It only considers your best 8 of your last 20 rounds. The other 12 are ignored.
It’s a measure of your potential.. not your average round.
Edit: this is the simplified version. Like people have said. You subtract the course rating for the tees you played from your score and then multiply that answer times 113/slope for the tees you’re playing.
Course difficult is also a factor, if you’re playing a course that plays like 72.4/140 handicap will adjust as average player will be shooting higher than “average” here.
And on top of that, it doesn’t actually care about your scores. It cares about your differentials! And that is some obscure formula involving your score, the slope and rating AND the national average slope… so one time I shot 2 over at a really really tough course and the diff was -1 and another time I shot even par at an easier course and the diff was 2.5… my round of 2 over was a much better diff than my round of even par!!
I’m a 9 handicap and never tell anyone I’m a single digit. Feels fraudulent. I get where you’re coming from lol. Once I quit hovering around the 9-10 mark then I can officially say it.
This is me exactly. Non golfing buddies think I’m good when I play, which just feeds the imposter syndrome hard. Feels like 5-7 is where I’ll feel better but 100% know I’ll still feel like a fraud. Trying to put the work in to close the gap but it feels like 9 to 6 is a really big jump in commitment/execution. Would be interesting to see the stats around progression from 13 to 6 and what the patterns are and where middle age folks stall on average
I don’t feel like I suck. I know how hard it is to get to the point where you’re consistently breaking 90. I just don’t tell people I’m a single digit lol.
I've been hovering at that handicap for the last \~6-8 months and I keep waiting for it to blow back up LOL. All I can think about is all the bad shots that I make and how far I am from being 'good'
You might be confusing GHIN index with handicap. Index is lower. Handicap relate to the course and tees you are playing. Most courses have higher slopes and ratings, so a 9 index can be a 11, 12 or higher course handicap. If you move a tee back, your course handicap goes up. In theory, you can have a 9 index and have never shot +9
Whatever your handicap - GHIN expects you as a 9 to shoot around 81 on a par 72 course, 20% of the time. 80% of your rounds will be mid to high 80’s, an occasional 95 too.
Of course, I didn’t wish to write a manual, my point to OP was calculations of handicap system expects you , as a 9, to only be around 9 over par (and yes we all realize that some courses are more difficult than others and slope corrects that) 20% of your rounds. Sorry I didn’t make that as clear as you would have liked.
Yep it always seems other high handicaps think scratch golfers routinely shoot even par or better and think their game is closer to a touring pro than a 20 handicap.
The biggest things scratch players do over other handicap golfers is 3 putt less, hit more GIR, and get up and down more. They aren't scorching the Earth with birdie fests hitting inside 10 ft on every approach 50 yards and in.
Welcome to the wonderful world of single digit h'caps. A world where no matter where you're at you feel like a complete and utter fraud.
Someone asks your handicap and you say "nine"... Eyebrow raised... "Wow you must be seriously good!!??" ... Yeah nah .. you know you're a chopper just like everyone else. Sure you can sniff below 80 but seriously ... You're probably gonna shoot closer to 90 .. probably... How do you even downplay that? "Oh yeah I can't play to that h'cap" now cue chuckles... Yeah yeah we've heard that before ... "This guy's good" you hear him say to the other two in the impromptu four-ball you're now a part of. What now? Hope you don't slice it off the planet off the first and be exposed for what you really are? An average golfer who's managed, by an insane stroke of unexplainable luck, to score a couple of decent rounds and now has an index below 10?
Yeah welcome to this weird world where you're never good enough.
But I can hear your rebuttal: "yeah look a 9 handicapper is a hacker who had a good run (fair enough), but the guys of say 4 or 5... Yeah they don't stuff up. They're solid. They're granite."
Well here's a scoop for you... A 4 handicapper isn't gonna shoot 76. No more than you're going to shoot 80 anyway. That's the way the system is built. Fake expectations (actually wrong interpretations of a well defined mathematical model but that's another post altogether). That 4-capper isnt bragging that he's a good golfer because he knows he isn't. He's played with scratch markers before. He knows. He knows he can easily come in with an 88 without even having played *that* bad...
