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I just got my USGA membership renewal packet in the mail today.  Not only did I get my 2010 U.S. Open Pebble Beach hat, but they also included a little booklet called Shortcut to the USGA Handicap System.

As the 2009 wore on, I got to be meticulous about keeping my handicap and learned a few things I didn’t know before.  If your only experience with the USGA handicap system is entering scores in a computer and affixing a new sticker to a card every couple weeks, then you’ve been missing out.

There’s a very complex system for computing handicaps which, in fact, takes up a whole book.  Don’t believe me?  I broke out my copy for this post.  Of course, an iPhone image of my manual doesn’t do you much good.  Luckily, the USGA has most, if not all, of that handicap information online.

I recommend digging in to understand the handicap system a little better, but here are nine things you might not know about USGA golf handicaps.  All of this information was compiled from Shortcut to the USGA Handicap System and from the USGA Handicap Manual.

1. Did you know that the USGA has had a handicap system in the United States since 1912? That’s right.  And until 1987, a golfer’s handicap was relative to what an expert would be expected to shoot on a course (par), and they would get the same number of strokes on every course.  After 1987, players began getting a handicap index which took course difficulty into account.
2. Do you really know what the Slope Rating is? The Slope Rating is the mystery factor that lets handicaps express how difficult a course is for golfers of varying abilities in relation to a scratch golfer. It considers aspects of a course’s layout that will affect a high-handicapper’s score more.  This might include forced-carries or significant water hazards.  Courses with more of these kinds of trouble will have a higher Slope Rating.  Slope Ratings range from 55 to 155 with 113 considered the standard Slope Rating.
3. Do you know that you don’t necessarily have to finish a round to post a score? The USGA states that there are two basic principles behind the practice of posting scores.  First, you must try to make the best score at each hole in every round (no sand bagging).  And, second, you are required to post every acceptable score.
4. Do you know what an acceptable score is? I thought you might not so here goes.  An acceptable score might be any of the following.  When at least seven holes are played, you have enough for an acceptable score.  Seven to 12 holes would be posted as a 9-hole score; 13 or more posted as an 18-hole score.  In addition, you should include: scores on all courses with a Course Rating and Slope Rating, scores in all forms of competition (match, stroke, and team competitions where a player plays his own ball), scores made under the Rules of Golf, scores made under the local rule of “preferred lies”, and scores made in an area observing an active season (no “winter rules”).
5. Did you know that if you skip a hole or don’t play it according to the Rules of Golf, it still counts? Before I knew any better, sometimes I would get frustrated while playing alone for fun and pick up the ball or I would play a mulligan or violate the Rules in some other way and assume that I couldn’t count the round.  Well, the handicap system takes those into account.  If you skip a hole, count the score as par plus any handicap strokes you would receive.  If you play a mulligan, you should do the same.  Don’t count the mulligan.  If you start a hole but don’t finish (like if you quit or are conceded a stroke in match play) you must record the score you most likely would have made if you finished the hole.  I’m betting most of you didn’t know that last part.
6. Do you know what a Course Handicap is? With all the talk of index this and rating that, it all becomes confusing.  Your Course Handicap is what many people think their Handicap Index is (which is partly true – the Index is portable and is used to compute the Course Handicap for a particular course).  It’s the number of strokes you need to play to scratch at a particular course.  When all is said and done in a round if you shot even par after your handicap strokes are applied, then you had a good day and your handicap was right on.  If you’re not in that neighborhood, then you either had a bad day or your index is not an accurate reflection of your ability.
7. Did you know that handicaps have been relatively stable for a long while? Despite the availability of instruction (personal, print, television), the accessibility of golf to people to play to their heart’s content, and the technology that goes into equipment, we’re not really getting all that much better at the amateur level.  In its February 2009 issue on pg. 102, Golf Digest printed a chart showing handicap average from 1990 to 2008 dropping sharply with a corresponding explosion in golf technology (they charted against the number of annual submissions to the USGA equipment test center).  However, this drop in handicaps amounted to around less than 2 strokes reduction in index in almost 20 years.  That may be statistically significant and is probably equipment related as Golf Digest hypothesizes (i.e. more distance and forgiveness), but overall, we’re not really becoming significantly better players.
8. We all hate blow-up holes, but did you know that your handicap is insulated from their effects? That’s what Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is designed to do.  You all know (or should, at least) that depending on your handicap, when you enter a score, you can’t use a score on a hole that is greater than the maximum allowed.  If your Course Handicap is nine or less, you can’t count anything over a double-bogey for handicap purposes.  If your handicap is 10-19, your maximum hole score is a 7.  And so on up through handicaps of 40+ whose maximum score is a ten.  This keeps an occasional big number from blowing up a player’s Handicap Index, so that it’s more representative of a player’s true scoring ability, not his worst case scenarios.
9. Did you know that there’s a Handicap Committee whose purpose is to ensure the integrity of handicaps it issues? The handicap system wouldn’t be much without some form of peer review process.  That’s where the Handicap Committee comes in.  You can read up on the details, but its basic purpose is to make sure the handicap system is run correctly at the club and to make sure that scores are entered accurately.  Typically, at a golf course, this might consist of the pro and/or the pro shop staff, but the club might not necessarily be a golf course, but a collection of people in an organization of some kind.  For instance, my handicap is issued by the New Jersey State Golf Association, not by my golf course directly.

There you have it.  You might have a handle on handicap stuff, but I bet most of you learned something new.

This, of course, only relates to the USGA handicap system.  Other parts of the world use different systems, though maybe those systems share some common aspects.  I’d love to hear from those of you outside the United States and Mexico to learn how the handicap systems you use differ from the USGA system.

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