What is a handicap in golf and how is it calculated?
Monday, March 31st, 2025
What is a handicap and how is it calculated?
Golf is a very popular sport played by approximately over 60 million people across the world. Whether you’re a complete beginner or a seasoned pro, you will have come across the term golf handicap, however it can be a bit of a mystery as to what it is for those of us that aren’t professionals. In this blog answer the highly asked questions of what a golf handicap is, how it’s calculated and if you need one.
What is a golf handicap?
A golf handicap is a numerical score that is a measure of a golfer’s ability. Golf handicaps allow for an even playing field in competitions, where all skill levels can compete against each other taking the handicap into consideration to make the scoring fair.
A golf handicap is a representation of how many strokes above or below the course par the golfer is expected to play. A higher score equates to being able to subtract more strokes from the final score to calculate the net score, a lower score demonstrates a more skilled golfer who’d be expected to have a lower net score.
