How can we help?

HCAP has been rebuilt from the ground up. It has a new look that works on phones and computers, your handicap is worked out with World Handicap System rules the moment you save a round, and there are new things like your handicap card, HCAP Clubs and an app you can install. Your golfer number, your scores and your handicap history all came across from the old site.

Use your golfer number from the old site and leave the password empty, then choose Email me a link. The link lets you set a new password: old passwords couldn't be brought across. After that, log in with your golfer number (or email) and your new password.

My handicap shows your HCP Index, your last 20 rounds and a chart. Add a score is where you enter rounds. Course handicap shows your strokes off every tee at any club. HCAP Clubs is for your golf group or society. Profile has your details, password and club. The little house at the top takes you to the front page.

Your score differential shows live while you enter a round, with whether it's likely to count. There's a handicap card you can share on WhatsApp, PCC for days when the course played harder, a transfer between HCAP Clubs on your profile, and you can install HCAP as an app on your phone.

Clubs have their own HCAP Club office: invite members, approve requests and transfers, give member numbers, enter scores and print or share the handicap list on WhatsApp. Old clubs log in the first time with their old club number and old password, then choose a username.

Please tell the HCAP office: use the contact form. If a score or your index looks different from the old site, that's usually because HCAP now follows the World Handicap System rules exactly.

No. HCAP is not an official handicap system, and it isn't linked to Handicap Network Africa (HNA) or GolfRSA. It's mainly for golfers who aren't members of a golf club. On HCAP they can start an HCAP Club of their own, with their friends or golf group, and work out their HCP Index using the World Handicap System rules. If you need an official handicap for club competitions, join a golf club affiliated to GolfRSA.

Press Register, fill in your name, email and a password, tick the privacy box, and confirm your email with the link we send you. You get a golfer number straight away: that's how you log in.

Use your golfer number from the old site. Leave the password empty and press Log in, then choose Email me a link. The link lets you set a new password. Old passwords weren't brought across.

Try logging in with your email address instead. It's also on your handicap card and your profile once you're in. If more than one golfer shares your email, ask the HCAP office for your number.

On Log in, type your golfer number or email and press Forgot password?. We email you a link that works once, for 48 hours. No email? Check the spam folder.

Yes, on your phone or computer. On Android, or Chrome or Edge on a computer, press Install when HCAP offers it, or use Install the app at the bottom of any page. On an iPhone or iPad, open HCAP in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. HCAP then opens from its own icon, full screen. Hold the icon for shortcuts to Add a score, your card and Course handicap.

Click the HCAP logo at the top left, or the little house at the start of the menu. Home is also in the small links at the bottom of every page.

HCAP does, from the rounds you enter, using the World Handicap System rules. It updates the moment a round is saved.

Each round gets a score differential: (113 ÷ slope) × (gross − course rating − PCC). Your index is the average of your best 8 differentials from your last 20 rounds. With fewer than 20 rounds, fewer count: from 3 rounds, your lowest one minus 2.0, up to 19 rounds, your best 7. The most your index can be is 54.0.

Those are the rounds your index is worked out from. They're green on your last-20 strip, in Recent rounds and in the table.

On My handicap, ▼ means your index has come down in the last 30 days and ▲ means it has gone up.

An exceptional score reduction. If a differential is 7 or more below your index, all your last 20 differentials are lowered by 1. If it's 10 or more below, by 2.

Once you have 20 rounds, the soft cap halves any rise more than 3.0 above your lowest index of the past 12 months. The hard cap stops it rising more than 5.0 above that low.

Your course handicap is how many strokes you get off a particular tee: HCP Index × slope ÷ 113 + (course rating − par). Your playing handicap applies the allowance for the format, e.g. 95% for individual stroke play. Course handicap shows them for every tee at any club: tap a tee to see it in the big answer.

A digital card with your name, golfer number, home club, HCAP Club and HCP Index, plus a QR code. Find it under My handicap card on My handicap or your profile. Remember it's an HCAP handicap, not an official one.

On your card page, use WhatsApp or Copy link to send a link, or Save as image for a picture of the card. On a phone, Share image sends the picture straight to WhatsApp and other apps.

The link does: it always shows your latest index, so an old link is never out of date. A saved picture is a snapshot of the day you saved it.

Press Stop sharing: make a new link on your card page. The old link stops working straight away, and you get a new one to send.

Your total strokes, but no hole counts for more than net double bogey: par + 2 + the strokes you get on that hole. If your total is higher than the most possible, HCAP lowers it and tells you.

On Add a score, click the Course and tee box to see the list, or type a few letters, e.g. "royal blue", to narrow it down. Pick one with a click or the arrow keys and Enter. Your last course is already filled in.

PCC stands for Playing Conditions Calculation. When a course plays much harder than normal on a day, e.g. strong wind or heavy rain, a PCC of +1 to +3 is added to the course rating, so a tough day doesn't count against your handicap. On Add a score it's 0 unless you choose otherwise. If the HCAP office has already set a PCC for that club and day, it's picked for you.

Your HCP Index now, and this round's differential as you type. It also tells you whether the round is likely to count towards your index.

Yes, once you have an index. Choose 9 holes. HCAP adds your expected score for the other 9 (0.52 × your index + 1.2), so the round counts like an 18-hole one. The course figures are halved for 9 holes.

On Add a score, open My course or tee isn't listed and type in the club, tee, course rating, slope and par from the scorecard. It's then added to the list for everyone.

Yes, for 14 days after you enter it: click the round under All rounds on My handicap. After that, or for rounds from the old site, ask the HCAP office.

A golf group, society or social club that runs its members on HCAP, like Duffaway Golf or Powermiters. It's not the golf course you play at: that's your home club on your profile.

Go to HCAP Clubs, search for the club or tap your province, and press Ask to join. The club approves it. If a club invites you, the invitation shows on My handicap and on HCAP Clubs.

On your profile, open Ask for a transfer to another HCAP Club, choose the new club and add a note if you like. When the new club approves it, you move there and leave your old club. Your handicap and scores go with you. You can cancel the request while it's waiting.

The club sees your name, golfer number, email, cell number, HCP Index, rounds this year and last round date, and can enter scores for you. Other members see your name, index and rounds, but not your email or cell. Your full score record stays on your own page. You can leave a club at any time.

HCAP Clubs have their own HCAP Club office with a separate login. The captain or secretary registers the club there. Once the HCAP office approves it, they log in to invite members, approve requests, enter scores and print or share the club's handicap list.

Your name, gender, email, cell number (if you give it), home club, country and your scores. You, the HCAP office and HCAP Clubs you join can see it. It's never sold or used for adverts. The privacy notice has the details.

On your profile: email, cell number, gender, country and password. Your home club updates by itself to the club of your last round. For a wrong name or golfer number, ask the HCAP office.

Yes. Email the HCAP office and give your golfer number. Your details and scores are removed, and your handicap card link stops working.

It's stored scrambled, so nobody can read it, not even the HCAP office. If you think someone knows it, change it on your profile.