Forum Discussion
Excel "IF" function
I'm creating a spreadsheet for my golf club.
We have special rules. One of them is that if a player has fewer than 30 Stableford points after a round, their handicap increases by 1 point. Can I do this with an "IF" function? And what would that look like? I have separate columns for stableford points and handicaps.
1 Reply
Hey Hans,
Yes that’s exactly what IF is for.
Assuming:
- Stableford points are in A2
- Current handicap is in B2
Put this in a new column (e.g., C2 = New Handicap):
=IF(A2<30, B2+1, B2)
What it does:
- If Stableford points are < 30, return handicap + 1
- Otherwise, return the same handicap
If you want it to stay blank when there are no points entered yet (common in score sheets):
=IF(A2="", "", IF(A2<30, B2+1, B2))
spreadsheets generally shouldn’t “update the same cell” (i.e., you wouldn’t put this in the handicap cell itself unless you’re intentionally replacing the original). Best practice is to keep the original handicap column and calculate the adjusted handicap in a separate column.
