The big mistake I made early on (and how you can avoid it)
It was full-send into my second season of playing golf. I had my golf clubs, my golf bag and all of my golf-gear purchased like golf balls, a glove, and even bought a new hat. I was loving it!
I got out so many times that season to play. I was getting comfortable on the golf course. I saw improvements in my game - not major ones, but I could tell I was making progress. I took a 4-part beginner golf clinic through my Parks & Rec Golf Course, and as it turned out I was a really good putter.
But this one mistake I made blew a big opportunity for me and I still think about it to this day.
In 2021, I got an email at work from a woman in our leadership team. She was a couple levels up from me. She didn’t send it just to me… there were at least a dozen women on this email “TO” line:
Subject: Golf partner needed on Aug 15th
Ladies,
Looking for someone FUN (but that has a handicap or can get one by 8/15 - I don’t even care if it’s 50) - to golf with me at my golf club on the 15th with all the proper social distancing that you want. Let me know if you are interested.
$50 to enter, 9AM shotgun start (and yes I have drinks when I golf) let me know if you are available or interested or know someone who is.
- Annie
I was absolutely dying to have the opportunity to spend some quality time with this woman who I respected and admired, but I didn’t know what a handicap was. So I asked a friend who knew more about golf than me, I said: “What’s a handicap and how do I get one?”
Long story short: I was a bit overwhelmed by that conversation, totally froze up and did not sign up for a handicap and play in that event with Annie.
And a few days later, the email came again from Annie, “Hey just bumping this in your inbox, anyone want to join me?”
::: Cue the crickets :::
What’s a handicap?
A golf handicap is a number that measures a golfer's skill level and allows players of different abilities to compete fairly. It's calculated using a golfer's past scores, the difficulty of the course, and playing conditions.
The lower the handicap, the higher the skill of the golfer.
The higher handicap golfers can subtract strokes from their score. Why? Well, it’s a way to compare yourself to a lower handicap golfer.
For example: let’s say I’m playing a very skilled golfer, and we are playing a par 3. Let’s say for example the handicap system allows me to subtract 1 stroke on this hole. If we both make natural pars (meaning, it actually took both of us 3 strokes to get the ball into the cup), then I made a net birdie (1 under par) because I get to subtract one stroke but he doesn’t get to subtract any strokes because his handicap is lower than mine. Net scores are natural scores minus strokes allowed by your handicap. On that hole, based on our demonstrated player abilities, I win.
Why should you get a handicap?
Snapshot of my 2024 GHIN rewind - you get this if you keep an official handicap through the USGA.
Three reasons why you should keep a handicap, especially early on:
First, keeping a handicap allows you to compete, whether it’s friendly or an official event. So don’t make the same mistake I did and miss out on opportunities to spend time with awesome people when they are looking for a playing partner for their member-guest events at their golf clubs. You just never know when that perfect opportunity will pop up for you to play golf with someone you respect & admire.
Second, many golf leagues require that you keep a handicap (not all of them require it though). If playing in a league is your goal, sign up for your handicap ASAP.
Third, keeping a handicap allows you to track your own progress. Each time you play golf you will post your score into the USGA GHIN App. You’ll be able to see your stats over time - and if you enter hole-by-hole with stats you can even see things like how well you are putting.
I hear a lot of women say, “I don’t want to compete so I don’t need a handicap.” OK that might be the case that you don’t want to put yourself in a highly competitive tournament. But trust me, this handicap thing is like the prime tenant of golf - and so you should at least get one for one year, enter your scores, figure out what your handicap actually is, and then next year you can decide if you re-up for a handicap or not.
Only 18% of golfers who keep official USGA handicaps are women. The average handicap for women is 28.7 (by the way mine is 33, and I’m proud of it!). The average handicap for a man is 14.2.
In 2024, there were 12.3 million scores entered by women, and 80.3 million scores entered by men… that’s nearly 8 times more scores entered by men than women. Check out the U.S. Handicapping Statistics.
Don’t count yourself out before the race has begun…
There are a lot of public golf courses such as my own home course where the “Club Championship” had at least 22 men competing but all of 2 women competing in it. So few women compete that - yes - you actually could win something even if you don’t think you’re “that good.” But also, if you keep a handicap, you have a very fair shot and yes you could absolutely win the net score division. So don’t count yourself out.
As proof, check out this pic below where you can see the “Ladies Division” is 2 women in the top left hand corner. They both went home winners! One of them was the Net champion and the other the Gross champion (meaning, overall natural score not considering any strokes subtracted for handicap).
How do you get a handicap?
There are a few ways to get one:
Call or stop by your home golf course and ask them to help you sign up.
If in the US, go to the USGA website and sign up or renew through there. You’ll put in your state and zip code and the site will tell you which Allied Golf Association you will be part of.
If outside of the US, you’ll go to the World Handicap System to find your golf association.
During the sign up process you’ll be asked to select a golf club to be part of - so pick the one that you’ll play at (or with) most often. Club can be defined as a physical golf course or an organization such as your local chapter of the LPGA Amateurs.
Once you sign up, you can download the USGA GHIN (Golf Handicap & Information Network) app on your phone - enter your scores, track your stats, and even use the GPS right on the app during your rounds to give you yardages and other important info on the golf course.
A word of caution: You’ll want to make sure you get an official World Handicap System handicap index through USGA or the R&A. There are a lot less of these “non-official” handicap apps in the past few years but they still exist. I wouldn’t recommend paying any service which is not under the official World Handicap System because it likely won’t count in any official competition.
Hope this helped you understand the handicap system a little better. If you want to read more about it, go to WHS.com. Please leave a comment if you have any questions!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll log in to my USGA GHIN app and renew my handicap index for this upcoming golf season… :-)
