Your handicap is a measurement of what you can shoot when you play your "best" golf. The long explanation can be found - HERE -, but we know you're lazy so we'll highlight the important points below.
Initially, we use the best differential from the five scores you enter when signing up.
After that, we start using your tournament differentials (and continue using your user scores until they're no longer in your 14 most recent rounds).
We average the 6 best differentials from your last 14 rounds* and multiply that by .96 to determine your handicap index.
If you have less than 14 scores (user + event scores) we use a smaller sample size, shown below.
5 scores: Your best differential is used.
6-7: Best 2 differentials used.
8-10: Best 3.
11-12: Best 4.
13: Best 5.
14+: Best 6 of 14 most recent rounds.**
*The sample size increased in February of 2024.
**This is a smaller sampling size than the standard USGA system, but we're doing that to keep handicaps more up-to-date and because medios don't tend to play as much golf as USGAers.
