European Handicaps

[iacas]

Guys, I need some help. In the U.S., we have a pretty clear way of calculating our handicap indexes with the USGA's course rating/slope and "best 10 of last 20" method.

How do you calculate handicaps in Europe? And I mean the actual handicaps, not whatever handicaps you use locally in your groups.

This would be for adding a "European handicap" feature to Scorecard .

[ipark1303]

Hi Iacas,

To be honest, I have been out of Europe for more than 8 years and I heard that they have changed the way to calculate handicaps (at least in Italy!).... so they have done more than introducing the Euro currency!

Anyway, I found this formula on the Italian Federation of Golf... it seems that they calculate handicaps with it....

The new modern way to calculate handicaps, take into consideration course rating and slope.

If my exact handicap is 7.0
and I play at Olgiata C.C which is a
Par: 72, Yellow Tees (men standard), Course Rating: 73.1, Slope: 131
My playing handicap is 9

Playing HCP = Exact HCP x (Slope/113) + (Course Rating-Par)

09.2 = 7 x (131/113) + (73.1 - 72)

To actually answer your request, unfortunately, I am not sure on how many scores they need to keep track for their exact handicap rating, but since the system got so similar to the one that we are using in the US (and most of the countries usually follow the American example), I guess they average the best 10 out of 20 rounds. I will ask to some of my Italian friends for confirmation....

[BASHERBAKER69]

Hi

well, in the uk, when a player takes up the game he plays three rounds and the average score is used to calculate handicap

so, if average score is 90, and the par is 72, then handicap= 18

hope you follow so far!

we have 4 handicap categories

0-5
6-14
15-24
25-28

Category 1 (0-5), for every shot under handicap player is deducted 0.1 off their handicap,
Cat 2 (6-14), 0.2 for every shot under hndicap....and so on

adjustments are made for the standard scratch

much better than the system we had years ago when what you shot was your outgoing handicap...so a scratch golfer who had a bad day on the course could end up playing off 28!!

bb69

[ipark1303]

Hi

Hi BB69!

I can't believe! That's exactly the system we had in Italy before 2003! I left on 1999 and at that time, my handicap was 20! We usually start at handicap 28 for men, handicap 36 for women. Handicap 28 means you need to play a total score of 100 for 18 holes (par 72 + 28 strokes) So, any player must start at 28 at the beginning. If you play a tournament and you play less than your handicap, (let's say I was a 28 handicap, but I played in 92 stokes, so -8, then my new handicap becomes 24... (-8 strokes divided by 2).... I don't think that system is very fair as I myself used to sandbag everyone with that..... I got my 20 handicap directly from 28 (in fact I won a tournament playing 12 handicap, so by -16 strokes!) The other unfair thing is that you can play pro-am or greensome tournaments and your handicap is not affected by this rule.... so you can imagine how good was our team in pro-ams......... I know it was lame, but I feel good now that I confessed!!

[Guest]

Handicaps in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales are determined through the Unified Handicapping System (UHS) which was developed by the Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU®).

Details are available at www.congu.com .

Some of the key points
There are 5 handicap categories
Category 1 Handicaps of 5 or less
Category 2 Handicaps of 6 to 12 inclusive
Category 3 Handicaps of 13 to 20 inclusive
Category 4 Handicaps of 21 to 28 inclusive
Category 5 Handicaps of 29 to 36 inclusive

Scores are compared to the Standard Scratch Score (SSS) which is a the score a scratch golfer would be expected to return under ideal course and weather conditions. It is similar to the rating for US courses. For competitions the SSS is adjusted to account for weather and course conditions. A Competition Scratch Score (CSS) is calculated based on the scores returned in the competition.

For handicapping purposes the highest score allowed on a hole is a Nett Double Bogey, which is a form of ‘equitable stroke control’.

The difference between the nett score (adjusted for nett double bogeys) and the CSS is used to determine the change to the handicap.

For each stroke below the CSS the handicap is reduced 0.1 for Category 1 handicaps, 0.2 for Category 2, 0.3 for Category 3, 0.4 for Category 4 and 0.5 for Category 5.

If the difference between the nett score and the CSS is above the following buffer zones, the handicap increases by 0.1
Category 1: 0 to +1
Category 2: 0 to +2
Category 3: 0 to +3
Category 4: 0 to +4
Category 5: 0 to +5

Note: When the nett score is within the Buffer Zone the handicap remains unchanged.

Golfers have two handicap numbers. An "Exact Handicap" - the handicap calculated to one decimal place per the process above - and a "Playing Handicap" - the Exact Handicap calculated to the nearest whole number (0.5 is rounded upwards).

Hope this helps.