Golf Digest, November, 2008

Handicaps - Your Questions Answered
Competing from Different Tees

Q: How many strokes do I have to give my dad when I play from the blue tees and he plays from the whites? My course handicap is 12, and his is 15, and the Course Rating is 70.5 from the blue and 69.0 from the white.

A: Your difference in course handicaps is three shots, but you have to adjust your handicaps for the difference in the Course Rating. Your rating is 1.5 shots higher than Dad's. That rounds up to two shots, so you get 14 strokes (12+2) to his 15. Instead of giving him three shots, you give him only one, on the No. 1 handicap hole.

By Dean Knuth, Golf Digest Professional Advisor. Former senior director of the USGA handicap department, Knuth invented today's USGA Course Rating and Slope system.