executive courses to full regulation 18-hole layouts), who can play (municipal and daily-fee courses are open to anyone, private clubs only to members and their guests), and style (links, parkland, desert and more). About 72% of US courses are open to the public.

Scrambles, best ball, Stableford and match play, for players and organizers.

• Calculator

  Scramble handicap calculator

  Enter the tees and each player's Handicap Index. The calculator ranks the players by Course Handicap, applies each one's share, and rounds the total once to give the team handicap.

Scorecards, logs and pocket cards to print and bring along.

• Printable

  Printable handicap round log

  Write down each round's adjusted gross score, Course Rating and Slope Rating, work out its Score Differential, then average the lowest ones the table tells you to use.

• Printable

  Printable scramble scorecard

  Fill in each player's Course Handicap from lowest to highest, multiply by their share, and add the shares up for the team handicap. Subtract it from the team's gross score for the net score.