How Is A Golf Handicap Calculated?

An explanation of the basic workings of the World Handicap System

Golfer writes score on a scorecard - close up
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Fergus Bisset
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With the adoption of the World Handicap System, (WHS) all golfers across the globe will be using the same handicapping system.

But under the new WHS, how is a golf handicap calculated?

WHS calculates handicap by taking an average of the best eight of a player’s 20 most recent scores to give a “Handicap Index.”

When a new score is submitted, the Handicap Index is automatically recalculated and updated at the end of the day’s play, ready for use the following day. Players new to golf or looking to obtain a first handicap will need to submit scorecards amounting to 54 holes. From those, an initial Handicap Index will be provided.

This will be altered when 20 scores have been submitted to deliver a fully developed Handicap Index. The Handicap Index, in conjunction with the difficulty of a course, gives a player their Course Handicap.

Two calculations are made – Course Rating and Bogey Rating.

  • Course Rating is how many strokes a scratch golfer (someone with a Course Handicap of 0) should take on that course.
  • Bogey Rating measures playing difficulty for a bogey golfer (someone with a handicap of roughly 20 for a man and 24 for a women).

Knowing these two ratings allows WHS to determine the difficulty of the course and to produce a Slope Rating for each set of tees which allows all golfers to work out how many strokes they will receive on a particular course – Course Handicap.

When submitting new scores, playing conditions are taken into consideration.

The system includes a 'PCC' - Playing Conditions Calculation - that looks at how all players who have entered a score on a course have performed on that day, compared to their expected performance. At the end of each day’s play a Playing Conditions Calculation will be made by the system.

Golfer putts

The PCC, or Playing Conditions Calculation, can adjust depending on other scores submitted on the day

(Image credit: Future)

To prevent wild swings in handicap, the WHS provides caps – soft and hard – based on a player’s lowest Handicap Index in a one-year period. If a player’s handicap goes three shots above the low index, further rises are reduced by 50% (Soft cap). If a player’s handicap moves 5.0 strokes above the low index in a 12-month period, it cannot rise any further (Hard cap).

The system will calculate a player’s exact Handicap Index to one decimal place although actual Course Handicap will be a whole number rounded up or down.

Fergus Bisset
Fergus Bisset
Contributing Editor

Fergus is Golf Monthly's resident expert on the history of the game and has written extensively on that subject. He has also worked with Golf Monthly to produce a podcast series. Called 18 Majors: The Golf History Show it offers new and in-depth perspectives on some of the most important moments in golf's long history. You can find all the details about it here.

He is a golf obsessive and 1-handicapper. Growing up in the North East of Scotland, golf runs through his veins and his passion for the sport was bolstered during his time at St Andrews university studying history. He went on to earn a post graduate diploma from the London School of Journalism. Fergus has worked for Golf Monthly since 2004 and has written two books on the game; "Great Golf Debates" together with Jezz Ellwood of Golf Monthly and the history section of "The Ultimate Golf Book" together with Neil Tappin , also of Golf Monthly.

Fergus once shanked a ball from just over Granny Clark's Wynd on the 18th of the Old Course that struck the St Andrews Golf Club and rebounded into the Valley of Sin, from where he saved par. Who says there's no golfing god?

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