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A golf handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer’s playing ability. It can be used to calculate a net score from the number of strokes actually played, thus allowing players of different proficiency to play against each other on somewhat equal terms.

A handicap is calculated with a specific arithmetic formula that approximates how much worse than par a player should be able to play.

To manually calculate your handicap you need to take the scorecard from your last five 18-hole rounds. You will need your score, the slope and rating for each course.

Subtract the course rating from the score that you shot on the course. Multiply that number by 113. Divide that number by the slop of the course. This number is called the differential.

Take the lowest of your five differentials and multiply it by 0.96. This number is your handicap.

The calculation is a little different if you have more than five scores. To make it easy for you go to http://golf.about.com/od/handicaps/l/blhandicapincal.htm and enter in your information and have your handicap calculated electronically.