Course handicap calculator, with playing handicap by format

The first part scales your index to how much harder these tees play than a course of standard difficulty; the second adds the difference between the tees’ Course Rating and par. Where a rounded figure is needed, the result is rounded to the nearest whole number with .5 rounded up — but when an allowance follows, the USGA keeps the unrounded value and rounds only once, at the end.

Example: a Handicap Index of 16.9 on tees rated 71.5 / 128 with a par of 72 gives 16.9 × (128 ÷ 113) + (71.5 − 72) = 18.643, a course handicap of 19.

The allowance depends on the format. These are the USGA’s recommendations for formats in which each player keeps their own handicap; a committee can set others, and team formats that combine two players’ handicaps use different calculations. Applied to the example above:

In match play, after the allowance the lowest playing handicap plays off zero and everyone else receives the difference. For a plus handicap, the allowance moves the playing handicap toward zero, rounding included.

• 9-hole course handicaps and 18-hole rounds played over the same nine holes, which use their own formulas.
• Team formats such as foursomes, greensomes and scrambles, whose allowances combine more than one player’s handicap.
• Allowance changes a committee makes for field size or make-up.

To work out the index itself, use the Handicap Index calculator; for what a handicap does and does not say about your golf, read golf handicaps for beginners.