A golf handicap is a number that measures your playing ability so golfers of different standards can compete fairly. The better you play, the lower your handicap. It tells you how many shots you receive to level the contest — a 20-handicapper gets more help than a 6.
Without handicaps, a beginner could never have a real game against a club champion. Handicaps fix that: they're the great equaliser that lets anyone in your group play for the same prize.
The World Handicap System (WHS)
Since 2020, most of the world uses one shared method — the World Handicap System. It replaced the old country-by-country systems so a handicap means the same thing in Surrey as it does in Sydney. Two numbers do the work:
| Number | What it is |
|---|---|
| Handicap Index | Your portable ability number — the same wherever you play. |
| Course Handicap | Your index converted to the actual shots you get on a specific course and tee. |
We go deeper on the first one in what is a handicap index?
How your index is calculated
Each round you play produces a score differential — roughly how good that round was relative to the course's difficulty (its course rating and slope rating). Your handicap index is then:
The average of the best 8 of your last 20 score differentials. Only your better rounds count, so your index reflects your potential, not your worst days. Post a strong score and it replaces an older one — pulling your index down.
How shots are allocated on the course
Once you know your course handicap, those shots are spread across the holes by stroke index — every hole is ranked 1 (hardest) to 18 (easiest). If your course handicap is 12, you get one shot on the 12 hardest holes (stroke index 1–12). A handicap of 22 gets one shot on every hole, plus a second shot on the six hardest.
That shot is then deducted from your gross score on that hole to give your net score — the basis for net stroke play, Stableford and match play alike.
Why it matters for your league
Get the handicaps right and every game is competitive, whoever's playing. Get them wrong and the table is meaningless. That's why a good league applies each player's shots automatically rather than leaving it to mental arithmetic on the 1st tee.
Let the handicaps sort themselves out
Four Putt allocates shots by stroke index, calculates net scores, and even estimates a WHS-style index from your rounds. Free for a small group.
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