Rules of Golf Review: I shot an 84 but it posted like I shot an 81. What gives?

You left the golf course with an 84 and when you woke up the next day, the Golf Handicap Information Network (GHIN) treated it like an 81. How is that possible? When the World Handicap System was introduced in 2020, you might have missed in the fine print that your score for any given round can be adjusted by up to three shots lower or one shot higher depending on how the course played that day.

The adjustment is called the "Playing Conditions Calculation" and, if you use the GHIN app or similar, you'll see a little PCC symbol next to your score showing if it was adjusted (the adjustment happens at midnight). Using this golfer's scores in July as an example (below), you'll see that his round of 84 on July 3 was adjusted one shot higher, meaning it was treated as an 85 for handicap purposes. In other words, the course played easier that day. The previous day, however, his round of 86 was unaffected. If those scores had "+1," "+2" or "+3" next to them, meaning the course played more difficult than normal, the score for handicap purposes would be lowered the same amount. On a +3 day, an 82 would become a 79, which would be an interesting outcome if that golfer broke 80 for the first time.

One thing to clarify before we move on: You can think of it as your score being adjusted but the actual term is "score differential," because slope and rating are factored into it. In other words, the difficulty of one course when compared to another also is taken into consideration when determining a Handicap Index. Hopefully, you already knew that.

Back to PCC, there are several reasons why it might kick in, says Scott Hovde, director of course rating and handicap research at the USGA. "It's not like the wind and rain are the only things that can affect [PCC]," Hovde says. "Hole locations, rough, etc., can also play a role."

Speaking to many regular golfers about PCC, a question that often comes up is why it isn't always triggered on bad-weather days? There's more than one answer. For starters, you have to have a minumum of eight rounds posted at a course on that very day for PCC to even be activated. The staff at the course also might have made adjustments to counter weather, such as moving up tees and making hole locations easier. It's also possible scores just weren't as high as the weather might have made you assume (soft greens, etc.).

Another thing to consider about PCC is the frequency in which it is activated. If you've noticed in the past year or two that it seems to be triggered more often than it was first introduced, that's because the formula was changed two years ago and it's a little more "liberal," Hovde says. In fact, it's triggered about twice as much as it used to be, he says.

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In 2024, on days where eight or more scores were posted on any given course, PCC adjustments were applied 7.8 percent of the time. The most common was an adjustment of -1 (4.1 percent) and the most unusual was +3 (.32 percent).

The final thing to consider about PCC is if there have been any changes to your golf course that might have made it harder or easier. Although the slope or rating—or both—might have stayed the same, it's possible new tee boxes, pin locations or changes in agronomy have impacted scores in a real way. A course redesign would very likely impact the frequency of PCC adjustments.

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