What % of time do you use the handicap system? [Poll + Discussion]

Just wandering if people do this or not.

I am currently reading up on it all over the internet.

I am trying to learn the ins and outs and the terms.  I have never played with anyone that uses this but then again I have only played with the same guys (sometimes with a few random people).

But  those figures are there on the cards for a reason right?

So I am wandering how many people that play golf regularly use the handicap system/stroke indices shown on the scorecards?

Thanks !

So I read this excerpt and what I gather is figuring your handicap on a round is more complicated than I thought:

"To find his handicap for a round, a golfer locates on the scorecard the slope and course rating for the tees from which he played. The course rating is subtracted from the player's score, which is then divided by 113 and multiplied by the slope for the tees played. The resulting number is the handicap for that round."

Course-rating= Par Score Correct ? so Just add up the par's for the 18 holes.=Course-Rating
Slope-Rating= Score of a Bogey golfer in a round=Course-Rating + 1

Am I way off here?

[Announcement:  I realise now that I should change the title of this thread to the same question as is on the poll but I can't find the edit button anywhere]

Maybe 70% of the time. When ever I play for a handicap number, or when I play a different course with a different slope rating.

I just do the math. 11 (my hncp) X 117 (course slope) / 113 (fixed number) = 11.3 (11.0)

Golfer already knows their handicap. The score card will give the golfer the course slope. The number 113 is a constant.

An example; 11 X 142 / 113 = 13    My handicap for the course I played that day would be 13 instead of 11 due to higher course slope number. Higher the slope number, the tougher the course is supposed to be. Another example 11 X 100 / 113 = 9.7 (9.0) My 11 handicap becomes a 9 because the slope number says I am playing an easier golf course. I always round off to the lowest number.

With a handicap of 11, I would take 1 stroke off on the first 11 hardest holes on the course. Score card would give me that info also.

This is the way I understand it.

I post my score every time I play in season. I just posted a nine hole score this week when I played only seven holes due to darkness, posting bogies on the two holes I did not play because I would get a shot on them.

we usually play straight up, most of us are singles.  anyone playing over a 10 then we'll give them 1 or 2 a side.

as far as putting scores in, just about all the time

I sense your question is more an embodiment of confusion over what the handicap system IS more than how much people use it.

First of all there is no handicap for a round.  And you are right that the system is a little more complicated in the computation of the handicap index than most people think.  Everything that follows assume you are in USGA territory.

Computing a handicap index

Most folks use a service for doing the computations.  The most common is GHIN, but there are others and lots of unofficial handicap calculators online.  You were pretty close.  The computation starts with determining the differential for each round.  The differential is the difference between your score and the course rating, all multiplied by the ration of the slope over 113.

Then you take the lowest 10 differentials over your most recent 20 rounds, average them, and multiply the result by .96.  (If you were going to calculate this yourself you would also have to be careful about rounding rules).  This gives you your Handicap Index.

Posting Scores

When you post a score to be used in your handicap you may not necessarily post your actual score.  Adjustments are sometimes required if you had any "blow-up" holes.  The USGA uses a procedure called Equitable Stroke Control that adjusts you score for any hole results that exceed certain limits that themselves depend on what you course handicap is.  Depending on what handicap service you are using you may post on the computer on the course, or at home.

Course Handicap

The handicap index is kind of an abstract number.  To use it at a particular course you have to convert it to a Course Handicap.  Many courses have a table showing the Course Handicaps for each index but it is easy to compute this one.  Smply multiply the handicap index by the ration of the course's slope over 113 and round to get the Course Handicap.

Using the Course Handicap - Match Play

Now we come to those individual hole handicap numbers on the scorecard.  If you are playing a match against someone you first have to know what each of your course handicaps are.  Say you are a 12 and the guy you are playing is a 7.  If you were just playing stroke play he would give you 5 strokes and that would be it.  In match play, however, since it is a hole by he competition you need to determine on which holes the 5 strokes will be given.  And the answer would be the holes whose listed handicap numbers are 1,2,3,4, and 5.  So if on the #3 handicap hole you and your opponent get the same score you win the hole because you get a stroke on that hole.

Hope this helps fill in some of the gaps.

Never have.

When I was a club member I never really even thought about it. I just went to the club everyday and played golf. If my friends were there we played match play for $1 a hole. Never even occurred to me that those guys should have been giving me some strokes.

Occasionally I would enter a 2 day tournament somewhere that used the score from the first day to flight the second day, so handicaps didn't come into play.

Now where I play almost all of my rounds the course isn't rated so last year I decided to keep track of a handicap on the few occasions I went to other courses. My intention was to play many more rounds at other (rated) courses this year but a whole tool box full of monkey wrenches were thrown into that plan.

Finally I decided to just keep track of it based on a guess course rating of 65 for the course I play. Nothing official but the best I could do for now.

Maybe next year.

I'm not sure that I understand the question.

Are you asking if someone maintains an actual, valid handicap, and whether they post all of their scores as they should.

Or are you asking those that do maintain a handicap, do they actually use those handicaps when playing with their buddies to allow players of differing abilities to compete on a relatively level field, which is the purpose for the system in the first place. Or do they simply track their handicap as a method of tracking performance?


My response to both questions is yes. In our happy little group of about a dozen guys, we all maintain correct, accurate handicaps and because we're of dramatically varying abilities, we use those handicaps in our games/matches each week.

You sensed correctly hehe.  Okay I am going to read your generous response here.  Thank-you.

Thanks to all that replied and voted .

I will now take it all in and see if I can make way in this world of handicap.

I also asked this same question on another forum so I am getting some great advice from a lot of people.

I'll let you guys know how I fair and give my own summary in the end of what I think it is.  Hopefully that, and this entire thread helps some people.

FYI:   I asked the same question on another forum and the results are significantly similar to the voting on this forum:  The majority of the voters on the other forum use the handicap system (18/24=75%) compared to our 78%.  So surprisingly a lot of people are quite verse to the handicap system.  Although I am not sure if they are as technical about it as others.  Because I remember playing with someones dad and he gave me a very simple explanation of handicap systems which is just how much above par you shoot is your handicap (averaged over playing again and again round after round).  Preliminarily speaking, that is a semi-analogous explanation to the real thing, however, not entirely accurate to what the real handicap system is.  Anyways back to studying this stuff.

Yep, you've picked up on a common misperception.  It's not based on your average score (which means you should score your handicap or better about 50% of the time).  In the USGA, it "reflects a player's potential" since it's based on the 10 best scores from the last 20 rounds.  You should expect to play to your course handicap about 20 to 25% of the time.