Any round that is deemed to have been played in a formal competitive environment, such as a sanctioned tournament, is known as a “T-Score”; in other words, it is a round when sandbagging is not expected. When determining handicaps, T-Scores are handled considerably differently than scores obtained from “casual play.”

How it’s used

The top 10 rounds played out of the last twenty are used to determine a player’s handicap using the “conventional” method. The term “best” is no longer determined by gross, net, or even adjusted gross scores. Instead, a formula that considers the slope and rating values of the tees used in each circumstance determines the difficulty of each round.

The USGA specifies two extra restrictions in the overall handicap computation to decrease the likelihood of sandbagging, in which a player willfully inflates his or her own handicap by purposefully playing poorly:

• Stroke control that is fair (ESC)
• Correction for particularly strong tournament rounds

Assuming the low- and mid-handicappers, equitable stroke control is used to reduce the effects of particularly terrible holes on handicaps.

The second sandbagging prevention measure is only used when a golfer competes in a formal tournament setting, which is the most likely scenario in which past sandbagging would be exploited by shooting a score much higher than what is typically associated with a player of a certain handicap. In this situation, T-Scores are useful.

Consider it in this manner:

Imagine that Frank is an extremely skilled golfer who, at his best, posts a low to mid-70s score. Five times per week, including the monthly competition, he performs at a private club. His USGA handicap would typically be at 4, but he has started to deliberately play below par during certain social rounds to artificially raise it closer to 8. He does this so that, at the monthly club event, he will be given additional handicap strokes.

T-Scores are useful in this situation.

Frank’s competitors have all complained that he consistently performs considerably better than his official handicap would indicate in tournament results. According to them, his handicap should be reduced to match his actual ability.