Golf handicap calculator

1. 1

   Each round becomes a Score Differential

   (113 ÷ Slope Rating) × (adjusted gross score − Course Rating − PCC), rounded to the tenth. Adjusted means a hole never counts more than net double bogey. PCC is the day's playing-conditions adjustment, −1 to +3, usually 0.

2. 2

   The lowest 8 of your most recent 20 are averaged

   That is your Handicap Index, to the tenth. It measures what you shoot on a good day, not your average: a bad round only matters if it pushes a good one out of the window.

3. 3

   With fewer than 20 rounds, a table says how many count

   3 rounds: the lowest one minus 2.0. 4: the lowest minus 1.0. 5: the lowest. 6: the two lowest, minus 1.0. 7–8: the two lowest. 9–11: three. 12–14: four. 15–16: five. 17–18: six. 19: seven. From 20 on, eight.

4. 4

   Your federation adds the safeguards

   A soft cap slows the Index above +3.0 over your Low Handicap Index of the last year and a hard cap stops it at +5.0; a round 7.0 or more under your Index reduces it. The calculator shows the arithmetic before those.

The Index is yours; the Course Handicap is what it is worth on the tee you play today: Index × (Slope ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − par), rounded to a whole number. A Slope of 113 is standard difficulty, so a harder tee gives more strokes, and the (Course Rating − par) term makes the number relative to par, not to the rating.

The Playing Handicap is the Course Handicap times the format’s allowance, which keeps net competitions fair across handicaps. The recommended allowances (Appendix C):

Allowances are applied to the unrounded Course Handicap, then rounded. A competition can set its own; the card or the terms of the competition say so.

You shoot 95 (adjusted) from a tee rated 72.3 with Slope 131, PCC 0. Differential: (113 ÷ 131) × (95 − 72.3) = 0.8626 × 22.7 = 19.6. Do that for your last 20 rounds, average the lowest 8 and you have, say, 18.4. On that same tee, par 72: 18.4 × (131 ÷ 113) + (72.3 − 72) = 21.63 → Course Handicap 22. In a Stableford, 21.63 × 0.95 = 20.5 → Playing Handicap 21: one stroke on every hole and a second one on stroke index 1 to 3.

A handicap tells you where you are, not what to fix. Morris looks for the one thing: the hole type that costs you most, the club you avoid, the swing fault behind the ball flight. The free swing analyzer finds one cause on video; on WhatsApp he keeps your rounds, your Index and the next thing to work on, and tells you when a round would move it.