The United States Golf Association is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules of golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system f…
World Handicap System
How to Calculate the Golf Handicap
What Is Considered a Mid-Handicap for a Golfer?
The United States Golf Teachers Federation USGTF defines handicap as "a measure of his current ability over an entire round of golf, signified by a number. The lower the number, the better the golfer is." A handicap essentially signifies how many strokes above or below par a golfer should be able to play.
A 3 handicap in golf is an excellent skill level and would put you in the top echelons of golfers worldwide as you would be able to consistently shoot three over par or better. While not at the professional level, playing off a 3 handicap will set you as a player of commensurate skill in the game.
The handicap is an allowance of shots per round, based on a player's ability. Handicaps start at 28 for men and 36 for women and the better the player, the lower their handicap. At the end of a round each player adds up their total number of shots and deducts their handicap to get their net score.
If a golfer has a handicap between 10 and 18, she is a skilled player with a moderate handicap. Basically, a handicap of 10 means the player consistently shoots 10 strokes higher than the difficulty rating of the courses she plays regularly.
Course and tournament scores If a course has a par of 72 and a golfer takes 75 strokes to complete the course, the reported score is +3, or "three-over-par" and takes three shots more than par to complete the course. If a golfer takes 70 strokes, the reported score is −2, or "two-under-par".
Tiger Woods has the lowest handicap of any tour pro. Technically, Tiger Woods hasn't had an official handicap since he was 20 and playing off +8.
Now that you have your handicap, you can use it to calculate your net score next time you go golfing. To do this, you need to find your course handicap, which is your handicap multiplied by the course's slope rating then divided by 113. Then, your net score is simply your score minus your course handicap.
In simple terms, a high handicap golfer plays off of a 19 and above. It is the broadest range of handicaps, as it covers golfers playing off anything up to 54.
The lower the handicap, the better the golfer; and the higher the handicap, the worse the golfer. If you have a high handicap, you need more than the suggested number of strokes (par) to finish the golf course. Scratch golfers have a handicap of zero.
If you goal is to break 100, then a good golf handicap could be a 20. But if you're trying to become a scratch golfer, a 20 handicap is quite a ways from zero. In general, if you can break 90, that is a good standard of golf.
When a 10-handicapper describes a course as "a tough test," he generally is referring to a layout with a Course Rating of 72.0 or higher. On a course with a 72.0 rating, a 10-handicapper will score, on average, 82 to 88.
According to data from the National Golf Foundation, only 26 percent of all golfers shoot below 90 consistently on regulation 18-hole courses; 45 percent of all golfers average more than 100 strokes per round.”