Your handicap index is based on how far above par your scores were on the best 8 of your most recent 20 scores, adjusted for the difficulty of the course for each round you played. It is a course independent estimate of how well you have been playing recently on your best days.
The score you might expect if you play well will depend on the difficulty of the course and tees from which you are playing. Therefore in a match your handicap index needs to be adjusted for the difficulty of the course and tees you are using; the result is called your course handicap. This is what is used to calculate the number of handicap strokes you will receive in a competition.
Since course handicaps measure how much your best scores are are above par, net scores (scores minus handicap) will be close to par when a player plays well. Thus two players playing well will both have net scores close to par. Tournament prizes based on net scores allow all players to have a chance to win. Handicaps are required for most Men’s Group tournaments.
Contact Susan Chapski by email at nehoiden@gmail.com.
Handicaps are supervised by GHIN and the Mass Golf Association (MGA).
The 2021 handicap fee is $40. You will be billed on your Nehoiden account, and given a GHIN number. That also makes you a member of MGA, registers Nehoiden as your home course, and allows you to post your scores for handicap using that GHIN number. As of 2021, MGA requires that you have a password to access Mass Golf. (The first time in 2021 that you go to the site, you will be asked your member number, and then asked to set up a password.)
Once you’ve signed up with GHIN, before GHIN will give you a handicap, you need to post scores at GHIN for rounds that total at least 54 holes (e.g. three 18 hole rounds, or six 9 hole rounds, or any combination totaling 54 holes). Post scores at GHIN.com or on the GHIN mobile app.
GHIN handicaps are based on the scores you post on the GHIN or Mass Golf sites (e.g. using the GHIN mobile app.) To serve their purpose, handicaps are based on the assumption that golfers will post scores from every 9 hole or 18 hole round, except for rounds played by yourself. This includes tournament rounds, even if they are match play. (See below).
The maximum hole score you can report for handicap purposes is “net double bogey”, which means double bogey plus your handicap strokes for that hole. If your score on any hole exceeds that maximum, when adding up your score for the round only count the allowed maximum on that hole. The resulting total score is called your “adjusted gross score”. This is the score you should submit to GHIN.
If you’ve become a GHIN member but don’t yet have a handicap, then the maximum for any hole when reporting to GHIN to get a handicap is 5 over par.
If you pick up before holing out (perhaps because your opponent in a match conceded the hole), for handicap purposes you should record your most likely score if you had finished the hole (but not more than the maximum allowed as described above).
If you complete at least 7 of 9 holes, or at least 13 of 18 holes, post the round and report par + handicap strokes as your score for the remaining holes.
Go to GHIN.com or Massgolf.org (or use the GHIN Mobile app), sign in with your GHIN number or password and name. The first time you visit GHIN or Mass Golf in 2021 you will be asked to “create a profile” which means to set up a password. Your starting point is your current GHIN member number.
For the GHIN mobile app: on the home page, click on “handicap calculator”, click on the course and number of holes and choose the tees you will be playing from on the popup menu. It will display your handicap index (H.I.) and course handicap (C.H.)
You also have the option to submit your actual unadjusted scores hole by hole, and then GHIN will calculate for you what your adjusted score is, taking into account the maximum allowed for each hole.
Handicaps for 9 hole rounds: GHIN now calculates your 9 hole course handicaps for each set of tees as well as your 18 hole handicap). That handicap is roughly half the 18 hole handicap, but may differ from that slightly.
You can access handicaps at GHIN.com or on the GHIN mobile app. For reasons discussed in the next section, it will be important to post your scores on the same day your round is played.
MassGolf/GHIN will continue to send you an email with your current handicap index on the 1st and 15th of each month, but that will be slightly out of date as soon as you post new rounds. You can access your current handicap index or course handicap by going to the Mass Golf website, or by using the GHIN app.
GHIN strongly urges you to post your score on the same day the round was played. GHIN will use scores from a course each day to estimate how weather and course conditions have affected scores on that day from that course. It may then adjust scores from that day slightly to take weather and course conditions into account. The adjustment, if any, will be labeled PCC (Playing Conditions Calculation) on your scoring record.
Handicaps are meant to predict the difference between your average score and par (when you are playing well.) However, the relative difficulty of courses (and tees) needs to be taken into account. There are two measures of course difficulty used in handicap calculations.
The course rating of a set of tees on a course is the MGA rating of typical scores expected for a scratch golfer (a golfer with a zero handicap).
The slope is the MGA rating of the difficulty from a particular set of tees for a bogey golfer (roughly, one with a 20 handicap).
Example At Nehoiden for the blue tees the course rating is 69.5 and the slope is 134.
When scores are submitted by a golfer to GHIN, the course rating and slope are used to convert scores to a corresponding score on a typical course (defined to be a course with slope rating 113). This converted score is called the differential for that round.
differential = (score – course rating)*(113/slope).
handicap index = average of best (i.e. lowest) 8 of your last 20 differentials
course handicap = index*(slope/113) + (course rating – par)
The term (course rating – par) is new in the WHS, and has the effect that course handicaps will now reflect how many strokes over par your score has been on your best days. (Before 2020 your course handicap was based on the number of strokes above the course rating your score was on your best days.)
For nine hole course handicaps, divide the index by 2 (temporarily keep results to 2 decimal places) and use the same formula.
Complete details of the new WHS handicap system are in the USGA document Rules of Handicapping.