Handicap Terminology

Handicap Factor (previously called Handicap Index)
This is your number. An RCGA Handicap Factor is used to indicate a measurement of a player's potential scoring ability on a course of standard playing difficulty. It is expressed as a number taken to one decimal place. The Handicap Factor travels with the golfer from course to course and is adjusted up or down depending on the length and difficulty of the course played, to create a "course handicap".

Course HandicapThis is the number most people think of as their handicap. The Course Handicap is the number of strokes a golfer receives from a specific set of tees at the course played and represents the number of strokes required to play equitably against a "scratch" golfer (a golfer with a Handicap Factor of "0'). The harder the golf course, the more strokes the golfer receives and vice versa.

Handicap Differential
This is a number that represents how a single score contributes to the handicap factor. A handicap differential is the difference between a player's adjusted gross score and the RCGA Course Rating of the course on which the score was made, multiplied by 113, then divided by the RCGA Slope Rating from the tees played and rounded to the nearest tenth. Handicap differentials are expressed as a number rounded to one decimal place, (i.e. 12.8).

Adjusted Gross Score
This is the number (score) you put in the Whitevale computer after each game. Adjusted gross score is a player's gross score adjusted under RCGA Handicap System procedures for unfinished holes, conceded strokes and holes not played, or not played under the principles of the Rules of Golf, or adjusted under Equitable Stroke Control.

Equitable Stroke Control (ESC)
Equitable Stroke Control (ESC) is the downward adjustment of individual hole scores for handicap purposes in order to make Handicap Factors more representative of a player's potential scoring ability. It sets a maximum number that a player can post on any hole depending on the player's Course Handicap.

More information on handicapping can be found on the websites of the respective golf associations: GAO, RCGA, USGA.