If you typically shoot 90, your golf handicap is 18.
A golf handicap provides a numerical measure of a golfer's ability, allowing players of varying skill levels to compete fairly against each other. While calculating an official handicap involves a more complex process that considers multiple scores and course difficulty, a fundamental way to understand your basic handicap is by comparing your average score to the standard par for an 18-hole course, which is commonly 72.
Calculating Your Basic Golf Handicap
To determine your approximate handicap using this simple method, you subtract the standard par of 72 from your typical score.
Let's illustrate with examples:
| Your Typical Score | Par | Calculation | Basic Handicap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 | 72 | 90 - 72 | 18 |
| 100 | 72 | 100 - 72 | 28 |
Therefore, if you consistently shoot around 90, your basic golf handicap would be 18. This indicates that, on average, you play 18 strokes over par for a full 18-hole round.
Benefits of Knowing Your Handicap
Understanding your handicap, even a basic one, offers several advantages:
- Fair Competition: It allows for adjusted scores in casual games or competitions, ensuring that players of different abilities can enjoy a competitive round together.
- Progress Tracking: It serves as a benchmark for monitoring your improvement. As your golf game gets better and your scores decrease, your handicap will naturally lower.
- Goal Setting: A handicap can be a motivational tool for setting personal objectives, such as aiming to reduce your handicap by a certain number of strokes.
Basic vs. Official Handicaps
It's important to differentiate between this straightforward calculation and an official handicap. Official handicaps, managed under systems like the World Handicap System (WHS), are far more sophisticated. They consider a range of factors to ensure accuracy and fairness across different courses and playing conditions, including:
- Multiple Recent Scores: Typically, the best 8 of your last 20 scores are used.
- Course Rating: An assessment of the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer.
- Slope Rating: A measure of the relative difficulty of a course for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer.
- Net Double Bogey Adjustments: To prevent a single very bad hole from disproportionately impacting your handicap.
While these official systems provide a more precise and equitable measure for competitive play, the simple calculation of subtracting 72 from your average score gives you a quick and easy way to understand your approximate handicap.
