The World Handicap System is almost upon us here in the UK and Ireland, and there are a few key terms that you will come into contact with along the way.
The first is Handicap Index, which will be your handicap, decided from the eight best scores from your last 20 rounds.
Related: Have you got your Handicap Index yet? England Golf website goes live
However, just because your Handicap Index is 'X', that doesn't necessarily mean that you receive 'X' amount of shots when you play.
The number of shots you receive in each round will be decided by your Course Handicap.
To get your Course Handicap, you must look at the conversion table on the 1st tee of each golf course you tee it up on.
It will be your Handicap Index multiplied by the course's Slope Rating divided by 113 - you don't need to remember this as there will be an easy converter document on the 1st tee.
The formula is - Handicap Index X (Slope Rating ÷ 113) = Course Handicap
What is Slope Rating?
The course's Slope Rating indicates the difficulty of a golf course for a ‘bogey’ golfer (20 handicapper for a man, 24 for a woman) relative to a scratch player.
So essentially, the difference in difficulty of the course between a scratch and bogey player make up the Slope Rating.
England Golf describes it as:
The course rating indicates the number of strokes the scratch golfer is expected to take from a set of tees under normal playing conditions.
The course is also rated for a ‘bogey’ golfer and it is the relationship between the two ratings which indicates the slope rating.
Each course will have differing Slope Ratings from each sets of tees.
The Slope Rating of a golf course can range from 55-155.
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