Course Handicap Calculator
Turn your index into strokes for the tee you are playing.
Printed on the scorecard, 55 to 155.
Course handicap
12strokes
How this is worked out
The published World Handicap System formula, in one line:
course handicap = index x (slope / 113) + (course rating - par)
The answer is rounded to the nearest whole stroke. Slope of 113 is the neutral value, so on a course rated exactly par with a slope of 113 your course handicap is your index. The playing handicap then applies the allowance for the format: 100 percent for singles, 85 for four ball stroke play, 50 for foursomes.
Worked example. An index of 10.7 on a slope of 125, a rating of 71.0 and a par of 72 gives 10.7 times 125 over 113, which is 11.84, plus 71.0 less 72, which is minus 1. That leaves 10.84, rounding to 11 strokes.
Why the tee changes it
Slope measures how much harder a course plays for a bogey golfer than for a scratch golfer. A long tee has a higher slope, so the same index is worth more strokes there. Moving up a tee usually costs you two or three strokes of course handicap, which is the point: the strokes follow the difficulty.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate a course handicap?
What is the difference between index and course handicap?
What is a playing handicap?
Why does the tee I play change my strokes?
By The PinFlag Team.
Before the swing, not after
This page prices one shot once you already know where it finished. PinFlag prices any target you are looking at, live on the hole you are playing, on 40,000+ courses. You pick the target and see the number before you swing.
Get the app