Handicap Percent vs Handicap Allowance Percentage

Golf League Tracker offers two methods to set a Handicap Percentage for your players. 

• Handicap Percent (setting #38) applies a percentage at the time of the handicap calculation, and is reflected in the player's Handicap Index which you see in the player list
• Handicap Allowance Percentage (setting #212) applies a percentage to the players Course Handicap, and then that value is rounded to the nearest whole number.

It's important to understand what a "Course Handicap" is compared to the Player's Handicap Index, and that is explained in this FAQ:

Handicap Index vs Course Handicap

Which One Should I Use?

It depends what you're trying to accomplish, and what format your league is. If your goal is to apply a percentage to reward lower handicapped player, then you should set Handicap Percent (setting #38). This would be equivalent to the USGA old method of applying 96% to the handicap calculation (fyi, this was abolished with the World Handicap System, which has gone to a full 100%).

However, if your goal is to follow the USGA guidelines for applying a Handicap Allowance because of the type of format your play, you should set Handicap Allowance Percentage (setting #212). If you're unsure what percentage to use, you can take a page out of the USGA handicapping manual and follow their guidelines here.

Should I Use Both?

Typically not, but nothing is stopping you. Just be sure you're not accidentally setting both settings to something less than 1 (100%) when you really want to apply the percentage only once. For example, if you set both to 0.8 (which is 80%), that 80% would be applied twice: Once when the player's handicap index is calculated, and again to the player's Course Handicap.