A handicap is a certain number of strokes which a player is allowed to remove from his total score for a round.

The better the player, the lower the handicap.

Only highly skilled players reach zero, also known as ‘scratch’ or ‘level’.

A select few even get so good they enter positive figures – which means they have to add strokes to their total.

In reality, most golfers who reach that standard are good enough to turn professional.

All professional tournaments are played as scratch or ‘level’ ie without handicaps.

In foursomes, the team’s handicap is usually calculated by adding the two players’ handicaps together and dividing by two.