Golf handicaps can be a bit of a mystery to the uninitiated golfer, but understanding how handicaps work is crucial to advancing your golf game, as it allows players of all skill levels to compete against one another. The United States Golf Association refers to this as golf on an "equitable basis," and it has taken many years of refinement to develop a uniform handicap system.
History
Since the inception of golf's modern form in the 16th century, gambling on matches has been customary practice. The handicap system was born out of this wagering as a way to level the odds of any given match. Originally, handicaps were assigned on a per course basis, but as more courses were created globally and golfers traveled more, a more universal handicapping system had to be developed.
Scores
In the simplest terms, a United States Golf Association handicap is found by averaging your best rounds of golf together and compensating that average to make you a par player, thus theoretically making all golfers equal. To find the scores used in the handicap formula, you must first apply an equitable stroke control to at least five rounds of golf. Based on the course's USGA-assigned handicap, you must review your rounds and subtract any strokes that go over the recommended maximum number per hole for that course. The resulting scores are called your adjusted gross scores.
Formulas
Your golf handicap is determined by two formulas laid out by the USGA: handicap differential and handicap index. You must first find your handicap differential. To find the differential, you subtract the USGA course rating from your adjusted gross score, multiply that number by the standard slope rating of 113 and then divide by the course's USGA slope rating. The slope rating is the average number of strokes that the USGA predicts a non-par golfer would score on that course.
An example of finding a differential handicap would be taking an adjusted gross score of 95 and subtracting the course rating of 71.5 to get 23.5. Then take that number times the standard slope rating of 113 to get 2655.5 and divide by the course slope rating, which for this example is 125. The result rounded to the first decimal is a handicap differential of 21.2.
To find your handicap index, which is your overall handicap, you then take your 10 lowest handicap differentials out of the previous 20 rounds and find the average for 96 percent of the time. For example, if you add the 10 rounds together and receive a total of 152, divide that number by 10 and then multiply by 0.96. The resulting number is 14.592. The USGA drops everything beyond the first decimal without rounding, so your handicap index would be 14.5.
Handicap Uses
Once you have determined your handicap, you will be able to travel to any course in the world, compete against the best golfers and still stand a chance of winning the round. The handicapping system also allows you to continually re-evaluate your play with a statistical marker. This allows you to see whether changes in your game such as new equipment or improved technique help you shave strokes off of your average.
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