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Handicap System
The PRI handicap is TGI’s own handicap, from your best recent rounds at every course with a scorecard, rated or not. One handicap for all your golf in Thailand.
My Handicap
On your TGI card
Your handicap and TGI number are on your TGI ID card, ready to show your Captain.
Verified rounds only
Only rounds approved by your marker, your Captain or TGI count toward your handicap.
Every course counts
Rated or not, every course with a scorecard counts. Many Thai courses have never been rated, and your rounds there still build your handicap.
Course difficulty
Where a tee is rated, its Men’s and Ladies’ difficulty is used, so a round at a hard course counts for more.
Approving a starting handicap
Have a handicap from your home club? Add it in My Account with a photo of your handicap card. Your Captain can approve it in one of three ways:
- You photograph your handicap card or certificate in the app, and your Captain checks it.
- Your Captain sees your card or handicap record in person.
- Your Captain enters your handicap for you.
A small banner always shows where it stands: Approved handicap, Pending Captain approval, or Not yet verified. Only an approved handicap starts your handicap.
Handicap System
Made for society golf
Built for the golfers who play with Thailand’s societies, from long-time members to visitors here for a few weeks. It gives you a fair playing handicap quickly, then changes step by step as you play. One bad day or one lucky round never makes it jump.
How it works
- Play 18 holes on any course with a scorecard, rated or not, and have your marker approve your card.
- Each round gets a score for how well you played compared with the course’s difficulty. A disaster hole counts at most net double bogey, and you can tap Pick Up instead of finishing a hole.
- Have a handicap from your home club? Once your society Captain approves it, that is your starting handicap.
- No home handicap? Your first approved round gives you a provisional handicap straight away. It becomes firm after 3 rounds.
- After that, every new round moves it a quarter of the way toward the average of your best 8 of your latest 12 rounds. One bad day hardly moves it; a run of good rounds brings it down steadily.
- You have one handicap for all your golf: individual rounds and every society you play in.
Lower is better
Like other handicaps, a lower number means a stronger golfer. Better rounds bring your handicap down.
What doesn’t count
Rounds your marker hasn’t approved, 9-hole rounds, and rounds on a course with no scorecard pars yet.
Simplified
In one line
Your handicap shows how you usually play, based on your recent verified rounds.
Your handicap, in simple terms
A handicap that follows your recent form, a little at a time.
- Rolling: it only looks at your latest 12 verified rounds. As you play a new round, the oldest one drops off, so it always shows how you play now, not years ago.
- Progressive: it changes in steps. Each new round moves it only a quarter of the way toward your best recent golf, so one great day or one disaster doesn’t make it jump.
It rewards steady improvement and stays fair to the field, and you get a handicap quickly: after your first approved round, or straight away from an approved club handicap.
Technical
How the PRI handicap is designed
Each round’s adjusted gross score is held to net double bogey per hole and turned into a round result using the tee’s published course difficulty, and the handicap averages your best rounds from a recent run. It is designed for society and individual play in Thailand:
- A first handicap after 1 round (or an approved starting handicap), not after 54 holes.
- Best 8 of the latest 12 rounds instead of 20, with 0.75 / 0.25 smoothing so each round moves it gradually.
- A round counts at most 7 above your current handicap.
- Approval by the player’s marker by QR code, and starting handicaps approved by the society Captain.
No adjustment is made for the day’s playing conditions.
Adjusted gross
Every hole counts at most net double bogey:
Limit = Par + 2 + strokes received on the hole
CH = HCP × S ÷ 113 + (R − Par)
Strokes are received by stroke index from the course handicap CH, worked out from the handicap at the start of the round. Before a player has one, the limit is par + 5. A picked-up hole counts as its limit.
Round result
D = (Adjusted Gross − R) × 113 ÷ S
R and S are the tee’s published course difficulty values (the scratch score and the slope) for the category played (Men or Ladies). On a course that isn’t rated, R is the card’s par and S is 113. D may be negative.
Calculation
Rounds are taken in the order they were played. For each round n:
Dₙ′ = min(Dₙ, HCPₙ₋₁ + 7)
R12ₙ = mean of the best k of the latest m rounds′
m = min(n, 12) and k = ⌈2m ÷ 3⌉: 1 of 1, 2 of 2, 2 of 3, 3 of 4 … 8 of 12.
With an approved starting handicap H
HCP₀ = H
n ≥ 1: HCPₙ = 0.75 × HCPₙ₋₁ + 0.25 × R12ₙ
Without one
n = 1–3: HCPₙ = R12ₙ (provisional until n = 3)
n ≥ 4: HCPₙ = 0.75 × HCPₙ₋₁ + 0.25 × R12ₙ
The first round has no earlier handicap, so no limit applies to it. The handicap is capped at 54.
Example
Round results 10, 10 and 10 give a firm handicap of 10.0.
A fourth round of 4: best 3 of 4 = (4 + 10 + 10) ÷ 3 = 8, so the handicap = 0.75 × 10 + 0.25 × 8 = 9.5.
Damping
A player on 18.0 who has a disaster round of 35 stays on 18.0: it is limited to 25 and falls outside their best rounds.
Real changes in form come through steadily. Seven rounds of 10 after a start of 18.0 bring it to 12.1, and seven rounds of 26 take it to 20.8.
Starting handicaps
A starting handicap H counts only once a society Captain approves it, either after sighting the player’s evidence or by entering H themselves. H must be between −10 and 54 (plus handicaps are negative). Any change needs a new approval, recording who gave it and when.
Corrections
If a round is corrected, voided or approved late, the whole history is recalculated in played order, so the result never depends on when rounds were approved. Full precision is kept; the handicap is shown to one decimal place.
Compared with WHS
How it compares with WHS
Each round is worked out the way the World Handicap System (WHS) does it: your score is adjusted for how hard the course is, and a bad hole counts at most net double bogey. The PRI handicap then makes it quicker and steadier for society golf:
- A handicap after 1 approved round. WHS needs 54 holes, usually 3 rounds.
- Your best 8 of your latest 12 rounds, instead of 20, so it catches up with your form sooner.
- Each round moves it a quarter of the way, so it never jumps.
- Every course with a scorecard counts, rated or not. WHS counts rated courses only.
In short: much the same handicap, just applied quicker. The PRI handicap is not an official WHS handicap. WHS is a trademark of The R&A and the USGA, and TGI is not affiliated with or approved by them.
The PRI handicap is TGI’s own. It is not an official handicap and is not affiliated with or approved by The R&A, the USGA or the Thailand Golf Association. The weights may be recalibrated; past versions stay on record.