Working out golf handicap...

How do I work out my golf handicap? Me and a friend intend to work ours out and we thought it was just your average score after 3 rounds of golf.

However, I have had a quick look on the internet and it looks totally baffeling. Such as this......

"First of all take your adjusted gross score and then subtract the golf course rating. This can be found on your scorecard, and is in decimal form. The result you get from this is called a differential.

Next divide the differential by the slope of the tees you played from and x by 113 this is called a adjusted differential.

Still going?

Then take the lowest 10 of your last 20 rounds of golf add them together and x by 96%, then divide by 10, drop everything after the tenths and this is your index score."

....Surely this is a p*** take!

Can anyone explain it in lamens terms.

A handicap can be calculated after three (officially completed) rounds of golf. That calculation looks like it's an ongoing one, to continually readjust your handicap as you progress.

To calculate your first (initial) golf handicap you need to submit three golf cards, These three cards are assessed to determine which one will provide the best (lowest) Nett Differential Score; essentially this is done by reducing any holes that are greater than 2 shots over par to being 2 shots over par, for Example, if you have entered an 8 on a par 5 then, for the sake of this calculation, our system will read it as a 7.

 

Let’s assume that 4 holes have been adjusted to double-bogeys (2 over par) resulting in a total reduction of 5 shots for your round. If your gross score was 95 then the resulting adjusted score would now be 90. To calculate the Nett Differential based on this card the course SSS (Standard Scratch Score) is then subtracted from the adjusted gross score, for example if the SSS (for the tee colour in question) is 67 then it would be 90 - 67 = 23. This calculation is applied to all 3 cards to determine which one gives the lowest Nett Differential, this then becomes your golf handicap. Please note that for ladies scores that are greater than 3 over par are reduced to 3 over par.

The website in question being this one.

If you post:

Your three rounds (in the form of par-par-birdie-bogey-par-eagle-treble bogey, etc., followed by the total round score);

The SSS for the course;

then I can do the calculation for you and explain how I did it. Don't ask me what a SSS is. I don't play golf. I'm just good at numbers

Next divide the differential by the slope of the tees you played from and x by 113 this is called a adjusted differential.

I think somebody is extracting the urine.

To obtain an initial handicap at my club, I simply played 3 rounds off the competition (white) tees and submitted the 3 cards (signed by a member). You are only allowed to score a double bogey at most on any hole (so if you scored 7 on a par four it would only count as a 6). The 3 total scores are added up and the average found. Take away the par of the course and you have your handicap.

So on a par 72 course, 3 rounds of 77, 78 and 79 would result in a handicap of 6.

Once you have your handicap it is mainly adjusted after submitting competitive cards (those handed in after a competition). The difference here is that the difficulty of the conditions on the day of the comp are taken into account (the Competition Scratch Score or CSS). This is to ensure that when you play in a howling gale and everyone is shooting 6 or 7 over their handicaps you don't all have loads of shots added to your handicap.

Also, in general it is harder for your handicap to be adjusted up than it is for it to go down.

I think this is the best explanation, but it's by no means simple:

In the UK and Irish Republic, a "scratch score" system was previously in place in order to rate courses and be fair to golfers of varying ability, and to make allowances that courses may play "easier" or "harder" than par, overall, to the amateur field. For this reason, a "standard scratch score" (SSS) is used as a baseline for how the course plays in practice (e.g. an SSS lower than par indicates a course which golfers find slightly easier, and vice versa).

 

Akin to the SSS is the Competition Scratch Score (CSS). The principle is the same, only this describes how easy or difficult the course played during a given competition. It is against this CSS score that a player's handicap is adjusted by the club. Golfers with a handicap of 5 or lower are said to be Category 1 players. Higher handicap players are categorised as Category 2, 3, or 4. For every stroke the Category 1 golfer's net score is below the CSS, his handicap is reduced by 0.1. For Category 2 golfers, this figure is 0.2, for Category 3 golfers it is a 0.3 reduction, and 0.4 for Category 4 golfers.

 

Similarly, amateur golfers are allowed a buffer zone to protect their handicap on "off-days". For Cat 1 this is 1 stroke, for Cat 2 this is 2 strokes, etc. This means that if a Category 1 golfer's net score is one stroke higher than the CSS, his handicap will not increase. If a golfer's net score is higher than the CSS plus buffer zone combined, his handicap will increase by 0.1. This 0.1 increase covers all golfers and does not vary by category.

Note - "slope rating" and "course rating" are used in US only.

A handicap can be calculated after three (officially completed) rounds of golf. That calculation looks like it's an ongoing one, to continually readjust your handicap as you progress.

 

 

 

The website in question being this one.

 

If you post:

 

Your three rounds (in the form of par-par-birdie-bogey-par-eagle-treble bogey, etc., followed by the total round score);

The SSS for the course;

 

then I can do the calculation for you and explain how I did it. Don't ask me what a SSS is. I don't play golf. I'm just good at numbers

Handicaps are worked of SSS rather than par actually. SSS is Standard Scratch Score. For instance my home club Hallamshire is par 71 and SSS 71. I played at Carnoustie last year, par 71 also, but SSS 75.

The SSS also adjusts for conditions, so the competition I played in at Carnoustie was on quite a windy day, and the SSS went up to 76. My Handicap at the time was 3 ( exact of 2.6 ). My gross score was 75, with a net score of 72, so I was 4 under my handicap. Therefore I was cut 0.4 down to 2.2, so my handicap went down to 2.

The calculations for working out the SSS are more complex to do with the percentages of people in the field who score two worse than their handicap or better.

Slope ratings are similar to SSS, and are used in the US and in most of the rest of Europe...its only the UK that uses SSS I think.

How do I work out my golf handicap? Me and a friend intend to work ours out and we thought it was just your average score after 3 rounds of golf.

However, I have had a quick look on the internet and it looks totally baffeling. Such as this......

 

 

"First of all take your adjusted gross score and then subtract the golf course rating. This can be found on your scorecard, and is in decimal form. The result you get from this is called a differential.

 

Next divide the differential by the slope of the tees you played from and x by 113 this is called a adjusted differential.

 

Still going?

 

Then take the lowest 10 of your last 20 rounds of golf add them together and x by 96%, then divide by 10, drop everything after the tenths and this is your index score."

 

 

....Surely this is a p*** take!

 

Can anyone explain it in lamens terms.

I think this is the American system.....they also allow you take off your worse 2 or 3 scores per round for handicap purposes, and call them pars. Consequently an American handicap is not the same as a UK one.

You won't be far off just taking an average against SSS over 3 or 4 rounds.