Golf is a unique game in that anyone can compete with anyone else, regardless of skill level. This is thanks to handicapping. Handicapping is implemented via the World Handicap System. This system, ...

The number of golfers in the U.S. with a Handicap Index eclipsed the 3 million mark for the first time in 2022 as the year-over-year trajectory pointed upward for the third consecutive year. The ...

There's your score, and then there's your score for handicap purposes. Here's the difference and how to calculate them both ...

Thanks to updates to the World Handicap System, your 9-hole score can be used to calculate what you likely would have shot over 18 holes. The post How are 9-hole scores counted toward your Handicap ...

As golf’s popularity has surged since the COVID-19 pandemic—3.3 million people in the United States played on a course for the first time in 2022, according to the National Golf Foundation—so too has ...

The Rules of Handicapping include safeguards to ensure a player’s Handicap Index accurately reflects their demonstrated ability. However, under some circumstances it will be necessary for the Handicap ...

We don’t mean ‘How do you think you have been playing.’ We’re asking how you’ve actually been performing. There’s often a difference between feel and real. The good news is, your answer doesn’t have ...

This article first appeared in Low Net, a Golf Digest+ exclusive newsletter written for the average golfer, by an average golfer. Have a topic you want me to explore? Send me an email at ...

My handicap index is currently 18.1 which, in my eyes, is the ideal number to play golf off. In theory, I have an extra shot on every hole and I can enjoyably shoot around 90 at a decent course.