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​Competition Sports, LLC

Handicap Formula

The Competition Sports Scoring Rule is one of the most important assets provided for members. This rule is critical to the proper administration of handicapped events. The following procedure will be followed - Rounds 1 thru 5: Players will use current handicap; if a player's net score totals over par the handicap will be adjusted up .5 points for the next tournament. If a player's net score totals under par  the handicap will be adjusted down .5 points for the next tournament. If a player shoots 5 below net par during this period, the exceptional T-score will be considered invalid and subject to adjustment under the guidelines of the USGA Handicap Formula. The new index will replace the old index. The qualifier will be adjusted to no lower than 5 below net par or the result of the system calculation; whichever is higher. 

Rounds 6 thru 20; if a player's net score totals 8 under par or better the Exceptional T-Score rule is in affect.

After the 5th round the handicap formula will be used to calculate member handicaps.

Step 1 In Handicap Formula: Calculate the Differentials

Using your gross scores, the course ratings and slope ratings, Step 1 is calculating the handicap differential for each round entered using this formula:

(Score - Course Rating) x 113 / Slope Rating

For example, let's say your score is 85, the course rating 72.2, the slope 131. The formula would be:

(85 - 72.2) x 113 / 131 = 11.04

The sum of that calculation is called your "handicap differential." This differential is calculated for each round entered (minimum of five, maximum of 20).

(Note: The number 113 is a constant and represents the slope rating of a golf course of average difficulty.)

Step 2: Determine How Many Differentials To Use

Not every differential that results from Step 1 will be used in the next step. If only five rounds are entered, only the lowest of your five differentials will be used in the following step. If 20 rounds are entered, only the 10 lowest differentials are used. Use this chart to determine how many differentials to use in your handicap calculation.

Number of Differentials Used
The number of rounds you are reporting for handicap purposes determines the number of differentials used in the USGA handicap calculation, as follows:

Step 3: Average Your Differentials

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).

Step 4: Arriving At Your Handicap Index

And the final step is to take the number that results from Step 3 and multiply the result by 0.96 (96-percent). Drop all the digits after the tenths (do not round off) and the result is handicap index.

Or, to combine Steps 3 and 4 into a single formula:

(Sum of differentials / number of differentials) x 0.96

Let's give an example using five differentials. Our differentials worked out to (just making up some numbers for this example) 11.04, 12.33, 9.87, 14.66 and 10.59. So, we add those up, which produces the number 58.49. Since we used five differentials, we divide that number by five, which produces 11.698. And we multiple that number by 0.96, which equals 11.23, and 11.2 is our handicap index.