What is a golf handicap?

It always amuses me when a non-golfer asks what my handicap is because I can tell that they have no clue about what this seemingly complicated animal is. I will attempt to explain in as simple terms as I can and in a “golf handicap explained for dummies” kind of way!

A handicap in amateur golf terms is a numerical representation of the skill of an individual golfer. It is a number assigned between 28 - 0 for men and 36 - 0 for women with the lower number (or handicap for the sake of this discussion) indicating the better skill level of that golfer. It could also be said that a handicap allows golfers to make mistakes equivalent to their handicaps. It has nothing to do with hands or caps!!

A regular round of golf involves getting around the golf course in 72 strokes (or level par) though some courses could be rated as 71 or in extreme cases upto 74 as a handicap 0 or scratch golfer. A handicap essentially levels the playing field between the various skill levels of different golfers. What that means by illustration is that in the case of a man just starting out in golf and with an assigned handicap of 28, he is allowed to hit an extra 28 strokes on the same par 72 course i.e 100 strokes to play to his handicap. A person playing off handicap 10 would similarly be allowed to play a maximum of 82 strokes to play to his handicap. The strokes made less the handicap of that golfer would indicate the score for that round of golf. The person playing off handicap 0 and returning a score of 72 strokes and the handicap 28 guy returning a score of 100 strokes have both played the same score!!

Similarly, a lady just starting off in their golf career would start off at handicap 36 and hence is allowed to make 108 strokes to play to their handicap being the difference between the strokes played less the handicap assigned in this case 108-36=72.

You may be wondering how in all fairness someone playing off handicap 36 and one playing off handicap 6 can both play to their handicap when one has shot 108 and the other 78 a difference of 30 strokes (the number of times one hits a ball)………and that folks is what a handicap does, it levels the playing field so that a beginner and a relatively good golfer can play on the same course and compete quite well against each other!!

Depending on the golfers skill level it is sometimes possible to play better than your handicap and this is when things start to get interesting.

In the example above of a handicap 36 golfer playing 108 strokes and therefore playing to her handicap let us assume that she played a total of 102 strokes how would the computation look like? Like in the previous example if you subtract the strokes from the handicap in this case 102-36=66. If you then subtract the expected score to play to your handicap of 72 from the net score of 66 that you have played i.e 72-66=6 then this player has played 6 strokes better than their handicap and has thus improved their golfing skills and need to have their handicap adjusted/reduced accordingly.

The next question on your mind is probably then how does on reduce their handicap over time? I will not go into the complicated process as to how points are assigned depending on how well you played better than your handicap but I shall give an analogy that the better you play below your handicap the quicker your handicap reduces which is akin to being promoted to the next class in primary school after passing a test or an exam. In the above example the lady has passed the test and shall be promoted to the next class vide a handicap reduction and should be playing off handicap 26 the next time they play a round of golf.

If you are really good at golf and get in lots of practice, take lessons from a competent professional, invest in reading or watching videos on golf etc the process of handicap reduction can be quite quick but for the vast majority of mostly weekend golfers this process is a slow and agonizing plod and a very tiresome endeavor. By the same token a handicap can increase if you continually return poor scores upto the maximum assigned for both genders of 28 & 36 respectively.

Professional golfers like the ones you see on TV play off handicap 0 (or scratch) and their skill levels when they are in top form are such that they regularly play below their handicaps. These tournaments are played over a 4 day period with the first two days designed to reduce the ‘cut’ or number of players (usually between 72 and 80 players) who then go into the money rounds over the last two days.

The better you play at professional level and the lower your score the better your chances of ‘making the cut’ though sometimes the cut is at -1 (minus one) meaning that anyone who played to their handicap or worse is eliminated giving you an idea of just how talented these top professionals are. Scores of -20 (minus twenty) have been recorded many times as the winning scores in these tournaments over the four day period of play!

A handicap is a shining beacon of ones success on the golf course and the lower your handicap the higher the esteem, awe and regard you are held by fellow golfers. All golfers aspire to reduce their handicaps to single figures (between 9-0) but the reality is that many will never be single figure handicapped golfers for various reasons that I shall not delve into.

So the next time you ask me what my handicap is, I hope you will much better appreciate just how good a golfer I am when I tell you that I play off handicap 6……which I do!!