Let the App Handle the Handicap Math
Settle Up Golf tracks every bet, calculates every payout, and tells you exactly who owes what — so you can focus on your game.
What your handicap number actually means, how it's calculated, and how strokes get applied when you're playing for money.
A golf handicap is a number that represents your potential playing ability. The lower your handicap, the better you play. A scratch golfer has a handicap of 0 — they're expected to shoot right around par. A 20-handicapper typically shoots about 20 strokes over par on a given course.
The key word is potential. Your handicap isn't based on your average score — it's based on your best recent rounds. The World Handicap System (WHS), which is used internationally today, calculates your Handicap Index from the best 8 of your last 20 scored rounds. This means a slightly "streaky" player will carry a lower handicap than their average performance might suggest, which is by design.
The handicap system exists for one reason: to let golfers of different skill levels compete fairly against each other. Without it, a 5-handicap playing a 25-handicap would be a foregone conclusion every single time. With it, anyone can have a legitimate chance on a given day.
Here's where a lot of golfers get confused — and it's worth understanding because it directly affects how your strokes are calculated when you're playing a money game.
Your Handicap Index is the number associated with your GHIN number or golf app profile. It's a portable measure of your ability that travels with you everywhere. Whether you're playing a links course in Scotland or a mountain track in Colorado, your Handicap Index stays the same.
Your Course Handicap is different. It's a number specific to a particular set of tees on a particular course, and it's the number you actually use on the scorecard. A course handicap accounts for how difficult that specific set of tees is, adjusted by the course's Slope Rating and Course Rating.
The distinction matters because the same player might have a Course Handicap of 12 from the white tees and 15 from the blue tees — tougher tees mean more strokes.
The formula under the World Handicap System is:
Course Handicap = Handicap Index × (Slope Rating ÷ 113) + (Course Rating − Par)
Don't worry — you don't need to do this math in your head. The scorecard usually has a conversion table printed on it, and apps like Settle Up Golf handle the calculation automatically when you enter player handicap indexes before your round.
To understand what's happening: Slope Rating measures how much harder a course is for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer (113 is the "average" slope). A slope of 130 means the course is relatively more demanding on higher handicappers, so they receive more strokes. Course Rating is the expected score for a scratch golfer, and subtracting par adjusts for courses where par might be 70 or 72.
Once you have everyone's Course Handicap, you need to figure out which holes those strokes apply to. That's where the Stroke Index (sometimes called Handicap Index on the scorecard) comes in.
Every hole on the scorecard is assigned a rank from 1 to 18. The hole ranked 1 is considered the hardest hole on the course — that's where a single-stroke player would receive their stroke. The hole ranked 18 is the easiest.
The rule is simple: you receive strokes on the hardest holes first. If your Course Handicap is 5, you get one stroke on each of the five hardest holes (stroke index 1 through 5). If your Course Handicap is 18, you get one stroke on every hole. If it's 20, you get two strokes on the two hardest holes and one stroke on the other 16.
In practice, before teeing off in a money game, it's worth taking a minute to circle the holes on the scorecard where each player receives strokes. It avoids confusion mid-round when a hole result is close.
Once you understand stroke holes, the math is easy:
So if you make a 5 on a par-4 where you receive a stroke, your net score is 4 — a net par. If your opponent makes a clean 4 with no stroke, you've halved the hole on a net basis.
Most recreational money games are played on net scores, which is what makes them competitive across different skill levels. Playing gross is an option, but it generally only works when players are closely matched.
In match play, you compare net scores hole by hole. The lower net score wins the hole; the higher net score loses it; equal net scores halve it. Handicap strokes are applied exactly as described above — the higher-handicap player receives strokes on the appropriate holes, making those holes more equitable.
In a Nassau — the most popular money game format — you're essentially playing three match play contests: the front 9, the back 9, and the full 18. Handicap strokes still apply on each hole they fall on. On a 9-hole match, strokes are assigned by the stroke index for those specific holes.
When four players are involved and you're playing team formats, the usual approach is to compute the net strokes for each player individually, then use those net scores to determine hole winners.
In a skins game, each hole is worth a set amount of money. Ties carry over. Handicap strokes are applied per hole, so a high-handicapper has a realistic chance of posting a net birdie or net eagle to win a skin — even against much better players.
Net skins are the fairest way to run a money game across a mixed-ability group. Without handicaps, the better players would win almost every skin and lower handicappers would go home empty-handed. With net scoring, anyone can hole out and walk away with the pot.
In many casual money games, players don't use their full Course Handicap. Instead, they play "off the low" — meaning the lowest-handicap player in the group plays scratch, and everyone else receives only the difference between their handicap and the lowest player's.
For example: if your four players have Course Handicaps of 4, 10, 14, and 18, you subtract 4 from everyone. The adjusted handicaps become 0, 6, 10, and 14. The best player plays scratch; the others get their relative strokes.
Why do this? A few reasons:
Settle Up Golf supports both approaches — you can play full handicaps or off the low, and the app calculates stroke holes automatically either way.
Handicaps only work if everyone plays by roughly the same rules. Here are a few things that help keep money games fun and fair:
Settle Up Golf tracks every bet, calculates every payout, and tells you exactly who owes what — so you can focus on your game.