Course Handicap Calculator
Turns your Handicap Index into the number of strokes you actually get on the course you are playing today.
55 to 155. Average is 113.
Your Course Handicap
15
Unrounded: 15.1. You get 15 strokes on this course and set of tees.
Index and Course Handicap Are Not the Same Number
This trips up more golfers than anything else in the handicap system. Your Handicap Index is portable. It is one number that describes your ability, and it does not change when you drive to a different course.
Your Course Handicap is what that index becomes on one course, from one set of tees, today. A 12.0 index is a 13 on a gentle municipal track and a 16 from the tips at somewhere genuinely hard. Same golfer, same ability, different number of strokes, because the courses are not equally difficult.
The Formula
Slope Rating measures how much harder the course plays for a bogey golfer than for a scratch golfer. It runs from 55 to 155 and the average is 113, which is exactly why 113 sits in the formula. A slope above 113 means you get more strokes than your index, below 113 means fewer.
Course Rating minus Par is the piece most people forget. It accounts for courses that are simply harder or easier than their par suggests. On a par 72 rated 74.5, that term adds 2.5 strokes on its own, before slope does anything at all.
A Worked Example
You play off 14.2. Today you are on the blue tees: slope 125, course rating 71.4, par 72.
- 1. Slope part: 14.2 × (125 ÷ 113) = 15.71
- 2. Rating part: 71.4 − 72 = −0.6
- 3. Add them: 15.71 − 0.6 = 15.11
- 4. Round to the nearest whole number: 15 strokes
Note the course rating is below par here, so it takes a stroke back off. On a course rated above par it would add one.
Quick Reference Chart
Course handicap by index and slope, assuming course rating equals par. Use the calculator above for the exact number when the rating differs.
| Handicap Index | Slope 105 | Slope 113 | Slope 125 | Slope 135 | Slope 145 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| 10.0 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
| 15.0 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20.0 | 19 | 20 | 22 | 24 | 26 |
| 25.0 | 23 | 25 | 28 | 30 | 32 |
| 30.0 | 28 | 30 | 33 | 36 | 38 |
Stop Doing This Maths on the First Tee
Golf Scorecard works out your course handicap and your net score while you play. Set the tees once and it handles the rest. Free on iOS.
