About the Golf Handicap Calculator

A handicap index measures your scoring potential — deliberately your best, not your average. Each round becomes a differential: (score − course rating) × 113 ÷ slope rating, which normalizes for course difficulty. From your last 20 rounds, the best 8 differentials are averaged and multiplied by 0.96 to produce the index. With fewer rounds the formula uses fewer best scores — 1 best from 5–9 rounds, 3–6 from 10–19.

What the number means on the course

Your index converts to a course handicap based on the tees you play: course handicap = index × slope ÷ 113. That is the number of strokes you receive against par for a round. An index of 14.2 on a course with slope 125 means about 16 strokes. The system exists so players of different abilities can compete fairly — and it only gets accurate as you log more rounds, so keep posting every score.