Your Handicap Index® is a portable number that represents your demonstrated ability - but when it comes time to tee it up, that number is converted to a Course Handicap, which accounts for the difficulty of the course and tees played.
When playing a recreational round, all you need to know is your Course Handicap, which is the number used to adjust hole scores for net double bogey. A Course Handicap calculator can be found here.
However, if you’re playing in a format for which a handicap allowance has been applied for equity (for example, 85% in four-ball stroke play), you’ll also have a Playing Handicap, which is the number used for the purposes of the game or competition.
Here's a simple trick to help remember how these values differ:
You can determine your "Target Score" (the score you'll achieve if you play to your handicap) by simply adding together your Course Handicap + par of the tees being played?
A player typically plays to their handicap about 20% of the time and can expect to score about 2-4 strokes higher in most rounds.
