How do I calculate my course handicap?
Your Handicap Index travels; your Course Handicap is how many strokes you actually receive from the tees you are playing today. Enter your index, slope, course rating, and par to get it.
The formula
Course Handicap = round( Handicap Index × (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − Par) )
- The result is a whole number of strokes.
- The (Course Rating − Par) term is what makes a set of tees harder or easier than its par suggests.
- A plus handicap stays negative — you give strokes back rather than receive them.
Index versus course handicap
A Handicap Index is a portable measure of ability with one decimal place. It is not a number of strokes and you never play off it directly.
A Course Handicap is the strokes you get on the specific tees in front of you today. Move back a set of tees and it goes up, because both the slope and the rating-minus-par term rise.
Strokes are then allocated hole by hole using the stroke index on the card, starting at stroke index 1. If your Course Handicap exceeds 18, every hole gets a stroke and the lowest stroke indexes get a second.
Course handicap by index and slope
Assuming a course rating of 71.0 on a par 72 — so the rating-minus-par term is −1.
| Handicap Index | Slope 113 | Slope 125 | Slope 135 | Slope 145 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 |
| 5.0 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| 10.0 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 15.0 | 14 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 20.0 | 19 | 21 | 23 | 25 |
| 25.0 | 24 | 27 | 29 | 31 |
| 30.0 | 29 | 32 | 35 | 37 |
| 36.0 | 35 | 39 | 42 | 45 |
Playing handicap allowances
Competitions rarely use 100% of your Course Handicap. The allowance depends on the format, because some formats reward the high handicapper more than others.
Apply the allowance to your Course Handicap, then round to the nearest whole stroke.
| Format | Allowance |
|---|---|
| Individual match play | 100% |
| Individual stroke play | 95% |
| Individual Stableford | 95% |
| Four-Ball match play | 90% |
| Four-Ball stroke play | 85% |
| Foursomes (match or stroke) | 50% of the combined Course Handicaps |
| Scramble (4 players) | 20 / 15 / 10 / 5% of each Course Handicap |
What BirdieConnect does with it
BirdieConnect computes Course Handicap with this formula wherever net scoring appears: net leaderboards in rounds, skins games, group play, and tournaments.
Tournament hosts choose the allowance for their format, and the leaderboard shows both gross and net so nobody has to trust arithmetic they cannot see.
Common questions
- What is the difference between a handicap index and a course handicap?
- The index is a portable one-decimal measure of ability. The Course Handicap is a whole number of strokes for one specific set of tees, calculated as Index × Slope ÷ 113 + (Course Rating − Par).
- Why does my course handicap change between tee boxes?
- Both terms change. Back tees usually have a higher slope, which raises the first term, and a higher rating relative to par, which raises the second.
- What is a playing handicap?
- Your Course Handicap after the format allowance is applied — for example 85% in Four-Ball stroke play. It is the number actually used to compute net scores in that competition.
- How are strokes allocated across the holes?
- By stroke index. The first stroke goes to stroke index 1, the second to stroke index 2, and so on. Beyond 18 strokes the allocation wraps and the lowest stroke indexes receive a second stroke.
Track this automatically
BirdieCap is BirdieConnect's free, automatic, WHS-style handicap index. It builds from the rounds you play, supports 9-hole and 18-hole scores, and is unofficial — it is not issued or endorsed by the USGA, The R&A, or GHIN. See how BirdieCap works.