Calculate course handicap with a slope rating?

[Zeph]

Is it possible to calcuate the course handicap if you know the slope and/or course rating?

I've tried using the (Hcp*Slope)/113, but the numbers doesn't add up. The reason I want to do this is that my country has changed the way beginners come into golf, trying to recruit more. This is done by giving beginners a club handicap of 54 when they start out. The handicap drop with 1 shot for every Stableford point over 36, it cannot go up.

Not all courses have put up tables for handicaps over 36, so I was trying to calcuate it myself. I tried it out by calculating the course handicap from hcp 36 and check a table to see if it match up. But it does not. My local course got a slope rating of 129, and at the table I can read that with an exact handicap of 36, you get 37 shots. If I use the equation, (36*129)/113, I get 41. I'm probably doing something wrong here or have misunderstood something.

If someone could enlighten me, I'd be glad.

[Mattplusness]

http://www.golfhandicapcalculator.org/

[Zeph]

http://www.golfhandicapcalculator.org/

I already know the handicap, I'm looking for a way (if possible) to calcuate a course handicap.

[zeg]

Well, either the way you calculate a course handicap is different on your side of the Atlantic, or the course is doing it wrong. From the USGA Handicap Manual:

10-4. Course Handicap A player's Course Handicap is determined by multiplying a Handicap Index by the Slope Rating of the course played and then dividing by 113. (See Section 3-3.) The resulting figure is rounded off to the nearest whole number (.5 or more is rounded upward).

For a 36 hcp index and a 129 slope, I agree: 41 strokes.

[Zeph]

I found the proper equation used over here:

((Exact Handicap * Slope Rating)/113) * + Course Rating - Par

36*129/113+58.7-63 = 36,7 ~ 37.

[zeg]

Interesting; that actually makes more sense than the standard USGA formula since it means a scratch player should be playing for a 0 differential.

[iacas]

Interesting; that actually makes more sense than the standard USGA formula since it means a scratch player should be playing for a 0 differential.

A scratch golfer in the U.S. plays for a 0 differential as well...

[zeg]

A scratch golfer in the U.S. plays for a 0 differential as well...

Sorry, you are of course correct. What I mean is that with our method, a zero differential results from a net score equal to the course rating. With the method Zeph describes, a zero differential results from a net score equal to par. The latter seems more consistent with the concept of "par." Obviously it doesn't make any difference for competition where only the difference in strokes between pairs of players matters, but the Zeph method seems a bit more elegant.

[iacas]

Sorry, you are of course correct. What I mean is that with our method, a zero differential results from a net score equal to the course rating. With the method Zeph describes, a zero differential results from a net score equal to par. The latter seems more consistent with the concept of "par." Obviously it doesn't make any difference for competition where only the difference in strokes between pairs of players matters, but the Zeph method seems a bit more elegant.

I don't know. I disagree. Some par 72s are easier than other par 72s.

A scratch golfer playing a course rated 69.0 but a par 72 needs to shoot... 69 (-3) to shoot his level score. (0 * 125/113) + 69 - 72 = -3. So I don't know what we're really talking about...?

[zeg]

Mostly contemplating our navels, I think...

Over here, we say that the scratch golfer gets zero strokes, but his handicap will go up if he shoots net par (= par) on the 69-rated course. Over there, he gives three strokes since it's an easy course, and a net par means he holds his scratch handicap. If you don't agree, you don't agree... obviously it's just pushing numbers around.