WHAT IS A HANDICAP?

A handicap is a numerical rating that indicates how many extra strokes a player is expected to take per round, in comparison to the par of a course.

A golfer’s handicap is fundamentally an assessment of how well they play the game, and also provides a tangible method of tracking improvement.

A handicap is required to play in competitions and gives less proficient players a way of competing against better players, ensuring a level playing field.

HOW DOES A HANDICAP HELP ME?

It will depend on the format of competition being played, but essentially a player gets to subtract their handicap off their final score.

A golfer with a handicap of 18 gets to shave 18 shots off their final total in a stroke round, whereas a scratch golfer (a handicap of zero) doesn’t get any help.

‘Crazy good’ golfers known as 'plus markers' – those with a ‘+’ in front of their handicap – actually have to add strokes onto their final score.

HOW DO I GET A HANDICAP?

In Australia, you’ll need to join a club to obtain an official Golf Australia handicap.

Whether it’s a private club in the city, a rural club out in the bush or a social-playing club affiliated with a public course, at least three 18-hole rounds must be submitted before a new handicap can be calculated and issued.

All qualifying rounds must be played with a marker (a playing partner who marks and signs your scorecard).

HOW IS MY INITIAL HANDICAP CALCULATED?

The handicapper will first create an adjusted score for each of your three qualifying rounds, which caps the maximum score per hole at three over par for men and four over par for women.

The new adjusted score is then thrown into a formula that accounts for the Course Rating, Slope Rating, Daily Rating and Scratch Rating (all of which effectively the rate the difficulty of playing conditions) to produce what’s called a differential.

From the three rounds submitted, the round that has the lowest differential is then subtracted by two to derive your handicap.

HOW IS THE HANDICAP DIFFERENTIAL CALCULATED?

Calculating the differential that’s used to determine your handicap isn’t something you really need to know.

But if you’re a numbers person, here’s the formula:

Differential = [(36 — stableford score) + Daily Rating + Course Rating — (Scratch Rating + Playing Conditions Calculation)] x (113 ÷ Slope Rating)

Apologies if your head is still spinning.

HOW DOES MY HANDICAP GET ADJUSTED?

With a handicap being your passport into official club competitions, each round presents an opportunity to revise your handicap either higher or lower.

Handicaps are calculated by averaging the eight lowest scores from the last 20 rounds played (if 20 rounds haven’t yet been completed, a sliding scale formula is applied to produce handicap adjustments).

Every new round played will replace the oldest one in the 20-round span.

HANDICAP CAPS

A significant loss of form won’t see a handicap blow out significantly in the latest handicap system.

In the past, players could “sandbag” — deliberately shoot high scores to achieve a higher handicap — and manipulate the system after just a few rounds.

However, the most recent updates to the handicapping system introduces a “soft cap” and a “hard cap” on handicap movements.

The caps are benchmarked against a player’s lowest handicap in a rolling 52-week window.

If a player has an extended loss of form, their handicap can move by up to three strokes above their lowest handicap mark.

After that, it can “go out” by only half the normal amount until it hits the “hard cap” of five strokes.

The hard cap effectively limits a golfer’s handicap from moving more than five strokes in a year.

COURSE RATING AND SLOPE RATING EXPLAINED

Course Rating: typically ranges between 67 and 77 and indicates the average “good” score that a golfer playing off a scratch handicap would shoot at the course.

Slope Rating: is a sliding scale of between 55 and 155 and indicates the difficulty of a course for a bogey golfer (18-handicapper) compared to golfer who plays off scratch.

WHAT IS A DAILY HANDICAP IN GOLF?

So you’ve done the hard work and played your way to an official handicap.

However, you rarely seem to be playing off your exact handicap when you tee it up.

Confused?

Let us explain.

A Daily Handicap is what you’ll use to play in comps and will change depending on where you’re teeing it up.

Unless a course’s Scratch Rating is the same as its par, a player’s handicap will be adjusted to account for the course’s level of difficulty.

And that calculation is what’s known as your Daily Handicap.

HOW TO CALCULATE YOUR DAILY HANDICAP

Your Daily Handicap is automatically calculated for you whenever you tee it up (to the nearest whole number) but here’s the equation in case you want to do it yourself:

Daily Handicap = [(official handicap x slope rating ÷ 113) + (Scratch Rating — Par)] x 0.93

What’s the 0.93 multiplier for?

It’s designed to level the playing field by accounting for the consistency of golfers.

For instance, lower handicap golfers are generally more consistent than higher handicappers so it mitigates the advantage that high handicap golfers may obtain in a competition.

WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?

If all that number crunching sounds a bit too hard, don't worry.

All you have to do is submit your signed scorecards – the handicapper does the hard work for you.

If you’re playing a stableford or par format, your score is automatically converted into a stroke round before applying the Daily Stroke Rating, which is calculated by Golf Australia’s GolfLINK system.

Your handicap is recorded on Golf Australia’s GolfLINK system and can be accessed at any time on the Golf Australia website at www.golf.org.au.