# How a golf handicap is calculated

A Handicap Index is the average of your lowest few Score Differentials, where each differential is (adjusted gross score minus course rating) multiplied by 113 and divided by the slope rating. With twenty rounds posted the lowest eight count; three rounds is the minimum and carries an adjustment.

## Key figures

- Shooting 92 on a course rated 71.2 with a slope of 128 gives a Score Differential of 18.4.
- Five rounds of 92, 88, 95, 90 and 86 on those ratings give a Handicap Index of 14.5, because at five rounds only the lowest 1 differential counts.
- A Handicap Index is portable; a course handicap is the strokes you receive on the tee you are playing, and differs by tee.
- A scratch golfer has an index of 0.0, which means playing to the course rating rather than to par: on a course rated 71.2 against par 72 that is a course handicap of minus one.
- A plus handicap is better than scratch and gives strokes back to the course; an index of +2 becomes a course handicap of minus three on a typical course.
- The system issues indexes up to 54, so a beginner can hold a real handicap from their first three cards.

## Scope

- A browser calculator is not an official handicap. That requires scores posted with an authorised club or association.
- A handicap is one number for the whole game, so it cannot say which part of it is costing you strokes.

Full page: https://pinflag.io/golf-handicap