Handicap

A golf handicap is a way of measuring a golfer's playing ability, and is used to allow player's of different skill levels to compete fairly against each other.

Note: You must Register with Golf Frontier to take advantage of handicap tracking. Fortunately it is free to register, and anyone can join.

World Golf Handicap

Starting in late 2019, an agreement was reached between the various groups representing golfs governing bodies (USGA, R&A, EGU, etc.) to standardize the global handicap calculation. This is a huge step forward for the sport of golf, as it simplifies the game and makes it more accessible to everyone.

Golf Frontier handles the heavy lifting of calculating your handicap. Whenever you submit a score, it will automatically be included in your handicap calculation going forward. A handicap from Golf Frontier is not considered an official handicap, but is a close approximation of the current World Golf Handicap calculation.

Eligible Scores

Each submitted score must be examined to determine if it is eligilbe to be included in the handicap calculation. If the score was submitted without a corresponding Course Rating and Slope, than it cannot be considered for Handicap Purposes. If the submitted score is for 9 holes, than the system will attempt to match the score with another 9 hole score, however if there are no other elgibile nine hole scores, then that score cannot be included.

Adjusted Gross Score

If a score is deemed as eligible for inclusion, than the next step is to determine if there are any holes played that fall outside the acceptable range of allowed strokes for a player of that ability. Any holes that qualify are then adjusted to the maximum value stroke value for that hole.

The maximum stroke value is calculated as follows (Net Double Bogey):

(Course Handicap Strokes + Par + 2)

The total strokes for all holes after any needed adjustments is the Adjusted Gross Score.

Score Differentials

If a score is deemed to be eligibile, than the Score Differential is calculated using the following formula:

(113 / Slope) * (Adjusted Gross Score - Course Rating - PCC)

PCC stands for Playing Conditions Calculation and is an adjustment that is made based on how difficult or easy the course was playing on the specified date.

Scores Used for Handicap

Once a Score Differential has been calculated for all eligible scores, than the players handicap can be calculated by taking the 8 best (lowest) Score Differentials and averaging them. If fewer than 20 eligible scores have been submitted, than the following table is used to determine the number of Score Differentials to use.

Additional Considerations

A handicap is a measure of your golf ability on a good day, not an average of your golfing ability. For this reason, you will most likely score worse than your handicap suggests about 80% of the time you play.