18 September 2026 · 9 min read
The golf handicap explained: how it is calculated, how you lower it and what counts in Switzerland
Since 2021 Switzerland has calculated by the World Handicap System. The formula is simpler than its reputation, and it explains why a good round moves your handicap at once and a bad one almost never. What counts, what does not, and what the simulator contributes.
The handicap is the number golfers talk about, and few can say how it comes about. Since 1 January 2021 Switzerland has used the World Handicap System, WHS for short, the same one as the United States, Britain and everywhere else. Here is the calculation as Swiss Golf explains it, with an example, and then the question everyone asks: how does the number get smaller?
The Handicap Index: the best 8 of the last 20
Every qualifying round yields a Score Differential: your result, adjusted for the difficulty of the course. Your Handicap Index is the average of the best 8 of your last 20 Score Differentials (Swiss Golf, WHS in 6 steps). Not the average of all rounds, but of the good ones. That is why the index shows what you can do on a good day, and why a bad round barely moves it: it simply drops out of the best 8.
With fewer than 20 rounds, fewer count: with 3 rounds the best minus 2, with 5 the best, with 9 to 11 the average of the best 3, from 20 the best 8 (R&A, Rules of Handicapping, Rule 5). The highest index is 54.0. That is what you start with in Switzerland after the course permit (ASGI).
The formula, worked once
Score Differential = 113 ÷ Slope Rating × (Adjusted Gross Score − Course Rating − PCC). The 113 is the slope of a standard course, the Course Rating says what a scratch player shoots there, the Slope how much harder the course is for everyone else. The example from the Swiss Golf document: 90 strokes from the yellow tees on a course with Course Rating 71.9 and Slope 135 give 113 ÷ 135 × (90 − 71.9) = 15.2. The same 90 strokes from the blue tees (69.6, Slope 132) give 17.5. Same round, different tees, different differential. That is why the index is comparable and the gross score is not.
The Adjusted Gross Score is your result with a cap per hole: net double bogey. A hole that goes completely wrong therefore counts not as 11 but as par plus two plus your handicap strokes. A disaster hole ruins the round, not the index.
From the index to the Course Handicap
On the course you play not with the index but with the Course Handicap: Handicap Index × Slope Rating ÷ 113 + (Course Rating − Par). An index of 15.0 on a course with Slope 135, Course Rating 71.9 and par 72 becomes 15 × 135 ÷ 113 + (71.9 − 72) = 17.8, so 18 strokes. On an easy course with Slope 118 it is around 16. The tables hang at every first tee; the app works it out for you.
Your target for the round
The biggest change the WHS brought is not a formula but a sentence: the target for a round is no longer the same for everyone. Under the old EGA system it was 36 Stableford points for all. Today it is par plus your course handicap, which is a different number for every player and every tee. Swiss Golf works it out for an index of 15.0:
| Tee | Course rating | Slope | Par | Course handicap | Target in strokes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue | 69.6 | 132 | 72 | 15 | 87 |
| Yellow | 71.9 | 135 | 72 | 18 | 90 |
| White | 73.9 | 137 | 72 | 20 | 92 |
The same player, the same course, three tees, three targets (Swiss Golf, WHS in six steps). Shooting 92 from the white tees is the same achievement as 87 from the blue. That is the entire point of the system, and it is why asking for a gross score without asking which tee means nothing.
What counts in Switzerland
- Qualifying tournaments over 9 or 18 holes.
- General Play: a private round you register before you start, with a marker who signs the card. You hand the card in straight after the round (ASGI). That is the way to move the handicap without tournaments.
- Not: the simulator round. The WHS takes only results from courses with a Course Rating and a Slope Rating, and a virtual course has none. Why that is, and why you still play better indoors, is in Simulator score versus course score.
Which rounds count, and at what allowance
Four formats are handicap-relevant: individual Stableford, individual stroke play, individual par or bogey, and maximum score. Foursomes and scrambles do not count, however entertaining they are.
For the allowance, Swiss Golf recommends the full course handicap at handicap-relevant tournaments and on EDS cards, that is 100 per cent. Course handicap and playing handicap are then the same number. The exception is four-ball better ball, where 90 per cent applies. And the sentence that stands almost in passing in the document is the most important in the whole system: the more results you hand in, the more current your index is.
What changed against the old system
Anyone who played golf before 2021 still does the sums in the EGA system. The differences, following Swiss Golf's comparison:
| Subject | EGA, until 2020 | WHS, since 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Calculation | step by step, every result | the average of the best 8 of 20 |
| What is counted | Stableford points | strokes |
| Target for a round | 36 points, the same for everyone | par plus course handicap |
| A bad hole | struck out, zero points | net double bogey as the cap |
| Playing conditions | CBA, on the day | PCC, calculated overnight |
| Handicap categories, buffer zones | yes | gone |
| EDS cards over 18 holes | only from handicap 4.5 | for everyone, except juniors under index 12.0 |
One row tends to be overlooked: an index above 26.5 only goes up if the player asks for it. Under the EGA system that line sat at 18.5. So somebody who starts at 30 and has a bad year loses nothing.
The brakes on the way up
Downwards it goes as fast as you play. Upwards the system brakes: if the calculated index rises more than 3.0 above your lowest index of the last 365 days, the part above counts only half (soft cap); more than 5.0 above is not possible at all (hard cap). And the Playing Conditions Calculation corrects overnight by −1 to +3 when everyone on the course played unusually well or badly that day (R&A, Rule 5). The index is a memory with a preference for your good days.
How you lower the handicap
The calculation shows it: not the average counts, but your best rounds. You lower the index by playing a good round more often, not by never playing a bad one. Three things that measurably help:
- Avoid net double bogey. Every hole above it is wasted, because it is capped anyway. The shot from the trees back onto the fairway is almost always the right one.
- Know your distances. A green in regulation needs the right iron. 81 of the 110 indoor venues offer coaching, and every launch monitor shows you the carry of each club to the metre. One hour in winter is enough for the whole table.
- Use General Play. Someone who plays two tournaments a year has two chances at a good round. Someone who plays ten registered private rounds has twelve.
More on this: Which tees should I play?, Golf abbreviations explained.
What the index is not
It is not an average and not a forecast. Because only the best 8 of 20 count, the index describes what you can do on a good day, and you accordingly play to it rarely. Anyone annoyed at not playing to their handicap is annoyed at a definition.
Nor does it say anything about a single shot. Two players off 18 can have completely different games: one hits it far and scatters it, the other finds every fairway and three-putts. Which is why asking where you lose strokes is more useful than asking how low your index is. In winter the simulator supplies those numbers, even though its rounds do not count.
The Swiss average, according to Swiss Golf, is an index around 28 (Facts & Figures). Anyone below it is better than half the country. How a beginner gets from 54 to 36 is in From 54 to 36, and how a private round counts is in EDS rounds explained. The venues where you work on it in winter are on the training page. The four formulas behind it are in Working out your Handicap Index yourself, and how nine holes are scored is in Does a 9-hole round count.
Frequently asked questions
How is the golf handicap calculated?
The Handicap Index is the average of the best 8 of your last 20 Score Differentials. A Score Differential is 113 divided by the Slope Rating, times (score minus Course Rating minus PCC). With fewer than 20 rounds fewer results count; with 3 rounds, for example, the best minus 2.
Can I improve my handicap without tournaments?
Yes, with General Play: a private round you register before you start and a marker signs. It counts like a tournament. Simulator rounds do not count, because a virtual course has no Course Rating.
What is the average handicap in Switzerland?
Swiss Golf's Facts & Figures give an average Handicap Index of around 28. The highest handicap is 54.0, which every golfer starts with after the course permit.
What is my target for a round under the WHS?
Par plus your course handicap. For an index of 15.0, Swiss Golf's example gives 87 strokes from the blue tees, 90 from the yellow and 92 from the white on the same par-72 course. Under the old EGA system it was 36 Stableford points for everyone.
Which formats are handicap-relevant?
Individual Stableford, individual stroke play, individual par or bogey, and maximum score. Swiss Golf recommends the full course handicap for them, and 90 per cent in four-ball better ball. A simulator round does not count, because a virtual course has no course or slope rating.
Sources
- Swiss Golf: WHS in 6 Schritten (PDF) (Formel des Score Differential mit Beispielen, beste 8 von 20, Maximum 54, PCC)
- R&A: Rules of Handicapping, Regel 5 (Tabelle für weniger als 20 Ergebnisse, Soft Cap 3.0, Hard Cap 5.0, Low Handicap Index über 365 Tage, PCC −1 bis +3)
- ASGI: Handicap (Start mit Handicap 54 nach der Platzreife, General Play mit Anmeldung und Marker)
- Golfclub Wylihof: World Handicap System (WHS in der Schweiz seit 1. Januar 2021, Netto-Doppelbogey)
- Swiss Golf: Facts & Figures (durchschnittlicher Handicap Index rund 28)