A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's potential that is used to enable players of varying abilities to compete against one another.
Better players are those with the lowest handicaps. Historically, rules relating to handicaps have varied from country to country with many different systems in force around the world.
Because of incompatibilities and difficulties in translating between systems, the sport's governing bodies, the USGA and The R&A, working with the various existing handicapping authorities, devised a new World Handicap System which began to be introduced globally in 2020.