Jay / Sam,

The following might help...highlighting is mine.

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With a handicapping system, the weaker player is given strokes on certain holes on a golf course. That is, on a particular hole the weaker play may be allowed to "take a stroke" - deduct a stroke - from his or her score for that hole. At the end of the round, the two players of differing abilities can figure their "net score" - their gross scores minus the strokes they were allowed to take on certain holes.

The USGA Handicapping System received a major refinement in the early 1980s with the introduction of slope rating for golf courses, joining the longstanding course rating as methods of rating the difficulty of a course.

Course rating is the number of strokes a certain set of tees are expected to be played in by the upper-half of scratch golfers. A USGA Course Rating of 74.8 means that 74.8 is expected to be the average score of the best 50-percent of rounds played by scratch golfers.

Slope rating is a number representing the relative difficulty of a course for bogey golfers compared to course rating. Slope can range from 55 to 155, with 113 being considered a course of average difficulty.

Par plays no role in computing handicaps. Only adjusted gross score, course rating and slope rating come into play. Adjusted gross score is a golfer's total strokes after allowing for the maximum per-hole totals allowed under Equitable Stroke Control.

A player's official USGA Handicap Index is derived from a complicated formula (that, thankfully, players themselves do not have to figure) that takes into account adjusted gross score, course rating and slope rating.

With as few as five rounds, a player can get a handicap index by joining clubs authorized to issue them. Eventually, handicap index is calculated using the 10 best of a golfer's 20 most recent rounds.

Once a USGA Handicap Index is issued - say, 14.8 - the golfer uses that to determine his or her course handicap.

Course handicap - not handicap index - is what actually tells a golfer how many strokes they are allowed on a particular course. Most golf courses have charts golfers can consult to get their course handicap. Alternately, golfers can use various online course handicap calculators. All that is needed is a USGA Handicap Index plus the slope rating of the course.

Once armed with course handicap, a golfer is ready to play on an equal basis with any other golfer in the world.

To take part in the USGA Handicap System, a golfer must join a club authorized to use the system. Most golf courses have clubs that can issue handicap indexes, so finding one isn't that difficult. But just in case, the USGA allows golfers to form clubs without real estate, which may be a collection of as few as 10 friends who are willing to form a club with a handicap committee.

Once in such a club, a golfer will turn in or post his or her scores following every round, most often electronically by using a computer in the clubhouse or, if the club uses the GHIN service, by using any computer.

The club's handicap committee handles all the computations and should issue handicap indexes once a month.
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Calculating a score

The handicap is used to determine on which holes a player (or team) is granted extra strokes. These are then used to calculate a "net" score from the number of strokes actually played ("gross" score).

To find how many strokes a player is given, the procedures differ between match play and stroke play. In match play, the difference between the players' (or teams') handicaps is distributed among the holes to be played. For example, if 18 holes are played, player A's handicap is 24, and player B's handicap is 14, then A is granted ten strokes: one on each of the ten holes identified by the handicap numbers 1 through 10 on the scorecard and no strokes on the remaining eight. If A's handicap is 36 and B's handicap is 14, A is granted 22 strokes: one on each of the 18 holes to be played, and an additional one on each of the four holes identified by the handicap numbers 1 through 4 on the scorecard.

The procedure in stroke play is similar, but each player's individual handicap (rather than the difference between two players' handicaps) is used to calculate extra strokes. Therefore, a player with handicap 10 is granted one stroke on each of the ten holes identified by the handicap numbers 1 through 10 on the scorecard and no extra strokes on the remaining eight. A player with a handicap of 22 is granted 22 strokes: one on each of the 18 holes and an additional one on each of the four holes identified by the handicap numbers 1 through 4 on the scorecard.

Example for the calculation of "net" results: Assume that A is granted one stroke on a par four hole and player B is granted none. If A plays six strokes and B plays five, their "net" scores are equal. Therefore, in match play the hole is halved; in stroke play both have played a "net" bogey (one over par). If both play five strokes, A has played better by one "net" stroke. Therefore, in match play A wins the hole; in stroke play A has played a "net" par and B a "net" bogey.

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>There are two weekend hackers competing. One normally shoots around 80, the other around 90. Courses have handicaps by hole. Is it the same to apply the handicaps per hole are you play as using the 10 stroke difference at the end of the round?