Anyone can claim a "handicap." "What's your handicap"? "Fourteen." Self-serve handicaps can be kept by golfers who can't, or just don't want to, join a golf club and get an official handicap index. Such handicaps cannot be used in official competitions, however, and are not sanctioned by the USGA.
The USGA Handicap System - and the use of the term "handicap" by the USGA - originated in the early 20th Century. The USGA began using "handicap index" in the early 1980s when it added slope rating to the equation.
A handicap index is not a representation of your average score and, if you're doing it right, it's not what you'll use to give yourself (or playing partners) strokes. The handicap index is a number that is compared to course rating in order to determine your course handicap. Course handicap is then used to figure strokes.
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