Mapperley Golf Club
Mapperley Golf Club
Mapperley Golf Club

Course Handicap & Playing Handicap


Course Handicap is the number of strokes a player receives before Handicap Allowances.

Playing Handicap is the Course Handicap adjusted for any Handicap Allowances.

There are details of how Course Handicap and Playing Handicap are calculated further down the page.

The look-up tables of Playing Handicaps below are applicable from April 2024.


Own Ball Formats

Men's Tees: Individual and Better-ball
 
Women's Tees: Individual and Better-ball

 


Shared Ball Formats

In Foursomes, Greensomes and Texas Scrambles the handicaps of each player are combined to give a Team Handicap.

In competitions with Men and Women playing the par of the shorter (Women's) course is generally used in the Course Handicap calculation for all players and the "2 tee" tables below are applicable for all Men's handicaps (including  teams comprising all Men).

Foursomes

In stroke play the Team Handicap is 50% of the sum of the combined unrounded Course Handicaps and rounded to a whole number.

In match play the Team Handicap is the sum of the combined rounded Course Handicaps. Strokes are given/taken based on 50% of the difference between the pairs.

Click to see Individual Playing Handicaps from Men's White and Women's Red tees:




Greensomes

60% lower handicap + 40% higher handicap:


Texas Scramble, teams of 4

25%, 20%, 15%, 10% from lowest to highest handicap

 

 


Texas Scramble, teams of 3

30%, 20%, 10% from lowest to highest handicap:

 

 



Read on for details of how Course Handicap and Playing Handicap are calculated.


Course Handicap

Course Handicap is the number of handicap strokes a player receives before Handicap Allowances, on a specific course and set of tees, as determined by the Slope Rating.

From April 2024 a player's 18 hole Course Handicap is determined by multiplying their Handicap Index by (Slope Rating divided by the neutral Slope Rating of 113) and adding the difference between Course Rating and Par.

  • When used to calculate Playing Handicaps in Match Play, Course Handicap is rounded to the nearest whole number

  • When used to calculate Playing Handicaps in Stroke Play, the full unrounded Course Handicap is used.

  • For example, for a man with a 20.1 Handicap Index playing from the White tees at Mapperley:

     Course Handicap  =  20.1 x [ 127 / 113 ]  +  [ 71.2 - 71 ]  =  22.790  (23)

From April 2024 a player's 9 hole Course Handicap is determined by multiplying half their Handicap Index by (Slope Rating divided by the neutral Slope Rating of 113) and adding the difference between Course Rating and Par.

  • For example, for a woman with a 20.1 Handicap Index playing from the Red tees (front 9) at Mapperley:

     Course Handicap  =  [ 20.1 / 2 ]  x  [ 128 / 113 ]  +  [ 36.5 - 36 ]    =   12.017  (12)



Handicap Allowance

Handicap Allowance is the percentage of Course Handicap for the format of play.

The allowances for the most commonly used formats are designated as mandatory by England Golf, for example: 95% for individual stroke play and 85% for pairs and teams better-ball stroke play.

See Terms of the Competition: Appendix F  for the allowances in other formats of play.



Playing Handicap

Playing Handicap is the Course Handicap adjusted for any Handicap Allowance. It represents the actual number of strokes the player gives or receives for the round being played.

  • Playing Handicap is used to determine Competition Results.

  • When more than 1 set of tees are in use, such as for Mixed and Open to All competitions, adjustments are made to the Playing handicaps of some competitors as described in Terms of the Competition: Appendix N.