

In most cases, you’ll be paired with someone who’s also working on getting their handicap score submitted, in this case, you’ll also need to sign his or her scores for submission. Of course, this is to stop golfer’s from cheating, but also prevents golfers who intentionally take more strokes to jack up their handicaps, giving them an unfair advantage in tournaments that play the net score. The main rule to submitting your scores is that each round and score needs to be witnessed and signed by another player and yourself. The result of this will be used to calculate their new handicap index. Instead, out of their last 20 registered scores, their best 8 scores will be averaged. One more thing, golfers who already have an issued handicap but are looking to recalculate their handicap index will not follow the same 54 holes requirement. Why so many? Don’t forget that the golf handicap is the average number of strokes you’ll be expected to take in 18 holes for any golf course.
#Beginner handicap golf full#
These scores can be a mix of a full round of golf, so 18 holes, or 9 consecutive holes. Sweet, now what’s my golf handicap? Hold your horses! After receiving your GHIN number, you’ll still need to submit scores of 54 holes to be eligible for a handicap index. Eventually, these scores will help work out your golf handicap index which is important to calculate your golf handicap. The GHIN number will allow you and others to post scores on your behalf on the Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) website. When your application gets approved, you’ll be given your very own GHIN number. Usually, this fee will be charged automatically as part of your membership fee if you’re part of a golf club. As part of the registration, you’ll be asked to pay a small annual fee of roughly $30 – $40. To register for your golf handicap under the World Handicap System, you can either sign-up on the USGA website or through your local golf course.
#Beginner handicap golf how to#
How to Get a Handicap In Golf Getting Registered

These types of match rules are referred to as ‘stroke play’.
#Beginner handicap golf professional#
On the other hand, in professional tournaments, like the PGA Tour, golfers win with the lowest gross score. It depends, but for most amateur tournaments, the winner is the player with the best net score mainly because of the vast mix of player types in amateur tournaments. However, what if they were playing in a tournament, do they play by the gross or net score? So, even when Tom had scored much lower than Billy had by the end of the round, playing by the rules of the handicap has allowed Billy to win! In the end, Billy finished with a net score of 74 (96 minus 22) while Tom finished with a net score of 76 (79 minus 3). In other words, Billy will subtract his gross score by 22 while Tom will subtract his gross score by 3. If they competed strictly off the gross score, Tom would have won the match, but since they decided to compete with their handicaps, they must subtract their gross score from their handicap to get their net score at the end of the round. Let’s say Billy shot a 96 and Tom shot a 79, their gross scores will also be 96 and 79 respectively. However, the handicap will only be subtracted at the end of the round. In this case, Billy was given 18 ‘free’ strokes to play with by the end of the round. Doing this allows the golfer with the higher handicap, Billy, to gain a few extra ‘free’ strokes equal to the handicap of the lower handicapper, Tom. To spice things up, they decided to use their handicaps to even out the playing field.

If they were to play a head-to-head match against one another, odds are, Tom will always win. Tom, a more experienced golfer, is a 3 handicapper while Billy, an amateur golfer, is a 22 handicapper. The best way to illustrate the importance of the handicap is with two golfers, Tom and Billy. To make sure you understand and get a real golf handicap, this post will give you everything from what a golf handicap is, why it exists, what’s the new World Handicap System, how to get a handicap, how much it costs, the rules for posting your handicap, how to calculate your course handicap and your handicap index, and more. However, self-serving handicaps like these are unofficial, can’t be used in golf tournaments, and aren’t sanctioned by the USGA or any governing body. Maybe their lucky day? Who knows, but they’ll be claiming their a 6 handicap golfer forever. Anyone can claim they’re a 6 handicap golfer just by shooting a 6 overpar on any particular day.

The primary reason why these terms are so misunderstood is because of how easily they are misused in the golf community. For example, if you ask a golfer to differentiate between a golf handicap and a golf handicap index, all you’ll get is a blank stare. Golfers are very sensitive when it comes to their handicap, but most don’t even know what a handicap means.
