How To Calculate Your Golf Handicap                          Step 1: Handicap Calculation For Your Golf Score
A maximum of 20 golf scores and a minimum of five golf scores is required to get started with an official golf handicap. For each score, the USGA Course Rating and Slope Rating for the courses played are also required. Using those figures, calculate the handicap differential for each round entered using the below formula:

(Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating

For example purposes, let's say the score is 90, the course rating 70.4, the slope 131. The formula would be (90 - 70.4) x 113 / 131.

This differential is calculated for each round entered.

Step 2: Handicap Calculation For Your Golf Score

Figure out how many differentials are being used. Not every differential that results from Step 1 will be used in the next step. If only five rounds are entered, only the lowest differential will be used. If 20 rounds are entered, only the 10 lowest differentials are used. A chart at the bottom of this page shows how many differentials are used based on the number of rounds entered.

Step 3: Handicap Calculation For Your Golf Score
Get an average of the differentials used by adding them together and dividing by the number used (i.e., if five differentials are used, add them up and divide by five).

Multiply the result by .96 (96-percent). Drop all the digits after the tenths (do not round off) and the result is handicap index.

Most golf clubs will calculate this automatically for you for a small fee. Also, I have this handicap formula in a Excel spreadsheet. Feel free to email us if you want a copy of the spreadsheet.

Chart of Differentials: