How Ringer calculates your Course and Playing Handicap

Short answer. Your Course Handicap is Index × Slope ÷ 113 + (Rating − Par) for the tee you play. Your Playing Handicap is that number times the game's allowance, less the low player's handicap if the game is off the low. Ringer keeps the decimals all the way through and rounds once at the very end. Ringer handicaps are not official; they exist so your games play fairly.

How it's calculated

Par here is the par of the course card, the sum of the hole pars. The Course Handicap shown on screen is rounded for display only; every later step uses the unrounded value.

Worked example. Index 14.3, tees rated 71.9 / slope 131, par 72, in a game at 90%.

1. 14.3 × 131 ÷ 113 + (71.9 − 72) = 16.478. The card shows Course Handicap 16.
2. 16.478 × 90% = 14.83.
3. 14.83 rounds to Playing Handicap 15.

Rounding the Course Handicap to 16 first would have given 16 × 90% = 14.4, or 14 strokes.

Off the low. The lowest unrounded Playing Handicap in the game plays off zero and everyone else receives the difference, rounded once. Two players with Course Handicaps 10 and 5 at 90% become 9.0 and 4.5; the higher player receives 9.0 − 4.5 = 4.5, which rounds to 5 strokes. Rounding each first would have given 4. Allowance is always applied before off the low. In a two-on-two game the low player is the lowest of all four, not the lowest on each side.

Rounding. A .5 rounds up, so 16.5 becomes 17. For a plus handicap the same rule works toward zero: +2.5 becomes +2.

How it works

• Which tee. In order: a tee set for you personally, your group's tee, your "Up" preference (the course's forward tee), then the round's tee. Only a tee on the round's course counts.
• No tee rating. With no rated tee, your Course Handicap is simply your Index, and the Handicap Analysis page labels it "No tee rating — Index used directly (casual round)".
• Nine holes on a nine-hole tee rating. Ringer halves your Index (to a tenth), then applies the formula with the nine-hole rating, slope and par. Index 10.0 on a nine rated 35.2 / 128 / par 36: 5.0 × 128 ÷ 113 + (35.2 − 36) = 4.86, Course Handicap 5.
• Nine holes on an 18-hole tee rating. Ringer halves the unrounded 18-hole Course Handicap, applies the allowance, then rounds once. Index 12.0 on 73.4 / 125 / par 72: 14.67 × ½ = 7.34, Course Handicap 7. Rounding first would give 8.
• Course not mapped. A round with no course at all plays on a generic par-72 card with 18 holes, and your Index is used directly because there is no tee.
• No index. A player with no Handicap Index gets no Course or Playing Handicap. Ringer never substitutes scratch.

Good to know

• Tap the PH 12 chip on the scorecard to see the formula with your tee's numbers filled in.
• The Handicap Analysis page (open the round, then Handicaps) prints every step for every player, for example 14.3 × 131/113 + (71.9 − 72) = 16.478, then 16.478 × 90% = 14.83, then 14.83 → 15.
• Allowances run from 1% to 200%. See Handicap allowances.