Scores and Handicap FAQ

The handicap system used is not affiliated with the USGA. The USGA does not certify web based handicap systems, mainly because they require clubs to have 'Peer Review' over the scores posted. The handicap calculated by OhioGolfGuide.com is for your entertainment and cannot be used as an official handicap. OhioGolfGuide.com calculation is not an duplicate of the USGA formula and will not create a duplicate handicap.

First, become a member of the site.
Next, go to the members only page.
Third, Click the 'Enter New Score' icon.
Select the course played.
Enter in your score, fairway hit, and number of putts.
Preview and save.
View other members only options for stats and reports.

While many people want to count strokes from the fringe of the greens using their putter as putts, we recommend that only putts taken from the green as putts. This allows the program to calculate GIR's and makes your statistics comparable to others.

Yes! This is the main feature of the site to keep track of your scores and statistics.

Fairways hit is a statistic that tracks driving accuracy by recording the number of fairways a golfer has landed on from the tee. (par 3's do not count) Greens Hit is a statistic that track the number of Greens In Regulation. If a player reaches a green in 2 strokes or more below the par for that hole it is considered a Green In regulation (GIR).

Well, 113 is used as the slope since that is the baseline number and the par is used as the course rating.

First you must be a member of the site and be signed in to the site. From the "Golf Dashboard" select from the menu on the left "Enter New Score" and follow instructions.

All stats are based upon 18 hole rounds. Please hold all 9 hole scores from a 18 hole course
and match that 9 hole score with a 9 hole score from the other 9 holes.

You are able to enter in scores from any course in the United States that has information on the site.

A course rating is a number that a scratch golfer (par/low handicap golfer) could score on a course.
Example 1:
A course with a par of 72 with a 69.5 rating means that for a scratch golfer the course plays to a par of 69.5
Example 2:
A course with a par of 72 with a 73.2 rating means that for a scratch golfer the course plays to a par of 73.2.

The second course is more difficult than the first even through they both have the same par.

The number is computed from many factors including distance, hazards, greens etc.
but is based on how scratch golfer plays the game.

Slope is a adjustor of the rating to reflect the difficulty of the course for the bogey golfer. The slope number is used to basically adjust the course rating to reflect how more difficult the course is as the golfer shoots a higher score. Length is a major factor here as the bogey golfer does not hit the ball as far as the scratch golfer.
Example 1: a short course (6100 yards) that is basically flat with no trees
and few bunkers and slow flat greens might have a slope of 110.

Example 2: a long course (6800 yards) that has water everywhere, deep bunkers,
and fast greens might have a slope of 132.

The yardage difference for each set of tees is the primary reason
that there is a different slope and rating for each.

Both of these numbers are used to calculate your handicap.
For example:

handicap formula: score - rating * 113 / slope * .96

(113 is the base slope that a courses slope is compared to)
A score of 78 on a course with a rating of 68.9 and a slope of 114 gives you a handicap of 8.65

A score of 78 on a course with a rating of 73.6 and a slope of 133 gives you a handicap of 3.58

The second handicap is half of the first one even though the scores are the same (78), but
because the second course is so much tougher that the first course it will give a lower handicap.

This is why these two numbers exist to adjust the handicaps based
upon the difficulty of the course and not on par.

Full Handicap:
Handicap Differential = (score - rating * 113 / slope) * .96
Normally the .96 is used after all the differential are computed see example below.

The .96 multipler is the the so called "Bonus for Excellence" factor
to reduce the handicap towards the better player.

A full handicap is based on 20 rounds and would go like this:
Use the handicap differential formula (score - rating * 113 / slope) for all the scores.
Total of lowest 10 of the last 20 rounds differentials (score - course rating): 206.5
Average ( 206.5 divided by 10 ): 20.65
Multiply average by 0.96: 19.824
Delete digits after tenths: 19.8
USGA Handicap Index: 19.8

Rating a course is done of a team of golfers that go play/walk the course.
"The slope rating takes into account the effective playing length which is the measured yardage plus adjustments made for roll, forced lay-ups, elevation, wind and altitude. Then you get to the obstacle stroke value which is a evaluation of all the course obstacles such as out of bounds, water, trees, bunkers, recovery and rough, fairway, green target, green surface, etc."

At "http://www.leaderboard.com/abcs.htm" there is a good read about how slope works.

If a course has no tee information entered, we ask that you take a few minutes and enter in the information from your own scorecard. When a course is selected that has no tee entered, a add new tee link will be shown. Please click and follow instructions.
Instructions:
Please enter in all pars, length, and handicaps for all holes.
Use a color for the Tee Color and not the Tee Name if there is one.
Leave slope and rating at 0 if there is none.
Time permitting, please enter in all tees for a course.
For 9 holes courses, only enter holes 1-9. Do not enter information for holes 10-18.
For courses with 27 holes enter the Course/Tee combination Name
to identify which combination of 9's is being entered.

To adjust your handicap index to a course index use the following USGA formula:
Course Handicap = (Handicap Index X Slope Rating) / 113.
The course handicap is rounded to the nearest whole number.

To change a score after it has been entered, use the 'View Scores' options from your 'My Account' page or under the members menu on any course page.

For every score you enter the system calculates your handicap differential for that round by subtracting the course rating from your score then multiplying by 113 and dividing by the course's slope. This number is your handicap differential. When you want to compare two rounds of golf at different courses, this is the number you look at to see which score was the better score. Your handicap index is then based on the average of the best 10 of your last 20 handicap differentials.

The reverse handicap is a handicap using the highest scores of the number of scores used in the normal handicap. Basically the normal handicap is based on the 10 best scores (actually differentials) out the of the last 20 scores. The reverse handicap is computed using the worst 10 scores out of the last 20 scores. The closer these two numbers are the more consistent your scroing is. Also, the two handicaps are used to compute an estimated scoring range on the course detail page.

A Par Save is when i green is missed in regulation and a par is still scored, also called an up and down.