Paige Spiranac breaks down the handicap system in golf, reveals formula just days after getting flak for making big claim

On June 27, when Paige Spiranac posted her handicap index to be +3.4, people showered her comment section with queries, with some replies attempting to mock her handicap. As a result, on the same day, Paige Spiranac retweeted the same post with a detailed breakdown of how to calculate one's handicap.

However, as the conversation didn't show signs of stopping, Spiranac made a video explaining the handicap formula and how it works. She posted the clip online on July 12. In the video, she explained that the handicap is the average of scores and had to be calculated separately.

Then, Paige Spiranac shared a formula, which was (GA Handicap * (Slope Rating+113) + (Scratch Rating minus Par)) * 0.93. She further explained that the slope rating indicated how difficult a course is for a bogey golfer as compared to a scratch golfer, a scratch golfer being one that shoots level par. Spiranac added that her handicap means that she should be scoring under par, on average. But even if she did record an over-par score on a course, that wouldn't change her handicap.

Paige Spiranac played as a professional in 2016 and was playing on the Cactus Tour. Later the same year, after she couldn't qualify for the LPGA Tour, she retired from golf. Following that, she became a golf influencer online and has shared videos on golf-related topics. She currently has 4 million Instagram followers, while her Twitter follower count stands at 1 million.

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Paige Spiranac makes a dig at another golfer to justify her handicap index

After Spiranac mentioned that her handicap index was +3.4, fans poured in with their comments on her profile. Some of these were negative, questioning the handicap value. Later, Spiranac posted a tweet on June 27 to explain how the handicap calculation worked.

In the latter tweet, she wrote that the best eight scores of the last twenty scores were considered to calculate the handicap value and that A+ was better than scratch as a handicap value.

“1. A + handicap is better than scratch. 2. A +3 handicap is good but nowhere close to completing against the best in the world. I don’t think people realize how good they are, how hard the courses are set up, and all while doing it under extreme pressure. It’s a different game they play,” Paige Spiranac wrote.

Spiranac continued, “3. You calculate your golf handicap by taking the average score of the best eight of your last 20 scores. Meaning you can still have some pretty shitty rounds and still be a low handicap. 4. Pros don’t keep a handicap, but someone calculated Tiger at a +9 once, which is insane.”

In her last point, she took a gentle dig at Tiger Woods' handicap, which she said was calculated to be +9 at one point.