{"id":567,"date":"2017-06-16T10:31:03","date_gmt":"2017-06-16T10:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/budperkinsgolf.com\/?p=567"},"modified":"2021-04-21T11:08:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-21T11:08:24","slug":"golf-handicap-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buzzingolf.com\/golf-for-beginners\/golf-handicap-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf handicap explained – understanding handicaps for beginners"},"content":{"rendered":"
Do you want the golf handicap system explained in as simple a manner as possible? Here’s our guide to understanding golf handicaps for beginners…<\/strong><\/p>\n If you’re just starting off in the sport of golf, you’ll quickly come to understand that the game very rarely makes accommodations for the struggling newbie.<\/p>\n In baseball, you start off hitting from a tee, in basketball you play on shorter hoops and smaller courts, and even in bowling, you have bumpers. In golf, you’re more or less playing under the same conditions as the scratch player.<\/p>\n The one great equalizer in this otherwise unforgiving sport is the golf handicap system. The system allows beginners to competitively play against their more experienced friends, and still have a chance to come out on top.<\/p>\n The problem? It’s pretty confusing. So to help you out we’ve assembled this guide to understanding one of the few accommodations the sport of golf makes for its hackers.<\/p>\n The golf handicap system, as developed by the USGA, is designed to allow struggling players to reduce strokes from their score on certain holes.<\/p>\n In other words, if a hole is rated as a par 5 but is known to be rather difficult, the hacker is no longer expected to put the ball in the hole in five shots. Par for the weaker player might be holing out after six or seven shots. This way, the struggling majority of players are not held to the same standards as the game’s elite.<\/p>\n If you’ve ever spent any time in a pro shop after a loop or have even just talked to another golfer for a few minutes, you\u2019ve probably heard one of golf’s most common phrases at least once or twice. “What’s your handicap?”<\/p>\n The question is a golf equivalent of small talk, but it also helps other players to understand how good you are. The lower the handicap the better the player. When golfers have a handicap of 0 they’re considered scratch players.<\/p>\n While it can be a little embarrassing to rattle off a high number when this question comes up, keep in mind that at the end of the day, your handicap is your friend. It’s the thing that will allow you to beat the smirking elite player in a head to head match, so say yours with pride!<\/p>\n To understand how many strokes you should be given throughout the course of a round, you must first attain an official handicap. Which begs the question of how to get a handicap…<\/p>\n You attain your handicap by registering a set of scores with a USGA approved calculating service. Generally, the requirement is a minimum of five rounds before an official score is given.<\/p>\n A very loose estimate of how many strokes your handicap will forgive can be attained simply by subtracting your handicap from your score. If you’re a 15 handicap and you card 100 one day, the adjusted total would come out to around 85.<\/p>\n That said, since golf is never known to be deliberately easy and the USGA itself is particularly prone to complicating things, there is also the course handicap to consider.<\/p>\n To be fair I warned at the start of this that it was complicated. A course handicap factors in slope and course rating (difficult mathematical systems that essentially assign a numeric difficulty to a golf course) and compare that <\/em>number to your handicap.<\/p>\n From that equation, you’ll come to understand exactly how many strokes you’re entitled to on specific holes. Fortunately, while this sounds like a math problem laying in wait, it’s actually no added work for you. For as complicated as the USGA likes to make things, they also provide a free to use course calculator on their website to simplify the process of figuring out your course handicap.<\/p>\nGolf handicap explained<\/h2>\n
So, what is a golf handicap?<\/h3>\n
How many strokes should you be given?<\/h3>\n
How to get a golf handicap<\/h3>\n
Alright, so what is a course handicap then?<\/h3>\n