Handicapping Simplified

Being the designated handicap "expert" of the club, I am asked on different occasions how handicapping works and how it affects their scores. After all these years dealing with such seemingly innocuous questions I have decided to create blog specific on the subject matter. I can safely say that a good majority of golfers still have no inkling of how golf handicapping works (not that it's their fault) and how the default handicapping authoriity in the U.S., the Golf Handicap and Information Network (GHIN), came up with the formula to calculate one's golf handicap. I'd say default because there is no other service with a greater reach of clientele in the world than GHIN, a service provide by USGA. Need say more?

HANDICAPPING 101

Not a lot of people realize that the game of golf owes its huge popularity by a whole lot to the handicap system. Because of this system, people of varying levels of skill can compete against each other equitably and still enjoy the game. It has been refined and tested through the years to reflect the true ability of a golfer. And one of the most important improvements to the system is its "portability" and the concept of slope and course rating.

Not all golf courses are created equal, or shall I say "one is more equal than the other". A "difficult" course will produce more strokes for an average golfer than an "easier" one. This is where the concept of slope rating and course rating come in. As you would have guessed, higher slope rating means more difficult course. But what number is considered "easy" and what is considered "difficult"? USGA designated a slope rating of 113 as the average, and you will see it later in their formula. Douglaston Golf in Queens is considered easy with a slope rating of 110 on the blue tees. On the other hand, Bear Brook in NJ which has a slope rating of 134 on the white tees is considered one of the hardest courses that the club has ever played. Have you seen a grown man cry like a baby before?

So how does this "portability" thing and slope ra-ting come into the picture? And what about course rating? Who assigns these numbers? Easy my friend. We're getting there.

The traditional concept of a golfer carrying the same handicap at every golf course of varying difficulty is now gone with the introduction of slope rating. This system introduced the term "handicap index" instead of the just handicap. The index is "portable" in the sense that a player's course handicap varies from one golf course to another. A more "difficult" course will produce a higher course handicap than an "easier" course based on the players's handicap index and the slope rating of the course. Example: If a player who has an index of 19.3 (ahem, that's me) plays in a course with slope rating of 125, the player's course handicap will be 21. Conversely, if that same player plays at a course with a slope rating of 108, the course handicap becomes 18. So you see while the handicap index is constant, the course handicap varies from course to course.

A number of factors, not just distance, play out in computing for the slope ratings of a particular course. Notice the "s" in ratings since a golf course will have different slope ratings for its different tee boxes. A team of representatives from the USGA does the ratings and they spend some time on the course measuring, interviewing staff members and players, and evaluating obstacles, such as bunkers, hazards, trees, etc. Based on the information gathered during the visit(s) the slope ratings are calculated, certified and published. Don't ask me how they come up with the numbers. It is a rather very complicated mathematical process.

So how do you come up with the course handicap? Answer is: you don't wanna know.

But if you insist, course handicap equals the handicap index multiplied by the quotient of slope rating divided by 113. The result is rounded off to the next whole number. As a side note, each course has anywhere between 3 to 5 tees on each hole and as mentioned earlier, each tee will have a different slope rating thereby producing different course handicaps for the same player. As a general rule ladies tees have lower slope rating than men's tees.

So how does GHIN determine my handicap index? I warn you this is not going to be easy.

Without going to specifics, GHIN takes the lowest differential out of 5 submitted scorecards, 2 differentials out of 7 submitted, 3 differentials out of 9 submitted, and so forth - you get the idea - with a maximum of 10 differentials. A differential is extracted from a score using this formula: (Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating.

The lowest differentials are then added and divided by the number of differentials to get the average and then multiplied by .96 (96%). The product is the handicap index (after dropping the 100ths place without rounding off). Luckily for me, I don't have to do this manually. We have the computer to crunch all these numbers and I hand it out to you in a silver platter.

And people, please understand that I don't "assign" handicaps, as most of you would think. GHIN does. I only enter your scores into the GHIN system and receive the index to give to you. I am only the messenger so don't shoot me.