Calculating Handicaps

Calculating your golf handicap is best done through your local club, or through one of the online services (in fact, that’s the only way it will be official). But for those of you who are curious as to how it works, here’s an explanation:

First, a player’s handicap is based on the best ten of the last 20 rounds played (it actually will work with fewer rounds, though). The first task therefore is to choose the scores to work with.

For each of those rounds, calculate a differential based on the following formula:

Differential = ( (Player Score - Course Rating) (113) ) / Slope

Then, use those differentials to average a handicap.

Handicap = (Average of Differentials) (.96)

In English: for each round you’re counting, subtract the course rating from your score. Then, divide that result by 113. Finally, divide the previous result by the slope of the course that you played. That gives you the differential score for that round.

The course rating is an evaluation of the difficulty of the course for a scratch golfer. Slope is a measure of the difficulty of the course for a bogey golfer as compared to the course rating. You’ll find both of those on the scorecard, or in the clubhouse. The “113” represents the average of all course slopes.

The lowest Slope is 55; the highest 155.

So what you’re doing is comparing your score to that of scratch golfers for that course, and then modifying the result based on the difficulty of that course compared to all other courses.

Once you have ten differentials, average those results. Then,multiply by .96.

I have no explanation for why you multiply by .96.

The end result is your handicap. However, each time you play a round, the whole thing needs to be recalculated, because it’s all based on your best ten out of the last twenty.

It’s important to note that your handicap is NOT an indicator of your average score. It’s an average of your BEST scores. It’s therefore not surprising when a player claims to be a 12 handicap, and shoots a 96 on any given day.

The average handicap for a male player is 16.1. The average for a female player is 28. Less than 1 percent of golfers play to a single digit.

And that’s just among players who bother to keep a handicap—something only dedicated golfers actually do. In the general population of recreational and weekend golfers, the average handicap likely is much higher.