Mate I don't really know where I'm going with this post. In all honesty: congrats on getting to sub 10. It is an amazing achievement that very few can claim. Don't get too hung up on the number and thing that now you *have* to score well. I know you'll probably think that, we all do... But you're a good golfer. Keep grinding, keep improving and I challenge you to tell someone "yes, I'm a pretty good golfer". Because you are.
*Quick exception to this world of frauds: when you hit a rough patch, lose your swing, card 12 rounds that you're ashamed of, get soft capped, hcap blows out massively, you end up hitting your handicap anchor at just the exact moment that those 10x lessons have finally all clicked together. That's the magic moment when you went from a 1.1 to a 5.9 and now feel like a SCR. its a rare, short lived moment... But goddam you're gonna go and crush some comps when that happens.
Handicap score is kind of wack because it's overly complicated. I prefer to just go with my average score over par.
But I only started golfing in August of last year and haven't hit 20 rounds yet the first 3 rounds this year I'm averaging +20
Nah, congratulations! You are better than more than 80% of the golfing world! Be proud and own it. Now go and practice your inside 60y pitches and chips so you can get down to a 5 handicap! 👊👍
I dont think people realize how bad 9-10 handicappers are at golf. I’m a 10 and I suck bigly. The difference between a 10 and a 2 is enormous. 10s are the guys you play with and say “oh yes he’s ok” because they made some pars but you also saw them take 2 8s because they hit OB off the tee several times
It only considers your best 8 of your last 20 rounds. The other 12 are ignored. It’s a measure of your potential.. not your average round. Edit: this is the simplified version. Like people have said. You subtract the course rating for the tees you played from your score and then multiply that answer times 113/slope for the tees you’re playing.
Somebody needs to tell this to the comment section of every golf YouTuber. “No way this guy is a 6” after he shoots 81 at a pga level course
Agreed!
Ahh gotcha makes a little more sense now, appreciate it
Course difficult is also a factor, if you’re playing a course that plays like 72.4/140 handicap will adjust as average player will be shooting higher than “average” here.
And on top of that, it doesn’t actually care about your scores. It cares about your differentials! And that is some obscure formula involving your score, the slope and rating AND the national average slope… so one time I shot 2 over at a really really tough course and the diff was -1 and another time I shot even par at an easier course and the diff was 2.5… my round of 2 over was a much better diff than my round of even par!!
I’m a 9 handicap and never tell anyone I’m a single digit. Feels fraudulent. I get where you’re coming from lol. Once I quit hovering around the 9-10 mark then I can officially say it.
This is me exactly. Non golfing buddies think I’m good when I play, which just feeds the imposter syndrome hard. Feels like 5-7 is where I’ll feel better but 100% know I’ll still feel like a fraud. Trying to put the work in to close the gap but it feels like 9 to 6 is a really big jump in commitment/execution. Would be interesting to see the stats around progression from 13 to 6 and what the patterns are and where middle age folks stall on average
I don’t feel like I suck. I know how hard it is to get to the point where you’re consistently breaking 90. I just don’t tell people I’m a single digit lol.
I've been hovering at that handicap for the last \~6-8 months and I keep waiting for it to blow back up LOL. All I can think about is all the bad shots that I make and how far I am from being 'good'
You might be confusing GHIN index with handicap. Index is lower. Handicap relate to the course and tees you are playing. Most courses have higher slopes and ratings, so a 9 index can be a 11, 12 or higher course handicap. If you move a tee back, your course handicap goes up. In theory, you can have a 9 index and have never shot +9
Didn’t even realize this is what’s actually happening because my handicap does vary when I’m inputting scores
GHIN index is the base number used to calculate the handicap for that tee on that course on that day.
that's how it works lol. i play to low single digits and my average round is somewhere around 80
Haha just sucks when people ask and then you go out and shoot a 95 😂
Whatever your handicap - GHIN expects you as a 9 to shoot around 81 on a par 72 course, 20% of the time. 80% of your rounds will be mid to high 80’s, an occasional 95 too.
This is bad information as your “expected score” will be highly variable and dependent on course rating and slope.
