Using GHIN for Handicap Tracking
GHIN (Golf Handicap Information Network) is a service offered by the USGA to golf associations worldwide. GHIN is one of the largest handicap management tools in the world, serving more than 2.3 million golfers and 15,000 golf clubs. Its services include the USGA Admin Portal for golfer management, score posting products for golfers and USGA Tournament Management.
Our Chapter has been set up as an Affinity Member Club with the Texas Golf Association so that ANY member, new or old, can join for only $28 and carry their handicap through GHIN with the TGA and also have the benefits that TGA membership brings. This is the LOWEST price for TGA membership and some ladies may choose to transfer their membership to the Chapter instead of through a public course.
Steps for setting up GHIN account for old and new members:
Should you have questions, please contact Melinda Hipp at mhipp8822@gmail.com
How to Establish a Handicap
For many of us, golf is a social outing, a chance to have fun with some friends and get some fresh air and exercise. For others, golf is a serious sport and they want to compete in tournaments at a high level. Whichever type of golfer you are, one of the best ways to measure improvement in your game is to keep track of your scores and establish a handicap. This lets you compete on an even playing field with others whether its in fun tournaments or the serious national competitions. But how do you get started? This is part 1 of a 3-part series on keeping track of your scores so you can get a handicap index and watch it go down as you improve your game.
A handicap index is the measure of a player’s demonstrated ability. It is expressed to one decimal point (eg. 8.5). When someone asks you "What is your handicap?" this is the number they are referring to. Your course handicap is based on your handicap index but takes into consideration the difficulty of the specific course you are playing. We will talk about that in part 2.
Your LPGA Amateurs Membership gives you a discount to GHIN, an app that lets you track your golf scores and establish a handicap. See above for instructions on how to set up a GHIN. Once you have done that you will want to download the app onto your phone. You can also enter your scores on a desktop computer by logging into your GHIN account.
After you have logged in and set up your profile this is what you will see. (Obviously yours will be blank if you haven't entered any scores yet). First step is to click on Post Score.
The second step is to choose the course, and then whether you want to enter your score Hole by Hole (with or without stats) or your Total Score. We always recommend entering your score Hole by Hole.
Next you will select whether you played 9 or 18 holes, the tees you played from, what hole you started on, whether you were playing on your home course (if you have one) or a different course or in a competition, and the date you played. Your handicap index updates every day so it is important that you enter your score on the day you played to keep it accurate. There is also an adjustment that will be made for extreme weather so if you happen to play during a hurricane your score will reflect that. Now choose Enter Hole by Hole Score.
Tap on the Score box under Hole 1 to enter your score on that hole. The maximum score you can take on any hole when you don't have a handicap is par + 5. If your score was higher than that the app will automatically adjust it to the max score (for example Hole #3 was automatically adjusted down because it exceeded the max score for that hole. More about max scores in the next section.) This is important to remember when you are worried about keeping the pace during a round of golf, any score above par + 5 will not matter for your handicap so you might as well pick up and move on to the next hole. (Note this does not apply if you are in a tournament, you must finish every hole no matter what your score is.) Once you have your score entered on the first hole it will move to the next hole automatically. You can see the total score is also calculated automatically. Enter all of your scores and then tap Post Score.
The handicap will not be updated until the next day. Once you have entered scores for 54 holes you will get a handicap index. It is important to enter both 9-hole and 18-hole rounds of golf every time you play. Your handicap index is based on the best 8 18-hole rounds of the last 20 that you played, so one bad round will not affect your handicap. The scores with the asterisk are the ones being used to calculate the handicap. The app will automatically combine 2 9-hole rounds into 1 18-hole round to be used in the handicap calculation, even if it is 2 front 9's played on the same course or 2 9's on completely different courses.
I have a Handicap Index, Now What?
In Part 1 we talked about how to establish your Handicap Index by entering your scores into GHIN. Once you have entered scores for 54 holes, you will see your Handicap Index in your profile on the app. As you enter more scores you should see your Handicap Index move down as you improve your game. The Handicap Index is a representation of your potential scoring ability and is always taken to one decimal place. So if your handicap index is 24.3 it generally means you will shoot 24 strokes over par on an average golf course (in other words 24+72=96).
A third way to find your Course Handicap is to calculate it. From the main profile page click on the white arrow in the top left corner again and choose Course Handicap Calculator. You will need to manually enter your Handicap Index as well as the slope, rating and par of the course you are playing. These are normally found on the scorecard. Make sure you enter the numbers for the tees you are playing from as those numbers are different for different tees. The app defaults to a handicap index of 8.2, so you can see this person would have a course handicap of 8 on that particular course.
What are Max Scores?
In Part 1 we talked about how to establish your Handicap Index by entering your scores into the LPGA Amateurs Handicap Service. In Part 2 we talked about how to find out your Course Handicap. Now it's time to talk about Maximum Scores, what they mean and how to figure them out.
If you have any questions please reach out to our handicap chair Melinda Hipp