You’ve been bitten by the golf bug. Welcome! You’ve seen the driving range, taken your first tentative steps onto the golf course, you might even have joined a club. Now you want to take things further. For many, the next stage is obtaining a golf handicap. It’s almost a rite of passage – a marker that you’re taking the game seriously.
There are many reasons why you might want to get a handicap. Perhaps you want to play in competitions. Maybe you just want to track your progress in a more regimented way.
Whatever your reasons, getting a golf handicap in 2025 is far simpler than it was. It’s not that long ago that having a handicap depended upon you being a member of a golf club. If you weren’t in that club, so to speak, you were on the outside.
The World Handicap System arrived in 2020 with one of its main aims making handicapping accessible to as many people as possible.
So what exactly is a golf handicap, who can give you a handicap, and how do you go about maintaining one? If you’re on the first rung of the golfing ladder, or just want to go over the basics, here is everything you need to know…
How to get a golf handicap in 2025
What is a golf handicap?
A handicap is a measure of your skill expressed in a number. It is designed to level a playing field so that players of different skill levels can compete together.
“Essentially,” say England Golf, “a handicap adjusts a player’s score to reflect their skill, allowing less experienced golfers to compete on an equal footing with more seasoned players.”
Think about a horse race. In that race, horses will carry different weights depending on how they have performed in races. The idea is to give every horse an equal chance of winning if they run to form.
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In golf, rather than weight, we have a number. As we submit scores following our rounds, that number changes and a measure our ability emerges which is encapsulated in a World Handicap System index.
When we play a golf course, that index is converted into a Course Handicap, which takes into account the relative difficulty of the course for players of different abilities.
Where can I get a handicap?
The most obvious way to get a handicap is to join a golf club and this is how millions of golfers across the world do it. But should you not wish to stump up the sums required to be a golf club member there are other ways to get a handicap.
In England, there is iGolf, which allows non-club members to get hold of a handicap index in exchange for an annual subscription fee. iGolf is also the name of the scheme in Ireland while, in Scotland, it is called OpenPlay.
In the USA, the United States Golf Association (USGA) say a player “must be a member of an authorized golf club. Most golf courses, public and private, are authorized”.
Players can also join the Allied Golf Associations serving their area.
What do I need to do to get a golf handicap?
Where it’s at a golf club, or through iGolf, you get a Handicap Index by submitting scores for 54 holes. That’s it! Just three full rounds. Not only that, you can submit those scores in any combination of 9 or 18-hole rounds.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll be given an initial World Handicap System index. The maximum handicap index you can have is 54 strokes.
Handicaps can often be expressed in numbers to decimal places. Mine is 13.6! If I was playing a round over a standard golf course, this is the number of strokes over par I’d be expected to shoot.
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How do I maintain my handicap?
Now the fun really starts. Your Handicap Index is eventually based on the average of your best eight scores in your last 20 rounds. Only then will you have what’s known as a ‘full handicap record’.
You can achieve this by playing in competitions or also by submitting general play scores. When you submit a general play score, you must register your intent to do so before you tee off, play with at least one other person who will mark your score, and follow the Rules of Golf and the Rules of Handicapping.
Every round you submit must be to an acceptable format. Generally speaking, in Great Britain & Ireland these scores are individual stroke play. In other parts of the world, match play games and team scores may also count.
Once you’ve put in a score, your handicap index will be updated at the end of that day. But if you’ve pre-registered don’t forget to submit a score. If you don’t you might see a penalty score being applied to your record.
As you build your way up to 20 scores, you might find your World Handicap System index fluctuates quite a lot. Don’t worry about this. Once you’ve got to 20, you’ll find everything settles down.
Now have your say
How did you get a handicap? Can anything be done to make it even easier? Get in touch with us on X and let us know.
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