The Handicap Index, designed to level the game's playing field, is golf's most useful metric. It's also widely misunderstood.

It’s one of the more controversial aspects of the World Handicap System. We get our Course Handicap – the number of shots we receive adjusted for the difficulty of the tees being played – and then, ...

I don’t enter singles match play competitions. I’m a glass half-empty person about the format anyway, I think games are too much of a hassle to sort out and tough to fit in when so many other summer ...

As a nomadic golfer, I've long been fascinated by general play scores and the perception of them with the club member community. From my conversations and observations, I've come to the conclusion ...

Q. How do I calculate my Course Handicap™ and Playing Handicap™? A. A Course Handicap is calculated using the following formula, but a mobile app or Course Handicap table at the course will do the ...

It’s possible you’ve been playing match play all wrong. Subtract the lower handicap from the higher handicap and use the difference to decide on which of the most difficult holes the higher handicap ...

This essay (split into two parts) is a follow-up to a recent article that detailed my first time shooting an even par round. My first even-par round occurred in July of 2022, giving me a whole ...

Whether it’s reevaluating what a successful round or hole means for your game or moving up or back a set of tees depending on the course you play, there are multiple ways you can use your Handicap ...

Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf. Look, I’m not going to stand up here on a soapbox and profess that every golfer who ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. I'm not quite as up on all things Rules and handicapping as I was, having passed that particular baton on to someone else a year ...

The Long Game tracks the Handicap Index progress of four Golf Digest editors of different abilities throughout the 2024 golf season. Catch up on last month’s story. A month into this season-long ...