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Golf Handicap Differential Calculator
Use this calculator to determine your Handicap Differential for a single round of golf. This is a key component in calculating your overall Handicap Index according to the World Handicap System (WHS).
Your Handicap Differential:
Understanding the Golf Handicap System
A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's ability, allowing players of different skill levels to compete fairly against each other. The World Handicap System (WHS), implemented in 2020, provides a unified method for calculating handicaps globally.
Key Components of Handicap Calculation:
- Adjusted Gross Score (AGS): This is your raw score for a round, adjusted for any abnormal hole scores. Under WHS, this typically means applying a "Net Double Bogey" adjustment, where your maximum score on any hole is limited to a Net Double Bogey (Par + 2 strokes + any handicap strokes you would receive on that hole). For simplicity in this calculator, we assume you input an already adjusted score.
- Course Rating: This represents the playing difficulty of a course for a scratch golfer (a golfer with a handicap of 0). It's expressed in strokes to one decimal place (e.g., 72.1).
- Slope Rating: This indicates the relative difficulty of a course for a bogey golfer (a golfer with a handicap of approximately 20-24) compared to a scratch golfer. It ranges from 55 to 155, with 113 being the average difficulty. The higher the Slope Rating, the more difficult the course is for a bogey golfer.
- Handicap Differential: This is the core calculation for each individual round played. It reflects how well you played relative to the course's difficulty.
- Handicap Index: Your Handicap Index is a measure of your demonstrated ability calculated from the average of your best 8 Handicap Differentials from your most recent 20 scores. It's expressed to one decimal place (e.g., 12.5).
- Course Handicap: This is the number of strokes a player receives for a specific course and set of tees. It's calculated by taking your Handicap Index and multiplying it by the Slope Rating of the tees played, then dividing by the neutral Slope Rating of 113, and rounding to the nearest whole number.
Course Handicap = Handicap Index × (Slope Rating / 113)
How the Handicap Differential is Calculated:
The formula for a single round's Handicap Differential is:
Handicap Differential = (Adjusted Gross Score - Course Rating) × 113 / Slope Rating
Example Calculation:
Let's say you had an Adjusted Gross Score of 85 on a course with a Course Rating of 72.0 and a Slope Rating of 125.
- Adjusted Gross Score: 85
- Course Rating: 72.0
- Slope Rating: 125
Handicap Differential = (85 - 72.0) × 113 / 125
Handicap Differential = 13 × 113 / 125
Handicap Differential = 1469 / 125
Handicap Differential = 11.752
This differential of 11.752 would then be one of the scores considered for your overall Handicap Index.
function calculateHandicapDifferential() { var adjustedGrossScore = parseFloat(document.getElementById('adjustedGrossScore').value); var courseRating = parseFloat(document.getElementById('courseRating').value); var slopeRating = parseFloat(document.getElementById('slopeRating').value); var resultContainer = document.getElementById('resultContainer'); var handicapDifferentialResult = document.getElementById('handicapDifferentialResult'); var errorMessage = document.getElementById('errorMessage'); errorMessage.textContent = "; // Clear previous errors resultContainer.classList.remove('show'); // Hide result initially if (isNaN(adjustedGrossScore) || isNaN(courseRating) || isNaN(slopeRating) || adjustedGrossScore <= 0 || courseRating <= 0 || slopeRating 155) { errorMessage.textContent = 'Please enter valid positive numbers for all fields. Slope Rating must be between 55 and 155.'; return; } var differential = (adjustedGrossScore – courseRating) * 113 / slopeRating; handicapDifferentialResult.textContent = differential.toFixed(3); // Display to 3 decimal places resultContainer.classList.add('show'); // Show the result }