How golf handicaps work

New to handicaps? Start with what a golf handicap is, explained simply. This page has the full detail.

Golf uses one system almost everywhere: the World Handicap System, run in the US by the USGA. It lets golfers of different abilities compete fairly, on any course. There are three numbers, and each has its own job.

Handicap Index: your ability

Your Handicap Index® is one number, to one decimal, that travels with you from course to course. It describes how well you can play on a course of standard difficulty, based on your better recent rounds.

• It is the average of your lowest 8 Score Differentials from your most recent 20 rounds.
• With fewer than 20 rounds, fewer differentials count, and with 3, 4 or 6 rounds a small adjustment applies.
• It is updated the day after you post a score.
• The highest Handicap Index anyone can have is 54.0.

A lower number means a better golfer. An index of 0.0 is called “scratch”. Better than that is a “plus” handicap, written like +1.2.

Estimate yours with the handicap calculator.

Course Handicap: strokes on these tees

Courses aren’t all equally hard, so your Handicap Index is converted into a Course Handicap for the tees you’re playing: the number of strokes you receive over 18 holes.

Course Handicap = Handicap Index × Slope Rating ÷ 113 + (Course Rating − par)

On harder tees your Course Handicap goes up; on easier tees it goes down. For 9 holes, half your Handicap Index is used with the 9-hole ratings.

Work out your Course Handicap.

Playing Handicap: strokes for this format

Some formats don’t give the full Course Handicap. Your Playing Handicap applies the format’s allowance, for example 95% for individual stroke play or 85% for four-ball stroke play. Match play singles uses 100%. The event’s committee decides the allowance.

Where the strokes fall

Each hole on the scorecard has a stroke index from 1 (hardest) to 18 (easiest). A Course Handicap of 10 gives you one stroke on the holes with stroke index 1 to 10. A Course Handicap of 20 gives one stroke on every hole and a second on stroke index 1 and 2.

How your index stays honest

A few safeguards keep a Handicap Index close to how you really play:

• Bad holes are capped. For handicap purposes, a hole counts at most a net double bogey.
• Exceptional rounds lower it right away. A Score Differential 7.0 to 9.9 strokes better than your index takes an extra 1.0 off; 10.0 or more takes 2.0 off.
• It can’t rise too fast. Your lowest index of the last 365 days is the reference. Any rise of more than 3.0 above it is slowed to half (the soft cap), and the total rise stops at 5.0 (the hard cap).
• Conditions count. On days when a course plays much harder or easier than normal, a playing conditions calculation (PCC) adjusts everyone’s differential.

Getting an official Handicap Index

You need acceptable scores from at least 54 holes: three 18-hole rounds, or a mix of 18 and 9-hole rounds. In the US, you get an official Handicap Index through a golf club and your state or regional golf association, which usually keeps your scores in the GHIN® system. Calculators like ours give an estimate from the rounds you enter; only an authorized club or association can issue the real number.