Talk:Handicap (golf)

Not clear for non golfers. Still unsure what sort of numbers apply to beginners and how experience factors in. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kpezzutto (talk • contribs) 22:37, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Specific Example People
Why not use the Beatles for the specific example? Otherwise, the reader will think that you have put in the names of your buddies for this example. The only other alternative is to say "Player A", "Player B", etc. John Paul George Ringo is more fun!
 * I think that using "Player A", "Player B", "Player C", and "Player D" is the best solution (most neutral, most lucid, etc.). If there is any kind of consensus on this, I'll go ahead and change the names to that.  Otherwise, I see no harm in leaving the Beatles names in there.  --Rahzel 04:43, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Someone must have changed it to names of Family Guy characters sometime in the last 9 years. I thought it was funny to notice.  It doesn't seem inappropriate but I thought I should mention it since there was already discussion about the names. Coupdeforce (talk) 09:54, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Headline text
Some of the text in this article is copied from the USGA web site. I believe it must be removed and/or modified.

Determining a players Handicap
This section is confusing. I believe it may be relevant to Brittish golfers, but is confusing and irrelevant to US golfers. "SSS" is not term used in the US. Par is NOT the score an expert golfer will get on a hole, when discussed in the context of handicapping. The Course Rating is the score an expert golfer will get on an entire course, and this number is often (usually) lower than par.

I edited this section to clarify the definitions of slope and rating. Hopefully things are a bit clearer now. --Rahzel 16:24, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Yeah I think this article needs two distinct sections. One for handicapping in America via USGA system and the other for the R&A system in the rest of world. At the moment it seems to be all the USGA system, and Im pretty sure thats very different to the R&A one.


 * Does the R&A really specify the handicap system for the rest of the world? They administer the Rules of Golf, but that is separate from handicap (the USGA administers both for the US and Mexico, but they are separate committees there as well).  It seems as though the lead paragraph is more correct, which says handicaps are handled by national golf associations and the like.  I added some links to some different systems; the article describes the USGA system and the UK system  but there appear to be others that are quite different. Carl Lindberg 04:16, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

This does need to be split out, and clarified. As far as matchplay in the UK works, you are given three quarters the difference between handicaps not the full differential - eg i play off 10, my opponent plays off 18, difference = 8, i give him 6 shots, one on each of the six hardest (ie stroke index 1-6) holes. Danhwiki 10:38, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

What the heck is this ?
Handicapping in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, there is a procedure carried out once every 30 days. A team of 3 pro golfers per district are legally obligated to drive spazmodically in a golf cart with a Union Jack painted all over it, and hit passersby's upper kneecap called the "crikey zone" with a 5 iron golf club.

The law states that the county with the most number of wheelchair sales the next day will recieve a 30-35% cut of the profits of the sales for use on anything. The customary use for the money is solid gold toilet seats for the golfers.

Maybe someone should remove this little bit?

mickrussom 04:03, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


 * You think? ;-) Looks like vandalism to me. I reverted the article to the last sensible version by BossyJoe. Saved a link from one of the anonymous IP edits that seemed ok. --JmT 21:08, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Back to original topic. Determinig a players handicap needs to be described properly. What is described in the aritlce is how to apply a handicap to a score. It does not instruct readers on how a handicap is determined. What is the mathimatical formulae for determining a handicap? To determine a handicap how many games need to be played? Is there a set time period for these games to be played? Does the players card need to be signed and witnessed? Is there a maximum score a person can have and call it a handicap? Could a player have a handicap of 34 ? You can see where I am going with this. The article needs to describe how a handicap is created not just used. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.67.202.99 (talk) 20:51, 13 June 2008 (UTC)

just saying
huh. i didnt know the beatles played golf.24.144.137.244 13:38, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Is Dan's course handicap computed incorrectly?
In the "Specific Example," Dan has a handicap index of 9.9. Using the formula: handicap index X course slope / 113, I calculate that Dan should have a course handicap of 11 (10.51 rounded up) for the course where the slope is 120. (The "Specific Example" indicates that Dan has a course handicap of 12.)

Specific Example:

 * Dustin wins. He is the only one in the group that actually shot better than his handicap, so he deserved to win.

First of all, I don't think "the only one to shoot better than his handicap" is explained - what does this mean? it should be clarified. Secondly, in terms of deserving to win, I don't think that's an appopriate statement of neutral objectivity for wikipedia. Who "deserves" to win is a subject that can be debated a whole pile of ways, and shouldn't be included here TheHYPO 01:14, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Hole handicap
Hi all,

I am mysekf an avid golfer for a while now and there is something that I have been wondering about, and perhaps someone could add this in the article. It has to do with how a specific golf course determines the difficulty,i.e. the handicap, of a specific hole. And what facinates me most: why are all these handicaps listed, withoout exeption, as either all odd or all even numbers on a specific nine?

