PCC explained
This misunderstood new rule affects your handicap without your control
Reg Charity
Not all golf scores are created equally. That’s why, in 2020, the United States Golf Association adopted a handicap rule called Playing Condition Calculation (PCC). Depending on how golfers perform on a certain day, a PCC adjustment range of -1 to +3 can be applied. A negative adjustment to your score means the course played easier than expected, while a positive adjustment means the course played more difficult.
Here’s what to know about how Playing Condition Calculations and when it affects your scores:
Why was PCC adopted?
In 2020, the World Handicap System (WHS) was launched to standardize golf handicapping globally. Before the WHS was launched, the USGA didn’t have a PCC-type adjustment in its system. However, a number of different systems around the world had some adjustment aspects to them.
Seeing this, Scott Hovde—the USGA’s Director of Course Rating and Handicap Research—said: “We thought that was an improvement to our system, which ultimately made it to the WHS as part of the overall system.” As a result, PCC, which was created to better reflect playing conditions on a player’s handicap for a given day, was born.
Each player has an expected score range based on their handicap, Hovde said. The higher a player’s handicap, the wider the tolerance for their expected score is. If significantly more players than expected perform outside their expected scoring range—either better or worse—PCC can activate to adjust scores accordingly.
“Essentially, (PCC is) just correcting for how difficult the course is actually playing that day,” Hovde said.
What contributes to PCC being triggered?
PCC is purely score-based. It’s an instance where a person’s opinion doesn’t matter, and the numbers speak for themselves. But of course, numerous factors affect how that score is made. Of those, perhaps the first thing people think of is weather, but that’s not always the most influential factor.
Just because it’s windy or raining, that doesn’t mean PCC will be activated automatically. In some instances, like for courses in Oklahoma—which typically have windy conditions—wind is already baked into the course rating, Hovde said. Thus, the course rating is already higher, making it more difficult for PCC to be activated.
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Additionally, factors like hole locations, rough sizes and tee box placement also affect PCC, Hovde said. The aforementioned variables could also be used to negate the weather’s effect on PCC. For instance, if it’s raining and windy, a course can move holes to the center of the green and move tee boxes up to help cancel out the weather, which would make it harder for PCC to activate.
On the other hand—regardless of weather conditions—if hole locations are in tougher positions, the rough is high and tee boxes are pushed back, it typically leads to a tougher round, making it more likely for PCC to activate because players are more likely to shoot worse than expected.
Still, regardless of the day’s conditions or course setup, the only thing that truly matters to trigger PCC is what players shoot.
When is PCC actually triggered?
The first requirement for PCC to go into effect is that at least eight people who played a specific course must register their scores on the day they played. If seven people play on the same day at the same course and shoot well off their expected score, but they’re the only seven players to record their scores that day, PCC doesn’t trigger. If eight players shoot well off their expected score but register their scores the ensuing day, PCC also doesn’t trigger.
If at least eight people register their scores on the day they played, PCC still doesn’t automatically trigger—in this case, not enough players played outside their expected score. However, because there are so many underlying factors, there isn’t a consistent way in which PCC triggers when at least eight people register their scores.
“It's not just the number of players, but the handicaps to the players and the course, so all three factor in,” Hovde said. “One day, it might be two of eight would trigger a PCC. Another day, it might be three of eight because it's a different group of players with different handicaps and maybe a different golf course, etc. So it's not as simple as you're saying X number of players out of eight would trigger it.”
The bottom line is at least eight players who played the same course on the same day must register their score that same day for PCC to possibly kick in. From there, the variance of their scores could lead to a possible adjustment.
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Why is PCC contingent on at least eight people?
As alluded to earlier, similar handicap systems were in place before the USGA and WHS put PCC into motion. Based on these, Hovde said they looked at those systems as a starting point when determining what the threshold should be for the minimum number of scores for PCC to possibly trigger. Through their research, Hovde explained they didn’t have any confidence that anything less than eight people wasn’t enough scores to really determine whether the course played more or less difficult than normal.
“Eight also represents two groups of golfers on the golf course, two foursomes, so it seemed like a fairly reasonable number,” Hovde said. “Less than eight, you're talking about, sometimes individuals going out and playing just in small groups and so forth. Eight just fit both categories.”
Which PCC outcome happens most?
Hovde said that when PCC is triggered, +1 is the most common adjustment, followed by -1, +2 and +3. This means the most likely outcome is that the course played harder than usual, and players receive a small benefit to their score differential, which can help lower their handicap index.
A +2 or +3 adjustment indicates the course played even more difficult, resulting in a larger reduction to the score differential. On the other hand, a -1 adjustment means the course played easier than expected. In that case, one stroke is added to a player’s score differential, which could cause their handicap index to increase slightly.
How can PCC be better calculated?
Internally, Hovde said the USGA is always looking for ways to make PCC more accurate. PCC underwent its first update in 2023 after Hovde said the initial model was too conservative, prompting looser tolerances.
“It's something we're constantly looking at,” Hovde said. “We look at scoring data, we look at Club and course data to see how often it's kicking in. Does it make sense? Tracking it compared to weather and conditions and so forth, just to make sure it's doing what it's supposed to do. So, it's constantly under evaluation.”
However, what would most help in making PCC more accurate is the number of people who submit their scores the day they play a round. According to Hovde, the number of players who submit their scores the day of is hovering around 50%.
“We definitely want to see that number go up,” Hovde said. “If it was 80 or 90%, then PCC would work a little bit better. Maybe people would see it more often, and maybe it would be a better value. When only like half the players or less post their score on the day they play, right away, you're kind of reducing the number of times PCC can be applied. And when it is applied, maybe it’s a little bit less than it should have been.”