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Calculate golf handicaps and stroke index

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Golf handicap calculation can be a rather tricky business to get your head around. If you've calculated your starting handicap (view our beginner's guide here), you'll need to understand two things to progress with making your golf handicap adjustments when you play:

1. What buffer zone your current handicap sits in
2. How stroke index works

Getting to grips with the buffer zones

Your current golf handicap will determine which buffer zone your handicap sits and whether it will increase or decrease.

Category	Buffer Zone	Reduction (shot)	Reduction (shot)
1 - Handicaps 0.1 to 5.4	+1	-0.1	0.1
2 - Handicaps 5.5 to 12.4	+2	-0.2	0.1
3 - Handicaps 12.5 to 20.4	+3	-0.3	0.1
4 - Handicaps 20.5 to 28.4	+4	-0.4	0.1
5 - Handicaps 28.5 and above *	+5	-0.5	0
*Category 5 only applies to ladies. Under the CONGU golf rules ‘Unified Handicapping System, men's handicaps stop at 28 (ladies up to 36).

So using the table as a guide to these golf handicap rules, a golfer with a handicap of 21 would sit in Category 4, a golfer with an 18 handicap in Category 3.

Stroke Index

The stroke index of a hole tells you how difficult it is to play. It also indicates how many shots you can adjust your score with.

So, if you handicap is less than 18, you get a shot for every hole your handicap is less than the stroke index.

E.g. if your handicap is 14

Hole	SI	Shots
1	17	0
2	3	1
3	4	1
4	15	0
5	18	0
6	1	1
7	9	1
8	7	1
9	14	0

Conversely, if your handicap is greater than 18, you get a shot up to 18 plus the stroke index.

E.g. if your handicap is 26

Hole	SI	Shots
1	17	1
2	3	2
3	4	2
4	15	1
5	18	1
6	1	2
7	9	1
8	7	2
9	14	1

Calculating the handicap adjustment

To adjust your handicap you need to use your adjusted golf score for the round.

Under the CONGU golf handicap scoring system, the maximum score you can submit for any hole is a double bogey (+2).

This means:
On a par 3, if you score 6 or over, your adjusted score would be 5.
On a par 4, if you score 7 or over, your adjusted score would be 6.
On a par 5, if you score 8 or over, your adjusted score would be 7

Remember that you use the stroke index to give yourself more shots according to your handicap. So on a par 4 with a stroke index of 8, a golfer with a handicap of 26 will receive 2 shots for the hole (18+8=26).

Once you’ve played your round and submitted your scores, follow these three steps when working out golf handicaps:

1. You subtract your adjusted score from the Standard Scratch Score (SSS – what a zero handicapper would score – usually the course par) for the course.
2. Then take this value (known as the Gross Score) and subtract your current handicap to get your Net Score.
3. Finally take your handicap category (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) and determine the adjustment based on your buffer zone.

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