If you’ve ever tried to calculate your golf handicap index then you know it’s a lot like rocket surgery, yeah… rocket, surgery. Fortunately for you Gear Patrol has a few mad scientists on staff ready to tackle such a challenge. I won’t go into the details, but you should at least know the following:

• A handicap is the average of your best scores, not all of them.
• Each score is adjusted for the difficulty rating of that course.
• Final scores are adjusted based on a maximum number of strokes per hole given your current handicap.
• You use a different number of scores depending on the number of rounds you’ve played.
• You should never use more than your last 20 rounds.
• Don’t expect to beat your handicap often; it only happens about 20% of the time.

If you’re going to improve you need to track your handicap. Gear Patrol has created a handicap index for you to download, use and share with all your golf buddies - FREE OF CHARGE. It’s just the kind of guys we are. We’ve also include a space to track Greens in Regulation & Putts per Round, two stats that are crucial to becoming a better player. Detailed instructions are included with the calculator.

Download link after the jump.

DOWNLOAD HERE

System Requirements: Microsoft Excel (PC or Mac)

• Some other articles you’ll find useful:
  The ESC Test
• Beating your handicap article in Golf Digest
• Golf Stats