Handicaps and scoring, without the fog

A Course Handicap™ is your Handicap Index® translated to the tees you are playing today: index times the Slope Rating™ divided by 113, plus the difference between the Course Rating™ and par, rounded to a whole number. It is the number of strokes the course gives you before any format allowance.

Also called Course handicap calculation, Handicap for the course you are playing.

Your gross score is the strokes you actually took. Your net score is that number minus the handicap strokes you received. Gross decides who played best on the day; net decides who played best relative to their ability, which is the only way golfers of different standards can compete.

Also called Net score, Gross score, Net scoring.

A Handicap Index® is a measure of your demonstrated ability, carried between courses. Under the World Handicap System™ it is the average of the best 8 Score Differentials™ in your most recent 20 rounds, and it means nothing until it is converted to a Course Handicap™ for the tees you are playing.

Also called Golf handicap, WHS index, Handicap number.

A Playing Handicap™ is your Course Handicap™ after the format's allowance has been applied, rounded to a whole number. It is the last number in the chain and the one that actually puts strokes on your card. Four-ball at 85% turns a Course Handicap™ of 20 into 17 strokes.

Also called Handicap allowance, Strokes received, Competition handicap.

A Score Differential™ measures one round against the difficulty of the tees played: 113 divided by the Slope Rating™, multiplied by your adjusted gross minus the Course Rating™. Your Handicap Index® is the average of the best 8 differentials in your last 20 rounds.

Also called Handicap differential, Round differential.

The stroke index ranks the eighteen holes from 1, the hardest, to 18, the easiest, and decides where your handicap strokes fall. A Playing Handicap™ of 12 gets one stroke on stroke index 1 through 12. Above 18 the allocation wraps: every hole takes one stroke before any hole takes a second.

Also called Stroke allocation, Handicap holes, Where my shots fall.

A club can cap the Course Handicap™ any player receives in its competitions. The cap is applied to the Course Handicap™ before the format allowance, which is the only order in which it actually binds. Plus handicaps are never capped.

Also called Handicap limit, Maximum handicap, Handicap cap.

When a field plays from different tees, the Course Handicap™ already accounts for most of the difference because it contains the Course Rating™. What it does not carry is a difference in par between the tees, so an adjustment adds the rounded par difference and nothing else.

Also called Playing different tees, Rule 6.2b, Multi-tee competition.

Net double bogey is the most any hole can count for handicap: par, plus two, plus the strokes you receive there. It is why you can pick up on a disaster hole without wrecking your card, and it is one of three cap rules a Parful outing can run.

Also called Maximum hole score, Picking up, Hole cap.

A nine-hole round takes half the strokes: a Playing Handicap™ of 12 receives one stroke on the six lowest stroke indexes of that nine, wrapping the same way an eighteen-hole allocation does. Parful scores nine holes completely, and does not yet post them for handicap.

Also called Nine hole golf, 9 hole competition, Twilight round.

In most formats every golfer plays their own tee and their handicap is computed for it. In formats where a side plays one ball there is no such thing as an individual tee, so the committee designates one for the side and every handicap in it is computed from that tee.

Also called Which tee to play, Tee selection, Designated tee.

A plus handicap belongs to a golfer who is better than scratch. It is written with a plus sign, as in +2.4, and it works in reverse: instead of receiving strokes the player gives them back, adding a stroke to their score on the hardest holes first.

Also called Plus handicap golfer, Scratch and better, Negative handicap.

A handicap freeze is a snapshot of every entrant's Handicap Index® taken at a moment the committee chooses, after which the frozen values are used for the whole competition regardless of how the live indexes move. It keeps the strokes between two players fixed from the first match to the final.

Also called Frozen handicaps, Freezing handicaps for a competition, Handicap lock for a knockout.

A per-outing handicap adjustment is an organizer's overlay on one player's Handicap Index® for one outing or event: a percentage (for example 90%) or a points offset (for example minus 2). It is applied before the Course Handicap™ is worked out, held between +10 and 54, recorded with a reason, and never changes the player's source index.

Also called Handicap adjustment for one event, Winner's allowance, Docking a handicap.

A team handicap is the single number a side plays off when it keeps one card. It is built from the players' Course Handicaps in one of three ways: a weighted split of the players in handicap order (scramble, greensomes, chapman), a percentage of the combined total (foursomes), or a percentage of each player separately (four-ball).

Also called How a team handicap is calculated, Combined handicap for pairs, Side handicap.

A member's Handicap Index® on a Parful club roster is linked, meaning a handicap ID is on file and network sync can refresh it when the club turns sync on, or manual, meaning it is whatever the club last entered. Every change records its source (sync, CSV import, manual edit or wizard), a revision and an audit entry.

Also called Handicap sources, Handicap provenance, Linked and manual handicaps.

An adjusted gross score is the score used for handicap purposes after every hole has been capped at net double bogey and any unplayed or unfinished holes have been given their handicap value. It is the number that goes into the Score Differential™, and it can be lower than the gross on the card but never higher.

Also called Adjusted gross, AGS golf, Score posted for handicap.

Callaway, Peoria and System 36 are one-day handicap systems for players with no Handicap Index®, each worked out from the round just played. Callaway deducts the worst holes by a table, Peoria triples six secret holes and takes 80% of the excess over par, and System 36 subtracts points earned from 36.

Also called Callaway system, Callaway handicap, Peoria system.

Equitable Stroke Control was the USGA® rule, in force until 2020, that capped the score a player could post on any hole for handicap at a limit set by their Course Handicap™ band, from double bogey for the lowest handicaps up to 10 for the highest. The World Handicap System™ replaced it with net double bogey.

Also called ESC, ESC golf, Equitable Stroke Control table.