Do you need a club?
For an official handicap, you need to belong to a golf club, but a "club" doesn't have to mean a clubhouse. Under the World Handicap System, a club can be a group of golfers with no course of its own, and most golf associations run one for golfers who don't have a home course.
Option 1: An official handicap through a golf association
- Find your association. In the US, that's your state or regional golf association. Most sell an individual membership that includes an official handicap. Elsewhere, start with your national golf federation.
- Join and pay the annual fee. It's usually far less than a club membership.
- Post 54 holes. Three 18-hole rounds, or any mix of nine- and 18-hole rounds that adds up to 54, on courses with a course rating and slope.
- Keep posting. Your handicap updates as you post every acceptable round, and it's what you need for most club competitions, member-guests and charity events with net prizes.
Option 2: An unofficial handicap from an app
If you just want a fair number for games with friends, or to see if you're improving, an unofficial handicap does the job without a membership. A good one follows the same method as the official system: it adjusts every round for the course and tees, caps blow-up holes, and averages your best recent rounds.
The trade-off: an unofficial handicap won't get you into an event that asks for an official one, and nobody checks the scores but you.
Which should you pick?
| If you want to… | You need |
|---|---|
| Enter club competitions or net tournaments | An official handicap |
| Play fair games with friends | Either |
| Track whether you're getting better | Either |
| Start today, with no fee | An unofficial handicap |
Many golfers start with an unofficial handicap, see where they land, and join an association once they want to play in events. You can keep both.
Updated November 12, 2026 by the Greens team.