The handicap is what makes golf unusual among sports: a beginner and a scratch golfer can play the same course on the same day and compete fairly. If you have ever wondered what your handicap actually means, or how it turns into strokes during a tournament, this guide explains it step by step.
The World Handicap System
Since 2020, golf has used the World Handicap System (WHS), a single system shared by golf's national associations around the world. In the Philippines, golfers usually get an official handicap through their golf club. Under the WHS, everyone has a Handicap Index, which can go up to a maximum of 54.0.
How Your Handicap Index Is Worked Out
Each time you submit a score, it is turned into a score differential that accounts for how difficult the course was. Your Handicap Index is based on the average of your best 8 differentials from your most recent 20 scores. In short, it reflects your potential on a good day, not your average round.
From Handicap Index to Course Handicap
Courses are not equally difficult, so your Handicap Index is converted into a Course Handicap for the tees you play. Under the WHS the formula is:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index × (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating minus Par)
Most clubs display a table, so you rarely need to do the math yourself.
Handicap Allowances
For competitions, a handicap allowance may be applied to give the Playing Handicap. The WHS recommends, for example, 95% for individual stroke play and 85% for four-ball stroke play, because team formats favour higher handicaps. The tournament organizer decides which allowance applies.
Where Your Strokes Fall: Stroke Index
Every hole has a stroke index from 1 (hardest) to 18 (easiest). Your handicap strokes are given out in that order:
- A handicap of 12 gets one stroke on the holes with stroke index 1 to 12.
- A handicap of 18 gets one stroke on every hole.
- A handicap of 24 gets one stroke on every hole and a second stroke on stroke index 1 to 6.
Your net score on a hole is your actual (gross) score minus the strokes you receive there.
Plus Handicaps
Very strong golfers can have a plus handicap, such as +2. Instead of receiving strokes, they give strokes back, starting on the easiest holes.
How the VCD Golf App Uses Handicaps
In the VCD Golf App, the organizer enters each player's handicap and sets the tournament's allowance (100% unless they choose otherwise). The app multiplies the two, rounds to a whole number, and gives out the strokes by stroke index on every hole, including plus handicaps. Net scores, net Stableford points and net awards are all worked out automatically, so nobody has to do the arithmetic at the clubhouse.
Handicaps matter most in Stableford events; see Stableford scoring explained for how strokes become points. Playing in your first event? Read playing your first golf tournament.
