Handicap: Rating of how hard a hole is or how well you would perform on a good day against a scratch player.

Course rating: What a scratch golfer should shoot at that course on a good day. Lower score easier the course.

Index: Takes most recent scores and throws out the highest ones. A mean is taken of the lowest scores and subtracted from the course rating. Each course has conversion chart for index that lets you know how many strokes above par you are allotted.

Advantages of handicap:

• Give people of different abilities the capability to compete together.
• Give individual player a system to chart progress.

Slope: More thorough than course rating. Bases course’s difficulty on average golfer rather than scratch golfer. Average slope is 113. Higher the harder the course. Look at chart at course to determine how many strokes you get.

Using handicaps

• Stroke play: Subtract handicap from gross score to get net score.
• Match play: Player with higher handicap gets difference between two. Given 1 stoke cushion on toughest holes.

Ask the course to give you a handicap by USGA. You become registered for a small fee.