How is a golf handicap calculated?

Under the World Handicap System, your Handicap Index is the average of your best 8 score differentials from your last 20 rounds. Each differential adjusts your score for how hard the course and tees were.

How do I get a golf handicap in the UK?

Join a golf club, or England Golf's iGolf scheme if you are not a member anywhere, then submit scores from 54 holes. Those can be any mix of 9 and 18-hole rounds.

What is the difference between Handicap Index and course handicap?

Your Handicap Index is your general number. Your course handicap is how many strokes you get on a particular course from particular tees, worked out from its slope and course rating.

Golf · Guide

Golf handicaps explained

A handicap lets players of different standards compete fairly. Under the World Handicap System, used in the UK since November 2020, your Handicap Index is based on your best 8 of your last 20 scores.

The three numbers

Handicap Index: your portable measure of ability, to one decimal place, for example 14.3. It goes with you to any course.
Course handicap: the strokes you get on a particular course from particular tees. A harder course gives you more.
Playing handicap: your course handicap with the competition's allowance applied, for example 95% for an individual Stableford.

How your Handicap Index is worked out

After every round you submit, your score becomes a score differential, which adjusts it for the difficulty of the course (its course rating and slope rating).
Your Handicap Index is the average of your best 8 differentials from your last 20.
A bad hole is capped for handicap purposes at a net double bogey, so one disaster does not wreck your index.
The maximum Handicap Index is 54.0.

From index to course handicap

Course handicap = Handicap Index × (slope rating ÷ 113), plus the difference between the course rating and par. You do not need to do the sum: every club displays a table, and the England Golf app works it out.

Getting a handicap in the UK

Join a golf club, or England Golf's iGolf scheme if you play without a club membership. Scotland, Wales and Ireland run their own schemes.
Submit scores from 54 holes: any combination of 9 and 18-hole rounds.
Your first Handicap Index is calculated from those, and updates with every score after.

Quick answers

How is a golf handicap calculated?: Under the World Handicap System, your Handicap Index is the average of your best 8 score differentials from your last 20 rounds. Each differential adjusts your score for how hard the course and tees were.
How do I get a golf handicap in the UK?: Join a golf club, or England Golf's iGolf scheme if you are not a member anywhere, then submit scores from 54 holes. Those can be any mix of 9 and 18-hole rounds.
What is the maximum golf handicap?: 54.0.
What is the difference between Handicap Index and course handicap?: Your Handicap Index is your general number. Your course handicap is how many strokes you get on a particular course from particular tees, worked out from its slope and course rating.