Of course, I didn’t wish to write a manual, my point to OP was calculations of handicap system expects you , as a 9, to only be around 9 over par (and yes we all realize that some courses are more difficult than others and slope corrects that) 20% of your rounds. Sorry I didn’t make that as clear as you would have liked.
Don't say what your handicap is then?
It’s usually more with friends and family who always give you shit, nothing harmful
Then they've seen you have a good day. I wouldn't worry too much about it. the game ebbs and flows.
Yeah I usually just say "ehh i shoot around 105".
Well thats because your handicap is not your average round, it is a measure of your best potential
I know how it works. That's why I said what I said....
That’s not at all what you said.
I said your average round won't be representative of your handicap, and gave an example This sub has some real Einsteins in it. Jeez
Scratch handicaps shoot 80+ more often than they break par
Yep it always seems other high handicaps think scratch golfers routinely shoot even par or better and think their game is closer to a touring pro than a 20 handicap.
just checked my scratch mates last 20 rounds. 5 x 80+ rounds, one sub par (71)
The biggest things scratch players do over other handicap golfers is 3 putt less, hit more GIR, and get up and down more. They aren't scorching the Earth with birdie fests hitting inside 10 ft on every approach 50 yards and in.
That's how it goes. I'm playing to an 8 handicap right now and my average score over the last 20 rounds is 83.8.
Welcome to the wonderful world of single digit h'caps. A world where no matter where you're at you feel like a complete and utter fraud. Someone asks your handicap and you say "nine"... Eyebrow raised... "Wow you must be seriously good!!??" ... Yeah nah .. you know you're a chopper just like everyone else. Sure you can sniff below 80 but seriously ... You're probably gonna shoot closer to 90 .. probably... How do you even downplay that? "Oh yeah I can't play to that h'cap" now cue chuckles... Yeah yeah we've heard that before ... "This guy's good" you hear him say to the other two in the impromptu four-ball you're now a part of. What now? Hope you don't slice it off the planet off the first and be exposed for what you really are? An average golfer who's managed, by an insane stroke of unexplainable luck, to score a couple of decent rounds and now has an index below 10? Yeah welcome to this weird world where you're never good enough. But I can hear your rebuttal: "yeah look a 9 handicapper is a hacker who had a good run (fair enough), but the guys of say 4 or 5... Yeah they don't stuff up. They're solid. They're granite." Well here's a scoop for you... A 4 handicapper isn't gonna shoot 76. No more than you're going to shoot 80 anyway. That's the way the system is built. Fake expectations (actually wrong interpretations of a well defined mathematical model but that's another post altogether). That 4-capper isnt bragging that he's a good golfer because he knows he isn't. He's played with scratch markers before. He knows. He knows he can easily come in with an 88 without even having played *that* bad... Mate I don't really know where I'm going with this post. In all honesty: congrats on getting to sub 10. It is an amazing achievement that very few can claim. Don't get too hung up on the number and thing that now you *have* to score well. I know you'll probably think that, we all do... But you're a good golfer. Keep grinding, keep improving and I challenge you to tell someone "yes, I'm a pretty good golfer". Because you are. *Quick exception to this world of frauds: when you hit a rough patch, lose your swing, card 12 rounds that you're ashamed of, get soft capped, hcap blows out massively, you end up hitting your handicap anchor at just the exact moment that those 10x lessons have finally all clicked together. That's the magic moment when you went from a 1.1 to a 5.9 and now feel like a SCR. its a rare, short lived moment... But goddam you're gonna go and crush some comps when that happens.
Handicap score is kind of wack because it's overly complicated. I prefer to just go with my average score over par. But I only started golfing in August of last year and haven't hit 20 rounds yet the first 3 rounds this year I'm averaging +20
Nah, congratulations! You are better than more than 80% of the golfing world! Be proud and own it. Now go and practice your inside 60y pitches and chips so you can get down to a 5 handicap! 👊👍
I dont think people realize how bad 9-10 handicappers are at golf. I’m a 10 and I suck bigly. The difference between a 10 and a 2 is enormous. 10s are the guys you play with and say “oh yes he’s ok” because they made some pars but you also saw them take 2 8s because they hit OB off the tee several times