Built by golfers,
for golfers.
Dormie exists because working out who gets how many shots, on which holes, in which format, was always too complicated on the first tee. We fixed that.
Why Dormie exists
Dormie was built by Alistair Tweedie, a golfer and developer who spent years organising golf competitions — society days, club knockouts, Ryder Cup formats — and kept running into the same problem on the first tee.
Every society day starts the same way. Four players standing on the first tee, someone pulls out their phone calculator, someone else disputes the Course Handicap, a third suggests "let's just go off handicap indexes," and the fourth has already teed off.
The World Handicap System has a clear process for working out Playing Handicaps, shot differences, and shot allocation — but it involves three numbers from the scorecard, a formula most golfers have never memorised, and format-specific allowances that even experienced club golfers get wrong.
Dormie does all of it in seconds. You put in the Handicap Indexes and the course details. Dormie gives you the Course Handicaps, Playing Handicaps, who gives who how many shots, and which exact holes the shots fall on — for every format from singles matchplay to greensomes.
How calculations are verified
Every formula in Dormie is implemented directly from the official WHS documentation and cross-checked against results from national handicap authorities. Here's the specific approach:
Implemented per the WHS specification: HI × (Slope ÷ 113) + (CR − Par). Results are cross-checked against the Course Handicap tables published by England Golf and R&A.
WHS-recommended allowances: singles 100%, four-ball 85%, foursomes 50% combined, greensomes 0.6/0.4 weighted. These match the R&A's published guidance on Playing Conditions.
Shots are allocated by Stroke Index in ascending order (SI 1 first). The Dormie app shows which holes you receive shots on, colour-coded against the Stroke Index supplied by the club, so there's no ambiguity at the tee.
Course Handicap and Playing Handicap are both rounded to the nearest whole number, consistent with the WHS specification. Half-point Playing Handicaps (from 0.5) round to 1, not 0.
What Dormie does
Enter Handicap Indexes, Slope, Course Rating, and Par. Get Course Handicap and Playing Handicap for any format instantly.
See exactly which holes you receive shots on, based on the course's Stroke Index. No more debates on the first tee.
Supports singles, four-ball, foursomes, greensomes, and Ryder Cup-style points scoring across multiple matches.
The content on this site
Every guide on this site is written to explain the WHS calculation process in plain English. Our goal is not to replace official sources — it's to help golfers understand the rules so they can trust the output from Dormie (and from their club's handicap system).
All worked examples are calculated manually using the official formulas and cross-checked for accuracy. If you spot an error, let us know.
For authoritative WHS rules, see the R&A Rules of Handicapping.
Calculate your matchplay handicap in seconds.
Dormie handles every format — singles, four-ball, foursomes, greensomes — with accurate WHS handicap calculations. Free to download.