I hear coworkers talking about golf handicaps (usually in the 80’s range) and smile/nod my way through the conversation. I’m assuming it’s how many strokes over an 18 hole day?
In: 85
Handicaps are not the same as scores. People who golf in the 80s tend to have a handicap in the low to mid-teens. Handicap is a way to equalize scoring based on skill. The number is based on the usual number of strokes over par that the person gets for a round.
To explain par, each hole has an ideal or target score called par. Most holes are par 4 (need four decent shots from tee to hole). A couple-few will be par 5 (long holes) and an equal couple-few will be par 3 (short holes), so a usual par is 72. Different courses might be a bit different, 71, or 70.
If you want to compete against your buddy, who is a much better golfer, a straight up contest is no fun. You will almost certainly lose. However, if my buddy shoots 75 or so, regularly, and I shoot 90 or so, regularly, when I play him, we can compare handicaps and figure out how many (free) strokes (hits on the ball) I can get so we would both have about the same score. Also a good way to correct/compare scores from different courses because a 72 on a par 70 course is not as good as a 72 on a par 72 course.
Using handicaps makes it so a mid-golfer like me (shoots in the low 90s) can have a contest with a good golfer like my brother (shoots about 80), or a much worse golfer like my son (shoots in the low 100s).
Handicap number is basically (not exactly) the number of shots over par the golfer gets, on average over many rounds. A 5 handicap would shoot in the mid-upper 70s (on a course with a par of 72), while a 15 handicapper would shoot in the mid-upper 80s, typically.
Let’s say I want to have a friendly game for beer or quarters with my buddy who had a 5 handicap while I have a 15 handicap. Straight up playing, I might as well buy that beer right now. To make the contest fair, I get a number of strokes that is the difference between our handicaps (10 strokes over 18 holes in this example). Out of the 18 holes we play, I will get a stroke for free on 10 of the holes. The holes are numbered by hardness, so I get a stroke on each of the ten hardest holes. If I shoot a five on one of those holes, and my buddy shoots a four, we tie. If he shoots a five when I shoot a five, I win. At the end of the round, we add up wins and losses and the one who won the most gets a free beer (or whatever).
So, handicap is just a way to estimate how good a golfer a person is. Lower numbers are better than higher numbers. Can be used to make fun contests even when skill levels are way different.
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