HANDICAP, COURSE AND SLOPE RATING

Handicap

It is not about ordering frog legs then watching the frogs being pushed out from the kitchens in wheel chairs.

Golf is the only game in the world where you play without an umpire. It has to be honest.

It is also the only game where you can indulge in with competitors bigger, taller, stronger and more skilful than you that's where the handicap comes in. It is totally and is the most equitable sport. Have a tennis game with Roger Federer, a race with Lewis Hamilton, a race in the pool with Michael Phelps, etc. and you get the picture.

A golf handicap is important as first and foremost, in anything that one can indulge in, what is of paramount importance is always safety. Even if you consider other sports like fishing, rock clumbing or bungee jumping. The handicap is also a kind of licence to play the game and at some golf courses determine whether you could just play on a weekday only or including a weekend. It can also help you to get some extra helpings in the money stake getting strokes from players with lower handicap. 


It is a gauge of one's ability around a golf course. A person with a handicap of say 18 is not going to play 18 (or a score of 90) all the time and in all likelihood, he/she is going to do it with higher scores posted, sometimes lower than 18 and averaging 18. It basically allows golfers of various abilities to compete on an equal footing.

Course & Slope Rating

The USGA has a system that requires Course and Slope rating to determine scores. It can be used from course to course but firstly courses has to be course and slope rated before the sytem could work. In some countries, courses are not course or slope-rated. In Singapore, all courses were USGA-rated.

A course rating of say 72 means a scratch golfer (zero handicap) will post an average score of 72 from the tee box. Slope-rating is the difference in course-rating between a bogey and a scratch golfer. The average slope rating is deemed to be 113 with 55 being the easiest and 155 being the hardest.

Calculation

According to the rules, a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 20 scores are required for your handicap calculation. The course and slope ratings are then factored in for the differential for the rounds and calculated as - (Score - Course-Rating) x 113 / Slope-Rating.

If the course rating is 72 with a slope rating of 130 and you managed a score of 90, the differential for the round would be:

(90 - 72) x 113 / 130 = 15.6

It depends on how many of your scores are being submitted but the most recent 20 scores are a good guide with the 10 lowest diferentials. An average is then obtained by adding them and dividing by 10 with the result multiplied by 0.96 round up to one decimal point and that becomes your "Handicap Index".

If the sum of your 10 lowest differentials is 180.88 then your USGA handicap index is: (180.88 /10) x 0.96 = 17.3

I read that the reason why the performance factor of 0.96 is used was to adjust the average differential of your lowest scores is because it gives a slight advantage to the better golfer when the handicap is used for competing purpose which is added incentive for golfers to aim for lower handicaps.

Good luck and happy golfing!

I hope to find some time to share with you about golf equipments. New equipments these days are loaded ith technology to help you hit further, straighter, with more consistencies and for your greater enjoyment. Anything more then 2-3 years old in your bag is passe.

Trust me, you will improve with better and more suitable equipment and at the same time enjoy your game more.


Golf as in life, play as it lies!