Just a curious golfnut... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.243.103.232 (talk) 19:50, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm lost & What's a good handicap?
First of all this article needs citations. Second of all, I came here to find out if a high handicap is good or bad, and maybe get an idea of what a fairly serious amateur might have (e.g., a serious amateur bowler might roll 200-250). Neither of these bits of info are readily discernible to a non-golfer like me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.226.164.100 (talk) 14:23, 19 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I concur with the second point. I don't care how they are calculated, I want to know how good a handicap of 4 is (having been achieved in 5000 hours from complete novice level). A table of handicaps and descriptions, even if somewhat inaccurate, would be better than wading through all the calculations yet still coming away without a clue. If handicaps from different systems and not directly comparable then the table could have extra columns and would provide a rough equivalence. A frequency distribution chart would be very useful. 92.24.193.198 (talk) 12:42, 1 March 2014 (UTC)


 * Me too -- I don't play golf, but a friend was very pleased with a recent change to their handicap rating. So I read the article and was really surprised when ended up unsure as to whether a low or high handicap indicated a skilled golfer. It should be in plain language as the second sentence of the introduction! The BBC sport website has a very simple explanation (although perhaps it only applies to the UK) DrJonJ (talk) 13:10, 14 November 2017 (UTC) DrJonJ

Course Rating and Slope
In this section it is explained the Handicap Differential = (gross score - course rating) x 113/(slope rating). For the rest of the article the slope portion of the Handicap Differential is reversed, as in Handicap Differential = (gross score - course rating) x (slope rating)/113. Which one is it. I believe all of the examples are computed using the later formula. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ukrolls (talk • contribs) 04:02, 6 October 2008 (UTC)

Course Rating and Slope Outside the USA
I am unaware that courses outside the US have a rating and slope. I believe the USGA assigns these numbers. So, can someone verify that rating and slope are used everywhere? JJ (talk) 17:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't think so. Systems obviously need some way of rating courses so that handicaps can be adjusted to the difficulty of a course, but the specific USGA methods (and the concept of slope) is not used everywhere, I don't think.  The Unified Handicapping System details (from CONGU) do not appear to be online, but the Australian and South African systems (links to all in the External links section) seem to have very different ways of evaluating courses.  Most of the detailed example stuff probably belongs under a USGA-specific heading. Carl Lindberg (talk) 17:22, 5 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Half the world uses Course Rating & Slope, e. g. all of continental Europe. More Info: http://www.popeofslope.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.91.160.182 (talk) 15:21, 2 February 2011 (UTC)

Correct Terminology
This article seems to use the term handicap as opposed to "handicap index" when that term is necessary. A "handicap index" is the number used to determine the "handicap" on a given course, from a given set of tees, for an individual. The USGA determines a handicap index (often bi-weekly). This index is constant (for the two-week period), but the actual handicap varies from course to course and one set of tees to another. Someone needs to rewrite this article to make this clear. JJ (talk) 14:07, 5 March 2009 (UTC) I am continuing to struggle with this article. It's very confusing, since a golf handicap is computed from a golf handicap index (or differential). This needs to be made clear in this article, and it's not. JJ (talk) 16:49, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Terminology (again)
This article is confusing because the topic is confusing. The article needs to define a number of terms, none of which are clearly defined. Specifically, Course Handicap (which is really not a course handicap, since it varies by the tees played!), Handicap Differential, and Handicap Index. I may tackle this, but if anyone has suggestions, they will be appreciated. JJ (talk) 17:01, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Improvements are very welcome -- I don't understand the intricacies too well, so I don't want to :-)  I see a term of "ESC score" used, which needs to be defined... ah, "Equitable Stroke Control", a way to limit high scores on individual holes so that they don't disproportionally affect handicap.  Definitely a hard article to write, to both be accurate and understandable. Carl Lindberg (talk) 17:27, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Nothing to do with par
This sentence in the Overview is incorrect, at least under USGA handicapping: "A handicap is calculated with a specific arithmetic formula that approximates how many strokes above or below par a player should be able to play"

Handicap is based on course rating and slope rating, both of which have nothing to do with par. Many courses are par 72, but a player will not shoot the same score at Pebble Beach that they would at their local municipal course.

From http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Handicap-System-Manual/Rule-02/ "Par is not a significant factor in either the USGA Handicap System or USGA Course Rating System"

Johnboy mn (talk) 16:40, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

The sentence is right. In fact the Course and Slope Ratings don't have anything to do with par. However (Course) Handicaps are calculated by a comparison of CR/Slope and par. You could conceive a handicap system, where par is taken out of the equation and each player gets sort of an absolute stroke allowance, e.g. 82, instead of 10 over par. No one does that however. Look at the formula for Course Handicap caluculation and you'll realize why. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.25.200.44 (talk) 12:14, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Why does Dan win?
The article states: "Dan wins because he is the only one in the group who actually shot better than his handicap."

Would it be more accurate to state: "Dan wins because he posts the lowest net score."? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.165.169.26 (talk) 06:08, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Specific Example Clarity
Some questions have been raised about the specific example, I agree that it is not clear, I think what is missing is the course rating. I assume it is 72, that would explain why the chosen player is the winner.

Trevormh (talk) 17:32, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

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What exactly is a handicap?
This article goes away and beyond explaining how handicap systems varies but I haven't understood what even is a handicap. I get that a low one is better, but how exactly is a handicap explained? that should be in the first paragraph. Vixalien (talk) 19:19, 31 August 2023 (UTC)