If you’re like me and golf mostly for fun, calculating your handicap doesn’t seem necessary or even worth the hassle of trying to compute. The most important thing to you is your score, how badly (or great) you played, and if you’re improving your game. But in the world of golf, learning your handicap is important for several reasons including monitoring your progress. The handicap formula takes into consideration the rating and slope of a course. If you golf at a more difficult course, your handicap will take that into consideration. This allows you to accurately compare your progress no matter where you golf and how difficult the course is. Per the USGA, five rounds are needed to calculate your handicap. With your score, the slope and rating, you can calculate your handicap differential. The good news is that if you have a really bad round, it also takes that into consideration as well. The more you golf, the more these bad rounds will fade away. With five handicaps entered, only your lowest differential is used (from your best round). Once you have 20 games entered, the calculation uses your 10 lowest differentials (from your ten best rounds).
Typically, you can join a golf club and they will calculate your official handicap for you. But if you just play for fun, and want to know your handicap, there are free handicap calculators online. Golfapedia.com has a free handicap calculator. Grab your scorecards and head to www.golfapedia.com. In addition to entering the required information such as slope and rating, you can also enter some optional information such as number of birdies, pars and bogies. You can also enter who you’ve golfed with and enter notes about this round. Since it’s so easy, there’s no excuse to not know your handicap. Use it to improve your game, but more importantly to compare yourself to other golfers.
-Dan Godla
Dan Godla is the founder of www.Golfapedia.com
