not very important to me. In fact I've never had an official handicap until I read about the Grint on this forum and joined it so that I could get a real handicap. Before that I had used golfshot for years and it just gives a close approximation, nothing official. I really only play socially and almost always with the same 4some so it doesn't really matter. Maybe one of these days I'll be good enough to play in an actual tournament.