Handicaps
How the World Handicap System works
By Caddyio · Updated
The World Handicap System (WHS) gives every golfer one portable number — a Handicap Index — that travels between courses and countries. At each course it's converted into the strokes you actually receive, adjusted for how hard that course plays. There are really three handicaps, and keeping them straight is the whole game.
Handicap Index
Your portable, decimal number (e.g. 12.4), calculated from the best 8 of your last 20 score differentials. The maximum is 54.0. Because it uses your best recent rounds, it can move up or down faster than the old system, with a built-in “soft cap” and “hard cap” to limit sharp rises.
Course Handicap
The strokes you receive at a specific course from specific tees. Since the April 2024 revision the formula is:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index × (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − Par)
The Slope Rating measures how hard the course is for a bogey golfer (113 is average); the Course Rating is the score a scratch golfer is expected to shoot. The (Course Rating − Par) part was added in 2024 to bring Great Britain & Ireland into line with the rest of the world.
Playing Handicap
For competitions only, your Course Handicap is multiplied by a handicap allowance for the format (e.g. 95% for singles). This is the number you actually use on the day.
Submitting scores
Both competition and general-play rounds can count, provided they're submitted correctly and on time (competition scores by midnight on the day of play). Nine-hole scores now scale up to 18 using an “Expected Score” method.
Frequently asked
- What is a good golf handicap?
- The average men's index sits in the mid-teens and women's a little higher; single figures (under 10) is genuinely strong, and anything under 5 is very good.
- What's the maximum handicap?
- Handicap Index is capped at 54.0, though your Course Handicap can be higher on a very difficult course.
- Why did my Handicap Index change when I didn't play?
- It can shift as older rounds drop out of your last-20 record, changing which eight count.
With Caddyio, live scoring keeps every round in a member's WHS history and applies the current formulas automatically.