grinter001
6 minutes
The Handicap System was develop to assess the potential ability of a player, and not the average ability like many believe. There are many reasons for this, which I explain in future articles of our Range section, but for now let's focus on how it is calculated. It is a fairly complex algorithm so I will begin with a broad simple explanation and then explain the details, for the complete explanation visit the USGA Handicap Manual.
At TheGrint.com we utilize the USGA Handicap System to calculate your Handicap Index. There are other methodologies but I will focus on this one for now.
Your Handicap Index is calculated by averaging the best 10 rounds out of your last 20. Those best rounds are determined by calculating what is called a Handicap differential which is essentially your score minus the par of the course. Take a look at the image below from TheGrint.com Trends section.
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We assumed for this exercise that every course is par 72. So we subtract the Score minus the Course Par (72) and then average it 11+12+5+7+7+7+13+12+11+6 = 91 / 10 = 9.1
Finally you have to multiply the result by 96%, so 9.1 x 96% = 8.7
If you noticed, in the simple explanation there are 3 elements to the formula: 1) Score, 2) Difficulty of the Course and 3) Handicap Differentials. And each one has its specific way to be determined
1. Scores -Your scores are filtered by the system. Yeap, you are not allowed to post a 13 on one hole. Each player is allowed a maximum depending on their Course Handicap Index. Below the guidelines to clean your Scorecard. So if you are a 12 Course Handicap Index, the system will allow a maximum of 7 on any given hole.
You noticed I said Course Handicap Index, and not Handicap Index. That is because on each course or teebox you have to adjust your Handicap based on the difficulty to show your true potential on that course and teebox. Course Hdcp Index is calculated using the following formula Course Handicap = "Handicap Index" x "Slope Rating" / 113
2. Difficulty of the Course - Every course and every teebox has a Course and Slope rating which is intended to measure the difficulty of the course.
The Course rating is, simply put, like the par of the course. Everybody knows that there are some par 4 holes more difficult than others, the Course rating for a course is calculated by saying this hole is really a par 4.3 and this par 5 is really a 4.8. Then you add all the hole ratings and have the Course rating. Pebble Beach Black tee has a 75.5 Course Rating even though the scorecard Course Par is 72.
The Slope rating is the difficulty of the course (113 being the normal difficulty). So, again simplifying the story, when there are lots of water, high roughs, heavy undulated and small greens, then the Slope rating is higher. Pebble Beach Black tees for example has a 145 Slope rating, so when you adjust it with 113, you see how much more difficult this course is compare to a normal golf course.
3. Handicap Differentials - This is basically your grade, it indicates how well you did adjusted to the difficulty of the course. It allows to compare score apples to apples, so an 85 in Pebble Beach Black tee is worth more than a 84 in your local course's White tee. The formula goes:
So if you notice you are basically calculating your score over the par of the course, and then multiplying it by the difficulty rating of the course.
Finally, another key aspects most golfers don't know is that you should average a number of best scores that depend on how many scores you have posted.
1 - Calculate your Course Handicaps for each course you played (note: if you don't have a Handicap Index, you should use 36 which is the maximum allowed)
2 - Clean your scores using ESC
3 - Calculate Handicap Differentials and Average the best 10 rounds
4 - Multiply it by 96%
Note that this article is intended for a broad explanation, there are many other guidelines like how to round numbers that are not included, for the complete explanation visit the USGA Handicap Manual.
