Someone recently arrived at our website using the search question, “why is a handicap multiplied by .96?” at Google. The searcher arrived through our golf handicap formula in plain English page. Indeed, why are handicap differentials multiplied by .96, or 96%? This is what it says in the USGA Handicap Manual:
Bonus for Excellence is the incentive for players to improve their golf games that is built into the USGA Handicap System. It is the term used to describe the small percentage below perfect equity that is used to calculate a Handicap Index (96 percent). As a Handicap Index improves (gets lower), the player has a slightly better chance of placing high or winning a handicap event.
In another article entitled, For Better or For Worse, at the USGA website, the remark is made that, “your golf club or association then will multiply by a 96-percent ‘bonus for excellence’ factor that slightly favors the lower-handicapped player.” So the 96% is an incentive to improve your handicap and a “slight” advantage to lower handicapped players in a handicapped competition. In the only other mention of “bonus for excellence” on the USGA site, it is stated that a “limberback” lower handicapper will have a “very slight” advantage over a series of matches with a weekend warrior. That would mean that most non-professional golfers could play against an internationally known golfer with only a slight edge going to the pro. That’s what the USGA Handicap System does…
See our golf handicap software, Handicap System…
