The USGA Handicap System Explained

My home club – The Poona Club Golf Course – recently implemented a USGA Handicap system. The newly published handicaps have caused a lot of chatter around the clubhouse, and I have heard several cries of anguish over what is going on. I think most of the commotion is due to the lack of complete understanding of how this system works.

The USGA system is published through a manual that has 17 sections and 8 appendices. It is a fairly elaborate manual that can be confusing due to its back and forth nature. A link to the USGA manual is provided at the end of this article. In this article, I will attempt to provide a simple, easy to understand explanation of the system.

The Handicap system is governed by the following guiding principles.

The system measures a player's potential ability, not his/her average ability. What this means is that the system picks up the best scores from the available ones. I have found this to be one of the biggest sources of confusion for the golfers. The following table shows how many scores are picked up for the handicap calculation.
Available scores - To be used

5 or 6 - Lowest 1

7 or 8 - Lowest 2

9 or 10 - Lowest 3

11 or 12 - Lowest 4

13 or 14 - Lowest 5

15 or 16 - Lowest 6

17 - Lowest 7

18 - Lowest 8

19 - Lowest 9

20 - Lowest 10

Exceptional tournament scores (minimum 2 should be available) will reduce a player's handicap based on a USGA table. The reduction in handicap is based on the number of available tournament scores and how much the average of the best two scores is lower than the current handicap index. For example, if a player has two tournament scores that average 6 under their handicap index, the reduction will be 4.1.

The system assumes that each player will try to make the best score at every hole in every round, regardless of where the round is played, and that the player will post every acceptable round for peer review. The player and the player's Handicap committee have joint responsibility for adhering to these premises

DEFINITIONS The following terms are used in the calculation of the handicap.

Adjusted Gross Score: is a player's score for a round after accounting for unfinished holes, holes not played etc.

USGA Course Rating: is the USGA's mark that indicates the evaluation of the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer under normal course and weather conditions. It is expressed as strokes taken to one decimal place, and is based on yardage and other obstacles to the extent that they affect the scoring ability of a scratch golfer. The Course Rating for Poona Club Golf Course is 73.5.

Slope Rating: is the USGA's mark that indicates the measurement of the relative difficulty of a course for players who are not scratch golfers. The lowest Slope Rating is 55 and the highest is 155. A golf course of standard playing difficulty has a Slope Rating of 113. Poona Club Golf Course has a slope rating of 128. This means that Poona Club Golf Course is more difficult than average.

STEPS
Calculate the Handicap Differential for each score in the player's scoring record. Subtract the USGA Course Rating from the score, and adjust for the slope rating of the course.
Handicap Differential = (Adjusted Gross Score – USGA Course Rating) X 113 /Slope Rating

Take the required number of Handicap Differentials from the scoring record as shown in the table at the beginning. For example if 10 acceptable scores are available, take the lowest 3 handicap differentials. Average the selected handicap differentials

Multiply the average in Step 2 by 0.96. This is the Bonus for Excellence which is the incentive for players to improve their golf games that is built into the Handicap System. It is the term used to describe the small percentage below perfect equity that is used to calculate the handicap index

Truncate all the digits after tenths. For example 24.489 becomes 24.4. This is the Handicap Index of the player.

In case Exceptional Tournament Scores are available, reduce the Handicap Index based on the tournament scores.

Compute the Course Handicap by re-adjusting the Handicap Index in step 5 for the Slope Rating of the Course.
Course Handicap = Handicap Index X Slope Rating / 113

SUMMARY Your handicap index is independent of the course you are playing, while your Course Handicap is based on the degree of difficulty of the particular course for a bogey-golfer. For example if you want to know what your Course Handicap should be at Aamby Valley, get the slope rating for Aamby Valley and compute your Course Handicap in the manner shown above in step 6 using your handicap index from your home course. The more difficult the course, the higher your Course Handicap will be. REFERENCE The USGA Handicap System Manual at http://www.usga.org/playing/handicaps/manual/handicap_system_manual.html

Golf Anyone?

It is 5:35 AM on a damp monsoon morning in Pune and the crack of dawn is still 10-15 minutes away. The light drizzle outside might either stop or turn into something nastier in the next hour. Either way, I am going to drive 20 minutes to the golf course and play, unless they shut the course down. I have been out of my bed for about 35 minutes, already in my golf gear, waiting for my friend and playing partner Parag to arrive for a cup of tea. I am sipping my tea, thinking about the tee-shot I should hit on my first hole, the par-4 number 10. In my mind I am debating whether today is a good day to hit a 3-wood to the corner of the dogleg, which will put me in a position to hit a wedge to the green. Alternatively I might hit a mid-iron off the tee and go for the green only on my third shot. That will keep me out of the trees and deep rough on the left and right. My decision will depend on the current state of my game, or more precisely the current state of my mind about my game, which varies widely day to day.This is my typical morning three times a week.

I have been playing golf regularly for about 21 months now, and the game is in constant battle with my family for the number one spot on my priority list!

I played golf a total of 3 times in the late 90’s when I used to live in Utah, USA. I have been a decent sportsman all my life and therefore assumed that golf would be an easy sport. After all how hard can it be to whack a stationary ball a few hundred yards? I had watched golf on TV, and it didn’t seem like a big deal. Well, I made a 113 (on 9 holes) with mulligans on my third outing. It wouldn’t have been too bad, except I had Terry, a 7-handicapper playing alongside me. Terry was kind and patient, and appreciated the one or two halfway decent shots I hit that day. I never played again until late 2006, when a friend invited me to play 9 holes at the Poona Club Golf Course in Pune, India. I have not stopped since.

My game has come a long way since that summer morning in Utah in 1998, but it has not been without the trials and tribulations that are a necessary part of golf. As for my game, I currently play to a handicap of 24. My goal is to get to 18 soon. There are days when I play like I am almost there, and then there are days when I want to give up the game. It is a delicious struggle!