How handicaps work in Bad Golf App

The basics

This app uses a World Handicap System calculation. Following GHIN/WHS rules, a Handicap Index is only issued once a player has posted at least 54 holes (three 18-hole rounds, or any mix of 9- and 18-hole rounds totaling 54) with course rating & slope stored. It then auto-calculates and pre-fills on the Setup screen when you pick them from the saved roster.

Before 54 holes, no index is shown. The roster picker badge tells you "27/54 holes for GHIN handicap" so you know how close they are.

What gets stored

Every time you tap "Save & return home" on a finished round, the app archives each player's:

• Date the round was played
• Course name
• Tee played from (Forward, Middle, Back, etc.)
• Gross score (total strokes)
• Course rating & slope for that tee
• Differential = (113 / slope) × (gross − rating − weather adjustment)

Rounds without rating/slope set, or rounds where a player didn't complete 18 holes, are silently skipped.

🌦️ Weather adjustment

Bad Golf App watches the live wind, temperature and rain while you play. When the weather makes a course play harder, that round's handicap differential gets a small break — the same idea as the USGA's Playing Conditions Calculation (PCC), which protects your index on rough days.

It uses the real World Handicap System formula with a conditions term added:
Differential = (113 ÷ slope) × (gross − rating − conditions adjustment)

The conditions adjustment is 0 to +3 strokes, driven mostly by wind (gusts count extra), then cold or heat, then rain. Calm, mild, dry days get 0 (no change); a nasty, windy, wet day can reach +3, which lowers that round's differential so a bad-weather score doesn't unfairly inflate your index.

Note: this is Bad Golf App's live-weather estimate, not the official GHIN PCC (the USGA calculates that from other golfers' scores, not from weather). You can turn it off in ⚙️ Additional settings. Every round stores both the raw and weather-adjusted differential — and your Handicap Index always uses the raw one, exactly like GHIN; the weather number is informational.

The handicap math

From the player's stored differentials, the app picks the lowest N from their most recent 20 rounds and averages them, applying small adjustments for low round counts:

• 3 rounds: lowest 1 minus 2.0
• 4 rounds: lowest 1 minus 1.0
• 5 rounds: lowest 1
• 6 rounds: avg of lowest 2 minus 1.0
• 7-8 rounds: avg of lowest 2
• 9-11 rounds: avg of lowest 3
• 12-14 rounds: avg of lowest 4
• 15-16 rounds: avg of lowest 5
• 17-18 rounds: avg of lowest 6
• 19 rounds: avg of lowest 7
• 20+ rounds: avg of lowest 8 of last 20

Tee selection per player

Each course can have multiple tee boxes (Forward, Middle, Back, Championship — or whatever you name them). Each tee has its own rating and slope.

When you set up a round, each player picks which tee they're playing. Their differential gets calculated using their tee's numbers — so a high-handicap player on the forward tees and a scratch on the championship tees get fair handicap math even though they're playing the same round.

Tee-adjusted course handicap: once a player has an established index, picking a tee also adjusts the handicap they play to that day, using the real formula: Index × (Slope ÷ 113) + (Rating − Par). The same 10 index plays as a 12 or 13 from a 135-slope tee and a 10 from a neutral one — the app fills it in automatically the moment the tee is picked (you can still type over it).

If a player doesn't pick a tee for a round, that round won't count toward their handicap (the round still works for game).

🏷️ The "TEMP" badge

Brand-new players don't have an official handicap index yet — that only kicks in once they've posted 3 rounds (or 54+ holes total) with a rated tee. Until then, Bad Golf App needs some number to use for game math, so it holds onto whatever handicap was entered for them by hand: either typed in for them at round setup, or answered when they first signed up.

Anywhere that stand-in number shows up — round setup, your Stats/profile page, the Times picker — you'll see a small TEMP tag next to it. That's your cue it's a placeholder, not the real thing yet.

It keeps working exactly the same way, round after round, until enough history builds up for a real index — at that point the TEMP tag disappears automatically and the official calculated index takes over everywhere. No one needs to re-enter anything.

Note: the Friends leaderboard's ranked handicap column is the one place this never appears — it always shows the real computed index or "N/A," never a self-reported number, so the ranking stays fair.

📊 Handicap basis

Each player uses their own handicap: traditional setup. A 12-handicap gets 12 strokes, an 8-handicap gets 8.

Play off the lowest handicap: the lowest-HCP player plays scratch (0 strokes). Everyone else gets the difference. So if the lowest is a 5, the 12-handicap gets 7 strokes (12 − 5). Common in match play to keep things fair without giving up too many strokes.

⚖️ Handicap percentage

Slider from 25% to 100%. Multiplies everyone's effective handicap. Common conventions:

• 100%: full handicap (default)
• 90%: stroke play with mixed groups
• 80%–85%: typical for fourball / better-ball matches
• 75%: singles match play in some leagues
• 50%: heavy reduction, only the high handicaps get strokes

Combine with "play off lowest handicap" for proper match-play conventions.

3️⃣ No strokes on par 3s

Optional rule. When checked, no player gets a stroke on any par 3 hole, regardless of stroke index. Useful when the group feels giving strokes on short holes inflates handicaps unfairly.