A Peoria handicap is a one day playing handicap calculated based on the scores of each player on the day of play. It is usually used in a stroke play competition. It is a reasonable way to allow a group of golfers to compete on a more equal basis when they don't have USGA handicaps, don't play together regularly or when their handicaps are likely incorrect. For instance, it is a good system to use for a competition early in the golf season when many of the players are rusty from not having gotten to play much over the winter. The handicap is calculated from randomly determined holes to encourage players to play their best and thus derive the most accurate handicap. Once calculated, a Peoria handicap may be used for any kind of competition that requires a handicap - stroke play, better ball and others.
The outing coordinator will choose six holes at random from the course on which a Peoria handicap is being used. Typically, one par 3, one par 4 and one par 5 from each of the front and back nine holes is picked. Alternatively, as recommended by the USGA and referred to as "Modified Peoria", one par 3, one par 5 and 4 par 4s will be picked. The par 4s should be representative of length and difficulty of the course with 2 each from the front and back 9 if this method is used. The holes may be chosen using any number of methods - asking a random bystander to pick six holes, asking someone not in the tournament to pick them or similar. The outing coordinator will keep those holes secret until the playing handicaps for each player are determined after the competion of the round.
The playing handicap for a tournament using the Peoria system is determined by adding the total score over/under par from those six holes and multiplying by 3 for normal Peoria or 2.8 for Modified Peoria. Max over par allowed per hole is 3 over par in standard Peoria. In Modified Peoria, the max over par per hole is 3 over on par 3s and 4 over on par 4s and 5s.
Once established, the Peoria handicap may be used for any type of tournament in which an handicap would normally be used - stroke play, better ball and more. In a larger stroke play field it is common to award a winner for the front and back 9s in addition to an overall winnner.
To give an example, suppose for a given round holes 3, 4, 5, 12, 13 and 14 are chosen for the Peoria (unbeknownst to anyone ahead of time - more on this in a minute). Two of the golfers in a group have a card that looks like this:
| Player | ... | 3 | 4 | 5 | ... | 12 | 13 | 14 | ... | Total | Peoria | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | ... | 4 | 5 | 3 | ... | 3 | 4 | 5 | ... | 72 | ||
| Bob | ... | 3 | 5 | 5 | ... | 6 | 4 | 6 | ... | 89 | 12 | 77 |
| Carol | ... | 3 | 5 | 3 | ... | 3 | 5 | 5 | ... | 78 | 0 | 78 |
If the tournament at which the Peoria system is being applied is a low net score stroke play tournament (as shown above), the Peoria handicap would be subtracted from the gross score for each player to determine a net score. If the tournament was a four-ball, strokes from the hardest holes would be subracted to determine the lowest ball for each team. Similar adjustments would be made using the Peoria handicap instead of using the USGA handicap for a tournament in which this handicapping system is used.