An Explanation of the USGA Handicap System….Introducing An Alternative Method
The USGA Handicap System™ is recognized as the standard for fi guring handicaps in the United States and in some other parts of the world. Golfers of
differing abilities can ostensibly play on equal terms. It’s important for teachers and coaches to know how handi caps are fi gured under the USGA system.
A course is assigned a course rating and a slope rating. To fi gure the course rating, a scratch yardage rating to the nearest tenth is fi rst derived. For men,
this is fi gured by taking the yardage of the course divided by 220, and then adding 40.9. For women, the course yardage is divided by 180, and then adding
40.1. The numbers 220 and 180 are used because the USGA has calculated that every 220-yard change in a course’s yardage for men and every 180-yard change in a course’s yardage for women equals one stroke.
Here’s an example on fi guring a scratch yardage rating for men: Indian Hills Golf Course in Fort Pierce, Florida, plays to a yardage of 6,555 yards.
The yardage rating for Indian Hills is (6,555 ÷ 220) + 40.9 = 70.7. This fi gure is then adjusted upwards or downwards, depending upon 10 factors, the scope of which is beyond this article. Since Indian Hills has a course rating of 71.2, the rating team fi gured it plays .5 strokes tougher for a scratch player than its yardage would indicate.
Because certain courses can play incrementally tougher for the bogey golfer than for the par golfer, the course is also given a slope rating. All handicap indexes are based on a slope of 113, which was the theoretical average slope at the time the slope rating system was developed. The actual average of slope ratings today is 120.
A handicap differential for each round is fi gured by taking the adjusted gross score minus the course rating, and taking that fi gure and multiplying it by 113 divided by the slope rating. As an example, let’s say someone shot a 90 on a course rated 72.0 and slope rated at 135. The handicap differential is (90 – 72.0) x (113 ÷ 135) = 15.1. All handicap indexes are taken to the nearest tenth. The lowest 10 out of the last 20 handicap differentials are then averaged and then multiplied by .96 to get a handicap index. (Please note that in the case of fewer than 20 scores available, a sliding scale of fewer than 10 scores is used, based on how many rounds were played.)
In this example, let’s say the golfer’s 10 lowest handicap differentials come out to a total of 166.3. His handicap index would be (166.3 ÷ 10) x .96 = 15.96 = 15.9. Note that 15.96 is not rounded off to the nearest tenth to get the handicap index; anything after that digit is simply dropped.
Once a player’s handicap index is known, a course handicap can be established for the particular course on which he or she is playing. The course handicap is based on the slope rating divided by 113 and then multiplied by the handicap index. Let’s say our player wants to play on a course with a slope rating of 142 – a pretty tough course. His course handicap for that round would be (142 ÷ 113) x 15.9 = 20.0 = 20. All course handicaps are rounded off to the nearest whole number.
Suppose this same golfer were then to play a course with a slope rating of 120. His course handicap for that particular course would be (120 ÷ 113) x 15.9 = 16.9 = 17. If he were playing a 0-handicapper in a match, at the fi rst course he would receive 20 strokes and at the second course he would receive 17. Would he have an advantage over the 0-handicapper at the fi rst course as compared to the second? Theoretically, no, because a course with a higher slope rating is proportionately more diffi cult for the higher handicap player than the lower handicap player.
So, there you go: An involved and almost complete explanation of the USGA Handicap System. You would think most golfers carry a USGA golfers, fewer than 5 million have one. Yet, golfers who don’t have an offi cial USGA handicap often need one for things like corporate scrambles, etc. Is there anything that can be done with them?
The USGTF would like to introduce the International Golf Handicap Method™, which is far simpler than the USGA system. On top of that, golfers can keep their own handicaps without much computation.
A golfer only needs two scores to establish an International Golf Handicap under this system. A stroke difficulty rating is assigned as thus:
As you can see, for every 200 yards, the stroke difficulty rating changes by one shot, and only whole numbers are used. The beauty of this system is that it applies to both men and women, simply based on yardage. Women who play courses under 5,000 yards, or men who play courses 7,200 yards or longer, can do the easy adjustment necessary to come up with the appropriate stroke difficulty rating.
The next step is for a golfer to play two rounds. Let’s say he shot an 80 on a 6,478-yard course and an 82 on a 6,350-yard course. The score minus the stroke difficulty rating is called the handicap differential for that round. Our player’s two differentials would be 8 and 11. Average them to get what we call his Basic Handicap™, which is 9.5. Basic Handicaps are figured to one decimal place, or tenths. For on-course play, that number is rounded off to the nearest whole number to get his course handicap.
Starting with his third round, we now adjust the Basic Handicap from round to round. For every stroke a player plays below his course handicap, his Basic Handicap is adjusted downward .1 stroke.
For every stroke a player plays above his course handicap, his Basic Handicap is adjusted upwards by .1 stroke. In this example, let’s say our player then played on a 6,050-yard course and shot an 83. That’s 13 strokes above the course’s stroke difficulty rating, and 3 strokes above his course handicap of 10. Thus, his Basic Handicap would be adjusted upwards by .3 strokes to 9.8. The simplicity of this handicap method means
a player can keep his or her handicap on an index card, or even on their smartphone or tablet memo pad.
The USGTF has a pocket card available, which describes the method, for $4.95 from the National Office. You can also go to the website www.InternationalGolfHandicap.com to see a further explanation of the method and to order the pocket cards.
