Garmin can you please fix the handicap calculation in the Golf App?

No way for Garmin to fix this.

There is nothing wrong with the handicap calculation. The only difference is that the app will register all Your rounds, but the official will only register the ones You choose to register.

That's not correct. Since I’m a beginner my handicap is going down constantly. My best round was hcp 30,6 so far and my WHS hcp is 35,5 at this moment. The Golf App says I’m hcp 24,4! So what I’ve figured out is that the golf app calculates your theoretical hcp based on your stats. In my case based on average shot distance and accuracy on a good day I’m able to play hcp 24,4.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have the same request! There is no way my handicap is calculated correctly. So far I've played 22 9-hole rounds with a best score of +5 and an average of +10, and 7 18-hole rounds with a best score of +28 and an average of +34. Despite these awful stats the app says my handicap is -5.4! NEGATIVE!!! In what world does it makes sense that it's calculating a negative handicap for me when I've never even shot close to even???!!!!

Hi David

The World Handicap System is a well defined handicap calculation system, and Garmin is doing this correctly.

First of all, everyone starts at a -54 handicap, and as You imrove You will work Your way into 0, and even better, + handicap.

Since only a few reaches + handicap, we normally say I'm a 20 handicapper, when the correct term should be, I'm a minus 20 handicapper.

Secondly the WHS system uses the average of the best 8 rounds of the last 20 to determine the handicap. The worst 12 doesen't count,

So if You go 8 x +5, and 12 x +50 in Your last 20, You will get a handicap of around -5.

Thirdly, every course has it's indivudual rating, slope rating.

This means that if You go 80 shots on a par 72 You may get +8 on one course, +6 on a difficult course, and + 10 on an easy course when calculating the handicap.

Yes, it may be that Garmin has a wrong slope on the course You're playing, You should be able to find out this by comparing Garmins handicap score with the actual handicap score in Your register.

Finally there are measures taken in the WHS that will bring Your handicap down more quickly than just taking the average of the best 8 of 20. And there are limitations in how fast You can bring Your handicap up again. These are called soft and hard cap, but will not explain these now.

You can read more here if interested: https://www.whs.com/

PS; Quite impressive to be a 5 handicapper after only playing some rounds. Well done.

Hi Odd. I am sorry to insist but I am not convinced by your explanation. I am a poor player: the Perfortmance Stats of the Android version of Garmin Golf App is showing that my best scores are +23 stokes for 9-holes (12 rounds recorded) and +51 strokes for 18-holes (53 rounds recorded). I repeat: these are my best scores, not my averages (which are respectively 29 for 9-holes and 61 for 18-holes for the last 10 rounds). So how can my handicap be 31.9? My handicap should be 54 or so, definetely not 31.9. This is inconsistent, there is a bug somewhere. Can you please investigate? Thank you.

Hi JF Barati.

I can agree my explanation was wrong.

Handicaps are indeed positive.

I can only assume that Garmin has changed to WHS (World Handicap System). But not 100% sure, as there were many ways to calculate handicaps until WHS was the new standard most countries use now.

Anyway, in WHS You basically need 20 rounds registered before an accurate handicap is calculated.

You will also get a handicap with less rounds, but that may be more "random".

And 9 holes will not be as accurate as 18 holes.

The handicap is based on the average of the best 8 rounds of the last 20. What You did before that doesen't matter (unless You are getting a soft/hard cao).

So let us say You go +30 as an average of the best 8 in the last 20. Does that mean Your handicap is 30?

Nope. 

If You play a difficult course, You may get extra shots, so on a difficult par 72, You can still be scratch with a 76-77 round (+5-6). The difficulty of the course You're playing can be found in the slope index. Also what tee You go from will influence this a lot. 

But it doesen't end there.. 

If You play 9 hole, the score will be converted into 18 hole. On the 9 not played You will get par + 1/2 Your handicap + 1 stroke. So the 9 holes not played will normally "be better" for a high handicapper.

Also there is a cap of Your individual holes which is par + Your handicap strokes + 2.

So if You play a par 4, have 2 handicap shots on the hole, and You play the hole to 10, the score will be adjusted to 8.

So if You have a couple of terrible holes, where You decide to not pick up and hole out instead, the adjusted score may be much lower than the actual score. 

That being said, it may be that Garmin is still using an outdated handicap system where the max handicap was 36. I kind of suspect this when I see what Your handicap is compared to Your scores.

In Norway we have a veru user friendly system for all courses / memberships, where we can see our hcp, and what it is based on:

As You see, my current hcp is 22,8, and it is based on the rounds in blue.

Garmin has my handicap to 20,3, but Garmin registers all my rounds as long as I use the watch, while the official system is based on only the rounds I choose to enter. As I don't enter all, they will not match, but it is close enough.

Hope this was a better explanation.

Hi Odd

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, I very much appreciate. Like you, I tend to believe that "Garmin is still using an outdated handicap system where the max handicap was 36". This is the only plausible reason for the huge difference between the handicap calculated by the App and the data base of my results (obtained across multiple golf courses in Taiwan, each of them fearuring different difficulty levels). I think that, unfortunately, I need to use a different App to keep track of my handicap.

Again thanks for your answer and best regards.

You can use mscorecard (a great free app in my opinion), enter Your last 20 rounds and see what You get.