Golf Handicap Calculator
Your score differential for a round under the World Handicap System, and the handicap index that follows from your best differentials.
The World Handicap System, adopted globally in 2020, turns each round into a score differential: (113 ÷ slope rating) × (adjusted score − course rating − any playing conditions adjustment).
How the golf handicap calculator works
The World Handicap System, adopted globally in 2020, turns each round into a score differential: (113 ÷ slope rating) × (adjusted score − course rating − any playing conditions adjustment). The 113 is the slope of a course of standard difficulty, so the multiplication puts every round on a common scale regardless of where it was played.
The handicap index is then the average of the best eight differentials from your most recent twenty rounds — not all of them, which is why it reflects potential rather than typical scoring. With fewer than twenty rounds a sliding table applies; this page averages the best eight of whatever you enter, and says so.
Formula: differential = (113 ÷ slope) × (score − course rating − PCC)
Worked examples
| Inputs | Score differential | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A 92 on a 71.5 / 125 course | 18.5 | differential 18.5 |
| The same score on an easier course | 20.5 | differential 20.5 — a harder score to make on an easy course |
| A round in bad conditions | 19.1 | the adjustment lowers the differential |
FAQFrequently asked questions
How is a golf handicap calculated?
Each round becomes a score differential: (113 ÷ slope) × (score − course rating). Your index is the average of the best eight differentials from your last twenty rounds.
What is slope rating?
How much harder a course plays for a bogey golfer than a scratch one. 113 is standard; higher is harder.
Why the best eight rather than all twenty?
Because the index measures potential rather than typical scoring — what you shoot when playing well.
What is the playing conditions calculation?
A daily adjustment, usually zero, applied when scores across a course show conditions were unusually hard or easy.
What is a course handicap?
Your index scaled to the course you are playing: index × slope ÷ 113. It is the number of strokes you actually receive.
Where these figures come from
- World Handicap System — Rules of Handicapping — the score differential and handicap index formula
- International Cricket Council — Playing Conditions — over structure and run-rate definitions
- Major League Baseball — Official Rules — the published definitions for baseball statistics
Last checked: September 2026. Formulas follow the governing bodies where one publishes them — the World Handicap System for golf, the ICC playing conditions for cricket run rates.